John Barrow

Mr. BARROW

Mr. BARROW. Mr. Speaker, today on National Teacher Day, I want to encourage all my constituents and my colleagues to take just a minute to thank those teachers who helped us get where we are today, sometimes despite ourselves. For me those teachers included Ms. Moseley, Ms. Goodwyn, Ms. Rapley, Ms. Hughes, and a host of others. But the teacher I want to single out is Ms. Bertha Musick. She just celebrated her 96th birthday, and she is still going strong. She was my 11th grade English teacher, and she was tough as nails. Every day it was her job to hammer an understanding and an appreciation of good English into the heads of an 11th grade class full of thick- skulled teenagers. Ms. Musick meant business. And while she had a reputation for being tough, every one of her students came to realize that her toughness was driven by her devotion. Many of us understood that at the time. All of us came to understand it over time. I cannot tell my colleagues how many times I have heard her describe how former students, who used to think of her as the enemy, came back to her, sometimes many years later, to thank her for being caring enough to be tough. Not just caring enough about her work, but caring enough about her students; and they were right. Someone once defined an education as what you remember after you forget 99 percent of what you learned in school. What Ms. Musick taught me, and hundreds of other impressionable youngsters, is the value of not giving in and not giving up. That is what defined a good teacher in Ms. Musick's day, and that is what defines good teachers today, who are overworked, underpaid, and underappreciated. So to Ms. Musick, at 99 years strong, I just want to say ``thank you very much.''

Mr. BARROW

Mr. BARROW. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of today's Small Business Bill of Rights, but I feel it necessary to address the concerns of the one small business community whose concerns are not addressed in this resolution, America's minority-owned businesses. This is not a small part of the small business marketplace. It is not a niche market, though this resolution treats the minority small business market as though it were a niche market. Despite the fact that nearly one-third of America's population consists of minorities, these individuals own only 15 percent of America's small businesses. Earlier this month, the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore) and I attempted to offer an amendment to address this disproportion. Our amendment was simply a call for modernizing and streamlining the eligibility criteria of the Small Business Administration's 8(a) program so that minority-owned small businesses had substantially the same eligibility criteria that we use to serve the rest of the small business community. The 8(a) program was created nearly 40 years ago, and it is the major business development program that this government offers to help minority business development. Currently, businesses applying for 8(a) certification have to meet a number of restrictive criteria. These include a net worth cap of $250,000; a 9-year maximum time in the program; a weaning off of government contracts; having been in business for 2 years prior to entering the program; and having to show written proof of ``prospects for success.'' Today these restrictions apply only to the 8(a) program. The eligibility criteria for the 8(a) program has not been updated, revised, or changed at all in the last 17 years. During that time, we have seen many other improvements in the Federal marketplace, including three new procurement programs targeting specific sectors of the small business community: the HUBZone program, the Women's Procurement program, and the Small Disadvantaged Business program. These are good initiatives that help America's small businesses; but in order to qualify for them, they do not have to jump through the same hoops they have to jump through to get 8(a) certification. Mr. Speaker, 17 years without a legislative update is the equivalent of repeal by neglect. Instead of ensuring that minority entrepreneurs have equal access to Federal contracts and subcontracts, this resolution does nothing to eliminate out-of-date and unnecessary obstacles for minority-owned companies. Mr. Speaker, this amendment was not even given the chance to be considered in committee. Just when it was time for us to introduce our amendment, a motion for previous question was made, preventing us from even introducing our amendment. Yesterday, I argued before the Committee on Rules that this amendment be considered today, and that request too was denied. Mr. Speaker, I understand that this is a House of procedure and protocol. But the curious and unusual procedure and protocol afforded this amendment has been unfair and unjust. This resolution offered us an opportunity to help remove antique barriers that limit the potential of our Nation's minority-opened businesses. Until this Congress addresses the fact that minority small businesses have to jump through hoops that do not apply in other small business programs, minority small businesses will continue to be second-class concerns. A bill of rights for small businesses ought to fix that.

Mr. BARROW

Mr. BARROW. Mr. Speaker, I rise this afternoon to speak of bravery, of courage, and of a war that was fought on two fronts, at home and abroad. Over 60 years ago America was at war with totalitarianism and fascist forces spreading across Europe and the Pacific. And here at home, our country was training and building an army to answer the call, an army with a history of excluding African Americans from aviation training. That was the case until just 3 months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, when a class of five aviation candidates finished training at the Tuskegee Army Airfield on the campus of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, soon becoming the Nation's first African American fighter pilots. They were George S. Roberts, Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., Charles H. BeBow, Jr., Mac Ross, and Lemuel R. Custis. These were the original five Tuskegee Airmen, pilots who entered into combat at a critical part of the war and was instrumental in helping to turn the tide. Between 1941 and 1945, over 1,000 aviators trained at the Tuskegee Army Airfield. Together, fighting alongside hundreds of thousands of their fellow citizens, they helped defeat the threat of fascism, proving that America is strongest when they are not divided by bigotry, prejudice, or racism. The military record of these distinguished airmen speaks for itself, 15,500 missions completed, 260 enemy aircraft destroyed, one enemy destroyer sunk, an unprecedented record of flying more than 200 bomber escort missions without the loss of a single bomber to enemy aircraft. The Tuskegee Airmen returned home with Distinguished Flying Crosses, Legions of Merit, Purple Hearts and Silver Stars, but beyond the medals and accolades, these men paved the way to an important and long-overdue victory, the full integration of the U.S. military. That is the lesson of the Tuskegee Airmen, that love of country, skill, and daring are qualities that transcend race or skin color. Today, as we face new threats from abroad, let us learn from the courage and example set by the Tuskegee Airmen. Let us recommit ourselves to putting old and inexcusable divisions behind us. America's strength lies in our unity, and to move forward, we must work together as one nation, whether it be on foreign battlefields or in our local communities.

Mr. BARROW

Mr. BARROW. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to have the opportunity to pay my respects to a fellow native Georgian, especially a man like Ossie Davis. On the stage and on the screen or in the public spotlight, Ossie Davis used his art and his talent to open America's eyes, exposing the inequality and injustice of racial segregation, fighting the witch- hunts of the 1950s, and providing a voice of strength and honor for those Americans struggling just to gain their basic freedoms. Those of us who grew up during the turbulent times of the 1950s and 1960s will remember the challenges our country faced, and we will never forget those individuals who led our country through those years. Ossie Davis was an activist and an artist, but he was also a leader whose life we should celebrate. Without question, Ossie and his wife of 56 years, Ruby Dee, are role models for all generations to remember. I urge all my colleagues to pay our respects and extend our condolences to Ruby Dee and the entire Davis family by supporting H. Res. 69.

Mr. BARROW

Mr. BARROW. Mr. Speaker, I think it is appropriate that my first address to this body should be on a large subject, and there are few subjects larger than our national deficit. The latest reports are forecasting a record $427 billion deficit, the largest budget deficit in our Nation's history. $427 billion is an amount so enormous that it is practically impossible for many to put it in context. The simple fact is that we are spending more money than we are bringing in, and this is digging a hole that we are going to have a hard time getting out of. This financial irresponsibility is punishing the prosperity for our future generations. When we are unable to pay our bills, we pass that burden on to our children and grandchildren, strapping them with a deficit that grows higher each day. Mr. Speaker, continuing to run record deficits is dangerous, it is irresponsible, it is reckless; and we have a solemn responsibility to do better than this. Every time we spend more money than we have or every time we borrow some record amount, we are trading short-term gains for long-term pain. Before I was elected to Congress, I served 14 years on the Athens- Clarke County Commission. During that time I never once voted to increase taxes, and that is a record I am proud of. Not only that, I put together a perfect record of voting for balanced budgets, year after year; and that is also a record I am proud of. On the commission, we kept taxes low, we kept the budget balanced, and we made the most out of the people's money. We treated the people's money the same way that working families and small businesses manage their money, we lived within our means. We always kept one eye on the bottom line and one eye on the road ahead. When we made investments, we invested in the long-term future. When we borrowed money, we borrowed for long-term interests, not simply to pay that month's light bill. Mr. Speaker, if working families can live within their means, or if a small city council of just 10 members can find a way not to spend more than they have, then the United States Congress ought to be able to do the same thing. It is not rocket science. It is just fiscal common sense and good government public service. We have many commitments: we must continue to support our troops in the war on terror; we must keep the promise of Social Security; we must find ways to lower the tax burden for all of our working families. But we have to start keeping those commitments by using only the money that we have, without raising taxes and without forcing our children and grandchildren to pay our bills. As we settle into the 109th Congress, we must commit ourselves to a sound policy of deficit reduction. I hope that my colleagues in the House will join me in working together to bring a new era of fiscal responsibility to this legislative body.

Mr. BARROW

Mr. BARROW. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 3, I was unable to cast my vote on January 3, 2005. The pager provided to me by House Administration, to notify me of votes, was defective. Consequently, I did not receive the announcement that the vote was taking place in time to cast my vote on the House Floor. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''