Gary Ackerman

Mr. ACKERMAN

Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ACKERMAN. I yield to the gentleman from Michigan.

Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, I appreciate the gentleman's sentiments and how articulately he presents them. We have a great deal of sympathy with what he is trying to accomplish, and one of the things the industry is trying to accomplish is to squeeze every nickel out of every head of cattle regardless of whether it is ambulatory, nonambulatory or anything else. There should be a disincentive for people bringing animals that are sick or diseased or nonambulatory to the market for the sake of making a couple of dollars on \1/2\ of 1 percent of the entire cattle industry in America. The fact that we do 40 times more testing and a better job than the average in the world, I am not impressed by that argument that we do better than places like Saudi Arabia and the Sudan and other places which bolster our numbers in how good we are. Take a look at Canada. They do 40 percent better than the rest of the world, also. It took one mad cow who was a downed animal to shut down the entire industry. The industry here needs to be saved from itself. For the sake of that \1/2\ of 1 percent, they are jeopardizing their entire business. The humane aspect of this, I do not want to hold these pictures up continuously for the rest of this debate nor shall I, but the point is, the pictures are troubling. They are disturbing. Nobody likes to look at that. But if we think we go to the supermarket and buy some chopped meat and our own hamburger out of meat that McDonald's would not touch, out of meat that Wendy's would not touch, out of meat that Burger King would have no part of, out of meat that the USDA says, my goodness, keep this off the plates and tables of our schoolchildren as they have their lunches, it is unfair, it is unsafe, that the industry would say let us sneak this in and have these animals be put up for sale for the unsuspecting American public. According to a Zogby poll, four out of every five Americans has said they would not touch this meat if they knew it came from a downed animal, but they do not know that it came from a downed animal, Mr. Chairman. What we are doing here with this amendment is we are saying that the animal can be tested on the farm, it can be tested where it falls, it can be tested when it is in transit, it can be tested in the stockyards, it can be tested right up to the point of slaughter, do all the testing, make the determination, keep the statistics, but do not then put it into the food supply for the American people. Food safety demands better, and humanity to animals demands better.

Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Chairman, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur).

Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Chairman, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman should know that we do not prevent the animal from being tested anywhere, including right up to the slaughter house. We do not deny funds for the testing of the animal. We want the animals to be tested. We want to make a determination as to where the animal came from if he does test positive for mad cow disease or any other kind of disease. What we are saying is that we are going to deny funds under this amendment to those animals, such as this one here, from entering the food chain and from being consumed by my constituents or your constituents.

Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I should point out that the gentleman, who is a distinguished leader and authority in this area and someone for whom I have the greatest respect, is absolutely right. However, what we are dealing here with is an amendment that does not disrupt this process whatsoever. All of those things can and should take place from the time the animal is grazing to the time it is in the yard to the time it is being shipped and even prior to slaughter. The only thing that we prevent is the animal from being consumed by the American public. Every single one of us has constituents that eat meat. Some of us have the majority of our constituents. And the American people, 0 percent of them say they will not eat the product of a downed animal such as this.

Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Chairman, the gentleman makes a very, very important point. Unfortunately, he refers to previous legislation that the gentleman and I discussed. What we are doing here is we are not preventing the animal from getting there. We are preventing it from entering the food supply so people do not eat these crippled, diseased, pathetic animals as part of their hamburger or steak that they unwittingly buy at the supermarket. This just prevents the use of any funds from approving this animal from entering the food supply. It does not prevent the animal from being tested. It does not prevent the animal from being researched.

Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today to introduce the Ackerman-LaTourette amendment which would prohibit the USDA from expending any funds to approve meat from downed animals for human foods. This, Mr. Chairman, is a downed animal. Downed animals are livestock who collapse, often for unknown reasons. They are unable to walk, unable to stand. Animals such as these are inhumanely dragged, very often by ropes and by chains, into stockyards where they often spend days lying in their own feces. They are sometimes covered in E. coli and are at high risk for illnesses such as mad cow disease. The smart and humane businesses in this country, such as McDonald's and Wendy's and Burger King, all refuse to accept the meat of downed animals. They recognize how harmful it could be to their industry and what a looming disaster it would be to this country if mad cow disease entered our food chain. The USDA, as a matter of fact, prohibits the use of downed animals in our own school lunch programs throughout this country; and yet these downed animals such as this find their way into our food supply and are on the shelves in our supermarkets, our butcher shops, and our restaurants. If these downed animals are not safe enough and not adequate enough for the fast food restaurants or for our children in school, why are they put on America's supermarket shelves? The answer, Mr. Chairman, has nothing to do with cows. It has to do with pigs. It has to do with greed. For the sake of making a few bucks, getting us to eat a crippled cow such as this can cripple the entire industry. Less than 1 percent of all animals are downed animals, not a big dent in the industry. Mr. Chairman, just a few months ago, a mad cow was discovered across our border in Alberta, Canada. Their meat standards are almost as good as ours, and that one mad cow was a downed animal. That discovery is not a coincidence. Study after study after study shows that downed cows are much more predisposed to having mad cow disease than the general population. The USDA has conducted a study and has concluded that if mad cow disease ever did occur in the United States, it would most likely be found among downed cattle than the general cattle population. Just one infected mad cow crippled all of Canada's meat industry. We do not buy cows from Canada anymore. They are absolutely devastated. Canada should be a lesson to us. We must pass this legislation. The bipartisan amendment that the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. LaTourette) and I introduce today will improve the safety of our food supply and prevent animals such as these from entering our food chain. Last year, we passed this measure in Congress. This year, we have 115 sponsors of this legislation. It is absolutely imperative that we pass this. In the name of food safety, in the name of the humane treatment of animals, please pass the Ackerman-LaTourette amendment. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. ACKERMAN. I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio.

Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Let me respond, first to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm), my good friend, I may not be in the cattle business; but I can tell a good steak when I see one. This does not a good steak make, and that is exactly the point. And in answer to both questions to both the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm) and the distinguished gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Goodlatte), there is a greater picture that some might argue about testing anywhere along the process and euthanizing the animal prior to reaching the marketplace. That is all well and good, and we could argue those points; but that is not what this amendment is all about. This amendment does not prevent any of that from happening. This specific amendment does not touch any of the testing procedures. We want the animals tested. There are those who even have a greater picture; and they would say, let us not eat meat at all. That is not the purpose of this gentleman, and that is not the purpose of this amendment. This amendment says after you go through all of these processes and all of these wonderful things that are in place right now, why jeopardize it all for the sake of making a few bucks and jeopardize the entire cattle industry, a major American industry, for the sake of making a few bucks off a couple of crippled animals, less than .63 percent of the entire population. It makes no sense. One mad cow has closed them down in Canada. Do we want that to happen in the United States? There is a humanitarian issue here for those of us who appreciate the inhumane treatment of animals, and there is a public-safety issue. And if nothing else, for goodness sake, look at the public-safety issue and look at what happened to Canada. Granted, we do a little bit better job, we think; but one mad cow is all it will take to shut down our industry.

Mr. ACKERMAN

Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I am reminded of the old vaudeville act where the guy goes to a doctor and he says ``Doctor, Doctor it hurts when I do this. What should I do? And the doctor says, `Do not do that.' '' Every action has a reaction. And people who perpetrate violence and commit acts of violence provoke responses. I rise in strong support of the resolution. I want to commend the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), the author, for bringing it to us. The resolution brings something critical to our discussion about the future of the Israeli/Palestinian peace process, and that is moral clarity. We should be absolutely clear about this. Neither the Israeli soldier nor the American soldier who defends his nation by preemptively eliminating terrorists can with any decency be compared to the terrorist who intentionally sets out to murder innocent women and children on a bus or in a disco or in a pizzeria or in a shopping mall or in a supermarket or going to work in the Twin Towers in New York. Terrorism and the defense against terrorism are not a cycle of violence. Active defense against terrorism including strikes against terrorists and terrorist leaders and those who harbor them is a moral obligation of a free and democratic society. We do it because it is right, and Israel does it for the same reason. Tempting as it may be, peace cannot be achieved through delusion, pretending that all parties to this conflict are of equal goodwill or everyone shares the belief that the two-state solution is a recipe for failure. Hamas and Islamic jihad engage in terrorism not to create the state of Palestine, but to destroy the State of Israel. Their victims are Jews not by coincidence of citizenship, but by active design. These are not just misguided militants or eager extremists, as our newspapers might label them. They are fanatical haters, murderous zealots committed to destroying both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, driving out both Jews and Christians and building an Islamic state on the ashes. Mr. Speaker, peace may be possible; but it is not automatic. It is almost certainly impossible until these hate groups are crushed. The Palestinian Authority cannot succeed. It cannot fulfill its mandate as the single voice of the Palestinian people. It cannot perform its historic role as the agent of Palestinian statehood as long as these groups are allowed to exist. In the words of a former Israeli prime minister, we must pursue the peace process as if there were no terrorists, and we must pursue terrorists as if there were no peace process.

Mr. ACKERMAN

Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a great American and a great New Yorker, Solomon Newborn, who passed away on June 16, 2003 at the age of 86, after a life dedicated to public service, his community of Plainview, the Town of Oyster Bay, his religion, and--most importantly--his family. After growing up as the poor child of Austrian immigrants, Solomon worked his way through New York University, where he received both his Bachelor of Science in Accounting and his Master's Degree in Education. During World War II, Sol decided to enlist in the Navy. But the Navy told him that it was no longer enlisting men, so Sol, determined to serve his country and his flag, enlisted in the Army Air Corps, the forerunner of the United States Air Force. Solomon Newborn became a decorated Captain who served valiantly in flight and in uniform fighting the Nazi regime. Sol's dedication to the highest standards of his profession was always evident in his work. A Certified Public Accountant and recognized specialist in the fields of municipal auditing, Solomon was elected the Receiver of Taxes of the town of Oyster Bay in 1996, a position he held until 1983. He was also an author on taxation and municipal accounting, subjects he taught at Adelphi University and Queens College, my alma mater. Sol also understood how important it was to be a part of a community. As soon as he and his wife, Rita, moved into their home in Plainview, New York, in 1953, they began to develop the idea for the Plainview Jewish Center. Sol was not only one of the founders, but the synagogue's first president. Today, The Plainview Jewish Center continues to thrive as one of the largest synagogues on Long Island. Ironically, Sol died a full half century to the day after the first planning meeting was held in the Newborn's own living room. Solomon Newborn was the organizer of the Annual Brotherhood Conference of Plainview Service Clubs, served as Chairman of the Red Cross for Plainview and was the Senior Vice Commander of the Jewish War Veterans in Hicksville. His tireless efforts on behalf of his community and various groups have earned him the ``Man of the Year'' award from Yeshiva University and the ``Masada'' award from the United Jewish Federation. Solomon is survived by Rita--his wife of 54 years, four children and one granddaughter: Ira, Evan, Jud, Kym and Stacey. Solomon Newborn was the kind of man who led by his heart and always encouraged other public officials to be true to themselves. I ask my colleagues in the House of Representatives to please join me in honoring and thanking Solomon for his service to our nation and to extend to his family our deepest sympathies and condolences.

Mr. ACKERMAN

Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Private Jason Kleinman, of the United States Army, whose courage and valor in the face of tremendous danger saved the lives of three fellow United States soldiers during an enemy ambush outside of Baghdad on Memorial Day. Pvt. Kleinman, along with two fellow soldiers, ignored flames and exploding ammunition to pull three wounded comrades from a burning Humvee. Pvt. Kleinman, a member of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division's Task Force 270, was traveling in a convoy of Humvees when an Iraqi man tossed a home-made bomb under the wheels of the vehicle in front of his. The bomb blew the Humvee back 80 feet, igniting the gas tank as well as machine gun and anti-tank rounds inside. Without hesitation, Pvt. Kleinman, along with Pvt. Dustin Meeks and Pvt. Enrique Alvarado, dragged three soldiers from the burning Humvee despite at least 50 secondary explosions as ammunition continued to discharge inside the vehicle. Though the Humvee's gunner succumbed to his injuries, the other two soldiers have Pvts. Kleinman, Meeks and Alvarado to thank for their lives. I am proud to represent Pvt. Jason Kleinman, a nineteen year-old native of Roslyn Heights, Long Island who joined the Army last September, after graduating from Herricks High School in New Hyde Park. Jason had dreamed of joining the Army since he was a child. Now he will return home as a hero. I commend Jason Kleinman for his tremendous display of bravery in the face of mortal peril and I ask my colleagues in the House of Representatives to please join me in praise of this young man's heroic acts.

Mr. ACKERMAN

Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I love our flag and that for which it stands. It stands for a Nation founded by people fleeing from an oppressive regime. It stands for freedoms, not the least of which is the freedom of opinion and the unimpeded expression thereof, including the freedom to protest. Bear in mind, this was a Nation founded by protesters. When our Founding Fathers sought to guarantee these freedoms, they created not a flag but a Constitution, debating the meaning of each and every word, every amendment, every one of which gives people rights. They did not debate a flag. The flag would become a symbol of these rights. There are those who would have fewer rights. Why? What is the threat to the Republic that drives us to erode the Bill of Rights? Well, someone burned the flag. Whatever happened to fighting to the death for somebody's right to disagree? We now choose instead to react by taking away a form of the right to protest. Most people abhor flag burners, but even a despicable, low-life malcontent has a right to disagree and disagree in an obnoxious fashion if he wishes. That is the true test of free expression, and we here are about to fail that test. These are rare but vile acts of desecration that have been cited by those who would propose changing our founding document, but these acts do not harm anybody. If a jerk burns a flag, America is not threatened. If a jerk burns a flag, democracy is not under siege. If a jerk burns a flag, freedom is not at risk. We are offended. To change our Constitution because someone offends us is, in itself, unconscionable. Hitler banned the burning of the flag. Mussolini banned the burning of the flag. Saddam banned the burning of the flag. Dictatorships fear flag burners. The reason our flag is different is because it stands for burning the flag. Though we in proper suits may decry the protests and the protestors and the flag burners, protecting their right is the true stuff of a democracy. The real threat to our society is not the occasional burning of a flag, but the permanent banning of the burners. The real threat is that some of us have now mistaken the flag for a religious icon to be worshiped as pagans would, rather than to be kept as the beloved symbol of our freedom that is to be cherished. It is not the flag burners who threaten democracy. Rather, it is those who would deny them. In the name of our Founding Fathers, save us from those who would put up this defense. The Constitution was written by intellectual giants and is here today being nibbled by small men with press secretaries. If flag burners offend us, do not beat a cowardly retreat by rushing to ban them. Protesters, like grapes, cannot be eliminated by stomping on them. Meet their ideas with bigger ideas for an ever better America to protect the flag by protecting democracy, not by retreating from it. We cannot kill a flag. It is a symbol, and yes, patriots have died; but recall what they have died for. They have died for liberty. They have died for democracy. They have died for the right to speak out in protest. They have died for values. The flag is a symbol of those values. What they died for are American principles. Saying that people died for the flag is symbolic language. The Constitution gives us our rights. The Constitution guarantees our liberties. The Constitution embodies our freedoms. It is our substance. The flag is the symbol for which it stands. True patriots choose substance over symbolism. Diminish one right and it shall forever stand for less. Do not pass this amendment. Do not diminish the Constitution. Do not cheapen the flag.

Mr. ACKERMAN

Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the en bloc amendment. I want to thank the chairman of the committee, the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) and the ranking minority member, the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton), for their work on this year's National Defense Authorization Act. Mr. Chairman, my amendment, which is included in the en bloc, is short and simple. It encourages the Secretary of Defense and the U.S. Navy to work with their Israeli counterparts to make arrangements for safe port visits by the U.S. Sixth Fleet to Haifa, and if such arrangements can be made, to resume the regular visits to Haifa that used to occur. To be clear, the amendment does not require the resumption of visits by the Sixth Fleet to Haifa and does not encourage such visits unless appropriate means can be agreed upon to protect our ships and personnel. Mr. Chairman, Israel, like our nation, is confronting terror. The visits of our Navy ships to Israel's chief port will send a critical message of support and make clear our Nation's bedrock commitment to the survival of the only real democracy in the Middle East. I want to thank the chairman and the ranking member for their support, and I encourage Members to support the amendment.

Mr. ACKERMAN

Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Shirley Gralla, a life-long supporter of Jewish education around the world, on the dedication of the Shirley Gralla Girls' Elementary School at Be'er Hagolah Institutes in Brooklyn, NY. As a child in the early 1920s, Shirley Gralla came to America from Eastern Europe in search of the ``American Dream.'' As an adult, she has dedicated her life to making that dream a reality for thousands of Jewish immigrant children. With her husband Milton, Shirley helped transform Be'er Hagolah Institutes into the largest school in the United States designed to attract and educate Jewish children from the former Soviet Union. The Center, which was established in 1979, educates nearly one thousand students from kindergarten through grade 12, and has a policy of turning no child away for financial reasons. In fact, most of the student body receives a full or partial scholarship. Shirley and Milton have endowed and named schools in Odessa, Ukraine; Kiev, Ukraine; Moscow, Russia, and Jerusalem, Israel. She has initiated a family sponsored endowment of a floor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City, for the study of brain disorders. More recently, Shirley helped to create the Brandeis University ``Genesis'' Program, which invites Jewish teens from around the United States to participate in an enriching Judaic and academic experience at the university's campus in Waltham, Massachusetts. For these and other achievements, Shirley Gralla has been named a Fellow at Brandeis University and a Doctor of Humane Letters by Yeshiva University. When the need for new facilities at the Be'er Hagolah Institutes became obvious ten years ago, Shirley and Milton rose to the challenge. Together with Joseph Gruss and the Reichmann family of Toronto, they worked to fund the construction of magnificent new accommodations for the children. On May 28, 2003 Shirley Gralla's commitment to the school will be recognized when the girls' elementary school will be dedicated in her name. I commend Shirley Gralla for her continued dedication to the field of education and her commitment to improving the lives of Jewish immigrant children. I ask my colleagues in the House of Representatives to please join me in congratulating Shirley Gralla on the dedication of the Shirley Gralla Girls' Elementary School at Be'er Hagolah Institutes.

Mr. ACKERMAN

Mr. ACKERMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 50th Anniversary of the Hilltop Village Co-operative #4 in Hollis, Queens, NY, and its President, Marc Haken for his strong leadership, dedication and commitment to the Hilltop Village community. On Sunday, August 15, 1952, the New York Times recognized the opening of this grand cooperative with a front page article. Constructed under the National Housing Act of 1952, Hilltop Village Co-operative #4 was the fourth and final completed section of the 500-unit Hilltop Village, occupying 150 acres of Queens, NY. Hilltop Village Co-op #4 opened in December 1953 with 296 apartments and Joseph Desner as its first president. Since its completion in 1953, Hilltop Village #4 has emerged as a leader in the local community. Among the major projects the group has spearheaded and accomplished are: the creation of the Hollis branch of the Queens Borough Public Library on 202nd Street and Hillside Avenue, the construction of a Post Office on 197th Street and Hillside Avenue, and the implementation of a new bus route, the Q76, which runs down Francis Lewis Boulevard to the subway terminal at Hillside Avenue and 179th Street. In addition, residents of Hilltop Village were instrumental in the establishment of the Holliswood Jewish Center. Community involvement has been especially prominent under the dynamic leadership of Marc Haken, who has served as president of the co-op, and has been reelected every three years since 1978. Under Mr. Haken's direction the co-op became a member of civic and community organizations such as the 107th Precinct Council, the Queens Civic Congress, whose co-op committee is chaired by Mr. Haken, and the Friends of Cunningham Park. The co-op also makes financial contributions to several local charitable organizations including the Queens Women's Center, the Hollis branch of the Queens Borough Public Library, the Jamaica Estates Volunteer Ambulance Corp., the Hatzolah Volunteer Ambulance Corp., the Youth Committee of Community Board #8 and to the 107th Precinct of the New York City Police Department. In addition, the co-op donates roof space for radio antennas to both the Jamaica Estates Volunteer Ambulance Corp and the New York City Police Department. It also provides landscaping services for the center divider of Francis Lewis Boulevard. In Marc Haken's 25 years as president of Hilltop Village Co- operatives, the co-op has expanded its prominent role as a leader in the local community. I commend Mr. Haken and the Hilltop Villages' Board of Directors-- Michael Rodi, Miriam Null, Bernice Ackerman, Adrienne Bayuk, Steven Kasavana and Miguel Ramos--for their continued dedication and commitment to community service. I ask my colleagues in the House of Representatives to please join me in wishing Marc Haken, the Board of Directors, and the shareholders of Hilltop Co-operatives many more years of success as they celebrate the 50th Anniversary of this wonderful residential community.