Xavier Becerra

Mr. BECERRA

Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize a truly outstanding leader of Asian American heritage from my district, Ms. Shashi Hanuman of Glassell Park. As we have just finished celebrating Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, it is important for us to honor the work of AAPI community leaders. In her roles as a Directing Attorney for Public Counsel, the nation's largest pro bono law firm and a board member for key organizations serving working families, Ms. Hanuman has dedicated herself to advocating for the disenfranchised and the underserved throughout Los Angeles. In my district, she has helped countless families keep their homes in the neighborhoods of South Los Angeles, MacArthur Park, Koreatown, Hollywood and Echo Park. As Directing Attorney of the Community Development Project for Public Counsel, Ms. Hanuman oversees a team dedicated to building a strong foundation for healthy, vibrant and economically stable communities. Through her work with this project over 200 affordable homes for seniors and families have been constructed and more than 600 tenants of modest income are now living in safe, decent affordable housing. Ms. Hanuman has also provided legal counsel to numerous families fighting to keep their homes. Because of her compassion and hard work, there are families in my district today once facing a life on the street who are now secure in their home. Through her non-profit and small business workshops, Ms. Hanuman has trained the next generation of community leaders Los Angeles County on ways to effectively meet the health care and housing needs of low- income families and youth. This work along with her donation of personal time to serve as board vice president of the Coalition for Responsible Community Development (CRCD), a community development corporation in South Los Angeles, and as board vice chair of Southern California Association of Non-Profit Housing (SCANPH), have touched and improved the lives of so many people in Los Angeles. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pride and honor that I ask my colleagues to join me today in saluting Ms. Shashi Hanuman and the countless Americans of Asian and Pacific Islander descent who are making a difference in their communities and throughout our country.

Mr. BECERRA

Mr. BECERRA. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, the last thing that we need right now is for our Republican colleagues to play Russian roulette with a recovering economy by threatening to default on America's bills and triggering an escalation of interest rates and mortgage rates that will have repercussions on every single American family, and certainly on every sector of our economy. Yet that's what we have today. Republicans have presented a bill that they've said they're going to vote against. So this whole charade, which is costing taxpayers money because we have to pay for the lights, for the printing, for all the Members of Congress and our staffs who are working, we have to pay for this so we can simply send a message that we're going to vote ``no.'' The New York Times further tells us today that Republican leaders have ``privately assured Wall Street executives that this [vote] is a show.'' Furthermore, they cite that an executive from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce tells us that ``Wall Street is in on the joke.'' The reality is that what our colleagues on the Republican side are trying to do is furiously try to deflect the public's attention from what they recklessly tried to do to Medicare by ending it, because that is in their proposal in their budget. They are doing everything they can to try to get people to stop focusing on the fact that seniors are being asked to pay for this debt by getting less when it comes to Medicare and certainly every single American as they age into seniority as well. Mr. Speaker, every family in America has to balance its checkbook. They have to do so responsibly. They have to pay the mortgage and pay the credit card bills. This Congress should do the same. This is not the time to play jokes. I urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on this resolution.

Mr. BECERRA

Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Speaker, we can defeat our enemies without surrendering the rights and freedoms that are the foundation of our republic. Our men and women in uniform put their lives on the line every day to defend the liberties that we hold dear. In light of their bravery and commitment to the highest standards of human rights--even in war--we must ask ourselves if, through this vote on S. 990, the PATRIOT Sunsets Extension Act of 2011, we are willing to freely give up those very rights for which they are willing to die. The PATRIOT Act can be a law worth preserving. Many of its provisions have enhanced our security. But several of its prescriptions would undermine our cherished protections of civil liberties and American freedom. That is not the American way. As we approach Memorial Day, a day when we reflect on the sacrifices made by our fallen warriors, let us give them and the defenders of our security the legal tools they need to protect us all and to seek out and descend upon those who would do us harm. But let us sensibly discard those provisions of law which do not uphold those standards and would instead give away the precious liberties which millions of Americans have died defending throughout the history of our country. Mr. Speaker, today I vote against S. 990 because this Congress did not move sensibly to amend the PATRIOT Act to bolster our security while respecting our civil liberties and freedoms.

Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Speaker, I was unable to cast my floor vote on rollcall vote 376. Had I been present for the votes, I would have voted ``nay'' for rollcall vote 376.

Mr. BECERRA

Mr. BECERRA. I thank the ranking member for yielding, and I thank both the ranking member and the chairman for their work on this particular set of amendments that have been put together en bloc. I want to just say that I have an amendment here that I hope that we can not only use in the future, but I hope it is one that will help America continue to seek out the best and the brightest to service in our military, both in the ranks of our troops and also as our officers. As we all know, one of the great privileges we have as Members of Congress is to nominate the future leaders, the officer corps of our military. Through the military academies that we have, we have an opportunity to train young men and women to be our future leaders in our military but, more importantly, our future leaders of America because many go on beyond military service to become future leaders in the civic world. So this amendment makes sure that our military academies have an opportunity to go to every corner of our country to find the best and brightest. Some areas have been harder to reach out to than others. Working with our Members of Congress through the nominations process, we hope that the Pentagon and military services, with their academies, can reach out to all those young people who are ready to serve. I thank both the chairman and the ranking member for making this amendment part of the en bloc series of amendments.

Mr. BECERRA

Mr. BECERRA. I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding me the time. Mr. Chairman, to put everything in perspective, we are told by the American Academy of Family Physicians that today, today we can foresee a shortage of some 40,000 primary care physicians in this country in less than 10 years. Within another 5 years, that shortage will grow to about 42,000 to 46,000 primary care physicians. Graduate medical education funds does something very simple. It says to some of these clinics, some of these health care providers, that if you guarantee that you will make graduate medical training available to our future doctors, then we will guarantee that there will be money behind that training so that there will be a consistency so that medical students can finish training. Well, we just heard that this money that's available to these health care providers, these clinics, should no longer be guaranteed. And so the question you have to ask, if you want to become a physician and you are going to medical training, and certainly the question you have to ask if you are one of these clinics throughout the entire country where you want to train someone to be a family medical doctor, an internist, a pediatrician, an obstetrician/gynecologist, a psychiatrist, a dentist, a pediatric dentist, someone who specializes in gerontology, you have to ask yourself, if I am going to try to train someone, but I don't have the resources to fully provide the education, how do I guarantee that medical student that I could be there with the funds to pay them for education, to pay them for the work they are going to be doing? You can't. And that's why GME is so important. But we were just told a second ago that this is a slush fund pot of money. Furthest thing from the truth. We are told the real truth, when we heard one of the speakers on the Republican side say we are going to delete this money--that's exactly what's going to happen, because if you don't guarantee it, it's gone. So, Mr. Chairman, the truth is we have to make sure we can train the next generation of medical leaders; and, therefore, I urge my colleagues to vote against this legislation.

Mr. BECERRA

Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Chairman, budgets are a reflection of our values and our priorities: jobs, economic growth, fiscal discipline, fairness, shared sacrifice. Most Americans talk about this all the time when they're at their kitchen table. It's not that difficult. So quite honestly the question before us is not whether to reduce the deficit, but how. Budgets involve tradeoffs. The Republican budget that is presented to us today along with this Republican Study Committee alternative would say that we must continue the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans in this country. We must continue to give a millionaire about $130,000 in tax cuts in this budget even though we are facing the largest deficits our country has experienced. At the same time, the choice that this Republican budget makes is to say to seniors, We must end Medicare as we know it; we must eliminate the guarantee that you, as a senior, have had for more than 35 years under Medicare to choose your doctor and your hospital; and we must impose upon you an additional $6,000 in health care costs because these deficits are so big. So as the President said a couple of days ago, under the Republican budget, you would need to take 22 seniors paying 6,000 additional dollars to cover the costs of giving one millionaire in this country the $130,000 tax cut. We must do that under the Republican budget. Democrats have said we must not do that. We must do this differently. And we must invest again in our people. On health care, we don't believe that Americans who are seniors should be given a coupon instead of a guarantee. But that's what the Republican budget does. It says, You're going to get a voucher, a coupon, essentially. Once you've used it, the extent of the value of that coupon, the rest of the money to pay for your health care, comes out of your pocket. That's why the President said 6,000 additional dollars for each senior under Medicare under the Republican plan. Coupon care instead of Medicare. That's what you must have under the Republican budget. Democrats say we must invest in Medicare and find the cuts to get rid of the waste in Medicaid that we know exists. The duplication of services that seniors don't need. We can do this without denying seniors guaranteed benefits. And finally, we must create jobs, but the Republican budget, most of the leading economists tell us, will cost us 1.7 million jobs. Not create. Cost us 1.7 million jobs. Under the Bush recession, 8 million Americans lost their job. The month that George Bush handed the keys to Barack Obama, we hemorrhaged nearly 800,000 jobs. We must do this right. Reject the Republicans' budget proposal.

Mr. BECERRA

Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the bipartisan Medicare Access to Rehabilitation Act of 2011 which Representative James Gerlach and I are introducing today. This important bill repeals the monetary caps that limit beneficiary access to medically necessary outpatient physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology services. Senators Ben Cardin and Susan Collins are introducing this legislation in the Senate. To remove all uncertainty for Medicare beneficiaries about being able to receive the appropriate therapy, the bipartisan Medicare Access to Rehabilitation Act of 2011 creates a stable payment environment so that health professionals can focus on providing quality health care. Rehabilitation services provided by physical therapists, occupational therapists, and speech-language pathologists are essential to assisting individuals reach their highest functional level possible and the monetary caps are inconsistent with this objective. A March 2008 Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, CMS, study provided evidence that enforcement of the monetary caps could cause Medicare beneficiaries harm since it may require them to delay necessary medical care, force others to assume higher out-of-pocket costs, and disrupt the continuum of care for many seniors and individuals with disabilities. Specifically, the study demonstrated that the sickest patients who suffered from Parkinson's disease or who have multiple medical problems were most likely to exceed the monetary caps. Since inclusion of the caps in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, both Democratic and Republican Congresses and Administrations have interceded to prevent their implementation and enforcement citing the negative impact the caps would have on elderly patients' access to necessary services. Most recently, Congress extended through 2011 the existing medical exceptions process that gives the Secretary of Health and Human Services the authority to allow patients to exceed the monetary caps if deemed medically necessary. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to continue ensuring that Americans have access to the highest quality physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech and language pathology services by supporting this legislation.

Mr. BECERRA

Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Speaker, last week I was unavoidably detained and missed rollcall votes 250, 251, and 253 on April 8, 2011. If present, I would have voted ``no'' on rollcall votes 250, 251, and 253.

Mr. BECERRA

Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to an American hero, Faustino ``Mang Peping'' Baclig, who passed away Sunday, February 27, 2011. Family and friends will be gathering for a memorial service on March 4 in Los Angeles to honor his long and full life, which was marked by heroism, dedicated community service, and incredible friendships. We are comforted knowing that today he rests in peace. Faustino Baclig was born in the Philippines on February 14, 1922 to Irene Imperio Baclig and Fermin Gonzales Baclig. Known as Cabugao's town scholar, he completed his primary schooling in four years, skipped two grades and went on to study law at Lyceum of the Philippines University. He also received his Bachelor of Science in Political Science at the University of the Philippines and a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education from the Philippine College of Arts and Trade. After finishing his education by age 17, he began his military career at Camp John Hay in Baguio City, Philippines. In 1941, by military order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, all members of the Commonwealth Army of the Philippines were inducted into the United States military. Faustino Baclig was among those who served and fought heroically under the American flag in World War II. He survived the Death March of Bataan in 1942, the 61 mile forced trek where 75,000 American and Filipino prisoners of war suffered inhumanities and only 54,000 reached their destination alive. After World War II and the liberation of the Philippines, Faustino Baclig met the love of his life, Francisca, and they married in 1952. They were blessed with two children, Frecie Maria and Filomin ``Omi'' Antonio. In the Philippines, Faustino Baclig enjoyed a successful career as a college professor, vice president of Provident Memorial Life Plans and as a principal in the family business. In 1986, at the age of 64, Faustino, known to all as Mang Peping for the respect and honor he had earned, immigrated to the United States with his family. Soon after, he took the United States Oath of Allegiance and became a U.S. citizen. He spent his later years advocating for the issues that he most cherished and volunteered in the community. Mang Peping served as a commissioner on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors' Adult Day Health Care Planning Council, co-founded the Golden Agers of Los Angeles, and served as a board member for People's Core, a local community organizing agency. He also was a member of the Filipino American Service Group (FASGI) and Fil-Am Vote. In 1993, Mang Peping began a historic journey for Filipino veteran justice in 1993, when he convened the first Southern California Veterans Conference. This important meeting brought together hundreds of Filipino veterans to advocate for recognition, justice and equity for those who fought bravely alongside American soldiers in World War II. For while Mang Peping and Filipino soldiers had sworn allegiance to the United States flag and helped America defeat the Axis powers in 1945, the U.S. Congress committed an enormous injustice one year later when it passed the Rescission Act of 1946. This act intentionally stripped Filipino veterans of the benefit they had earned as soldiers fighting under General Douglas MacArthur. This is how I was first introduced to Mang Peping. He personally took on the struggle for justice for all Filipino veterans and became an inspiration for my work in the House of Representatives for Filipino veteran equity. Our country owes an invaluable debt of gratitude to veterans like Mang Peping who risked their lives on battlefields throughout this world to protect the basic freedoms that Americans enjoy today. At its very core, the exclusion and discrimination against Filipino veterans by the Rescission Act of 1946 was a supreme injustice. In 2009, after more than 60 years of waiting, the Filipino Veteran Equity Compensation Fund became law. Filipino veterans finally received compensation for their courageous service during World War II. Because of the heroic work of individuals like Mang Peping, Filipino veterans not only received just compensation but the overdue recognition for their contributions to America's stand for freedom and democracy. I have never been more certain about anything as this: Mang Peping's leadership and his fighting spirit will never be forgotten. Our deepest sympathies are extended to his loving wife Francisca; children, Frecie and Filomin ``Omi'' and their families, on the passing of their champion for dignity and humanity. Mr. Speaker, it is with deep affection and heartfelt sorrow, yet with great pride and abundant admiration that I ask my colleagues to join me today in saluting Faustino ``Mang Peping'' Baclig, an American hero and a man I was honored to call my friend. May he rest in peace.

Mr. BECERRA

Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Speaker, earlier today I was unavoidably detained and missed rollcall vote 161. If present, I would have voted ``no'' on rollcall vote 161. Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mr. BECERRA

Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I was unavoidably detained and missed roll call vote 81. If present, I would have voted ``no'' on rollcall vote 81.

Mr. BECERRA

Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Chair, earlier today I was unavoidably detained and missed rollcall vote No. 23. If present, I would have voted ``aye'' on rollcall vote No. 23.

Mr. BECERRA

Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Democratic Caucus, I offer a privileged resolution and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. BECERRA

Mr. BECERRA. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Listening to this debate, I can understand why Americans might be confused about the direction of health care in this Nation. But let me thank my Republican colleagues for producing at least one important result by debating this misguided Republican plan to repeal patients' health care rights. Millions of Americans are now beginning to understand the valuable rights and freedoms they secured when the Affordable Health Care Act became law last year. Last year, when Eric, a self-employed architect in my district, wrote to me that he and his wife were in a terrible bind, he explained something. They had insurance, but they could only secure the most costly of insurance with the highest deductibles. But the real bind wasn't that. The real bind was that their insurance company refused to include, within their health insurance policy, their 8-year-old son because their 8-year-old son had suffered from a stroke. Now, for Eric and his wife and his son, health care reform was real. Today, Eric and his family can get insurance for their son because today Eric and his wife have a right to be insured and to have their son insured because no insurance company today can discriminate against any child for a preexisting condition. That's what health care reform was all about. It was also about making sure that today America's businesses could afford to offer health insurance to their employees. Health insurance reform was about reducing the cost of health care, and that's why the impartial referee that we use here in Congress, the Congressional Budget Office, has said that this health reform that was passed last year will save us money, despite all the rhetoric that you hear. My Republican friends say repeal these health care rights and protections that were extended last year. Do that today, and in the future we will restore those rights and make them prettier as well. Well, we have a bird in the hand. We don't want to go after two in the bush. For 12 years, they had control of the Congress. For 6 years, they had a Republican President to work with. They never once did it. Let's keep that bird in the hand and move forward for the rest of America.

Mr. BECERRA

Mr. BECERRA. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. To our friend and colleague, Gabby Giffords, to the victims and heroes in Tucson, and to all of their loved ones, our thoughts and prayers are with you. You have won our hearts with your courage and example in these difficult times. Gabby, knowing your ethic of hard work, your tenacity and determination, and knowing you as a fighter for what you believe in, I simply say to you: keep at it, don't stop. Fight, fight, fight. And we look forward to seeing you here and welcoming you here in your House, the people's House. Times like these make it unmistakably clear how important second chances are. Not everyone in Tucson will have that second chance. How lucky we are that we can pick up the baton for them and finish the job of seeking justice and making our democracy a more perfect Union. America, this is our second chance. This is our opportunity to shine. Let us make our work, whether here as duly sworn Representatives of the people or as the media or as responsible citizens of America, let us make our work count. It is our turn to show courage and to be an example as we move forward, doing our part to build a better America. We owe that to Gabby and the good people of Arizona. Let's honor them by hitting that second chance out of the park.

Mr. BECERRA

Mr. BECERRA. Madam Speaker, on December 17, 2010, I was unavoidably detained and missed rollcall votes 651 and 654. If present, I would have voted ``yea'' on rollcall votes 651 and 654.

Mr. BECERRA

Mr. BECERRA. Madam Speaker, on Wednesday, December 22, 2010, I missed rollcall No. 664. If present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. BECERRA

Mr. BECERRA. I yield 1 minute to the gentlelady from Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee). (Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Mr. BECERRA. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Murphy).

Mr. BECERRA. I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey).

Mr. BECERRA. I thank the gentleman for yielding. For more than 200 years, America has worked hard to earn a reputation around the world that, when the going gets tough, America gets going. We could lead in tough times. We could withstand adversity. We were prepared to sacrifice. Then, as our country matured, we were prepared, not only to do all those tough things, but to do them the right way, and we were able to somehow figure out where the sweet spot was for prosperity in America--building the middle class: the GI Bill for our troops, Social Security and Medicare for our seniors, the best universities for our kids. As we invested in the middle class, our prosperity bloomed. Fast-forward to the Bush recession and to the tough times we find ourselves in today. Americans are hanging tough, fighting to hold onto their jobs and their homes. But is everyone in America sharing in the sacrifice? This proposal gives millionaires $139,000 in tax breaks each year. On top of that, it gives the 6,600 wealthiest Americans a tax break equal to $23 billion. Perhaps the most sinister provision in this proposal is the more than $100 billion that it diverts from the Social Security trust fund and then borrows money from places like China to replace those dollars. Everyone in America is ready to sacrifice. Everyone in America should be ready to sacrifice. This bill doesn't ask all Americans to sacrifice. The day should come, as the days have come, when all of us are prepared to sacrifice. This is not the bill. This is not the time to change America's history. Let us all work together, to pull together, to let everyone in the world know that we are prepared to sacrifice. America's wealthy are ready to sacrifice as all Americans who are trying to hold onto their jobs and their homes are prepared to sacrifice. Let's do this together. We have that reputation. We know how to do it. Adversity doesn't concern us. We will do it the right way. Let us pull together. We can do much better than this bill. It is our chance to prove it to America.

Mr. BECERRA. I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Wu).

Mr. BECERRA

Mr. BECERRA. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H. Res. 1377, a resolution honoring the accomplishments and legacy of a great American patriot, Norman Yoshio Mineta. Mr. Mineta's life began like that of so many other Americans. He was born in 1931 in San Jose, California, the son of immigrant parents. However, unlike the typical American story, he and the Mineta family were forced to leave their home and live in the Heart Mountain internment camp near Cody, Wyoming, during World War II. Norm Mineta overcame this experience and went on to graduate from the University of California at Berkeley and serve his country as an intelligence officer in the United States Army. Most of us know Norm Mineta as Secretary Mineta. In 2000, Secretary Mineta became the first Asian American to serve in a Presidential Cabinet when he was appointed Secretary of Commerce by President William J. Clinton. He continued to break new barriers when he became the first Asian American to serve as Secretary of Transportation in President George W. Bush's cabinet. He went on to become America's longest serving Secretary of Transportation. For many of us, Norm will always be ``Secretary Mineta'' because of the respect and leadership which has become synonymous with his name. He is a true political trailblazer and leader of the Asian American and Pacific Islander community. In 1967, he was the first Asian American to serve on the San Jose city council and he became the first Asian American mayor of a major United States city when he was elected to lead San Jose in 1971. From 1975 to 1995, Secretary Mineta continued to serve the San Jose community as its Representative in the U.S. House of Representatives. During his twenty years in the House, he championed legislation that established Asian Pacific American Heritage Week, the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, and the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, the seminal reparations bill where the United States Government officially apologized for sending families of Japanese descent to internment camps during World War II. He helped author the Americans with Disabilities Act, which became law in 1990. He also co- authored the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991, which gave state and local governments control over highway and mass transit decisions. Under his leadership, then-Congressman Mineta founded and chaired the bicameral and bipartisan Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, which continues to promote and advocate Asian American and Pacific Islander concerns and issues. To this day, Secretary Mineta remains a prominent leader within the Asian American and Pacific Islander community through his work with numerous civic organizations. He is a recognized expert on transportation and homeland security issues. He received the highest civilian award in the United States when he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2006. Of course, we could spend a good portion of our lifetime reciting Norm Mineta's achievements. I, however, would like to close my remarks by simply heralding what I believe to be the true mark of this great American statesman: through thick and thin, Norm Mineta has carried his country on his shoulders. With Secretary Mineta, no one is left behind and America can never have a bad day. For that, Norm Mineta has earned our eternal affection and commands our grateful respect. Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support H. Res. 1377, a tribute to a distinguished former member of this body, Norman Yoshio Mineta.

Mr. BECERRA

Mr. BECERRA. Mr. Speaker, working Americans believe that the Tax Code favors the rich and the influential. And guess what? They're right. Last year, the average millionaire in America got about $100,000 back from the Bush tax cuts, while the average middle class family in this country received one-half of 1 percent of that. Not half of that, one- half of 1 percent of that. It is time that this country began to tax fairly and invest wisely. Republicans are holding these tax cuts for the middle class hostage, demanding an extra tax cut of $700 billion worth of bailout for millionaires and billionaires, all of which Republicans would not pay for, which means that once again we would have to go to China and a lot of other countries to borrow since right now the country is running a deficit. These are the same tax cuts that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle say will create jobs, and we need to rev up the economy for that reason and keep these wealthy tax cuts. Well, guess what? These are the same tax cuts we have had in place for the last 10 years. And what have these tax cuts of $100,000 a year given to wealthy folks? What have they given us? Fifteen million Americans are unemployed. The worst recession--it's not a depression-- that we have faced since the 1930s. So we have seen what the results are of these tax cuts for the wealthy for the last 10 years, and now they say we need to do it again to improve the economy. It is time that this country acted sanely. It is time we focused our attention on the middle class. Give folks who have worked very hard, those who every week, every month come home with a paycheck. They see the FICA deduction. They know they have paid some taxes. We need to make sure we are telling them we are doing everything to invest in them so that, guess what, maybe one of these days when we turn over that product we buy at the store and look at where it was made, it will once again say ``Made in America'' because an American got a job. These tax cuts that are geared toward the wealthy would not do that. And that 3 percent of small businesses that might be impacted--because 97 percent of small businesses in America would get the tax cut, those 3 percent are populated by very wealthy folks. Vote for this legislation. Vote for middle America.