Marsha Blackburn

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I am rising this morning to talk about a piece of legislation that I have recently introduced. It is H.R. 3262; and it is called EVAA, the Employer Verification Accountability Act. Mr. Speaker, one of the things we are hearing in our district that is such a problem is illegal immigration, the impact that illegal immigration has on jobs, on the economy, on our district. And this is one of those pieces of legislation that is designed to help us have another tool to fight illegal immigration. Very simply, what it does is this: The 1986 Immigration Enforcement Act puts in place fines for employers who knowingly and willingly hire illegal immigrants to work in their businesses. This act would prohibit them from negotiating those fines down and require them to pay the $10,000 fine per violation. I would like to commend this legislation to the body and invite the Members to join me cosponsoring H.R. 3262.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, the Washington Post carries an editorial this morning on illegal immigration, and it talks about the Senate beginning to take up that issue today. I look forward to our discussion and continued work on that issue here in the House. It is an issue that is of tremendous importance to my home State of Tennessee. I would like to call the body's attention to a bill that I filed that deals with immigration reform, H.R. 2049, the Federal Contractors Security Act. What this does is to require those companies contracting with the Federal Government to use the basic worker verification program to ensure us, the taxpayers, that the individuals working for them are in the country legally and that they are who they claim to be. Mr. Speaker, this is a national security issue, it is a homeland security issue, it is an issue of tremendous importance. I encourage the body to look at H.R. 2049, and I encourage our leadership to take aggressive action to fight illegal immigration.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hensarling) for his work on this amendment and, of course, our chairman of the Committee on Government Reform, who has worked so diligently on this bill and for years has worked to be able to move it to the body. Mr. Chairman, you know, we are hearing a lot about the military benefits. From my service on the Committee on Government Reform, I think I remember that there was in 2003 $103 billion overpayment in pension benefits that was refunded to the Postal Service, and as a part of that agreement they were made responsible for the military pension costs of the employees. And this bill would reverse those provisions. I think it is also worthy to notice that the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hensarling) has pointed out in 1971 the reform efforts put in place at the Postal Service, it would be a self-financing agency, and with that mandate they were given certain exemptions and advantages such as tax and anti-trust. And they are obliged and obligated to manage their finances in a manner that covers its full costs. We must continue to encourage the Postal Service to be self- sufficient and not be subsidized by the taxpayer. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of the amendment.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, increasingly, one of the things I hear from small business owners back in Tennessee is they want Congress to open the way, just to open the way and set the stage for more affordable health care choices. Over 90 percent of the jobs in Tennessee are small business jobs. It is the largest employer in my district. Mr. Speaker, one of the things that we hear is that these employers want to do the best they can for their employees. They feel like they are a part of their family. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sam Johnson) really should be applauded for introducing the Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2005. It is one of those things that will help small businesses, as we have heard from so many of the speakers, to pool together and to purchase association health plans through their national trade groups. I have joined him as a co-sponsor of the legislation, and I believe we do have that opportunity to extend affordable, quality health care to millions of Americans. Every small business owner knows that providing quality health care is one of the most costly items in running a business. It is a very difficult part, handling the mountains of paperwork and finding the right policies. We have the power to help by passing this commonsense legislation. I ask my colleagues to support the rule and to support the underlying legislation.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, on Sunday the Chattanooga Times Free Press ran an op-ed that I wrote about the READ ID Act. They also ran an op-ed by a college professor who disagrees with the READ ID Act. I want to thank the editors of that paper for being sure that both sides were represented on this issue. That is what every newspaper should strive for: equal time and let the readers decide. As I pointed out in my op-ed, illegal immigration is clearly a matter of national security, and for too long States like Tennessee have known and done nothing about the ease with which illegal aliens are obtaining valid government IDs. I believe it is unacceptable. I think most Tennesseeans agree with me. When I was in the State Senate in Tennessee, I fought to fix the problem, and now I am pleased that Congress and this Republican leadership have supported the READ ID Act. We are taking critically important steps toward tightening our licensing and identification policies to fight illegal immigration and terrorism.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, when I am back home in my district in Tennessee talking with a lot of small-business owners, which are the primary mode of employment in my district, there are a lot of things that always come up. I can always count on hearing about taxation, the need for deregulation, the effects of illegal immigration, and health care. Increasingly I am hearing from these owners that they want Congress to open the way for more affordable health care choices. Last week in Roll Call there was a great article talking about association health plans, and I am glad to see some attention is on that idea, and that legislation is going to come before the House. The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sam Johnson) really should be applauded for introducing the Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2005, which will help our small businesses purchase association health plans through national trade groups. I have joined him as a cosponsor of this important legislation because I believe we have a wonderful opportunity to extend affordable quality health care to millions of Americans. Mr. Speaker, Republicans and this leadership are fighting to help the engine of economic growth in this country, our small businesses, helping them gain access to the sort of health care typically we only see provided by large corporations. Small businesses feel like their employees are family members. They want the best for them. Every small-business owner knows that providing those employees with health care can be costly, and it can be a difficult part of running a business. Costs are rising, the paperwork never seems to end, and we have the power to help in this situation. We have the power to provide a vehicle for extending health care to millions of Americans. This does not require a big government program. It will not require spending billions of taxpayer dollars. It is common sense. It is providing an opportunity. The Small Business Health Fairness Act has the potential to be very effective, to be pro-health care, to be a great effort for our communities across the Nation. The bill is going to reduce costs for entrepreneurs and their employees by letting small businesses band together to pool their purchase power, to work cooperatively and to dilute the risk to the insurers. It will lower premiums, and we believe it will give millions of uninsured Americans the access they want to quality health care. We have debated this issue for years on end, and it is time for action. It is time to listen to America's small businesses and to their employees. I want to thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sam Johnson) for his work on this. I want to thank the leadership for their efforts, and I ask all of my colleagues to strongly support this important effort.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, this evening we have addressed our Nation's homeland security with the reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act, putting the focus where it should be, keeping this Nation safe. My constituents talk with me not only about homeland security and economic security, but about our health care security. Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sam Johnson) for the Small Business Health Fairness Act that he has filed. We talk about small businesses buying association health plans, being able to group together to buy health insurance to provide for their small business employees. This is a good idea. It helps bolster our Nation's economic engine, those small businesses. I commend the gentleman from Texas. I cosponsored his legislation. I look forward to supporting it as he begins to move that to the floor and we keep the focus on security in this great Nation.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Iowa. He has done such a wonderful job on the Committee on the Judiciary. I had the opportunity to serve with him on that committee last Congress, and I appreciate his wisdom, his expertise, and just his common sense way of approaching legislation. So often he will say that he was out on his tractor thinking about this, that, or the other, and let me tell you what I think. I think there are many of my constituents in Tennessee that certainly relate to how he goes about that thinking process, and we appreciate that. Mr. Speaker, we did pass the PATRIOT Act today and reauthorize that. We did this with bipartisan support. I would remind the body this is one in a continuing string of items of legislation that have been passed with bipartisan support in this body. Whether it be bankruptcy reform or extension of the death tax, the energy bill or the highway bill, I could go on and on. Supplemental budget, the REAL ID Act, we have done it with bipartisan support. I think there is a reason that the minority votes with the leadership of this House and the majority on our agenda, and it is because the leadership of this House is in touch with what the American people think, what is on their mind, what they are focusing on. One of the things that we know that they are focusing on is security, whether it be moral security or economic security or health care security or homeland security; and our focus today has been on homeland security. The gentleman from Iowa (Mr. King) is right, today with bipartisan support we reauthorized the PATRIOT Act. We did it with good reason. We did it because it is a cornerstone and an important part of fighting and winning the war on terror. And winning is something we have to be certain we do. Now, there are a couple of points that I did want to make, and I appreciate the gentleman yielding me this time. We heard quite a bit of bravado today about abuses, and we have a poster here. The PATRIOT Act, section 223 of the PATRIOT Act allows individuals to sue the Federal Government for money damages if a Federal official discloses sensitive information without authorization. Number of lawsuits filed against the government: zero. And the source on this is the Department of Justice. One of my colleagues earlier said let us look at the PATRIOT Act by the numbers. This is a pretty important piece to remember. This is there for a reason, and it is important. Here are some more PATRIOT Act facts by the numbers. One of the things that I would like to call attention to is the third point. Since the attacks on 9/11, the people arrested by the Department of Justice as a result of international terrorism investigations, 395; convictions, 212. This is so important for us to keep in mind because this shows the PATRIOT Act is working. There is a reason for this. There is a reason that we have that. The gentleman from Iowa (Mr. King) has talked about, and the gentleman from Texas talked about, the libraries and the importance of having access to the library records. The other night as we were discussing the PATRIOT Act, we talked about you had to have a court order. It is not just the ability to go in and say let me look at So- and-So's records. There is a process. It is the same process which has been in place for years. When we were looking at drug kings and racketeering, our Federal agents would use those powers at that point, always going to a judge, always receiving that permission. But we know and we have had testimony given that some of the suspected 9/11 hijackers actually went in and used public libraries. We do not want our public libraries to become safe havens for terrorists. Those are the reasons for those provisions. All in all the PATRIOT Act is one of those items that will add to achieving the security that we want here in our homes, in our communities, in our schools, in our public places and gathering places. It is another tool that can be used by our intelligence community, our defense community, and our law enforcement community to be certain they gather information and have the ability to share information that is necessary to keep this Nation safe. I again thank the members of the Committee on the Judiciary, and I thank the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) for the excellent work that was done on this bill, bringing it to the floor; and I thank the members who voted and supported and worked in a bipartisan manner to see this finished today.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I would like to call the body's attention to a sheet of paper that the Committee on Ways and Means has produced for the membership this morning. It is the top 10 reasons the economy is strong. The late Alex Haley used to say, find the good and praise it. Mr. Speaker, this morning I would like to pause and praise the free enterprise system and the wonderful men and women, the small business owners who have put their energy into building a strong economy. It is their work. They create the jobs, not us. It is government's job to create the environment and get out of the way and let free enterprise do what it does best. The items, the 10 items on this list are so encouraging. Unemployment, near historic lows, 5 percent; 4.4 percent average GDP growth since June of last year; 3.7 percent growth in manufacturing output since June of last year. The economy is strong. Free enterprise is doing its job. Mr. Speaker, let us celebrate that success.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher) for his excellent work on this amendment and to join him in saying to the body, yes, indeed, Guantanamo Bay serves a very valuable purpose, a strategic purpose when we talk about the war on terror, and the importance, the absolute necessity that we have to win this war on terror. This is one of those situations where losing is not an option. As the gentleman was just saying, the detainees, all 520 individuals that are there, all 520 detainees have been found to be a terrorist. They have been through not zero, not one, not two, not three, but four different hearings, and they have been found to be terrorists. These are people that do not wish us well. They wish evil, and they carry out evil. We need to keep them locked up. We found that Guantanamo was a safe, secure facility. It is there for the protection of the individuals as well as for intelligence gathering. And our intelligence community is doing a tremendous job gathering information that has continued to keep this Nation safe and will continue to keep this Nation safe. They have gathered intelligence that helped lead to the capture of Saddam Hussein. They have gathered intelligence that has helped break up terrorist cells all around this globe. That is important. Why have we not seen an attack on American soil since September 11? Because of intelligence that is being gathered. I will tell my colleagues, for far too long we treated terrorism as a law enforcement issue. I would recommend to the body that in my opinion it is not just a law enforcement issue. Law enforcement is necessary, intelligence is necessary, defense is necessary if we are going to win. Mr. Chairman, while I am here for a moment, I would like to say thank you to the men and women in uniform and to the families that are deployed and serving there. We have had about 10,000 Americans serve at Guantanamo Bay. They are doing a stellar job. We thank them for their work under very difficult, very difficult situations, and we are grateful for their commitment to the war on terror, and we are grateful for their commitment to freedom, preserving freedom in this Nation and around the globe.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, one of the things we have learned since September 11 is that legislation like the PATRIOT Act is absolutely necessary, so I want to commend the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner), and the committee itself for working to prepare legislation reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act. I was disappointed to learn that many of the Democrats opposed the legislation in committee, especially in light of the London bombings. Prior to September 11, this country did not have the legal and intelligence infrastructure necessary to pursue terrorist cells operating on our own soil. Republicans in Congress said never again, and we took action to be sure that our police and intelligence agencies were working together to prevent terrorism. The PATRIOT Act should be reauthorized with overwhelming bipartisan support. I hope Democrats will finally realize we cannot afford to be soft on terrorism here at home and will join Republicans in supporting this bill when it comes to the House floor.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas, and I think it is so worthy as we have this debate to recognize the experience that the gentleman from Texas brought to this Chamber, having served as a judge in his home State of Texas and becoming a true contributing member of the Committee on the Judiciary and working with our chairman, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner), and that committee as we bring forward the reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act. I thank him for sharing that expertise with our body and I thank him for the diligence that he brings to reviewing this. Mr. Speaker, I had an interesting experience this week. My husband and I have been members of a bible study group for about 15 years, and Sunday night, as we gathered, the leader of the group looked at me and he said, Marcia, why do you not talk to us about what is going on with our border security and our national security. The bombings had been of concern to so many people, and this is a group of folks we are very close to, and so I took a few minutes to kind of recap for them where we are as we look at these issues that face us and as we find workable solutions to them; whether it is illegal immigration or whether it is keeping our communities and our towns and our cities safe. That brought us all to the PATRIOT Act and the reason for the PATRIOT Act and the reason this Chamber voted to put the PATRIOT Act in place. It is there as a tool to be used, as the gentleman from Texas said, by our local, State, and Federal law enforcement, by our intelligence community, by our defense community to be certain that we keep America safe; that we keep our homeland safe; that we keep our communities safe; that we have a tool that we can use to fight terrorism. We have to realize, too, that most terrorists do not claim allegiance to a specific country or a government. These are not uniformed soldiers of a nation's army. What we have are people that are loyal to the Taliban, to the al Qaeda, to the terrorist organizations. Their goal is to inflict harm on us, and the PATRIOT Act has supplied a way that the law enforcement, the intelligence community, the defense community can work to get the information that is necessary to keep us safe. There are a couple of points that I would like to touch on tonight, and that I think are very important, very important to my constituents and were important to my friends as we sat Sunday evening, in a safe, secure home and talked about this very issue. One of those is the fact that the PATRIOT Act allows our Federal agents to follow sophisticated terrorists who are trying to evade detection, and this is the ability to use roving wiretaps. Now, that is something our agents have had the ability to use for those that are into racketeering and into drug offenses. So they have used that. And the important component there is that this has to be court ordered. An agent has to go to a judge and get a court order on this. This is not something that is going to compromise ordinary everyday citizens. But it is a vital tool because terrorists, we have learned, we have learned a good bit from the detainees at Guantanamo Bay. They are very sophisticated. They use technology. They use telecommunications, and are very sophisticated in how they go about communicating and having that ability to get a court order and implement that roving wiretap, how very important that is in fighting this war on terrorism. Another point, Mr. Speaker, that I would like to bring before the body is looking at the situation with libraries. There is a myth out there, and the ACLU has claimed that many people are unaware that their library habits would become the target of government surveillance. That is a myth, and I want to be certain everyone understands that is a myth. Mr. Speaker, as a mother, I do not want our public libraries to become safe havens for terrorists. We know that those terrorist cells, many of the individuals in those terrorist cells have gone where for their e-mail communications and their computers and to use computers to research buildings and cities and locations? They have gone to public libraries. There again, this is not something that every one of us will find ourselves exposed to, but this is a tool that an agent needs to be able to go to a judge and request a court order and come in and review records of someone who is a suspected terrorist who would be choosing to inflict harm on communities, on cities in this great Nation. Mr. Speaker, as I close my time this evening in this Special Order, I would like to thank the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Carter) for his leadership on the Committee on the Judiciary, and I would like to thank the gentleman from Wisconsin (Chairman Sensenbrenner) for the thoughtful way they have brought this issue forward and thank the leadership of the House for allowing us to have an opportunity to discuss with our constituents, with the American people, and also within this body the importance of reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, Avon Williams was a true friend and dedicated public servant. Over the years it has been a privilege of mine to count Avon and his family as friends. It has been America's good fortune that he chose to serve us all as a respected and capable member of the Pentagon's senior staff. We grieve for the loss of a man who I know would have continued to do great things for our Nation. And I will miss his wisdom, his wit, and our wonderful conversations. In Washington, Avon was well known and well respected as counsel for the U.S. Department of the Army. Tennesseans remember him as general counsel for the state Department of Safety and assistant commissioner for the state Department of Economic Development. And during the 1980s Avon represented the Nation as second secretary and vice consul in Manila, Philippines. This experience made him the resident foreign policy expert at our Friday afternoon Roundtable. The man was clearly a talented and gifted human being. His life story is one of remarkable achievement, many friends, and a loving family. Our thoughts and prayers are with Jan and the Williams children as they honor and mourn this wonderful man. We will never forget his contributions to our country and our state.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I am holding up today's Washington Post. There is an article here, ``Revenue Surge Shrinks the Deficit.'' Well, every day this week, I have come to the floor to talk about how tax reductions work and the growth that we are seeing in the economy. Over the past 25 months, we have seen an average of 146,000 jobs created each month. We have near historic lows in unemployment. The GDP has been revised upward, and we are going to see a deficit that is about $100 billion less than projected. It just goes to show, when you give about 92 million Americans a tax cut, good things happen. They keep more money in their pockets, and we see jobs growth, economic growth, and we also see the deficit shrink.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, there is great economic news for American workers. The reason this economy is growing is because of small business. That is why we are celebrating Small Business Week. We found out from the Bureau of Labor Statistics last week, 25 months of consecutive economic growth, 146,000 jobs in June. We have unemployment at near historic lows. We are going to see the deficit $100 billion less than projected. The reason that is happening, the reason we have steady economic growth, is because the tax reductions are working. The tax reductions are working, and we are seeing higher Federal revenues. We are going to continue with this. It shows that the agenda laid forth by the majority leadership has worked for all Americans, and we are going to continue to work to reduce Federal regulations like the bills we did in dealing with OSHA to make the environment more friendly for small business to do what they do best, create those jobs. We look forward to continuing to create the environment for a great competitive American workplace.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for his leadership on this issue. He certainly brings a wonderful perspective to our body as he leads in the discussion of small businesses and health. I think most people know that small town physicians, that is a small business, and working with small business employers, he understands so readily how employers truly desire to provide great benefits for their employees. Mr. Speaker, I think most small business employers feel like their employees are family. They want to be certain that they have got the best of everything, the best of opportunity, the best of health care, the best work environment, because they treasure having those individuals work with them. Most small business owners understand, too, that it is important that employees be happy and content in their work environment, that they stay with you, because one of the greatest expenses is having to train a new employee, having to help them learn the ropes, learn the skills, come up to speed to fill that role. They also know that good health care is important because of time lost from work. That is very expensive. That means an employer, if he has an employee who is sick, who has not had access to good preventative health care, then what happens? He has to go hire a temporary employee to fill that job. So small business employers understand the importance of creating a good comprehensive work environment and the importance of appropriate health care and health coverage for employees. I cannot go any further talking about a small business without first having a couple of things to say about this economic engine and what a lot of these small business employers are able to do. We are averaging 146,000 new jobs a month. Unemployment is at near historic lows. We are just above 5 percent on unemployment. What that tells us is that the small business sector is working, that with new ideas and new innovations and lower taxes and with the focus on lessening regulation like we have done this very week, this very day right here in this House as we have looked at OSHA regulations and found ways, we passed four bills, finding a way to help make OSHA and the rules and the regulations less burdensome to small businesses. So it is wonderful that during this small business week, we have our legislative attention focused on what we do, not to create jobs, what we do not to strap down business, but what we do to create the type environment in this Nation that small business and free enterprise can do what they do best, that is, create jobs, be the economic engine for this great Nation. I commend our leadership here in the House for continuing to work on these issues and put this focus on small businesses, whether it is through an energy bill or through the death tax repeal or class action fairness or bankruptcy or jobs training improvement. All of that affects small business, much the same way as health care affects small business and its employees. There are just a couple of other quick points that I would like to add. Looking at health care and the viability of health care for small business is not new. This is not something that is on the plate for the first time in the 109th Congress. This is an issue that our leadership has been focused on for many years. One provision that was on the table for quite a while and finally was passed in the 108th Congress is health savings accounts; and for small businesses that are seeking to find an affordable way to continue or to give health choices for their employees, the health savings accounts are a wonderful alternative. And, Mr. Speaker, one of the things that has come to mind that we have seen with the past year, with the advent of health savings accounts, more than 1 million Americans have chosen this as an option because it is a way for them to save, to set aside, and a way for them to begin looking to expanding their health care dollar, being certain that they have that health care dollar where they are getting basically the most bang for their buck. And I certainly think that it is to our credit that this option was made available to the American people last year, and I commend our leadership for that. Another bill that this House has passed, and we certainly are looking forward to the same type of success with, is association health plans. These are basically small business health plans that we talk about in my district, because it will allow businesses to group together in their associations, of different types, whether they are small business manufacturers or maybe marketing companies or some of the high-tech companies, but group together and pool their buying power so that they can have group policies for their employees and will be able to do it more affordably. So association health plans will be another great addition, putting a little bit more of that private sector expertise back in there to get the cost of health care down so that it is more affordable for our small business employers. I want to thank the gentleman from Georgia again for allowing me to come in and participate as we talk about small businesses, keeping them healthy, keeping them vibrant, and also having health care affordable and available for their employees. I thank him for the leadership.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, you know last night I came down and had a little bit to say about the jobs, 146,000 new jobs that this economy, this private sector has grown in June, and near historic lows in unemployment at 5 percent. And with the economic growth, the tax reductions, our deficit will be $100 billion lower than original projections. And we are going to continue to build on all of this. Today, Mr. Speaker, I want to call attention to another article, this one on spending regulation keeps growing. And I think that is one of the things that we continue to look at and one of the reasons that we are addressing some of the bills and legislation that we are this week. It is also the reason that we continue to address waste, fraud and abuse in this Congress, finding ways to reduce the cost of government so that this economy will continue to move forward and continue to grow.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam Speaker, today we are all returning from what has been a glorious July 4 celebration in our home communities, looking at what makes America great. And I was so pleased to pick up a stack of papers and leaf back through them, and I found an article of interest in the business section of The Washington Post, and the headline caught my attention: ``Economic Growth, Tax Receipts Combine to Reduce Deficit.'' We all know The Post is generally not our friend, but it goes on to state that the deficit will be as much as $100 billion lower than the official forecasts and previous forecasts. Jobs growth is up 3.8 percent, as opposed to what they thought would be the estimate, 3.5 percent. Tax receipts are up. It just goes to prove, Madam Speaker, that the policies of reducing taxation, lessening regulation work are revitalizing, stimulating the economy. I commend our leadership for the tax reductions and look forward to more positive headlines.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I fully believe that Americans do understand why we are fighting this war on terrorism, and I think that most men and women are like me, and they stand with our men and women in uniform, who know this Nation faces a terrible, evil, evil enemy. All of us realize that to lose is not an option in this war. This is a war that we must win. While we understand intellectually, while we know in our hearts the reason for this war, our hearts cannot help but ask, ``Why,'' each and every time that we lose a soldier. With each death, a family, a community and a country mourns, and there is nothing we can say or do to make our hearts understand why this has happened. We can only remember the reason that we fight and honor the cause these men and women fought and died for. Mr. Speaker, we fight for freedom. As the beneficiaries of these heroes' sacrifices, we have an awesome obligation. We have a responsibility to be sure that this country does not forget our military men and women, our veterans, or forget the cause that they have chosen to champion. That is why I come here tonight to take a few moments and ask America not to forget our heroes and not to forget the heroes in this war on terror. On June 28, my community in Tennessee lost a son when Sergeant James ``Tre'' Ponder's MH-47D helicopter was shot down by enemy fire in eastern Afghanistan. Tre, his wife Leslie and their two daughters, Samantha and Elizabeth, live in Clarksville, near Fort Campbell, where Tre served at the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, Airborne. Tre's parents, Mr. and Mrs. James Ponder, Junior, reside in Clarksville. And Leslie's parents, Mayor and Mrs. Tom Miller, reside in Franklin, Tennessee. They are all constituents of Tennessee's Seventh Congressional District. Mr. Speaker, a military family lives with the kind of stress most of us cannot comprehend, especially in times like these. Tre and Leslie and their families lived with this stress, and they did so with grace and courage. If you want to know why America is strong, you only have to know people like the Ponders and the Millers, and that is why we have to be sure that all of us stop and honor Tre's life and, in so doing, honor our men and women in uniform. I want to read a statement Leslie made about Tre. This is what she said, and I am quoting, ``Tre spent the majority of his Army career supporting a unit he loved. The 160th was like a second family to him. He believed firmly in the principles ingrained in him from an early age: Loyalty, perseverance, and an overwhelming sense of patriotism. Tre would want to be remembered as someone who died the way he lived, providing support for some of America's finest young men.'' Mr. Speaker, in the midst of this agonizing loss, Leslie has issued a statement recognizing Tre's service and reminding us all that it was his dedication to America and our soldiers that gave him the courage and strength to do what he had to do, what he felt called to do. God bless our military families. They are absolutely incredible men and women. Mr. Speaker, medals and commendations alone cannot capture all that Tre meant to our community or what he did for America. The Nation has awarded him the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star medal. Medals and awards only tell us what we already know, that Tre Ponder was a brave and good man, one of the finest. To Tre's wife, Leslie, and his daughters, Samantha and Elizabeth, we offer our tears and our thanks. We are so sorry for their loss, and we are thankful for their service and sacrifice.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ginny Brown-Waite) for her leadership on this issue and all the work that she is doing to assist women in the House in a bipartisan effort as she chairs the Women's Caucus, and working to serve as a role model for our colleagues and our friends in Afghanistan and Iraq, showing them how to take that leadership role, how to lead by doing and role modeling. And I thank the gentlewoman for her work in that effort. And I also thank you for organizing this tonight and taking the leadership role in drawing our attention to Afghanistan and Iraq and the importance of women in those issues. I had the opportunity to be a part of the CODEL in October of 2003 that was led by the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Pryce). It was an all- female CODEL. It was a bipartisan CODEL. And how exited we were to go and be a apart of what was going on there, to see firsthand what was taking place. We were so touched with some of the women that we met in a women's center in Mosul, as they poured into a little house, hot tiny little house, cramped rooms, and talked with us through an interpreter about their hopes and their dreams. One of the things that struck us was that there was not a word that they used that translated into mentor. And a word that is so important to us. So our delegation sat about explaining to these women that a mentor is different from a sister or a parent, it is more than a teacher, and how a mentor is someone that will walk with you and stand with you and go through all of the trials and the bumps and the starts of creating a place, a life, a spot for yourself. And what a wonderful lesson that was for us to realize how important it is to mentor and how important it is for us to realize how uniquely American it is for us to put our arms around mentoring and pulling up along with us those that we would seek to help and work with. We have, as the gentlewoman from Illinois (Mrs. Biggert) was mentioning, brought some of the women with us here to be a part of what was going on in our Nation's great capital so that they could experience and live and have an idea of how we work in freedom and how democracy works and how we apply it each and every day in our lives. I have also had the opportunity to have some of them in Tennessee with me. We had them in Nashville at Vanderbilt University at the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center. And there they had the opportunity to meet with and talk with some of the members of our military, female officers and members who had been in Iraq, who had fought for their freedom. How wonderful to watch them say thank you. This past March, I returned to Iraq, and I would like to share with you just a little bit of an update on a couple of women that we have mentored and have worked with over there. One has three children who are currently in school in the northern part of Iraq. They are in a village school there that actually has been put in place by a school in my district. It is a private endeavor. They are working with the local officials. The children are happy. They are excited, and they are learning. Each and every day, they learn a little bit more, not only about reading, writing and arithmetic as we like to say, but also about freedom, about democracy, and how to live and prosper and work in a free society. The elections were great for them. It was a lesson, a living lesson in democracy. Another, in Tikrit, I had the opportunity to visit with when I returned there and visited with the troops, she came on post. What a wonderful reunion we had, and we celebrated the success that she and her colleagues had enjoyed during the election. Mr. Speaker, it was wonderful to watch her reach out to the troops to say thank you; thank you for opening new doors, thank you for helping give a new life to me and my people. Mr. Speaker, I had an e-mail from this young lady the other day. She said, I request your help, I am applying for a Fullbright scholarship. And she wanted a letter of recommendation. How exciting for me to take out a pen and paper and sit down and draft a letter talking about the tenacious spirit, the love of freedom that this young woman has displayed. How wonderful to know that once she, who could not even walk outside her door without fear of what may lie beyond that door with Saddam Hussein and his henchmen, she who helped carry out the elections in her province, that she now says, You know what, freedom brings the opportunity for education and I can apply for this scholarship. That is progress. It is progress of providing hope and opportunity and encouraging the human soul. How wonderful that that exists for these folks. Just a couple of thoughts on the elections, Mr. Speaker, that I do want to touch on. I mentioned my friend there in Tikrit, and not only did I hear from her stories about the elections and some of the things that they did there, it was the women, as my colleague from Illinois was saying and also my colleague from Florida was saying, it was the women in Iraq who led the way to the voting booth, and how exciting that was for us. There were stories of how they hid people in ambulances and police cars, and they made their way along with first 10, then 20, and then 100. And then as the posters have shown, lines and lines of women who were coming to exercise that freedom. Some of the emails from some of our Iraqi friends were so inspiring. A few little tidbits of those: We are voting with courage. We showed bravery and great strength. We showed brave hearts and blue fingers. We achieved our identity in front of a watching world, and then, to sum it up, saying thank you. Thank you to the best friend Iraq has ever had, the United States of America. Mr. Speaker, they mean every word of that. They mean every single word. And I was thrilled on July 3rd and 4th as I opened my e-mails, as I went about my district celebrating this Nation's independence and freedom, that I had notes from these individuals, so many of these, congratulating me on living in America and congratulating America on having another independence day. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the opportunity to speak and to share, and I thank the gentlewoman from Florida for her time and effort in this.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, this week's Supreme Court decisions have been a mixed bag, and I did not like the eminent domain ruling which, in my view, is contrary to America's great tradition and respect for public property. Why is it that Americans can be born poor and yet realize the American Dream? It is because Americans can dream and create and own and benefit from their labor. I was glad to see the Court reinforce private property, at least when it comes to intellectual property. It is so important that our digital marketplace not become a place where anything goes and where pirates and robber barons rule the Information Highway. As a Member of Congress from Tennessee, I have a great number of constituents, small business owners who write music, create television programming, films, radio content, people who write books and publish them and develop software. The creative community is alive and well and working hard in Tennessee. I can tell my colleagues that illegal downloading has hurt our songwriters and our performers. And I am not talking about millionaires; I am talking about small business people. They are the backbone of the entertainment industry. As cochairman of the Congressional Songwriters Caucus, I applaud the Grokster decision and hope that they will promote a fair and digital marketplace.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, it is interesting, my colleague was just talking about the President's speech tonight and I happen to disagree with her. I thought it was a strong, resolute speech that we heard from the President. America needs to hear from him and America needs to know that this President will not cut and run. The world needs to know that the Americans are not going to cut and run. I think that for the past few months Americans, and probably a lot of folks around the world, have heard far too much from the cut-and-run caucus on this Hill. It is time that we make certain that they know we are committed to freedom. We have a President that is not going to give in to the terrorists, and that is exactly as it should be. Some say that by being aggressive, that by taking this War on Terrorism to the Middle East, that we are helping the terrorists and helping the insurgent recruitment efforts. These nay-sayers count every single person who goes out and joins and becomes a part of the insurgency but, somehow, they forget something, and they forget this: that as we are over there fighting and working to bring democracy and freedom to Afghanistan and to Iraq, that there are hundreds of thousands and millions of people that are joining us in working toward freedom, working to build a democratic ally for our children there in the Middle East, and that they are going to see a different life than the hundreds of thousands that have found themselves in mass graves in Afghanistan and in Iraq. Mr. Speaker, it is also interesting that many times, those on the left come in and they want to talk about a time line, give us a time line. Tell us exactly when we are going to get out of there. I always find that interesting, because many times I think that the liberals want a time line because they want to control it. They want to know exactly what is going to happen when, so they can micromanage it. Our military leaders need the ability to make those decisions that need to be made right there on the front lines. They do not need Congress micromanaging this war. Also, we do not need to tell the terrorists, this is what we are going to do and this is when we are going to do it. We need to trust that leadership of our military and we need to believe in those men and women in uniform that are fighting. My colleague also mentioned a trip that was made to Guantanamo Bay this weekend. I was also on that trip, and I will tell my colleagues, it is one of those things that kind of gets under my skin when I hear them say progress is being made at Guantanamo Bay. That insinuates that our men and women in uniform have done something wrong, and they have not, Mr. Speaker. I think it is important that the Members of this body, and also that the American people, know what Guantanamo Bay is about. Guantanamo Bay is a detention center, and in that detention center are held 520 enemy combatants. Now, an enemy combatant is not somebody that got picked up for shoplifting or for running a traffic signal. An enemy combatant is a person that has ties to known terrorist groups: the Taliban, al Qaeda. They are people that have participated in trying to tear us down. They are people that have participated in the September 11 attacks, the Khobar Towers, the first World Trade Center bombing. That is what we have at Guantanamo Bay. We hear that we should send them back to their country. There is a reason we do not, and that is because an enemy combatant is not a uniformed soldier in an Army fighting for a country. An enemy combatant is a terrorist and, many times, we do not know what country they are from. The reason we do not send them back is because there is not a country that we are going to be sending them back to. It is an important distinction that we need to make. Mr. Speaker, as we go through this week, as we talk about the President's remarks tonight, as we talk about the time at Guantanamo Bay, it is important to remember that it is our men and women that we need to thank for our freedom. It is their families we need to thank for their support.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, tonight President Bush talked with America about the great struggle and the suffering that our country has endured since September 11. It is clear that these memories are seared for us of that horrific day, and our hearts break for the soldiers that we have lost and the families that they have left behind. But the President reminded us that when tragedy struck, we pulled ourselves together; got to work, as we always do; and that we have taken this war to those who attacked us, to be sure that our children never suffer through another September 11. We do not believe in appeasing terrorism. We do not believe in turning a blind eye as evil gathers, hoping it will strike someone else. We are Americans. It is not our way to let bullies and thugs intimidate and destroy what we and other free nations have worked so hard to build. That is why we are in Afghanistan and that is why we are in Iraq. Mr. Speaker, the front lines of this war are on America's main streets. They are also in Kabul and Baghdad. We are in this together and we will win together.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I too just returned from a bipartisan delegation to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in order to review the procedures that are used in handling and questioning the enemy combatants we have detained there. After hearing months of criticism from the left and hearing our military men and women compared to Nazis and Guantanamo described as a gulag, I was glad for the opportunity to see the facility myself. Do my colleagues know what I found? I found Guantanamo to be a well- run, secure facility that is essential in our fight in protecting America from terrorism. For weeks and months, we have been told that the place was violating virtually every standard of decency in the free world. Well, these detainees do get 3 meals a day. They are allowed to worship. They are receiving health care. I hope that the Democrats who know that to be true, who were with us, who viewed all the work at Guantanamo, will take a stand and tell the truth about Guantanamo and the wonderful men and women in our military who are serving there, working to keep America safe.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, for more than 20 years Ronald Davis has served Tennessee and the Nation as a member of our Armed Forces and a dedicated District Attorney General for the 21st Judicial District. And today, looking back on those years of faithful service, it's fair to say that we in Tennessee have been truly fortunate to count Ron as a friend and neighbor. It is with pride and thanks that we recognize Captain Ronald Davis as he retires from the United States Coast Guard. Ron's service history is truly inspiring. He served in Vietnam, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Allied Force, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The commendations and medals awarded to Captain Davis are simply too many to mention here, but among those he's received is the prestigious Defense Superior Service Medal. Williamson County and middle Tennessee are thankful Ron will continue his work as District Attorney General, and we look forward to many more years of his leadership in our civic and community organizations. Mr. Speaker, it is because of men and women like Ron that America remains strong and free. God bless Ron and his family.