Shelley Berkley

Ms. BERKLEY

Ms. BERKLEY. We are joined by the other Congresswoman from Las Vegas.

Ms. BERKLEY. It's the best bang for your buck, there's no doubt about it. And as we keep saying, not only can you have some fun, you can actually get some business done. So we want to encourage all of those conventions that had second thoughts, that decided to cancel their trips to Vegas, their conventions, their conferences, think again. Come back. You can have a wonderful conference and enjoy yourselves as well and save your company some money by doing it.

Ms. BERKLEY. The aquarium----

Ms. BERKLEY. As you know, my in-laws live in your district. So we go up and we visit them often. It's a wonderful place to be.

Ms. BERKLEY. Well, you know, you and I have lived in Las Vegas for an awfully long time and have been very active in the community. I know that Las Vegas has this reputation and the people think of it as a gaming community, and indeed, we do have the best gaming on the planet. The most fabulous hotels, restaurants, you name it, we've got it, great entertainment, but there's much more to our community than that. And I was just heartsick when Las Vegas was attacked so savagely over the last few weeks here in Congress and frightening businesses. They didn't want to come to us for fear there would be some kind of taint. Now, you and I know you raise families in Las Vegas. There's Saturday soccer. We have per capita the most churches and synagogues and mosques of any other city in the United States. It's a wonderful place to raise a family, but we can't raise our families unless people come and spend their tourist and their business dollars in our town.

Ms. BERKLEY. Well, I think that's a great idea, and you know, we are a southwest town with a bit of a kick, and we love our kick. I mean, it's just a wonderful community. You didn't grow up there. I grew up there. A great town, great facilities, great convention town, get a lot of business done, almost patriotic to do this. When we heard from Congressman Grayson, he was talking about your health depends on coming to Las Vegas and Monterey and South Florida. There are so many communities in this country that have really been hard hit because businesses aren't holding conferences. You can go to Miami, Atlanta, Atlantic City, New York, Hawaii, Las Vegas, Monterey. You name it. We've got to get people traveling again and we've got to get our business community to come back and start conducting their business as they've become accustomed to. And, again, the caveat is we are not suggesting that these companies use taxpayer dollars in order to do their travel. But that is just a little itty bitty speck on business travel.

Ms. BERKLEY. Absolutely. Ninety-five percent of the American people will be getting a tax cut.

Ms. BERKLEY. No, we're at 140,000 now.

Ms. BERKLEY. Well, I think Dina knows that President Obama has announced that he's coming to Las Vegas in the spring. I believe that he's going to be using that opportunity to say exactly what you're saying, Congressman, that it's part of the American Dream, this travel, and encourage people not only to do leisure travel, which Las Vegas is famous for, but business travel as well. And we're famous for that as well.

Ms. BERKLEY. We have some wildlife in Las Vegas, you know.

Ms. BERKLEY. I think that is so eloquently put. I also want to remind people, especially the business traveler, that it's a good break from your business meeting if you come to Las Vegas. We have Red Rock Canyon, which is spectacular; we have the Grand Canyon, that is even more spectacular; and, of course, the Hoover Dam. So you can do your business, you can do your gambling, you can eat the finest food, and then you can go outside of the city and enjoy the natural wonders of this beautiful, beautiful country of ours.

Ms. BERKLEY. Well, I think we have spoken for about an hour. We have had a very spirited discussion and I think a very enlightening and educated one. I hope that the people that are watching come to appreciate the value of travel on vacation, family travel, just a getaway for the two of you, or, more significantly, for the discussion tonight, business travel, which is so important to the economies of every State in the Union. I don't know whether you knew this--I'm sure you do as chairman of the Tourism Caucus--but in 30 States tourism is the first, second, or third most important industry. For a city like ours and a State like ours, obviously it's number one. But for 30 other States we're talking first, second, or third. That is huge. We want to invite everybody back. Do those business meetings. Stop canceling. Stop being foolish. Enjoy and do your business in Las Vegas, in Monterey, in Florida, Atlantic City, New York, Miami. We need you.

Ms. BERKLEY. That's perfect. And thank you all for sharing this hour with me. I've learned things from everybody that has participated. I appreciate everything that you have said. Thank you so much.

Ms. BERKLEY

Ms. BERKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I was unable to vote on rollcall numbers 110 through 112. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on each.

Ms. BERKLEY

Ms. BERKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I'm mad and I'm not going to take it anymore. I've had enough of my colleagues bashing my district, my hometown and the community I love, Las Vegas. I've sat back as Las Vegas has been maligned, insulted and lied about for the sole purpose of making political points. I've been waiting for common sense to prevail. But I'm here to say that this nonsense, the bashing and the lies about Las Vegas have got to end, and they've got to end now. It started with Senator McConnell's misguided attack on the stimulus bill by singling out a mob museum in Las Vegas as an earmark in the stimulus package. There's only a couple of things wrong with that. There never was an earmark in the stimulus bill. There are none. And there certainly wasn't one for a mob museum. There was never a mention of it in the stimulus package. But the lies continued. And then we found out about the maglev train. Countless Republicans have misrepresented the $8 billion included in the stimulus bill as being an earmark for the Las Vegas-Anaheim maglev route. The only problem is, even after it was pointed out that there is no earmark, that Las Vegas and California are going to have to compete with the other projects, that this has been a project that's been in the works for 20 years, and that it will bring thousands of visitors to the Las Vegas area and to the Southern California area, the lies continue. The latest one was Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. He repeated the lie in his televised response to the President's remarks to Congress, claiming the bill included funding for a magnetic levitation line from Las Vegas to Disneyland. That is absolute nonsense. And then it goes one worse. Representative Trent Franks just mentioned today that there's a maglev train going all the way from Disneyland to the Moonlit Bunny Brothel. Now, I grew up in Las Vegas. I've never heard of the Moonlit Bunny Brothel. But I guarantee that maglev train is not going there. And then the latest whipping boy is in the omnibus bill. Sustainable Las Vegas. Just yesterday Senator McCain took to the floor of the Senate to attack Sustainable Las Vegas. What does Sustainable Las Vegas mean, he yelled? Well, let me enlighten the Senator. It's a University of Nevada education and research program on energy supply, water supply and air quality, very serious issues for the desert Southwest, cities like Las Vegas and Phoenix and Tucson. But the Senator knows that. So why is that program being singled out? Why is it different from the hundreds of other projects that are given to university research programs throughout the United States, including universities in Arizona? Because it has Las Vegas in its name. And let me tell you about my hometown of Las Vegas. It's a community of families looking for a better life, a community of schools and churches and mosques, Saturday soccer, a community of working people, small businesses and beautiful hotels. And that brings me to the most egregious affront to Las Vegas. Stop badmouthing Las Vegas, and stop telling businesses and major companies to stay away from Vegas. You are hurting our economy. You're forcing major layoffs of employees in the hotel industry. Hundreds of thousands of Nevadans depend on the tourism and convention business for their livelihood. Las Vegas has long been a city where serious business is conducted, where small and large conventions can be accommodated. When it comes to business meetings, Las Vegas is the best city on the planet. You still get the best bang for your buck. Great hotels, great convention facilities, great transportation, great restaurants and a great price. When you badmouth Las Vegas, you are hurting our major industry, you're hurting your fellow citizens. By taking away their livelihood, you are taking food out of their children's mouths. Las Vegas is having a very tough time right now. High mortgage foreclosure rate, high unemployment, high bankruptcy rate; we are hurting. Every attack on Las Vegas by my colleagues is a knife in the heart of my city. So I implore my colleagues, stop bashing Las Vegas. Find some other whipping boy. We've had enough. We're not going to take it anymore.

Ms. BERKLEY

Ms. BERKLEY. Madam Speaker, I was unable to vote on rollcall Nos. 54 through 59. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on each.

Ms. BERKLEY

Ms. BERKLEY. Madam Speaker, as co-chair of the Friends of Kazakhstan Caucus, I would like to submit the following op-ed article, ``Hoping for the Better'', to the Congressional Record. This article, written by Kazakhstan's Secretary of State Kanat Saudabayev, expresses the continuing sense of solidarity between the United States and Kazakhstan as we enter into a new chapter of history with the inauguration of President Barack Obama. I look forward to working with President Obama as we continue to build our positive and productive relationship with the Kazakh people. [From the Washington Times, Feb. 3, 2009] Saudabayev: Hoping for the Better (By Kanat Saudabayev) The inauguration of Barack Obama as U.S. president has opened a new page in the history of America and the world. Great hopes for changes for the better are pinned on the new American leader. We in Kazakhstan sincerely wish the 44th U.S. president strong health and strong political will to fully realize his good intentions of making America and the world safer and more prosperous. Kazakhstan and the U.S. are time-tested strategic partners with successful experience of working together in such critical areas as nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the fight against terrorism, energy, and democracy. A phone conversation soon after the election between Obama and Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev instilled confidence that, under the new administration, Kazakhstan-U.S. relations would continue to grow. The two leaders discussed further cooperation on pressing international problems such as nonproliferation, the fight against terrorism and the stabilization of Afghanistan. We in Kazakhstan not only share the new administration's concern with these problems but also believe their solution lies through stronger cooperation of progressive nations sharing common values. Closing our ranks even further is especially crucial today in the face of the most serious economic crisis the world has seen. ``America is strongest when we act alongside strong partners,'' says President Obama. Kazakhstan is such a partner eager to continue working shoulder to shoulder with the United States and others to build a more secure and prosperous world. Cooperation in the critical area of nonproliferation has been a cornerstone of our strategic partnership. In the early 1990s, President Nazarbayev took a courageous decision to voluntarily renounce the world's fourth-largest nuclear arsenal (which it held while part of the old Soviet Union). Working with the U.S. under the outstanding Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program, Kazakhstan has fully rid itself of nuclear weapons and their infrastructure, becoming an active participant in global nonproliferation processes. Today, our cooperation, recognized as the most effective model for removing a nuclear threat, successfully continues. We are greatly encouraged by the fact that nonproliferation is among the top priorities for President Obama and his administration. We believe it is necessary to not only continue our bilateral cooperation, but also to use more actively the example of Kazakhstan's nuclear disarmament and our cooperation with the United States in convincing other countries to renounce their nuclear-weapon ambitions. Kazakhstan's dynamic economic development since independence, and the evolution of our country into an equal and respected partner of the international community--confirmed by Kazakhstan's election as chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC)--these are all arguments which prove that renouncing nuclear weapons and opting for mutually beneficial cooperation with the world is a more effective way of ensuring a country's security than a nuclear bludgeon. Kazakhstan, having initially supported efforts of the United States and other countries in Operation Enduring Freedom, will continue to assist the international coalition actions in Afghanistan as these are directed at strengthening security and stability in Central Asia and beyond, which is in our common interests. The international community should pour more efforts into the political settlement and economic rehabilitation of Afghanistan, as well as in reducing, and, eventually, eliminating fully, the production and smuggling of drugs out of that country. Today, it is crucial to continue building bridges between Islam and the West, and to renounce phobia of Islam in the West and phobia of the West in the Islamic world. Kazakhstan, a secular Muslim-majority country bridging Europe and Asia, is uniquely positioned to promote such dialogue and understanding. At President Nazarbayev's initiative, this year Kazakhstan will host the Third Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. Last year, Astana hosted a forum, ``Common World: Progress through Diversity,'' bringing together foreign ministers from Western and Oriental nations. Last but not least, Kazakhstan will chair the OSCE in 2010 and the OIC in 2011. Promoting the dialog of civilizations during this important period will be one of our top priorities, and we hope to achieve greater mutual understanding between the West and the Islamic world. Again, Kazakhstan is eager to work together with the United States in this area of great importance to us all. We welcome Barack Obama's intention to visit Kazakhstan. He would become the first-ever sitting U.S. President to visit not just Kazakhstan but also the region of Central Asia. Such a visit would both give a new, powerful boost to our bilateral cooperation and help chart a new way forward in U.S. relations with moderate Muslim nations. That is why we sincerely say to the American leader: ``Welcome to Kazakhstan, Mr. President!''

Ms. BERKLEY

Ms. BERKLEY. I thank the chairman for yielding. I grew up in my congressional district of Las Vegas. By any standard of measure, it has been a boomtown; record increases in population, almost no unemployment, record home ownership. What a difference an economic meltdown can make. Nevada's economy, fueled by construction and tourism, has suffered beyond all imagination in this financial crisis. Las Vegas has the highest mortgage foreclosure rate in the Nation, drastic drops in home values, and thousands of construction workers are without work. Casino workers, the backbone of our economy, laid off. The number of visitors flying to Las Vegas dropped 8 percent this past year, the largest drop in 25 years. My State needs help, and we need it now. This bill will create or save millions of jobs over the next 2 years. In my district, thousands of construction workers will be put back to work improving roads and highways, building renewable energy facilities, improving aging school buildings and other infrastructure. The bill will also provide for extended unemployment benefits for the over 9 percent of my workforce out of work. The bill will also provide extended unemployment benefits for the 9 percent of the workforce out of work and provide needed money for medicaid to provide health care to the neediest among us. Ninety-five percent of our fellow citizens will get a tax cut. Nevada and our country need the jobs and other support provided by this bill. I urge my colleagues to vote for H.R. 1.

Ms. BERKLEY

Ms. BERKLEY. Madam Speaker, as co-chair of the Congressional Stop DUI Caucus, I rise today in tribute to one of the Nation's top traffic safety officials, who has passed away suddenly. Kevin E. Quinlan was the Chief of the Safety Advocacy Division of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Mr. Quinlan was with the Safety Board for nearly 20 years, serving as the Alcohol and Drug Program Coordinator and Chief of the Safety Recommendations Division. He was instrumental in promoting State action on Safety Board recommendations to reduce fatalities, injuries, and crashes in all modes of transportation. Mr. Quinlan authored five major studies for the Board. Prior to his work with the NTSB, Mr. Quinlan served in the U.S. Army for 29 years, receiving the Legion of Merit and Meritorious Service Medal. He has an undergraduate degree from Boston University and graduate degrees from William and Mary, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, and the U.S. Air Force Air War College. Mr. Quinlan loved to travel and was skiing in Vermont when he suffered a fatal heart attack. He was well-respected and admired by everyone in the traffic safety community. He was a mentor to countless traffic safety advocates and an inspiration to the thousands of people who lost loved ones to the preventable crime of drunk driving. One of his greatest passions was the fight to stop drunk driving. His expert testimony led to the passage of many effective countermeasures across this Nation. His work has saved countless lives and I ask that my colleagues join me in honoring him today.

Ms. BERKLEY

Ms. BERKLEY. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I rise in support of this long-overdue legislation. Coming from a State with one of the highest percentages of uninsured children, it is essential to reauthorize SCHIP to extend the program to cover more low- income uninsured children. In 2007, more than 40,000 youngsters benefited from the Nevada Check Up program. This bill will enable Nevada to continue coverage for these children and to reach out to a portion of the 70,000 children currently eligible who remain uninsured. This bill also includes funding to improve outreach to eligible populations. Increased funding and the focus on outreach and enrollment will help extend coverage to thousands of additional Nevada children and an additional 4 million kids nationwide. I urge my colleagues to support this bill. I look forward to having a President in the White House that is anxious to sign it.

Ms. BERKLEY

Ms. BERKLEY. Thank you very much, Congressman Weiner. And let me return the compliment, Congresswoman Maloney; we appreciate so much your strong and vocal support for issues that I consider to be fundamental to the survival of democracy throughout the world, so thank you very much.

Ms. BERKLEY. Mr. Weiner, coming from you that I haven't lost my edge is the ultimate compliment for me after 10 years in Washington, so I thank you very much for that. About three Augusts ago, a little over that, 3\1/2\ years ago, I was part of a congressional delegation that was on the border between the Gaza and Israel as the Israeli military was removing the last Israeli settlers from the Gaza. As you can imagine, Congressman, it was a very painful thing to watch, seeing families being torn apart, taken away from the lands that they had settled, where nothing had existed before they created their settlements, being taken from their neighbors and the villages that they created, truly oases in the desert, was hurtful. But I understood why the Israelis did it. They unilaterally withdrew from the Gaza with the hope that turning that land back to the Palestinians would have the desired effect of bringing peace to that area. Rather than the peace that the Israelis had hoped for, the Palestinians, particularly when Hamas took over, became not an area where one would build schools and homes and infrastructure and demonstrate to the world that the Palestinian people were able to create a state of their own, rather than demonstrating to the world that they were capable of self-governance, quite the opposite became the very harsh reality. And what you saw, instead of schools being built and neighborhoods flourishing and businesses being built and infrastructure, hospitals, basic services for the Palestinian people, what happened instead was that the Gaza became a launch pad for a reign of terror upon the Israeli people that lived on the other side of the border. Rather than reaching out to the Israeli people in an attempt to forge a peaceful relationship between the two peoples, the Gaza has become a hellhole. It's become a hellhole for the Palestinian people, and it is a hellhole for the people of Israel because they are continually barraged by rockets well within the Israeli border. How many rockets are we talking about? You demonstrated it with your graph. We're talking 2 rockets, 10 rockets, a misfiring? We're talking about 7,000 rockets in the course of a few years. Who can exist, what peoples, what Nation would tolerate that type of continuous assault on their innocent population? There is not one country on the planet that would not respond. And yet with all the panic and the fear and the damage, the psychological damage, and the physical injuries and damage and the death that these rockets have caused, the Israeli people did not, did not, attack back. But at some point any government worth its weight in salt must defend its people, and that is exactly what Israel has done. Let me share a story with you, Mr. Weiner. A few years ago, I was talking to one of the Middle East ambassadors. And I said to him, Is there no way for you and your government to intervene and tell Hamas, ask Hamas, demand Hamas to stop launching Qassam rockets against the Israeli people? And his response to me incredibly, when he shrugged his shoulders, it was, Well, the Qassam rockets are very inaccurate. And I responded to the ambassador, They may be inaccurate unless one falls on your head, and then it's very accurate. It's deadly accurate. But he shrugged and he said, Well, it's no big deal. Well, it's a big deal if you're an Israeli and your child was just killed in their school by a Qassam rocket being launched by Hamas from the Gaza. This simply must stop. But I went further, and I once spoke with the Egyptian ambassador. And I said to him, Mr. Ambassador, is there no way for you and the Egyptian Government to find those tunnels and blow them up so that the flow of arms being supplied mostly by Iran will stop, will cease the flow so that Hamas will not have a ready supply of rockets to be using against the Israeli people? And again I got another shrug: We don't know where they are. We can't identify them. I said, The Israelis gave you a list. They know exactly where the tunnels are. You can't blow up those tunnels and prevent the death of innocent Israeli children? I got no response. Where was the outrage of the United Nations? Where was the outrage of the people throughout the world that are rioting now in their countries when Israeli children were being killed by Hamas' continuing barrage of rockets? Not a one that I can remember. Not one that I've seen on TV. Not one speech in the United Nations. Not one moment of outrage. It was Israeli children that were being killed and a very patient Israeli Government trying to use every diplomatic tool at their disposal before they had to go in. They did not want to do this. They would not have unilaterally left the Gaza to go back in. It is not something the Israeli Government wanted to do. When Hamas refused to renew the truce in the middle of December at a time that we're celebrating religious holidays throughout the world, I knew that we were in for an increase in the carnage being rained on Israel, and I'm sorry to say I was right. The Israelis, like any other sovereign nation, have a right to defend their people and protect the people of their country. Israel should not be held to a higher standard, although they hold themselves often enough to a far higher standard. The Israelis have made two requests of Hamas. These are the two requests: They want an end to the rocket attacks. I don't think that's an unreasonable request. And they want an end to the tunnels, blow up those tunnels to prevent the rearming of a terrorist organization that has a vice grip on the Palestinian people in the Gaza. Which one of those two demands is inappropriate? Which one is unreasonable? I would submit to you, Mr. Weiner, neither one. And for those that are talking about Israel's disproportionate response to 7,000 rockets, to death, to injury, to damage, how about holding the Palestinians to any standard, any measurable civilized standard, and put pressure on Hamas to stop launching those rockets into Israel? And after all of the last 2 weeks, after the pain on both sides, after the horror being perpetrated by Hamas on both the Israelis and their own people, Hamas is still launching rockets into Israel. Well, let me say if they might be listening today, this evening as we speak, we can end this thing. We can bring peace. There can be a long- lasting truce if Hamas stops the rocket attacks and if the tunnels are eliminated. And that is what this body, the United Nations, and everyone throughout the planet, throughout this world, ought to be demanding of Hamas. The human tragedy in the Gaza, the suffering of the Palestinian people, let us put it squarely where it belongs: not on the State of Israel, not on the Israeli people. It rests squarely on the shoulders of the Palestinian leadership. If the Palestinian leadership wanted a Palestinian State, they would have had one years ago. What Hamas is doing is not for the creation of a Palestinian State. It is for the destruction of the State of Israel. And it pains me to say this, Mr. Weiner, but if Israel ceased to exist tomorrow, the plight of the Palestinians would be no better than it is today. The suffering of the Palestinians would not magically go away. It is the Palestinian leadership, the leadership in Hamas, that has caused so much pain and suffering for the Palestinian people. It would be my heartfelt hope with the beginning of a new year and the beginning of a new administration in this country that we can truly bring peace to the Middle East. It's something that I grew up fighting for and caring about. But this cannot stop until the Israelis are secure in their tiny country and free from a constant barrage of rockets and terrorist attacks by a terrorist organization on their border. And I thank you so much for giving me these few minutes to share my thoughts with you. You are truly an amazing leader, not only in Congress and representing your own district and State so well, but you make me very proud to be associated with you on these issues and so many more. And I thank you for all of that.

Ms. BERKLEY. As you know, we have attempted on numerous occasions to take the military aid, the $2 billion in military aid that we give the Egyptians every year, and take some of that away so that it would be humanitarian aid for the Egyptian people because I can't help but wonder what are the Egyptians doing with $2 billion worth of arms every single year?

Ms. BERKLEY. It's in Egypt's best interest. Absolutely right.

Ms. BERKLEY. Western educated.