Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, on the Legislative Day of June 21, 2012, upon request of a leave of absence, a series of votes were held. Had I been present for these rollcall votes, I would have voted ``no'' on rollcall 392--the Hastings (WA) Manager's Amendment; ``yes'' on rollcall 393--the Waxman Amendment; ``yes'' on rollcall 394--the Connolly Amendment; ``yes'' on rollcall 395--the Gene Green Amendment; ``yes'' on rollcall 396--the Rush Amendment; ``yes'' on rollcall 397-- the Holt Amendment; ``yes'' on rollcall 398--the Connolly/Lewis (GA) Amendment; ``no'' on rollcall 399--the Amodei Amendment; ``yes'' on rollcall 400--the Markey Amendment; ``no'' on rollcall 401--the Landry Amendment; ``no'' on rollcall 402--the Rigell Amendment; ``yes'' on rollcall 403--the Holt Amendment; ``no'' on rollcall 404--the Wittman/ Rigell Amendment; ``yes'' on rollcall 405--the Bass (CA) Amendment; ``yes'' on rollcall 406--the Capps Amendment; ``yes'' on

rollcall 407--Speier Amendment; ``yes'' on rollcall 408--the DeLauro/ Markey/Frank Amendment; ``yes'' on rollcall 409--the Motion to Recommit on H.R. 4480; ``no'' on rollcall 410--Final Passage of H.R. 4480; and ``no'' on rollcall 411--Motion to Instruct Conferees on H.R. 4348.

Mr. Speaker, yesterday I voted against H.R. 3541, the Prenata Nondiscrimination Act. I am proud that as a body we rejected the measure, and relieved that we exposed the true intent of what would have been a disastrous law. The

title of the measure was a misnomer. The proposed law did not seek to fight sex-based discrimination in our society, but was rather designed to cut down the personal rights of women.

Let me be clear, I am opposed to sex-selection abortion based on gender. However, the legislation voted upon yesterday was overbroad and dangerous. It proposed harsh sentences for doctors and individuals that strive to provide support to a woman as she makes difficult decisions concerning her personal health. It threatened the sanctity of doctor- patient confidentiality, and would have created an environment that allowed hearsay to be used as a weapon to impose Federal regulation on a purely personal matter.

Let's see this bill for what it truly was. It was yet another attempt to undermine a woman's right to choose. It was an insidious attack on personal rights. We have fought hard for our rights as women, and I will never stand by idly as some in Congress try to destroy something women like me hold so dear! If this Congress was serious about taking up issues of discrimination it would have wasted its time on this bill. We should be using our precious time here to discuss is our unequal education system, our disproportionate access to capital, or the lack of basic medical care that 47 million Americans deal with daily. Apparently, some of us believe that discrimination only exists in the womb. This type of hypocrisy and two handed policy-making must stop, and I suggest proponents of the bill examine whether or not the measure goes along with the ideals of limited government that are supposed to drive their agenda.

I am glad that we defeated the Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act, and promise that I will fight to strike down any other measure of the same nature in the future.

Mr. Chair, yesterday, the House of Representatives took a vote on H. AMDT. 1159 to H.R. 5854, the Military Construction/VA Appropriations Bill. I voted in support of this amendment because it strikes the anti-project labor agreement language within section 517 of this bill.

This amendment was pro-labor and will keep Project Labor Agreements from being eliminated within the bill. Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) have been essential and successful tools used by both governments and private sector companies for years. They help not only employees, but also employers. PLAs have been used since the 1930s in the U.S. and studies show they not only promote fair labor practices, but also are cost-effective.

For these reasons, I voted to protect PLAs because we, in Congress, need to stand strong in our fight for fair labor practices and in protecting policies that prove to be successful.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to support of National Foster Care Month, which is observed in May to increase awareness of the challenges faced by children in the foster care system. Yesterday, I participated in Congressional Shadow Day for Foster Youth and had the pleasure of being shadowed by Dontysha Torry of Washington, DC. Dontysha shares the experience of over 400,000 children in America who are a part of our Nation's child foster care system. I would also like to urge my colleagues to not lose sight of the challenges facing thousands of children who find themselves in the foster care system. These 400,000 children are our children, and the responsibility for their successful development into adulthood remains our responsibility. This is why foster care polices should be shaped, or reconsidered with the aim of: 1) increasing the amount of eligible parents willing to adopt; 2) minimizing traumatic changes in a child's educational career and developmental process; 3) curbing the risk of homelessness in early adulthood; 4) and addressing the serious realities of sexual abuse.

I would be remiss if I did not also mention the importance of remaining mindful of the impact foster care policy has on underprivileged communities. African-Americans, who make up approximately 60 percent of my constituents in Brooklyn, but approximately 12 percent of the larger U.S. population, make up a staggering 27 percent of children who enter foster care. Unfortunately, African-Americans are more likely to remain in the foster care system longer and in many instances will never be permanently placed.

Finally, we all know that often quoted proverb ``it takes a village to raise a child.'' Similar to villages, which comprise of a number of different community members that serve different purposes, the community established to support foster care children should also be a diverse one. The success of a child is dependent on the influence of a number of persons including: those willing to adopt; those willing to serve as court appointed special advocates; and those willing to serve as tutors and higher education counselors. Let us all encourage our community members to get involved regardless of how minor one may assume their role to be. We can hardly imagine the impact a small deed may have on a child.

As National Foster Care Month comes to an end, I urge all of my colleagues to join the Foster Youth Caucus and support initiatives and legislation that brings to issue what foster youth face in the nation to light.

I thank the gentlelady.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to submit my remarks in opposition to a Republican bill that weakens protections for violence against women and in support of the bipartisan Senate bill.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in vehement opposition to H.R. 4970, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2012 (VAWA). This egregious bill is another example of this Republican-led Congress waging political warfare on women.

H.R. 4970 would roll back years of progress and bipartisan commitment on the part of Congress to protect vulnerable immigrant victims of domestic violence, stalking, sex crimes, other serious crimes, and trafficking. Choosing one type of victim over the other.

Mr. Speaker, this will greatly impact areas with heavy concentrations of immigrants, which includes my district and other residents of New York City. Historically, NYC has been the beacon of immigration. Many in Congress, including Republicans, can trace their ancestry back to the immigrant population of NYC.

These new punitive measures within H.R. 4970 that hinder abused immigrants' ability to seek justice against their abusers, are a grave set of circumstances that will have future implications on the safety and security of our country.

It will jeopardize community relations with law enforcement, force those on a pathway to permanent residency or citizenship into the shadows, and threaten the moral fabric that binds civil society.

As the majority continues to pride itself as being the defenders of small government, fiscal responsibility, and moral authority, I am appalled at how almost every action taken in this 112th Congress has been to the contrary of their platform.

Mr. Speaker, I feel like I'm in that movie Groundhog Day, every day it is the same attacks over and over again. Are we running out of options? Are we so scared of tackling the real issues in this country like job creation, that we will continue to debate the same egregious legislative measures that curtail the rights and freedoms of women and cut off access to it for immigrants?

Mr. Speaker, it makes no sense that a nation of immigrants, built on the backs of immigrants, would not provide protection to immigrants.

Announcement By the Speaker Pro Tempore

Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Madam Chair, I rise today in support of additional funding for the Minority Business Development Agency. An offset for this amendment is by $5.3 million from the $79 million increase to the National Institute for Standards and Technology.

Madam Chair, minority firms currently provide 5.8 million people with employment, and we know that they have the untapped potential to create even more. That's why, Madam Chair, Ms. Chu of California, Mr. Cohen of Tennessee, who are cosponsors of this amendment, and myself, along with 33 of our colleagues, sent a letter to the CJS Subcommittee in March seeking MBDA funding levels at $34 million, in direct response to the then-planned closure of the MBDA regional offices and to expand MBDA's network of business centers.

In 2010, MBDA secured $1.6 billion in contracts and $2.2 billion in financing for minority firms. That same year, they realized a 125 percent return on their investment.

Our Nation's economy will not and cannot fully recover until all small businesses are active participants in a robust recovery. The MBDA's mission of supporting minority businesses is absolutely fundamental to the overall recovery of the economy.

Madam Chair, I yield at this time to my colleague, the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cohen).

I thank the gentleman for his remarks, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Offered By: Ms. Clarke of New York

Amendment No. 17: Page 6, line 18, after the dollar amount,

insert ``(increased by $5,311,000)''.

Page 11, line 11, after the dollar amount, insert

``(reduced by $5,311,000)''.

I thank the gentlelady for yielding. Today, the House passed H.R. 4628, the Interest Rate Reduction Act, or, as I like to refer to it, the ``take from the poor--give to the poor not in our interest act.''

This Republican-led bill will prevent the student loan interest rate from doubling to 6.8 percent, but in doing so would effectively gut the prevention and public health trust fund, a key component of the Affordable Care Act. When my Republican colleagues finally acknowledged the need to prevent student loan interest rates from rising on July 1, I had a glimmer of hope, hope that somewhere in their hearts remained some small bit of compassion for their fellow Americans. But I was quickly slapped back into reality when I saw that the Republicans intended to pay for this bill, as they usually do, on the backs of middle class families and the poor.

The prevention and public health trust fund was created to ensure adequate funding for preventive health initiatives. These initiatives help to improve the health of poor and middle class families and, by improving health, also help to lower health care costs.

Initiatives supported by this fund are successful because they are community-based, and as such, are uniquely tailored to the needs of targeted communities. Already, there are several key initiatives supported by the fund that benefit Americans. Two of the initiatives which directly benefit the 11th Congressional District of New York are the Chronic Disease Prevention Act, which enables communities to use evidence-based intervention to reduce chronic conditions and prevent heart attacks, diabetes, strokes, and other conditions; and the HIV/ AIDS Prevention Act, which focuses on HIV prevention in high-risk populations and communities by increasing HIV testing opportunities, linking HIV positive persons with needed services and filling critical gaps in data collection.

To eliminate funding for programs that improve the health and lives of millions of Americans and lower health care costs is not prudent, which is why this ill-conceived bill is the wrong way to address this crisis. Luckily, there are two ways that this crisis can be averted. Specifically, I ask that Speaker Boehner bring to the floor either H.R. 3826, a bill introduced by my friend and colleague, Representative Joe Courtney, or H.R. 4816, a bill introduced by another of my Democratic colleagues, John Tierney.

While both bills will prevent an increase in the student loan interest rate, H.R. 4816 would also pay for this by decreasing the amount of subsidies given to Big Oil companies. So, as opposed to paying for this interest rate freeze on the backs of the middle class and the poor, the Democratic-sponsored H.R. 4816 would require that Big Oil companies pay their fair share.

So in closing, I'm issuing a call to action to all students, postgraduates, and their families: pick up the phone, email, tweet and send a Facebook message and demand that he immediately either bring H.R. 3826 or H.R. 4816 to the floor for a vote.

So, my colleagues, we have a challenge ahead of us: Do we take from the poor to give to the poor, or do we do what is right by the American people? And that is, to make sure that our students' interest rates do not increase and that we meet the demands for health care in our civil society.

Mr. Speaker, on April 25, 2012, the United States Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in United States v. Arizona, a case that could determine whether, through the guise of immigration enforcement, states can once again legally sanction discriminatory practices. Sixty-eight Members of Congress, including myself, have filed a brief to inform the Supreme Court that we believe that Arizona, through SB 1070, has unconstitutionally stepped upon exclusively federal domain. I stand before you today to explain why many of the leading Members of this Chamber have decided to take a stand against this law.

Arizona's SB 1070, like other state laws inspired by SB 1070, opens the gates for legally sanctioned racial profiling. If allowed to go into effect, Arizonans who look or sound ``foreign'' could be asked for their papers at any given moment--and punished for failing to produce them. We don't want to become a country where an accent or a skin tone could make you a suspect.

Our Framers gave Congress exclusive domain over immigration policy. Immigration policy, like foreign policy, must remain in federal hands. They understood that the United States needed a single immigration policy, because a patchwork of 50 immigration laws would create a logistical nightmare for U.S. citizens and immigrants alike. A family from Brooklyn, for example, shouldn't have to bring passports to visit the Grand Canyon, but that's what would be needed if a law like SB 1070 were allowed to go into effect.

Our Constitution guarantees that all people--no matter where they were born or what color of skin--have the same basic rights. These rights cannot be allowed to be threatened by a law like SB 1070, which, if allowed to go into effect, would undoubtedly lead to irreparable violations of these constitutional rights for anyone who appears to be ``foreign.'' These ``show me your papers'' laws allow extremist legislators like those in Arizona and Alabama to turn back the clock on some of our hardest won and most important civil rights.

State-based immigration policy won't fix our federal immigration system. I call upon my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to put aside partisan rhetoric and work together on creating a federal immigration policy that puts our family, economy, and country first. We must create an immigration system that reflects our values and moves us forward together.

It is up to the Supreme Court to ensure that all Americans, no matter their appearance, are

treated equally. Failing to preserve these constitutional protections would undermine our values of liberty and justice for all.

I thank my colleague, Barbara Lee.

Madam Speaker, today I'm here to pay tribute to a quintessential public servant, a person who tirelessly fought on behalf of his constituents of the 10th Congressional District of New Jersey, and for all Americans of all backgrounds across this Nation. Today I pay tribute and celebrate the life of our beloved colleague, Congressman Donald Payne.

Donald made history as the first African American in New Jersey to be elected to Congress. He served as the former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and was recent chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, where I really saw him go to work on behalf of the people across this Nation.

Along with many others, I consider Representative Payne not just an accomplished colleague, but a role model and a dear friend. He was a relentless and iconic advocate for the continent of Africa, the African diaspora, as well as the Caribbean region. He spoke out boldly against genocide in Darfur and Rwanda, and fought alongside the Congressional Black Caucus to help Haiti recover from the devastating earthquake that struck the nation in 2010.

Congressman Payne was a representative of Newark, but his leadership was global. We are grateful for his world view. We will never forget his passion, zeal, and commitment to improve the United States diplomatic relations around the world.

I count myself fortunate to have established a real bond with Congressman Payne. He shared with me his quick wit, and we shared a lot of laughs together. We often joked about who was tougher, Newark or Brooklyn. And he was also very skilled on the dance floor. I had an opportunity to trip the world fantastic with Mr. Payne.

And so, I extend my condolences to his son, Councilman Donald Payne, Jr.; to his very devoted brother; his daughters Nicole and Wanda; his grandchildren; great grandchildren; his close friends; his devoted staff; and the people of the 10th Congressional District of New Jersey.

Know that he has left us a great legacy, building blocks, if you will, for future generations of leaders. We will continue to celebrate the contributions of this great statesman. The stars in the heavens will twinkle just a bit brighter as Congressman Donald Payne makes his transition to be with our Creator in heaven.

Thank you, Congressman, for all your commitment and sacrifice for the betterment of our global community.

Mr. Speaker, I was unavoidably detained in my district and missed the vote on Monday, March 5, 2012. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall No. 95, H.R. 3637, the ``Roy Schallern Rood Post Office Building.''

Madam Speaker, the American people's patience is wearing thin. A majority of the American people believe that jobs should be the number one priority of the 112th Congress. However, over a year has passed since the Republican majority took control of the people's House, and we have still not passed a single significant jobs bill.

To avoid any confusion, let's discuss what a jobs bill is not. A jobs bill is not a tax cut for the multimillionaires and billionaires. A jobs bill is not protecting subsidies for corporations that ship jobs overseas. And a jobs bill is not, Madam Speaker, dismissing out of hand the President's plan for reviving American manufacturing and creating a stronger and a more skilled workforce.

As our economy continues to recover from the recent economic downturn, it is past time for the Republican majority to work with the President and get our Nation back to work.

Madam Speaker, today we find ourselves in the unfortunate and familiar position of running out the clock on the American people.

The Republican majority seems to have no problem moving Heaven and Earth to preserve tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. However, they seem content to allow taxes to rise for the working poor and middle class. The majority's orthodoxy that tax cuts solve every problem seems not to extend to those that need it the most. This tax hypocrisy has not gone unnoticed by the American people.

Madam Speaker, the 112th Congress has not passed one job-creating bill in the face of this stubbornly high unemployment. And instead of addressing the jobs crisis, they are continuing their assault on the unemployed by threatening to cut off aid to those who would rather have a job in the first place.

I urge the majority to put aside election-year politics and pass a long-term payroll tax extension and extend unemployment benefits, especially in light of their failure to address the need for more job opportunity.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Prostate Cancer Awareness Observance Day, as recognized by the Brown Byrd Prostate Cancer Foundation in my district and numerous organizations and municipalities.

Affecting 1 in 6 men, prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed non-skin cancer and the second cause of cancer-related deaths among males. A new case occurs every 2.7 minutes, and is the cause of death of an afflicted individual every 19 minutes. Though for reasons yet to be discovered, prostate cancer is especially prevalent within the African American community, which makes awareness of this disease especially important within communities like my Borough of Brooklyn, New York.

Despite these disparaging statistics, many forms of prostate cancer are readily treatable, and with increased early detection and treatment, current trends can be reversed. Education regarding prostate cancer and early detection strategies is crucial to saving lives and preserving our families; 200,000 men will be diagnosed and over 75,000 men will die from prostate cancer annually. At any age, deaths due to prostate cancer devastate families through loss of income, partnership, and support.

In recognition of this disease and the large number of families and communities it afflicts, I stand with those today that recognize February 2, 2012, as a day to remember those who lost the battle against prostate cancer, and to pray for the families and friends that have dealt with such a tragedy. As a community, we also remember those living with prostate cancer, celebrate the lives of survivors, and thank all the prostate cancer organizations and medical professionals throughout the entire country who aid in victories against this insidious disease.

One such organization I would like to recognize today is the Brown Byrd Prostate Cancer Foundation. Started by two young individuals in my own district, Kevin Byrd and Blossom Brown to honor their grandfathers who were both lost to prostate cancer, the foundation has done a good deal of work within New York and nationally to bring attention to Prostate Cancer and methods to combat its continued threat to the wellbeing of our communities. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and may we all offer up our prayers today to every individual that has been affected by prostate cancer.

Mr. Speaker, what has happened today would be comical if it weren't so damaging to our nation's middle-class.

Mr. Speaker, the American People need to know the facts:

The fact is, Mr. Speaker is that this body passed a tax cut bill that they knew would not make it through the other body

The fact is, Mr. Speaker, that the other body, in about as bipartisan a manner as this 112th Congress has ever seen, voted overwhelmingly to pass a two month extension of the payroll tax cut so that taxes would not go up for millions of Americans on the 1st of January.

The fact is, instead of passing this common-sense legislation which would have bought time for a comprehensive full year extension of the payroll tax cut to be negotiated, the GOP-led House would not allow a vote.

Mr. Speaker, the Majority has instead decided to kill the payroll tax cut altogether and not buy Congress time for a comprehensive deal.

Mr. Speaker, I hope that when it's time to let tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires to expire, the Republicans will show the same callous disregard they have shown our nations struggling middle- class.