Corrine Brown

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 247) authorizing the use of the Capitol Grounds for the Greater Washington Soap Box Derby.

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. I yield as much time as the leader may consume.

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I want to point out that the Soap Box Derby, of which Mr. Hoyer has been the sponsor for a number of years, is an event that has been put on for a number of years, and the purpose is to prepare young people from age 8 to 17. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire as to how much time we have remaining?

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I am delighted to support House Concurrent Resolution 247, which authorizes the use of the Capitol Grounds for the Greater Washington Soap Box Derby. I would like to acknowledge the efforts of Mr. Hoyer, who has been such a great and consistent champion for his constituents for this event. Consistent with all events using the Capitol Grounds, this event is open to the public and free of charge. The organizers will work with the Capitol Police and the Architect of the Capitol. I support Concurrent Resolution 247 and urge passage of the resolution. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and to include additional material on House Concurrent Resolution 247.

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and to include additional material on House Concurrent Resolution 263.

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in strong support of H. Res. 1278, a resolution to designate the month of April as National Safe Digging Month. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, PHMSA, along with many States and stakeholders across the Nation, have come together to support this designation. If approved, it will also mark the 3-year anniversary of 811 as the national ``Call Before You Dig'' telephone number. This year, throughout the entire month of April, PHMSA is encouraging all homeowners and contractors to call 811 before they dig to prevent fatalities, injuries, environmental dangers, and other possible loss of critical infrastructure and services. According to PHMSA, excavation damage continues to be a leading cause of serious pipeline incidents. In fact, each year there are hundreds of thousands of underground utility lines damaged through excavation in the United States, 35 percent of which occur as a direct result of people not calling before digging. According to PHMSA, the one-call notification system has helped reduce the percentage of excavation damages caused by failure to locate underground utilities prior to digging, from 57 percent in 2004 to 35 percent in 2009. Clearly, these numbers speak for themselves. Indeed, it is extremely important to call 811, the Call Before You Dig line, and it is such an easy way for individuals and companies to save lives, the environment, our Nation's infrastructure, and even save money and investments. I encourage my colleagues to support this resolution. I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1278) in support and recognition of National Safe Digging Month, April, 2010, as amended.

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on H. Res. 1278.

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Madam Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), the chair of the committee and our transportation guru.

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Madam Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Thank you, Mr. Chair, for your leadership and hard work on defense acquisition and making sure that our defense industrial base is working for the national defense and not for profits. However, there is a serious problem that minority, women and veteran companies are not well represented in the contracting of defense systems and these groups need to be made more of a priority. The Department of Defense spends billions of taxpayer dollars each year, but minority, women, and veteran-owned businesses are not getting to participate. I often use my grandma's sweet potato pie as an example. We all pay for the ingredients and we should all get a slice. But they can't even get a sliver. These same big companies keep getting all the contracts and make little effort to include smaller companies. This is completely unacceptable. The Defense Department doesn't need to look any further than the Department of Transportation in seeking a model for including minority participation. The DOT has a strong program for inclusion and I would encourage the Department of Defense to ensure that they develop a system that included minority, women, and veteran-owned businesses. These are their tax dollars we are spending and they deserve to be at the table. I am pleased to see that Section 401 of the bill expands the industrial base by identifying non-traditional suppliers and using tools and resources available within the Federal Government and in the private sector. This legislation is a good vehicle to make sure that Congress and the Department of Defense work to minimize discrimination and include all companies in the defense of our nation. Small and minority businesses are the backbone of our economy. We need to make sure all companies have an opportunity to contribute to our national defense.

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Madam Speaker, I was saddened to hear of the loss of one of the foremost leaders of the civil rights movement and a true national treasure, Dr. Dorothy Height. I always say, when you're born you get a birth certificate, and when you die you get a death certificate--but it's what you do with the dash in between that really matters. And that saying really encapsulates the essence of Dorothy Height's life. As an African-American woman and longtime Member of the Congressional Black Caucus, I am particularly grateful for the courage, wisdom and determination she employed to create opportunities for women and for African Americans in our country. Dorothy Height began her career in 1937 by serving those in dire need as a welfare caseworker and had the ear of every President since Eisenhower. Most recently, she was an honored guest and seated dignitaries at the inauguration of President Barack Obama. Along the way, Dr. Height was behind every major civil rights movement and progressive effort for social change throughout the century. As president of the National Council of Negro Women for four decades, she tackled issues that affected all women, including child care for working mothers, health and nutrition, as well as providing housing for families in need. As a civil rights activist, Dr. Height participated in protests in Harlem during the 1930s, and went on to be instrumental in lobbying first lady Eleanor Roosevelt on behalf of civil rights causes a few years later. Dr. Height was also a key player in advocating for President Dwight D. Eisenhower to move more aggressively on school desegregation issues. Dr. Height is one of two people to earn all three of our nation's highest civilian honors: the Presidential Citizens Award (1989), the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1994) and the Congressional Gold Medal (2004). My thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends, and loved ones of Dr. Dorothy Height. The nation will never forget her, the mother of the civil rights movement, especially those of us who have followed her lead in working for social justice.

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Thank you. Before I begin, I just want to thank you for your leadership on this matter and thank you for night after night coming to the floor. After we do our day work, we can always count on you doing the night work, coming here, educating the American people. And I just want to personally thank you for your leadership.

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. And all of the women that have come out tonight. Let me just make a few remarks, and then I have a series of questions that I want to ask you. But first of all, this is a fight that--I came here in 1992, and we started with Clinton, and just because we didn't pass health care does not mean it wasn't a serious problem. And we got a piece of the loaf. We were able to get programs that covered children. So that was step one. But here we are on this historical event where we're going to have the opportunity to go to step two. And let me just say that this bill is not the perfect bill, but I have been elected 27 years, and I've been in this House for 18 years, and I've never seen the perfect bill. But this is the perfect beginning. I mean, there is so much that I would have included in this bill. A public option, to me, is very important. I've been on VA for 18 years. VA is a public option. TRICARE is a public option, and that keeps the cost down. We made the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense negotiate the price of the drugs to keep the costs down. We want to do that for all Americans. When we passed that hideous bill that helped people with the doughnut hole, one of the things in the bill that was against the law was that the Secretary did not have the option of negotiating the prices of drugs for all of us. So I would like to discuss, when the President signs the bill, what are some of the things that would immediately come into effect? And one of them that I think is so important to families, particularly mothers who have kids in college, is that age for family coverage would go up to 26. Is that correct?

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Formulary.

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. And that's why I did not vote for that bad bill, that doughnut, when I know so many people needed the coverage, but that was a bone that was thrown to the pharmaceuticals by the past administration, the Bush administration. That was a terrible indictment that was put on the seniors that needed the prescription drug coverage. And I have a similar incident. I went to the drug store to pick up my mother's prescription. Well, they said it was $200. I said, okay, look again. She came back. Because I knew my mother had TRICARE. She came back, and I think it was $12 or $15. But can you imagine a senior going there, not knowing where in the world they're going to get the $200. This is something that we are going to fix starting with this bill. This will make a difference for the seniors in this country.

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. I want to thank you all. And as I take my seat, remember, there's no such thing as a perfect bill, but this is a perfect beginning.

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Let me give you a scenario. At one of my town hall meetings recently, a person came to me and said that they went to the hospital, and their bill was $77,000. They negotiated it down to $18,000, so, therefore, they didn't need health care. I said, Let me explain something to you. The hospital did not write that off out of the goodness of their hearts. They are charging it to us, a disproportionate share. We are paying the cost. There is a better way to provide services in this country, and it's not through the emergency room.

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. What did I say? I said it when I started. I have never seen the perfect bill. It's a perfect beginning, and we're going to refine and massage this bill as we go on. Like I said, in 1992, we went after health care under President Clinton. We didn't get it, but we came out with the children's portion. And, of course, that's where we are now, and this is the second step. I want more. But the point is, in this body where you're not going to have one Republican vote under any circumstances--and let me tell you something. As far as health care, it's not Democrat; it's not Republican. Everybody needs it. And people who say they don't need it need the mental health portion. Everybody needs health care, period.

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Under the last administration, what they did in many areas is they would come in, they would farm out the jobs, and you could be in that same job paying maybe the same amount of money but no benefits. And that's what so many companies are doing.

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. That's right.

Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Yes, 9 percent.