House Proceeding 04-23-09 on Apr 23rd, 2009 :: 0:01:20 to 0:20:00
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direction of the committee on financial services, i send to the desk a privileged report for filing under the rule. the speaker pro tempore: the clerk will report the title. the clerk: report to accompany house resolution 251, directing the secretary of the treasury to transmit to the house of representatives all information in its possession relating to specific communications with

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Bart Gordon: american international group, ink, a.i.g. the speaker pro tempore: referred to the house calendar and ordered printed. for what purpose does the gentleman from tennessee sflies mr. gordon: mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that the clerk be authorized to make technical corrections in the engrossment of h.r. 1145, including corrections in spelling, punctuation, section and title

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Speech By: Bart Gordon

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Bart Gordon: numbering, cross-referencing conforming amendments to the title and insertion of appropriate headings. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. pursuant to clause 8 of rule 20, proceedings will resume on the following motion to suspend the1g rules previously postponed. the unfinished business is the

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Bart Gordon: question on suspending the rules and agreeing to h.res. 247 which the clerk will report by title. the clerk: house resolution 247,

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resolution expressing support 2009, as national rehabilitation counselors appreciation day. the speaker pro tempore: the question is will the house suspend the rules and agree to thresolution. so many as are in favor say aye. those opposed, no. in the opinion of the chair, 2/3 having responded in the affirmative, the rules are

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Jesse L. Jr.Jackson: suspended, the resol agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid on the table. the chair will entertain requests for one-minute speeches. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from texas rise? ms. jackson lee: to address the

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Speech By: Jesse L. Jr.Jackson

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Jesse L. Jr.Jackson: house for one minute and to re the speaker pro tempore: without objection. ms. jackson lee: i thank the speaker very much. today i rise to add my support to h.r. 1145, a bill that we just discussed on the floor of the house that requires the president to establish an agency that addresses the question of the increasing lack of water resources in t

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Jesse L. Jr.Jackson: of america. in the recognition of earth day that occurred yesterday where we're looking to green our country and green this earth we also must ensure that we have the water that is necessary for this nation. i will introduce a water bill that w consideration the lack of water around the world.

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Jesse L. Jr.Jackson: i am also very much appreciative of the language in the bill that looks at questions of areas that have had disasters such as my area in houston and homes that have suffered from floodings such as the white oak area in houston. this is a good step.

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Anh Cao: we need an expanded water bill need to pay tribute to the concept of greening this earth. it's green resources to make this a better place for all of us to live. i yield back. thank you. the gentlelady yields back. the gentleman from louisiana. without objection, the gentleman

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Speech By: Anh Cao

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Anh Cao: is recognizefor one minute. mrcao: madam speaker, i come before the house today to express the views of a freshman congressman whose knowledge and experience of the workings of capitol hill have span a little more than three months. while i am grateful honored to be a member of this governing

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Anh Cao: body and cherish the friendship and support i have received from my colleagues, i would like to use this forum to express a concern. how we operate as a governing body. aristotle said virtue is the meaning of two extremes. this definition of virtue of state of character was

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Anh Cao: appropriate over 2,000 years ago and it continues to be true today. >> mr. speaker, the house is not in order. the speaker pro tempore:ill the house please come to order? mr. cow: properly exercised is to -- mr. cao: properly exercised is to act in the appropriate way in an appropriate degree.

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Anh Cao: i believe that we as members of congress must govern from a political spectrum that resonates the mean and not the two extremes. what are these two extremes? the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. mr. cao: may i ask for extension, please? the speaker pro tempore: the chair will allow the gentleman to finish his thought.

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Anh Cao: mr. cao: thank you. left-wing liberalism simply focuses on the immediate with little -- the burdens of future generations and right-wing conservatism whose rhetoric seeks to inflame rather than inform and -- rather than inform. the future of america is too important for this body to be

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Anh Cao: embattled and impeded by radical ideologies and pol the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. gohmert: to address the house for one minute.

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Anh Cao: the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one mr. gohmert: thank you, madam speaker. and i would yield my minute to my friend from louisiana. mr. cao: thank you very much. we must remember who we represent as members of congress. the average american whose language does not reflect the extremes but who simply ask how

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Anh Cao: will i pay my bills, how can i raise my children to be successful and mal citizens and how can i worship and express freely my religious faith? our public policy today, depending on who is in power, tends to reflect limited political agenda, which gets the country in trouble in one manner

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Anh Cao: or another. while history is our mentor, we must look at the state of our nation today and address our share -- our share of problems through the cumulative knowledge we have acquired as we continue to progress and to evolve as a nation. neither liberals nor conservatives can relive their

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Anh Cao: past. we as a governing body must use alof our knowledge and tools that we have to address the

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Sam Farr: problems of a dynamic and evolving national or global society in the appropriate way and to the appropriate degree. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. the gentleman fr california, for what purpose does the gentleman from california rise? >> to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is

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Speech By: Sam Farr

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Sam Farr: recognized for one minute. >> thank you very much, madam speaker. i rise today -- last april 17, marked the 13th annual national day of silence, day where students throughout the country follow in the footsteps of the great civil rights advocates like gandhi and spend

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Sam Farr: the day in civil disobedience. these students one day to bring attention to and to highlight the discrimination some of their peers endure by speaking out about sexual orientation and their personal gender identity. when asked to explain why they will participate in a national day of silence, some of the young people in my district said, we stand up and stand out

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Sam Farr: by not speaking out on that day. the day of silence is the day to acknowledge the roads already traveled and the ones soon to be traveled, to show how far we have come and how much further we have to go. the day of silen brings attention to the oppression that queer youths face from their peers and their classrooms and

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Sam Farr: is a reminder that we have still much work to do. i commend all my constituents whobserve the day of silence through nationally observed day of silence has past this year, i would ask my colleagues to take a moment of silence today to look what we can do to make their lives better, to make their schools safer and to end

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Sam Farr: discrimination. thank you. . the speaker pro tempore: are there any further one-minute requests?

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Sam Farr: the chair lays before the house

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the following personal request. the clerk: leaves of absence requested for mr. jackson of of kansas for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the request granted. for what purpose does the gentleman from texas rise? mr. poe: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders

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heretofore entered into, the following members may be permitted to address the house this house, revise and extend their comments, and include therein extraneous material. mr. souder for today. mr. neugebauer for today. ms. ros-lehtinen for april 27. mr. dent for today. mr. poe on april 30. mr. jones, april 30. mr. burton, april 27, 28, 29,

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and and mr. gohmert for today. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from california rise? ms. woolsey: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that when the house adjourns today it adjourn to meet at 12:30 p.m. monday next for morning hour debate. the eaker pro tempore: without objection.

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ms. woolsey: madam speaker, i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into, the following members may be permitted to address the house for five minutes, revise and extend their remarks, and includtherein extraneous material. ms. wosey, california. mr. defazio, oregon. mr. yarmuth, kentucky. mr. murphy, connecticut.

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Lynn C. Woolsey: mr. schiff,alifornia. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. the speaker pro tempore: under the speaker's announced policy of january 6, 2009, and under a previous order of the house, the following members are recognized

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Speech By: Lynn C. Woolsey

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Lynn C. Woolsey: for five minutes each. ms. ms. woolsey: madam speaker, i applaud the owe bomba administration for -- owe bam administration for focusing on the human face -- obama administration for focusing on the human face of afghanistan policy. rather than going on military might alone, the administration

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Lynn C. Woolsey: is supporting an expansion of the surge of diplomats, of development officials, of humanitarian needs, and experts. the economic policy and social needs are great in afghani a recent report released by women for women international found a bleak and frightening

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Lynn C. Woolsey: picture for life in afghanistan. according to reports, madam speaker, 80% of afghan women are affected by domestic violence. over 60% of marriages are forced. and half of all girls are married before the age of 16. despite this focus on the needs of women and girls in afghanistan, the situation

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Lynn C. Woolsey: remains grim. like many women in conflict, the drive for security and stability remains strong among the women in afghanistan. despite the fact that afghan women are more likely to be impoverished, uneducated, and excluded from health service than men, polls indicate that afghan women are optimistic

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Lynn C. Woolsey: about their future. like women everywhere, they want to play a role in decisionmaking at every single level of society. through the recent poll by women for women international, the voice of the afghan woman can be heard. when aed what the biggest problem is that face -- that

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Lynn C. Woolsey: they face in daily life, the top response was lack of important commodities. again, it's the basics. food and supplies that afghan women want for their families. when asked what the government security and peace first.

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Lynn C. Woolsey: when asked what were the biggest health care and education problems, women overwhelmingly pointed to insufficient sources and funding. it's clear thathe mothers, madam speaker, in afghanistan want all that mothers want around the world. to provide for the basic needs of their families.

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Lynn C. Woolsey: they want their children to be well. they want their children to be well-fed, well safe. while i remain concerned about the increase in our military presence, i am hopeful that the administration's diplomatic surge can help the people of afghanistan, particularly the women. along with our international

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Lynn C. Woolsey: partners, we must work to address the pressing immediate needs of all afghanis. madam speaker, the use of smart power in the place of military force will send a clear message that the united states promotes

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Ted Poe: diplomacy and humanitarian relief over war. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady yields back. mr. poe from texas. mr. poe:er madam speaker, request permission to address the hous

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Speech By: Ted Poe

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Ted Poe: the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for five minutes. mr. poe: madam speaker, it does us well to remember our america history. over 145 years ago this country was engaged in a great civil war.

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Ted Poe: from the north and from the south. and during that war between the states, several battles took place not far from this capitol. one took place over in orange county, virginia. called the battle of the wilderness. it was the sixth highest number of casualties on bo sides during that conflict.

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Ted Poe: just to put it in perspective it occurred may 5 through may 7 in 1864. 145 years ago. there were 160,000 troops involved in that battle. 100,000 from the north, from the south. that's the number of troops today we have in all of iraq and

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Ted Poe: all of afghanistan put together. during that three-day battle, 29,000 casualties. 18,000 from the union, 8,000 from the confederates. the battle was so fierce, madam speaker, that in the wilderness, the woods, where this battle took place during that three days, it was so heated literally

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Ted Poe: that the woods caught on fire and many soldiers from the north and from the south that we sounded burned to death. two of the states had the highest casualties one in the north and one in the south. the highest in the north was from vermont. the vermonters sustained 78% casualties.

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Ted Poe: and the south, the texas brigade, sustained over 60% casualties. on the first day of the battle, the union troops were able to move the southern troops back. the second day, general rober e. lee sent the texas troops in the middle and he said the texans always move them. be that as it may, the casualties were high on both sides.

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Ted Poe: and i bring this attention to the house today and to you, madam speaker, because all of these casualties, all of these troops that engaged in that battle were americans. and we should not forget that. and that is why we have the battle of the wilderness battlefield today. about 900,000 americans a year go to this battlefield in orange county, virginia.

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Ted Poe: now we have a problem. the corporation called wal-mart wants to build a wal-mart on this sacred hallowed ground. i have a map of the wilderness battlefield. it's outlined here. you see right up northeastern portion where this x is, that's where wal-mart wants to profit from these

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Ted Poe: 900,000 people coming into orange county every year. they have the legal right. the county fathers have said they can build in this location. but we would hope that wal-mart would change their mind. i say we because myself and mr. welch, the good man from vermont, have written wal-mart and we have asked them to do the

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Ted Poe: right thingnd locate this wal-mart three miles away from the battlefield. madam speaker, i'm not sure what wal-mart's intentions are, but i can tell you their corporate model down in texas. they build a wal-mart, they build it from property line to property line, they lay that asphalt, build one of those beautiful stores, and a few years later, they abandon that

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Ted Poe: property and move down the road and build another wal-mart. i don't know if that's their plan here or not. be that as it may they should not build this wal-mart in this location. we have written wal-mart. we have received no written response from them. military historians from all over the world have asked wal-mart, don't build on this

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Ted Poe: battlefield because that's a part of american history. so far they continue to deal with this and say they are going to. i support property rights. i support the idea of a no question about it. they now have the legal right to move here. now they need to make the american decision to do what's best for america and not what's

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Ted Poe: best for this corporation. madam speaker, this land like other battlefields in our country, are consecrated with the blood?? of americans. 29,000, many are still buried there and known only to god. and we owe them the right to keep this battlefield preserved