Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I first met Stephanie Tubbs-Jones through her legendary predecessor, Representative Louis Stokes, who described her simply as ``full of life.' Indeed, she was. And, to have heard her impassioned speech denoting the short-comings of a housing bill the Congress recently passed, a speech made just before the Congress went on its August break, it as impossible to see her death foreshadowed. Her zeal for public service, her love for the members of Congress, and particularly of the CBC members, and her commitment to people who needed a hand up from government, defined her life here.

In a larger sense she was a devoted family person. She lost both her parents during her service here, and, I having also lost my mother and father over my years here, gave us the opportunity for quiet reflection on what our parents had meant to us, and helped to deepen our friendship.

She was devoted to the memory of her husband, Mervyn, who died just a few years ago. When I chaired the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, I urged her to join the board, which she did. From that point, she launched the Mervyn Jones Golf Classic which has raised millions in scholarship funds for worthy and needy college students. She was awfully proud of her son Mervyn II, who often came to the gym to play basketball with us ``old jocks'' and often schooled us with his basketball skills.

Her service on the Ways and Means Committee with me over several years gave me insight into her caring heart for health care and human resource issues but also into her competence as an infighter in the legislative process. She made her points, stood her ground and quite often carried her position. She sought me out after Hurricane Katrina hit my district and my State, offering advice and real help. Stephanie identified with human suffering everywhere and wanted to do something about it.

I was stunned and saddened by her sudden and unexpected death as were we all. And it was the hardest thing not to take the plane ride to Cleveland to attend her funeral and memorial service. It was only after the sage and stern advice from my Chairwoman Carolyn Cheeks-Kilpatrick that I reluctantly canceled my trip to Cleveland to attend to the issues back at home with Hurricane Gustav bearing down on our people. I know I was well covered by the members who did attend and part of me will always regret not being there. But, looking at it from another vantage point--not having fully seen her in death--my memories of her will only be those of her in life--not just in life but ``full of life'' as Lou Stokes described her.

Offered By: Mr. Jefferson

Amendment No. 31: At the end of title II (page 51, after

line 11), insert the following:

Sec. 226. In making amounts available under ``General

operating expenses'' and ``Medical support and compliance''

to carry out the guaranteed transitional housing loan program

authorized by subchapter VI of chapter 20 of title 38, United

States Code, priority shall be given for funding to any area

in the Gulf Opportunity Zone.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I thank Mr. Payne and Chairman Berman for moving this resolution to the floor. And I urge my colleagues and others who have joined us in support of H. Res. 1090 to honor President Nelson Mandela's 90th birthday.

As an African proverb says, ``You cannot shave a man in his absence.'' Thus, it is better that we in the Congress honor President Mandela while he is still with us. That his life would have reached such a pinnacle of longevity would not have been foreseen, when one recalls the statement he made during his trial in 1964 in South Africa, the context in which it was made, and the ominous tone it struck. At the end of it he says, it's talking about the idea of equality for everyone in a nonracial society, he says ``it is an ideal which I hope to live for and achieve. But, if need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.''

Through the grace of God, however, he is still alive today. And because of that, South Africa and the world have become better places. As a great leader, activist and humanitarian, President Nelson Mandela brought social and political change to South Africa, and he continues to serve Africans and the disenfranchised around the world.

He was born in Transkei, South Africa, on July 18, 1918. Through his political life from 1944 to 1999, he showed courage and determination and became the symbol of resistance and freedom. But more importantly, perhaps, he championed forgiveness and redemption to the point where today he has become one of our planet's foremost moral authorities, persuading seats of power everywhere to simply do the right thing by even the simplest people.

After gaining his freedom after 27 years of imprisonment, his life sacrifices were crowned on May 10, 1994, when he was inaugurated as South Africa's first black president. I was privileged to be in South Africa on that date to witness this supremely inspirational event, as did thousands of people from around the world everywhere. I have been blessed to be in the company of Mr. Mandela on a number of other occasions, including as a member of President Clinton's delegation to South Africa in 1998 and on President Clinton's peacekeeping mission in 2000 when Mr. Mandela was seeking peace for African nations in conflict. And in June 2005, as chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, I was honored to present Mr. Mandela with the foundation's Phoenix Award representing the decision of the Congressional Black Caucus to honor him as the most significant African-ancestored person of the 20th century. President Mandela's work to transition from South Africa's apartheid rule has been widely recognized and respected. He has received numerous South African and International awards, including the Nobel Peace Prize he shared with Frederik Willem de Klerk, the Order of Merit and the Order of St. John from Queen Elizabeth II, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President George W. Bush.

My own alma mater in Louisiana, Southern University, renamed its school of public policy the Nelson Mandela School of Public Policy when he came to visit our school showing a great connection between us and him.

President Mandela's dream, as was the dream of Martin Luther King, Jr., for human equality is still alive in our hearts and souls today and will never die. I hope that the Members of the House and our Nation will join us in unanimously wishing the happiest of birthdays and to do so while marking his accomplishments and altruism on this special day. Let us celebrate his life and work with the international community and the people of our country and extend our best wishes to him and to his family.

Madam Speaker, this weekend the Urban League of Greater New Orleans will honor Mr. Don C. Hubbard for a life committed to justice and self-help for African Americans. In honoring him, the Urban League printed the following biography of his life's work in its 2008 Annual Gala Program:

``Mr. Don C. Hubbard has dedicated his entire life to the

fight for social justice. As a champion of equality, he has

contributed greatly to the battle against discrimination in

the public and political communities of New Orleans. From his

work during the Civil Rights Movement to his commitment to

provide students with an opportunity to attend college, Mr.

Hubbard has selflessly crusaded to establish a voice for the

voiceless in New Orleans.

Mr. Hubbard's career in public advocacy began with the

Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. As a member of the New

Orleans Chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE),

Mr. Hubbard contributed to numerous sit-ins and

demonstrations throughout the South with acts of leadership

and courage. In 1963, Mr. Hubbard helped organize the first

march on New Orleans City Hall to deliver better jobs and

greater access to public facilities. In the late 1960s, he

participated in a demonstration at Southern University at

Baton Rouge to protest segregated stores. As a result of the

demonstration, the participants were sprayed with tear gas

and water hoses.

As a community leader, Mr. Hubbard has established numerous

organizations and foundations to enhance the quality of life

throughout New Orleans. In the late 1960s, he established the

Gentilly East Development Association (GEDA) to lobby the

city for adequate city services, including garbage

collection, underground drainage and street paving. In 1967,

Mr. Hubbard organized the Southern Organization for Unified

Leadership (SOUL) to grant support to African-Americans

seeking public office. SOUL has remained at the forefront of

the struggle to gain leadership roles for African-Americans

and is also a vital organization in the political arena. As a

member of the trustee board of the Greater St. Stephen Full

Gospel Baptist Church, he launched the Paul S. Morton, Sr.

Scholarship Fund. The foundation has provided five (5) $5,000

scholarships a year to help students in their college

endeavors for the last 19 years.

Mr. Hubbard is not only a Civil Rights leader and community

activist, but also an entrepreneur. In the 1970s, Mr. Hubbard

established the largest 100 percent Black-owned and operated

services company in America, Superdome Services, Inc. He has

also served as president and a major stockholder of Louisiana

Sports, Inc., while working as vice president of managing and

promoting the former light/heavyweight champion of the world,

Michael Spinks. Mr. Hubbard also spent time working for

Spencer Promotions managing former heavyweight champion

Riddick Bowe. A former state employee in the Louisiana

Department of Agriculture and Forestry, Mr. Hubbard currently

owns and operates the Hubbard Mansion Bed and Breakfast on

St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans.''

We, in the U. S. Congress and the people of our Nation are grateful for Mr. Hubbard's service to all of us and Join the Urban League of Greater New Orleans in honoring him for a life well lived in the service of others.

Madam Speaker, on February 14, 1957, a little more than 51 years ago, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, SCLC, was founded in New Orleans, LA. It is returning to New Orleans today for its 50th Annual Convention, to celebrate its founding and to mark the progress it has made over the years.

On the date of its founding, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Reverend A.L. Davis, Reverend Avery Alexander, Reverend Simmie Harvey, and others meet at New Zion Baptist Church located on 3rd Street in New Orleans to organize the SCLC. Of those present on that date, Dr. Simmie Harvey is the only living organizer. Additionally for the past 33 years, he has led the Louisiana Chapter of the SCLC as its President.

Reverend Dr. S.L. Harvey was educated at the Tensas Parish High School in St. Joseph, Louisiana, Utica Institute in Utica, Mississippi and Union Baptist College and Theological Seminary where he received both his Master's Degree in Theology and his Doctor of Divinity.

Reverend Dr. Harvey was present at the planning of the march in Washington, DC., where Dr. King delivered his ``I Have a Dream'' speech. Reverend Harvey is a living legend and Drum Major for Justice for all people. He continues to carry the torch for freedom that Dr. King and other founders of the SCLC lit in 1957.

As we celebrate the life and work of the SCLC, it is impossible to do so without celebrating Dr. Harvey's life and work at the same time. The two are inextricably intertwined. We thank God for him. I am proud to join the U.S. Congress and our nation in honoring him.

Madam Speaker, the death of Justice Revius O. Ortique, Jr. this past Sunday marked the passing of a true public servant and a selfless leader. A man of historic firsts, most notably the first African-American member of the Civil District Court in Louisiana, and the first African-American member of Louisiana's Supreme Court, he blazed a trail for others to follow.

He was an outstanding lawyer, winning landmark civil rights cases, and serving as President of the National Bar Association. He served our community as a leader of our Urban League and chair of the New Orleans Aviation Board. He served our Nation, as an army officer and as an appointee to significant federal posts by five different Presidents.

Justice Ortique was a man of community, of faith and of family. He was a man who loved justice and pursued it for himself and others his entire life. Our Nation is better for his service, his leadership and his commitment to his country. We pray God's comfort for his wife of over 60 years, Miriam; his daughter, Rhesa; and her husband, Alden; and his grandchildren, Chip, Heidi, and Todd.

Mr. Speaker, the death of Justice Revius O. Ortique this past Sunday marked the passing of a true public servant and a selfless leader. A man of historic firsts, most notably the first African American member of the Civil District Court of Louisiana and the first African American member of Louisiana's Supreme Court, he blazed a trail for others to follow. He was an outstanding lawyer, winning landmark civil rights cases, and serving as president of the National Bar Association. He served our community as a leader of our Urban League and as chair of the New Orleans Aviation Board. He served our Nation, as an army officer and as an appointee to significant Federal posts by five different Presidents.

Justice Ortique was a man of community, faith, and family. He was a man who loved justice, and he pursued it for

himself and for others his entire life. Our Nation is better for his service, his leadership, and his commitment to his country. We pray God's comfort for his wife of over 60 years, Miriam, his daughter, Rhesa, and her husband, Alden, and his grandchildren Chip, Heidi, and Todd.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Today I rise in strong support of H. Con. Res. 370, the Gospel Music Heritage Month resolution. I thank Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee and Congressman Clay for bringing this measure to the floor.

My region has a strong connection to Gospel music. It is home of ``The Queen of Gospel Song'' Mahalia Jackson. Ms. Jackson was born in New Orleans, more specifically in the Carrollton neighborhood of Uptown in 1911 and grew up singing, starting in the Plymouth Rock Baptist Church before moving to Chicago as a teenager.

Like so many gospel singers, she struggled to get a career going, laboring as a domestic but soon became a prolific soloist at churches and funerals in the Chicago area. The world took notice, and her voice became a soundtrack for the civil rights movement of the fifties and sixties. Her commanding contra-alto voice rang out in song for Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy and before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's, I Have a Dream speech. At the

March on Washington, she sang ``I Been 'Buked and I Been Scorned'' at Dr. King's request. Dr. King is recalled as having said about Mahalia Jackson, ``A voice like this comes, not once in a century, but once in a millennium.''

Fittingly, she won a Lifetime Achievement Award Grammy in 1972, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 and was honored with a U.S. Postal Service stamp in 1988.

The gospel music of Mahalia Jackson, as has all gospel music, inspired music of other genres, in particular jazz, blues, and rock and roll. Little Richard, indeed, names her as one of his biggest influences. ``She was my inspiration,'' he says. ``She could sing.''

Gospel music expresses all that is important in the human experience: our trials, our fears, our faith, our hope for salvation.

Today, the gospel tradition started in New Orleans by Mahalia Jackson continues. Through the inspirational singing and award-winning performances of Bishop Paul S. Morton, Trin-I-Tee 5:7, the Zion Harmonizers, the New Orleans Spiritualettes, Tara Alexander, and many others, God is powerfully glorified.

New Orleans is truly a bedrock of gospel music and gospel music the cornerstone of hope and spirituality for our Nation. Gospel music deserves, Mr. Speaker, and its artists deserve to have the recognition that this resolution affords. And I urge its adoption.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, no place on the planet needs this more than my district in Louisiana. Before the storm, there were some 5,000 families in public housing representing some 30-or-so thousand people who were living there. Since the storm, there are some 800 people or so, well down from our prior number. That's because the storm damaged almost all the public housing virtually thoroughly to the point now that the areas where public housing used to occupy are laid as a wasteland, and we have had nothing but administrative fighting and confusion over this issue.

And what is happening here today that Chairman Frank and our two newest colleagues, Mr. Cazayoux and Mr. Childers, are bringing today is a bill that is very much needed.

In my area, the cost to rebuild public housing is going to be astronomical, but the families who are depending on it, it's quite a large number of people. And there is no way we can restore affordable housing in our area without restoring public housing. There is no way to restore public housing unless there is an agency that has a tradition of dealing with bringing public buildings back into place as FEMA does. It's an unusual argument for us to make that we want FEMA to do more in our area, to have more responsibility, given the record it has of being far less than perfect. But that is a case where it makes sense for FEMA to take over and fill the gap.

So I want to congratulate you again for coming forward. This legislation is going to mean a lot to our people in Louisiana, a lot to the folks I represent in New Orleans, and a lot to the families who are struggling to get back into their homes.

So thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from Louisiana, the Honorable Don Cazayoux, be permitted to take the oath of office today.

His certificate of election has not arrived, but there is no contest and no question has been raised with regard to his election.

Madam Speaker, on behalf of the Louisiana delegation, we are proud to welcome Don Cazayoux to this magnificent House.

He understands the values of faith, family and public service. He grew up in New Roads, Louisiana, has been married for 21 years to a retired school teacher, Cherie, and they have three children, Michael, Chavanne and Katie, who are all here today, I am sure. He has served in the State House since 1999, and he has, of course, been well qualified before that, having served in a number of public service offices, including as the District Attorney of Pointe Coupee Parish.

Now, I might say a lot of things about his former preparation for this, but let me say this, as we grow older, we get to know folks through our children. My daughter is the best representative I know of what we all know now about Don Cazayoux. When she first started in the Louisiana State House, Don Cazayoux was already there. She told me she met this wonderful young man who was helpful to her.

After she got to know him a bit better, she said he was a very thoughtful representative. As she got to know him even more, she said he was a very decent man.

On the recommendation of my daughter, he was helpful, he was thoughtful, and he is thoroughly decent. Through that description, I think we all will get to know him as well.

I am proud, on behalf of all of us here, to present this wonderful young man, who is a cousin of Lindy Boggs, who is here with us today.

For the last several years, Charlie Melancon and I have met in a phone booth over here as the total Democratic caucus of Louisiana. Now, Madam Speaker, we may need different accommodations because of this election.

May I ask Mr. Cazayoux to please come to the microphone. We welcome you.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a peerless religious leader in our country, Bishop Paul S. Morton, who has been on a mission for God as pastor of Greater St. Stephen Full Gospel Baptist Church for the past 33 years.

He took the helm of Greater St. Stephen when he was 24 years old, and at that time the church had nearly 1,000 members. Over the next 30 years, through dynamic leadership as a premiere pastor, teacher, and award-winning gospel singer, the membership of the church grew to over 20,000 members, the largest church in my State of Louisiana, and one of the largest in the Nation. He is now retiring as its pastor.

In 1994, God gave Bishop Morton the vision to found the Full Gospel Fellowship. The fellowship now has over 1,500 churches nationally and internationally, including churches in Western Europe, Western and Southern Africa, India, Japan and the Caribbean.

Bishop Morton will continue to serve as International Presiding Bishop of the Full Gospel Fellowship. We thank God for his service to our community, to our Nation, to the international community, and to almighty God. We wish him God's choicest blessings as he repositions himself for greater service.

I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia, Representative David Scott, for bringing this resolution to the floor today to honor General Russel L. Honore.

While General Honore deserves to be honored for his service to our Nation and by the people of Georgia for the experiences he has had in connection with them, in truth he belongs, at his roots, to the people of Louisiana.

General Russel Honore was born in Louisiana in the rural parish of Pointe Coupee. I have known him for 39 years. I met him when he was a brash, young ROTC cadet at the college we both attended, Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge. In fact, we've often kidded that since I was a few years ahead of him at Southern and his battalion commander there when he joined our ROTC, I can take some real credit for his success as a soldier.

However that may be, Russel Honore showed the attributes back then that led to what can only be described as a legendary career in the U.S. Army. He was a serious student, an eager participant in everything the ROTC had to offer outside of the classroom and inside, and he had a big, courageous, fun-loving heart.

We who have known him for years, then, are not surprised that he led with distinction commands in Fort Hood, Texas; Washington, D.C.; Georgia; and Korea; and most recently as commander of the U.S. Southern Command for Homeland Security.

Americans, however, will always remember him most for the order he brought out of the chaos in the aftermath of the terrible storms Hurricanes Katrina and Rita that ripped apart the lives of our people in Louisiana. He, more than anyone else, took charge of the urgent rescue and relief of flooding victims there and made the bureaucracy bow to reason and good judgment.

We applaud him for that. We congratulate him on a distinguished military career. A grateful Nation, therefore, wishes General Russel Honore God's choicest blessings in his retirement years.

Madam Speaker, I rise to thank Representative Barbara Lee for passing her resolution yesterday committing our Nation to fight poverty.

Nowhere is this commitment and action needed more than in the City of New Orleans. Ironically, on the day that the levees broke in New Orleans, 2\1/2\ years ago, the Census Bureau was releasing its report on poverty, showing that Orleans Parish had a poverty rate of 23.2 percent, seventh highest in the 290 large counties in America. Thirty- five percent of the city's African American population is classified as poor. Seventy-seven percent of the students in New Orleans participate in free or reduced-cost lunch programs. Pre-Katrina African Americans made up 67 percent of New Orleans, but 84 percent of its population is below the poverty line. And it is mostly in its 47 neighborhoods of extreme poverty where our citizens are still out of town, unable to return and share in the rebuilding of New Orleans.

So the commitment of our Nation must not be just to recover the City of New Orleans, but also to focus on the peculiar needs of its impoverished citizens, needs existing before Katrina made much more desperate since.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate one of Louisiana's favorite sons, NBA coach Avery Johnson, on the occasion of his receiving an honorary doctorate degree from his alma mater, Southern University, at its upcoming fall commencement.

Born in New Orleans, Avery Johnson has known success at every level of basketball. In 1983 he led the St. Augustine High School Purple Knights to an undefeated season culminating with a Class 4A Louisiana State championship. He would go on to star on the Southern University Jaguars basketball team, setting NCAA Division I records for both season and career averages in assists that still stand today.

In 1988, Avery Johnson began his career in the NBA, where he would spend 16 seasons. Once again he found success with the San Antonio Spurs by taking them to their first NBA title in 1999 over the New York Knicks.

Presently, Avery Johnson serves as the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks, where his star has only continued to shine brighter. Now in his third full season as coach, he has led the Mavericks to their first Western Conference title, been named 2006 NBA Coach of the Year, and won 150 games faster than any other coach in NBA history.

Through his high achievement in sports and service to the community, Avery Johnson continues to leave a mark on the world, of which we are all very proud.