Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, due to a prior commitment being held in my district on Thursday, March 1, 2007, I missed the H.R. 800 ``Employee Free Choice Act'' vote. If l had been here, I would have voted ``yes'' on this bill.

Madam Speaker, I thank you for this opportunity to address an issue of grave importance to our country. I rise in support of the resolution that is before us. The resolution continues to support our troops who are presently fighting in Iraq. But it calls into severe question the wisdom of escalating our military involvement there.

I personally believe that escalating our efforts in Iraq is a tremendous mistake. It is time for us to recognize that there is no military solution to what is happening there. The only solution that will work in Iraq is a political solution. Even those who believe this surge to be an excellent strategy do so because they hope that it will lead to more favorable conditions for a political settlement.

The political solution depends on the Iraqi people themselves deciding to work together to knit their country together and to fight in behalf of their own nascent democracy. The rampant violence in Iraq is the result of a civil conflict in that country, and the Iraqi people must decide whether they will truly have a real representative democracy that includes the Sunnis, the Shiites, and other significant segments of their society.

If the Iraqi Government is to stand up for its own future, we must begin now to make it clear that we will not stay there forever and continue to add our troops. I personally believe that the best way to signal that our commitment is not open ended in this civil war is to start now the withdrawal of some of our troops. However, short of that, this resolution is an important first step toward ensuring that the people of our Nation know that we are changing direction in Iraq, and so that the people of Iraq will know that they must plan a future with the United

States as an important ally, but not as an enforcer of the status quo in their nation.

Madam Speaker, the justifications for the invasion of Iraq have long ago been discredited. There were no weapons of mass destruction. There was no nuclear threat. Every credible source and study has established that there was no connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda and the tragic events of 9/11. These were the reasons that were given as justification for our entry into the Iraqi war and that supported the statement that our national interest was at stake. Unfortunately, since the reasons were erroneous, no national interest exists.

Winning a military conflict, even if it were possible, does not create a national interest. Adding more troops to fight under the present conditions on the ground in Iraq cannot create a national interest where none truly exists. Such a strategy will simply add more human targets in a civil war that does not threaten America.

We are straining our troops and our military and financial resources beyond all reasonable limits. We are decimating our National Guard strength at a time when we have more than enough disasters here at home to which we must attend.

At a time when Louisiana needs the support of our National Guard, members of our National Guard are being called to serve in Iraq. At a time when the New Orleans area residents struggle to rebuild following the worst natural disaster in our Nation's history, and following deadly tornadoes just 2 days ago, we need National Guard troops here at home to fight crime in our streets and to keep our people safe. We need the billions of dollars that we are spending on war and the rebuilding of Iraq to wage a war on poverty and ignorance here at home. We need a greater commitment to rebuilding the Gulf Coast communities, including my beloved City of New Orleans.

Madam Speaker, let's not continue to make matters worse at home and abroad by pursuing a policy in Iraq that cannot work, that has not worked and that simply can no longer be justified.

I urge my colleagues to support this important resolution which supports our troops in the field and supports, at the same time, the commonsense objections to escalating our troop presence in Iraq. The people of this great country eloquently expressed their disapproval of the course of this war in the November elections, and on their behalf we should do no less.

I thank the gentlelady for yielding.

Madam Speaker, this is a very important subject on which we speak tonight. Most of what needs to be said has already been said by Members who have gone before me, and I know the time is short.

However, I want to say a couple of things. I have had the privilege of serving in the military of our country. I was first commissioned as a military intelligence officer and then commissioned in the JAG Corps as a judge advocate general officer. I take it seriously when the Commander in Chief says we need to protect ourselves and defend our country.

I have a district full of veterans. We have a large port facility that is vulnerable to attack and penetration. I had long talks with Colin Powell about these issues, and they were all very persuasive and convincing about what we needed to do to protect ourselves.

I thought back about what we did when President Clinton came to us about Bosnia and Kosovo when he told us that we needed to give him authority to do what we needed to do to protect our country. I thought it was fair to treat both Commanders in Chief the same. We should not play politics over this issue. If we needed to protect our country, we should.

We all know now there were no weapons of mass destruction, no justification for the war, no nuclear weapons could be found there. Nothing that the President told us was true was true. Whether he intended or not, as has been said, the information was untrue; and, therefore, we should not have based the war on it.

The other thing that is important is that most of us who voted on the resolution decided and expected that the resolution would be followed. Number one, that the President would go to the U.N. and talk to folks and try to get a consensus.

And number two, that he would only go when there was a consensus reached. He really just raced right past the U.N. and went right to war, from the very beginning violating the obligations and trust he asked us to repose in him.

Now we are in the middle of a civil war, and we are asked now to add more troops, add a surge and escalate our efforts there. I don't believe that the American people want to see that done. I surely can't support that at this point down the road.

As we look at what we need to do in our country, there is so much that needs to be done. I happen to represent a district that was inundated by flood waters, not because of a natural disaster only, but because the Corps of Engineers, a U.S. Government agency, failed to protect our people and built levees that were not designed properly, that were not constructed properly and that were not maintained properly. Consequently, they failed and our city drowned.

It is time for our government to face up to domestic responsibilities, particularly for Hurricane Katrina. And all of the money that we are going to spend now on a surge in Iraq, I would like to see a great part of it spent to bring our people home and restore our communities and rebuild back the confidence that people ought to have in us right here in America.

Madam Speaker and Congresswoman Waters, all of you who have done so much in this area, I thank you for giving me a chance to come here and say these few words tonight. I know our time is very short.

But I want to see our emphasis placed on our domestic responsibility now in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. That is where our country needs to focus.

If it was the Iraq war, after the wheels came off the war machine, that has brought about the change in this body, and if that was a major reason for what has happened here, I believe on the domestic front, Hurricane Katrina was just as important to the changes that we have seen in our Congress now. Therefore, our response must be as intense and as direct on what we do to adjust ourselves in that war as we do to come back here and take care of our people back home.

Madam Speaker, I thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak tonight. I look forward to our getting together to get this war behind us and bring our troops home. I applaud diplomacy in this area, and I look forward to getting our focus back on our people at home, particularly on our Hurricane Katrina survivors and evacuees.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to express my support for the fiscal year 2007 Defense Appropriations bill.

Today we reaffirm our support and appreciation for the members of the armed services. We have fully funded an across-the-board pay raise of 2.2 percent and increased military housing allowances. $2 billion in funding will go to countering one of the gravest threats our soldiers face in combat, the use of IEDs. An additional $3 billion will go to outfitting our service members and their combat vehicles with stronger armor. These are undoubtedly important priorities, and I support the funding levels in the conference report.

I am pleased with the commitment we have shown to both the Navy and to our Nation's shipbuilding industrial base. By funding five new ships this fiscal year, as well as continuing to adequately fund ships currently under construction like the LPD-17 and the LHA Replacement, we are ensuring the Navy will maintain its prominence on the world stage.

As our Nation is currently involved in a long-term war on multiple fronts, the importance of this defense funding cannot be understated. I am in favor of the conference report and I thank the Defense appropriations subcommittee for its hard work.

Mr. Speaker, I am in favor of the conference report and I thank the Defense appropriations subcommittee for its hard work. Had I been present for the vote, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Payne, Congressman McGovern, and Congresswoman Barbara Lee for their leadership and for their commitment to bring peace and security in the war-torn region in western Sudan that we have talked about today as Darfur.

I rise today to echo what my colleagues of the Sudan Caucus have already said. We all know what is going on in Darfur and what needs to be done. What else needs to be said or done for the United Nations to act effectively?

The situation in Darfur has deteriorated rapidly over just the last few months, with increased rapes, 500 rapes over the summer in one camp alone; renewed attacks on innocent victims, 12 humanitarian workers killed, including 2 in the last 4 weeks; 26,000 Sudan Armed Forces headed to the Darfur region to engage in a major offensive; renewed air bombardments; the peace agreement not working; continued integration of the Janjaweed into the security forces of the national police of the government; government-sponsored terrorism against innocent victims.

How many lives need to be affected, Mr. Speaker, before we say it is enough? Two point six million, is that not enough?

How many people need to be displaced, Mr. Speaker? Two million? Two million is not enough?

How many people need to die? Four hundred thousand women and children, innocent people?

How many women need to be raped before we say enough is enough in that region of the world, and our Nation will not stand for it?

Someone said the death of any person diminishes each one of us. If that be true, and if we are truly involved in the global world, then all of us, every life in this country, every life in America, every life in the world, is made smaller and less significant by the suffering we let others endure and by the suffering we tolerate of them in Darfur.

The people of Darfur are suffering a slow and painful death, and it is a catastrophe that doesn't have to take place. We have options. We can do things about this. And as other speakers have said, it doesn't involve brute force. It doesn't involve going to war. It involves making sure that the United Nations does its job, that America does its job, that we engage the government there, but that we don't wait for the government to give permission to come into the region, that we do what needs to be done. Because that region is so vast and so large and so difficult to patrol, it takes a lot of forces in there to make it work. And it takes, also, people on the ground feeling confident and hopeful enough to take some things into their own hands. Right now they don't have any idea what tomorrow is going to bring, and they cannot have hope in that sort of situation.

So, Mr. Speaker, we are here tonight to urge the American people to become engaged with us in the Congress, with the voices that are here that are now trying to tell the people in this country how important Darfur is to all of us, to our country not because it has a lot of oil or a lot of sugarcane or a lot of other things that we are using in this country, not because it has a lot of people there who are committed to democracy and to America, but because there are human beings there who are suffering needlessly, and we can stop it. We can do something about it. And if we don't, it makes us smaller in our efforts to increase our stature in the world.

There is no way, as some have said, that we are going to take America's credibility seriously on the issues of human rights and the issues of democracy if we do not do it where it is taking place in the worst and most flagrant fashion. So that place today happens to be Darfur.

We watched in astonishment when we saw the atrocities in Rwanda. We watched in other places around the world. But the major place right now where we have so much going on in one place, one little corner of the world where innocent people are dying and we can do something about it, is Darfur.

So I hope the American people get this name in their minds, look this country up on the map, and come to understand what is going on. It is important to us. It is important to us as human beings that we do something about this. And we are here tonight almost just as voices in the wilderness crying about this thing. Look, it is time for America to act. It is time for our President to act. It is time for our Congress to act. It is time for all of us to engage in this.

So that is why we are on the floor tonight, to make sure that those who are at home now around their dinner tables, who are sitting and watching some show on television might take a minute just to think about the people in Darfur and try to find a way with all of us to join hands with them to help to end their suffering.

Mr. Speaker, as we honor Historically Black Colleges and Universities this week, I rise to applaud the commitment and tradition of HBCUs in my district. I am proud to say that in my district I am able to represent three of the most well-known HBCUs in the country: Xavier University, Dillard University and Southern University at New Orleans.

Xavier University ranks among the top in sending African Americans to medical school and accounts for a large share of African American pharmacists nationwide.

Dillard, highly regarded by U.S. News and World Report, has become widely known for its nursing program.

After starting with only two buildings SUNO has produced leading African Americans in the disparate fields of social work and computer science.

Collectively, these schools have served as profiles in courage and leadership as they rebuild in the face of Hurricane Katrina, which still threatens the future of all of them.

They have done a great deal with sometimes lean resources; however, that is the signature of HBCUs across the Nation. As a proud graduate of Southern University in Baton Rouge, I have been one of the many beneficiaries of the positive, nurturing and high-quality education provided by these nationally significant institutions.

I urge my colleagues to work towards ensuring that generations of African American students are able to benefit from the very special contribution that HBCUs provide to higher education.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to request the conferees on the Water Development Resources Act guarantee levee protection at a Category 5 level. Hurricane Katrina served as a stark reminder that our levee system in south Louisiana is inadequate. We are responsible for ensuring the safety of its residents, and today we can make a commitment that they are not forgotten.

The economic and environmental benefits that south Louisiana provides to the nation are substantial. Coastal Louisiana produces over 30% of our nation's seafood, including 50% of our shrimp crop. Our wetlands are home to over 79 endangered species and serve as a vital habitat for migratory birds. The network of interconnected waterways and presence of several major port facilities are an important hub in our maritime industry. Over 70% of the grain produced in the United States travels through the area. 30% of our domestic crude oil and 34% of our natural gas is produced by or travels through south Louisiana, making us a centerpiece in America's Energy Coast. In addition to transporting much of our domestic oil supply, coastal Louisiana also refines 16% of our petroleum products. Knowing this, we must ensure that this valuable part of our nation's infrastructure remains intact and its people remain protected.

Our current levee system in New Orleans dates back to the 1960s, and since then our whole environment has changed. The loss of coastal barrier islands and the erosion of our wetlands have led to a weakened first line of defense against hurricanes. These islands and wetlands help absorb the storm's tidal surge and weaken the strength of an approaching storm. We are losing our wetlands at a rate of 25 to 30 square miles per year, while we are making areas further inland more susceptible to flooding. We have seen hurricanes become more powerful and more frequent as the years go by. The risk of hurricanes will always be present in south Louisiana, it is up to us to decide how to best mitigate their destructive impacts.

Looking at this situation, I am reminded of what I saw firsthand in the Netherlands. After the devastating North Sea floods of 1953, that nation committed itself to a system of water management projects that would ensure such a flood never happened again. Although the cost was high, their determination to provide absolute protection was justified. As a result, the Netherlands now has a significant number of its citizens living and produces 70% of its $480 billion GDP in areas that are fifteen to twenty feet below sea level, safely protected by flood control projects. By comparison, the lowest areas of New Orleans are only four and a half feet below sea level. Protecting the city is not beyond our technological capabilities, it is simply a matter of making the commitment necessary to do so. While the cost may seem substantial now, it pales in comparison to the cost we would face in human and economic losses should another hurricane strike south Louisiana directly.

Mr. Speaker, it is time to get it right. We must ensure the safety of the city of New Orleans and the rest of the Gulf Coast, because we have seen the horrible effects of substandard, poorly designed, inadequate levee protection in the face of a powerful storm. A working flood control system for south Louisiana begins with sound levees. I urge the conferees to support levee protection against a Category 5 storm surge.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to express my support for the reauthorization of the North American Wetlands Conservation Act. In my home State of Louisiana, we certainly understand the vital role that our wetlands serve for wildlife. Over five million waterfowl utilize the Louisiana wetlands during migration, while there are 79 individual endangered species that reside there. Louisiana's wetlands also provide our country with substantial economic benefits. Over 30 percent of the Nation's seafood is harvested from our wetlands, and the network of interconnected waterways provides ample routes for waterborne commerce.

I would also like to highlight the importance of Louisiana's coastal wetlands as our first line of defense against hurricanes. As we lose 25 square miles of wetlands per year, we lose the buffer that these wetlands provide against storm surge. The destructive effects of hurricanes were made abundantly clear last year with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. A healthy wetland system, combined with improved levees and other flood control projects, will help minimize the damage to south Louisiana when future storms arrive. With about two million people-- over half the State's population--living in Louisiana's coastal parishes, we cannot afford to underestimate the importance of our wetlands. Had I I been present for the vote, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. Speaker, I am here today to speak in support of establishing a National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week. I am not only the product of an HBCU--Southern A&M College in Baton Rouge--but I represent three of these colleges in my district, Xavier, Dillard and Southern University in New Orleans.

These universities are the leaders in Louisiana in graduating African-Americans. Xavier graduates more black pharmacists than any university in the country and has a near 100 percent bar passage rate. The university also sends more African-Americans than any other university to medical school. Dillard University is nationally known for its nursing program and Southern University educates nearly 100 percent New Orleans residents who may not have received a college degree if SUNO was not open. These universities, as well as the other schools in the Southern University system and Grambling State University, have been vital in producing the best and brightest African-Americans in the American workforce. For their work in educating African-American students for over 100 years and their continued need for those who may not have the opportunity to go to college otherwise, they certainly should be recognized.

The Historically black institutions in my district were the hardest hit of our university system in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. SUNO is operating out of a trailer campus and Dillard will reopen this spring in the Hilton Hotel again. And all of the universities are struggling to recruit and retain students. We need the continued support of Congress to recognize the importance of these institutions in our community. Graduates of these universities often stay in New Orleans to work as teachers, doctors, or nurses in underserved communities because they want to give back to the community in which they have fostered an education. We need this to continue. Furthermore, these universities are critical to the recovery of our professional workforce in New Orleans. We could not rebuild our community without the support of the students who come to learn in our city or the professors who commit to stay in our city.

This resolution is important to me personally because without Southern A&M College, I might not be here today. But beyond that, the continued need for the opportunity that HBCU's provide and the local need for these universities to be involved in the recovery of the Gulf Coast region makes this resolution even more timely and necessary and I encourage all of my colleagues to support it.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to commend the members of the ``Michoud Hurricane Ride-Out Team'' for their extraordinary efforts to protect NASA's Michaud Assembly Facility in the face of Hurricane Katrina. The employees of NASA, Lockheed Martin, and members of the New Orleans Fire Department who made up this team exhibited uncommon bravery and dedication. Cut off from the surrounding area due to roadway flooding, they remained on-site despite the lack of electricity and severely limited communications. These individuals willingly stayed on the facility in the face of the approaching storm and operated the pumps and generators that kept the facility dry.

As a result of the team's commitment, damage to the facility and the external tanks and hardware they produce was minimal. Within 5 weeks, the Michoud Assembly Facility was resuming production operations. I would like to thank the members of the team once again for their courage. The nation is grateful for the contributions they have made to the space program.

Mr. Speaker, today this body will take up reauthorizing critical provisions of the historic Voting Rights Act for another 25 years.

Every year new cases of voter intimidation are reported to the Department of Justice, and every year changes to voting laws threaten to curtail the power of minority voters. In my home State of Louisiana, the State legislature has faced objections to proposed election law changes every year since this historic bill was signed.

Mr. Speaker, my own mother had to pass a literacy test to vote just a few years before the Voting Rights Act became law, so it has special personal meaning for me. Yet, since its passage, challenges to minority voting rights continue in my home State and across the South.

It has been 41 years since President Johnson signed the original legislation that restored faith in our democracy and gave truth to President Lincoln's demand for a government of the people. After Hurricane Katrina, minorities in Louisiana face new obstacles in exercising our right to vote. The Voting Rights Act is just as relevant today as it was in 1965.

The struggle is not over, and we must not stop now. I urge my colleagues to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act now and in the spirit in which it was intended.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, the passage of the Voting Rights Act is informed by past history, by recent events and by current needs.

As one who grew up, watched his mother in 1963 study and struggle to try and pass the literacy test there, which she had to try and remember as best she could the Presidents in order, to recite the Preamble to the Constitution, and to compute her age to the year, the month and the day, as one who witnessed that, you know how important this act was to folks back then and how the legacy of discrimination still obtains in our present provisions today.

When you see our State legislature in Louisiana every year pass election laws that are discriminatory, that meet objections by the Justice Department, you know the need for this act continues.

As we just saw with Hurricane Katrina, so many of our people, displaced back home, who struggled to get back and to have their right to vote expressed and who met objection at almost every corner of that being done, you know the need for this act continues.

So I urge my colleagues to vote to support this act, without amendments, and get it passed now because the struggle does continue.

Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding.

Mr. Chairman, this bill is not about alternative fuels or about the environment or about any of the things we are hearing about here today. It is about the price of natural gas and getting it down in our country. It is about fairness to the coastal States that are now providing so much of the resources for this country that are not getting their fair share of the resources back. It is about inclusion and including folks in this industry who are not yet included and have not had the trading to be included or the education to be included.

Right now, natural gas prices are $12.68 per million btu, $4.85 in China, $1.21 in Iran and 95 cents in Russia. We cannot compete with those prices. This high natural gas price is devastating our industries; and, therefore, we are losing jobs across the country in manufacturing and in the petrochemical industry in my State and around the country.

Eighty-five percent of the Outer Continental Shelf is off limits for natural gas production. That is wrong.

Louisiana is America's energy corridor. Approximately 34 percent of the Nation's natural gas supply and almost 30 percent of the Nation's crude oil comes through our State. We need to have the right kind of support to continue providing this help to our country.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the latest supplemental appropriation for hurricane relief.

We cannot move forward with rebuilding our city unless we are sure that such a disaster cannot happen again. For this reason, we must ensure the integrity of our flood control and hurricane protection system, which so disastrously failed during Katrina last year. To date, the Corps of Engineers has been directly appropriated a total of $3.3 billion. This amount not only funds the reconstruction of flood control projects that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina, but also the restoration of these projects to their design specifications of Category Three protection, which had lapsed over the course of time. Over $500 million of this total will go to the construction of previously authorized new projects. The current supplemental provides $3.7 billion, which more than doubles the amount previously given to the Corps. This funding will help to ensure that the city is protected against future storms of Katrina's magnitude.

Our long-term goals for rebuilding and improving the community can only be achieved with significant support from the Federal government. The Community Development Block Grant program has been used with great success in the past when confronting disaster-stricken areas and has proven to be an invaluable tool for recovery. A total of $11.5 billion went to the five states impacted by last year's storms, of which Louisiana received $6.2 billion. The flexibility of this program provides our local government officials with the resources they need to aid businesses and provide services to residents. Over 220,000 homes were damaged as a result of this storm and are in continuing need for relief. In this bill, an additional $5.2 billion in overall CDBG funds is allocated. $4.3 billion tent to fund Louisiana's ``Road Home'' project enabling our citizens to return to their homes and begin rebuilding their lives. This funding is a welcome addition to the recovery efforts and will assist all those affected by the storms in a very real and profound manner.

This bill provides $285 million for hurricane-related education programs. Funding will focus on direct assistance to displaced elementary and secondary school students, a group that is perhaps the most helpless of all the hurricane's victims. Previously, $1.6 billion was provided in the last supplemental to aid the devastated educational system not only in New Orleans, but in I the entire Gulf South. The relocation of much our city's population into other areas has placed a strain on school systems across the country. This funding bolstered the school systems that were kind enough to take in large numbers of displaced students.

Department of Defense personnel, along with the Coast Guard and other Homeland Security agencies, performed much of the heroic search and rescue operations that saved the lives of thousands of citizens. Because of their sacrifices and hardships, and our appreciation for those actions, we are assuring that their needs will be met. DoD received $4.4 billion in previous supplemental appropriations, covering their storm-related activities as well as repairs to damaged facilities and equipment. This bill gives them an additional $1.5 billion to ensure the presence of the Armed Services in the Gulf South.

The medical community in New Orleans has been decimated by the effects of Hurricane Katrina. The capacity of hospitals in the city is down to less than a thousand beds, a reduction of over 75 percent from its capacity prior to the storm. Today's supplemental provides $550 million for a new VA Hospital in New Orleans. Not only will this assure that New Orleans remains a viable outlet for the health needs of veterans across the Gulf coast states, but it will also serve as a valuable training outlet in conjunction with the Tulane and LSD medical centers. Together with the $550 million previously allocated to the Social Services Block Grant program, the healthcare infrastructure of the city is well on its way back to full strength.

Mr. Speaker, the challenges we face in rebuilding our community demand a great deal of attention. This supplemental appropriation is a welcome addition to the recovery process and an indication that we in Congress are committed to helping those affected in New Orleans and in all other hurricane-affected areas.

But Mr. Speaker before I close I would be remiss if I did not remind my colleagues the challenges remaining after Katrina are still daunting. Moreover there is one aspect in terms of our recovery and rebuilding that has not been addressed fully by this Congress and that is healthcare in New Orleans. According to a recent issue of U.S. News & World Report, the New Orleans area is now home to one million people, just under the pre-Katrina population of 1.3 million. But the healthcare resources necessary to adequately serve that level of population have not returned: only half of the previous 4,000 hospital beds are available; there is no Level I trauma center; there are 34 nursing homes, down from 63; and 19 clinics, down from 90.

The area's only certified Level I trauma unit is still closed (the 35-bed, limited trauma unit opened recently cannot provide full Level I trauma services), and the number of staffed hospital beds in the City of New Orleans was estimated to be about 80 percent less in February 2006 than before Hurricane Katrina. Moreover, to date, many patients are still getting primary care and rudimentary emergency services provided in tents that have now been set up by Charity Hospital in an old department store.

Mr. Speaker we cannot allow for New Orleans's healthcare system to die-on-a-vine. For as the statement goes: ``Justice delayed is Justice denied.'' Healthcare delayed is healthcare denied. Thus, Mr. Speaker I implore my colleagues on the relevant committees to hold hearings and investigate the problems we are facing. Furthermore, I ask that Congress consider one more legislative package that would focus solely on rebuilding our health care system and the associated social services.