Donna Christensen

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you, Chairman Burton. At this time, I would like to yield 2 minutes to another colleague from New Jersey, Congressman Rob Andrews.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you, Congressman Andrews. At this time, I would like to yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Troy, the gentleman from Georgia, Congressman John Lewis.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. We are coming close to the end of our hour. I think our colleague will probably yield us some time, but I would like to close out this particular hour, and I ask unanimous consent to extend the hour to allow the Members who are on the floor to speak.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. The next speaker would be Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you, Congresswoman Lee. And thank you, everyone who's come out to pay tribute to Donald Payne this evening; and thank you, Father Conroy, for being here with us. I recently had the opportunity to introduce Donald at an annual gala of the Mountainside Marketing Group, where he was being honored with the 2011 Congressional Minority Business Award, and it was really an honor to do that. I talked then about his commitment to Africa and how I always told Donald I would never travel with him. You see, he was as comfortable, as you've heard, meeting rebels in the jungle as he was meeting Presidents and chiefs. State Department warnings meant nothing to him. You heard about his plane being shot at in Mogadishu, and he also did some jail time here at home for protests on behalf of the justice here and abroad. Because of the high respect in which he was held by everyone on all sides, he was able to bring peace to warring factions, to broker truces, and to ease the pathway to democracy for many. And his legacy as a peacemaker was not limited to Africa. He's considered an honorary son of Ireland for his contributions there. I talked that evening about his commitment to children. As a teacher, he used his senior position on Education and Labor to ensure that educational opportunities are available for all children, but especially poor and minority children. He worked hard to close the achievement gap, and was also a key player in legislation to reduce interest rates on college loans and to increase Pell Grants. I was able to tell those gathered how working families had no stronger supporter of labor and worker protections than Donald Payne. Last year the Health Braintrust and all of our partners honored Donald with the Congressional Leadership Award. I had the honor also of traveling to Newark every other year to the Donald Payne health summits and health fairs. He was just as determined that the people in his district have access to quality health care as he was committed to their education and economic opportunity. It was always an event that was looked forward to and attended by thousands who were then connected to the health care system, some for the very first time. But his commitment to health extended beyond his district to our entire country, to Africa and the Caribbean. He made sure that global health was added to the responsibility of the Subcommittee on Africa, which he chaired. He led the effort to increase PEPFAR funding more than threefold. When President Bush signaled his willingness to go from 15 to 30 billion over 5 years, Donald took that as an opening to push for even more and, with Barbara Lee and others, parlayed that to $48 billion. He also led in ensuring that, for the first time, all the countries in the Caribbean would be included. So it's no surprise that condolences are pouring in from all over the world, and I want to submit one from Dr. Claire Nelson on behalf of the Institute of Caribbean Studies. There were only a few of us that knew that Donald was diagnosed with cancer and undergoing treatment. He was truly amazing. I thought he was even more feisty after his diagnosis than before. He would add his humorous commentary even more often at our meetings. He teased many of us mercilessly. He led the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation with boundless energy which, of course, all of us on the board and the staff had to try to keep up with. His most recent boat ride, of which he takes pictures with everyone who comes, was lots of fun as always; and he thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it, as all of us did. His work in this body, of course, never faltered, and I think he would have been a more formidable adversary or advocate, as the case might have been. But above all, Donald was a dear friend. In the end, he succumbed to the cancer, but up until the very last, he lived his life to the fullest. The people of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and he visited us several times, my family and staff join me in extending our heartfelt sympathy to his family: his children Donald, Jr., Wanda, and Nicole; his four grandchildren and his great grandchild; his brother, Bill, and sister Kathryn; Laverne, and all of his staff, past and present here and in the district; and the people of the 10th District of New Jersey. Donald was not only a respected member of the Congressional Black Caucus, which he chaired. He was loved by all of us. We will miss him terribly, but we will remember him with such great affection and consider ourselves blessed to have known him, to have served with him, and to have him call us his friend. So long, Donald. Rest in peace. Until we meet again. March 6, 2012. Dear Friends: ``Every once in a while a GIANT walks the earth.'' Over the past several years, I was privileged, to have worked with Congressman Payne who was tireless in his support for the Caribbean, as well as Africa. I remember well the first time I moderated a Task Force at the CBC Annual Legislative Caucus, that he was Co-Chair of. He was so gracious, with my anxiety about following the appropriate protocol. As Chair of the Bi- partisan Caribbean Caucus, he led the way for us to have our voice heard and helped us to understand how we as Caribbean Americans may better impact the Congress he loved and served so well. On behalf of the Caribbean American community, ICS will offer condolences to his family and friends as the arrangements become known to us . . . by way of our Advisors who were his personal friends. In the meantime, I offer my prayers of thanksgiving for his life and legacy and my prayers of comfort to those he loved best. May he rest in peace. Dr. Claire Nelson, President of the Institute of Caribbean Studies.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. This evening, the Congressional Black Caucus is pleased to have a few minutes of Special Order time to again come back to the issue of voter protection. As we know, many States have either passed laws restricting voter participation in elections or are in the process of doing so. These attacks, as we said last week, have taken many forms. They've been expanding the ban that prevents felons from voting, cutting election administration budgets, curtailing early voting, and eliminating same- day registration. Just in November, two members of the Congressional Black Caucus, Keith Ellison and Gwen Moore, introduced a bill, the Voter Access Protection Act, which would protect those rights and restore same-day voter registration. The bill would reverse both the laws that curtail early voting and that eliminate same-day registration. Some of these laws allow for the intimidation of voter registration groups. Some States are imposing strict ID requirements, creating barriers in getting the required ID and also putting up barriers to students who vote where they attend school. Tonight, I am going to be joined by several Members, beginning with Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee from Texas, to again begin to raise the country's awareness of some of the voting restrictions that are being put in place across this country and to let the public know that the Congressional Black Caucus, just as we did last year, will go across the country to raise awareness of the need for jobs. We will have job fairs from which we have actually put people to work in several cities across this country. We've matched people who were out of work with jobs. We're still waiting for this Congress to pass jobs legislation, the American Jobs Act, and many of the other pieces of legislation that the CBC and other Members have put forth, but this time we're going to go across the country and focus on protecting the right of Americans to vote. At this time, I would yield such time as she might consume to Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. I thank you for coming and for making that very strong presentation and for sharing that story with us which lets us know that, not so very long ago, people were really blocked from voting and took their lives in their hands just trying to exercise that simple right, the right to vote. I would like to now yield to our colleague from Ohio, Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Well, thank you. We appreciate your joining us and pointing out some of the inconsistencies that are occurring in Ohio and also paying tribute to Toni Morrison. We do have one of the gentlemen of the Congressional Black Caucus joining us tonight, and that is Congressman Al Green of Texas, a leader in his area in the NAACP for many years, and now a leader in the Congress and all the time a leader of our country. Thank you for joining us, Congressman Al Green.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you, Congressman Green. And thank you for reminding us of the many, many unsung heroes and heroines on whose shoulders we also stand here today. This is Black History Month, and on many occasions throughout February the Congressional Black Caucus will be here on the floor to talk about the ones that we know and those that we don't hear much about. There is a lot of our history that of course we're very proud of--the Long March to Freedom, the march for the right to vote, and today, where we now have 43 members of the Congressional Black Caucus. But we also have history that we're not going back to; and Sheila Jackson Lee, when she was speaking earlier, reminded us of some of that history. Going back to the other topic of our Special Order, the right to vote and protecting that right to vote, tomorrow the Congressional Black Caucus, led by our chairman, Reverend Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, will be submitting a House resolution condemning the passage of legislation that would unduly burden an American citizen's ability to vote, and opposing any State election law or proposed legislation that would have a disproportionate impact on vulnerable communities across this country. When we introduce this, I think this is clearly a resolution that would signify the sense of Congress. It should be a resolution that every Member, Republican and Democrat, should support, supporting the right of every American citizen to vote freely and to have that vote counted. And we would invite all of the Members of the House to join us in that resolution, to become cosponsors, and we would ask the leadership to bring it to the floor for a vote. Again, it condemns the passage of legislation that would unduly burden an American citizen's ability to vote and opposes any of those State election laws or proposed laws that would have a disproportionate impact, because historically we know that people of color have been barred from voting. The passage of these restrictive voting laws, the resolution reminds us, is reminiscent of the Jim Crow-era poll taxes and literacy tests that disenfranchised thousands of African Americans. It also reminds us that these laws do more to suppress the right to vote than to protect our electoral system. There's a lot of talk about these laws being passed and proposed because of fraud in the election system, but there's no proof that there is any fraud. So these laws are really about suppressing the right to vote. General Leave

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. I move to strike the last word.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. As I come to the floor today to speak against this repeal, I cannot help but remember the faces of the individuals with disabilities, individuals with very serious long-term care needs, sitting through the long markup a couple months ago only to, at the end of the day, see the committee majority vote to repeal the CLASS Act. If an expression could convey a thousand words, theirs did that day. I know because I had the same expression, and I felt the exact same way: disappointed and frustrated, saddened at the very real possibility that they and our seniors would be left out in the cold when they are at their most vulnerable. I'm sure that they and millions of other people with special needs and seniors are watching this now, and they, like all of us here now, know that repealing the CLASS Act will not make 10 million Americans' long-term care needs disappear, and it certainly will not make them suddenly affordable for the overwhelming majority of most families. The Secretary did the responsible thing. She put the implementation on hold because the actuarial studies did not show that the program, as designed, was sustainable. None of us who supported and voted for the Affordable Care Act thought that everything in it was perfect. Much of it was well put together, well-planned, well-designed. But there were some that we thought might need to be tweaked or even revised in bigger ways, but we needed to take that first big important step in the right direction to make sure that the health care needs of our fellow Americans would be met. The Secretary in her letter to the Speaker said that the report reflected ``The development of information that will ultimately advance the cause of finding affordable and sustainable long-term care options.'' So what we should be doing is looking at those options or charging an institute like the Institute of Medicine to look at them and recommend a way forward. Everyone knows that we have a long-term care crisis in the United States. There are 10 million vulnerable men, women, and children who need this care, and we know that over the next decade that number will grow to 15 million. We also know that there are grave racial, ethnic, as well as geographic disparities that exist across the 10 million Americans with unmet long-term health care needs. We also know that long-term health care burdens family budgets, as well as Medicaid programs in the States that administer them across our Nation. Only about 8 percent of Americans buy long-term care insurance because the premiums are too expensive in many cases for most individuals to afford. Despite these facts, and these are indeed facts, and as we have seen time and time again, rather than identify and support a medically, economically, and socially responsible solution to this critically important problem, in their zeal to attack the Affordable Care Act and undermine the provisions that have already begun to help all of our constituents, our friends on the other side of the aisle would rather slam that door shut and not continue to work with us to find ways to meet this critical need. We need to have a plan to ensure access to affordable long-term care, and repealing and dismantling the CLASS Act with no safeguard or stopgap in place first is definitely not the right way to go. I, like everyone here, Republican and Democrat, have 10 million reasons to take a stand and to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves, to provide a voice for the voiceless and to remind our colleagues and those watching that this fight cannot be over and that we cannot stop until our long-term care crisis is addressed and those who need it, as many of us, Republican and Democrat will, address it in a manner that meets the high ideals of this country. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Too many of our fellow Americans are living on the edge today and have been for far too long. The last thing they need is another showdown at the Not-OK Corral. They need jobs. They need to save or go back into their homes. And for those who have been living in poverty or those who used to be in the middle class but are now struggling to survive below the poverty level, they need us to help provide the opportunity to help lift them and their families out of poverty and to a better life. Our President is coming to us tonight to again offer us some opportunities to do all of these things and more and to restore our country's economic health. So let's not put our fellow Americans through another cliffhanger on things that are important to their well-being. Let us pass the payroll and unemployment insurance extension, fix the Medicare payment issue without drama, and come together to work on the bipartisan measures that the President will ask us to pass for our people and our country.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the subject matter of this special order.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, tonight we are here on the floor of the House of Representatives on the eve of the State of the Union by President Barack Obama, the first African American President of the United States and some 46 years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act which made his election and ours possible. And I'm pleased to be joined by members of the Congressional Black Caucus this evening for this Special Order. I'd like to yield such time as he might consume to the gentleman from New York, who I believe is the most senior member of the Ways and Means Committee, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, Mr. Charlie Rangel.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you, Mr. Rangel. And thank you again, as a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, for reminding the American people why we're called the conscience of the Congress. Thank you for those words. I'd like now to yield such time as she might consume to the gentlelady from Ohio, who for the last Congress chaired these Special Orders and who is a leader on so many, many issues and whose district I believe the CBC will again be traveling to to help protect the rights of voters in Ohio, Congresswoman Marcia Fudge.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you, Congresswoman Fudge, for those very strong words, and thank you for the ray of hope by pointing out some of the States that are reversing some of those laws that are making it easier for their voters to vote. I would now like to yield to the former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, a leader not only in California but in the country, a person who has always been the conscience of the CBC as we are the conscience of the Congress, Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Thank you, Congresswoman Lee. And just to underscore what you have shared with us this evening, I don't usually quote from Politico, but let me read the last sentence of one of their articles. It says, the framers bequeathed us a Constitution intended to create a more perfect union. Every time an eligible voter is denied the right to vote we are left that much further from achieving that goal. Thank you again for joining us this evening. And now I want to yield such time as he might consume to one of our outstanding constitutional experts and attorneys in the CBC, Congressman Bobby Scott from Virginia.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. I thank you for joining us and for pointing out some of that data and helping to explain to the American public the injustice that's being done by these voter restrictions on voting and restrictions on registration. We're also joined by another fighter for justice and equality, a strong voice in the Congressional Black Caucus, the gentlelady from Texas, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. I thank the gentlelady for those strong words. Again, I'm going to go back to the article in Politico because everyone has made reference to the charges of fraud. In this article, it reads, ``official and academic studies have consistently shown that the chances of being hit by lightning are greater than the likely incidence of such fraud.'' So today, as we prepare for the elections in November of this year, we have seen an unprecedented--at least unprecedented since August of 1965--attack on the rights of Americans to vote. As you've heard, these attacks have taken many forms: expanding bans that prevent felons from voting; cutting election administration budgets in States; curtailing early voting, something that was used very effectively in previous elections; eliminating same-day registration; intimidating voter registration by some groups, which extends in some places to intimidation on Election Day; imposing strict ID requirements; creating barriers to getting the required ID; and creating barriers to voting by students in schools outside of their States. Again, the voter fraud claims are bogus, and as our chairman, Emanuel Cleaver, said in testimony before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary late last year, ``The laws are solutions in search of problems, especially when it comes to voter ID, because there is basically no evidence of fraud.'' Many studies, as I've said, have supported that statement. With an estimated 11 percent of Americans not having IDs that would meet the requirement, it is projected that these new attacks on the rights of American citizens to vote will prevent many millions of people--mostly Democrats, mostly minorities and the elderly--from voting and could affect as many as 171 electoral votes. It is clear to me, whether racially based or not, that this is a direct attempt not only to undermine the election process but is a specific attempt to derail what surely would be and ought to be the reelection of Barack Obama. The CBC is speaking out as is the NAACP, but I'm still waiting for the cries of many of the good people of this country. This is an egregious injustice and a threat to democracy and to the stability of our Nation, and it must not be allowed to continue. The Congressional Black Caucus has met with officials of the Justice Department; and as Congresswoman Jackson Lee has stated, the CBC has sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, which has over 100 signatures from other Members, registering our grave concern over these laws and proposed laws, urging that the Department of Justice examine them and ensure that the rights of voters are protected. In March, we will take up the torch of those who marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge to continue to fight for equal rights and, together with the NAACP and other partners, to begin a voter protection tour to key cities in order to call attention to the injustice; to mobilize efforts to help individuals get the required ID or vote where there still remains some early voting; and to continue to press the Justice Department to do all that is in its authority to protect this right that so many fought, sacrificed, and died for. As Congresswoman Jackson Lee showed, this is the map. It's called the ``Map of Shame.'' Only 11 States are without voter ID laws or are requesting one or have legislation proposed. How will we ever be able to lead and speak for the rights of the disenfranchised in other parts of the world? That was something raised by Congressman Rangel as we began the Special Order. Where will we get the moral authority if this travesty is allowed to exist and if we undermine this very fundamental right, the right to vote? Already the undue influence of big money from undisclosed donors is influencing elections. Already the ugly specter of racism has been raised to divide our country and to misinform and inflame some segments of our country. This is not the country that we want to be. The Voting Rights Act was passed in August of 1965, and at that time, it ended over a century of denial of the right to vote to African Americans in the South and to Latinos in the Southwest as well. In voting rights, as with health care reform, as someone said earlier, we are not going back. I would like to just take a few minutes of the time we have left to call attention to a crisis in my district, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Last Wednesday, January 18, we suffered an economic earthquake with the announcement that the HOVENSA oil refinery--it's either the second or the third largest oil refinery in the Western Hemisphere--is going to close in the middle of February. Now, we're a small community--110,000 throughout the entire Virgin Islands--and we're maybe about 55,000 on the Island of St. Croix, so a hit of over 2,000 jobs is a big hit to our economy. Those are the direct jobs. Of the people who work either for HOVENSA or their subcontractors on the site, there will continue to be about 100 employees for oil storage facilities, but the impact will reverberate throughout that entire community. Businesses that rely on HOVENSA from some of their suppliers--hotels and restaurants and even some of our private schools--are wondering how they are going to survive and keep their doors open when HOVENSA closes. We are looking at a number of issues, and we still have a lot of questions that we need to ask, but I wanted to bring this to the attention of my colleagues because this is a severe crisis. As all of our States have been, we were already having layoffs and having to cut salaries and impose austerity measures on our population. The closing of this refinery is a major hit, and it has left my community reeling. So I ask for your prayers, and at the appropriate time I will probably come and ask for your assistance on behalf of the people of the Virgin Islands. I want to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues Congressman Rangel, Congresswoman Fudge, Congressman Scott, Congresswoman Lee, and Congresswoman Jackson Lee for joining me in this Special Order to speak to the issue of voter protection for the people of this country--the protection of a fundamental right that must not be abridged. I would be happy to yield to my colleague from Texas if she would like to have some more time.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. I thank you for your support, and I know that I have the support of the Congressional Black Caucus. It just raises the issue that we have been coming to the floor for the entire year to speak on before this evening, and that's jobs and job creation. Mine, like other communities across the country, will definitely need to enact legislation, like the American Jobs Act and some of the countless pieces of legislation that the Congressional Black Caucus has introduced in this Congress to create jobs for the people, for people in this country. I just wanted to add that in addition to the impact on the U.S. Virgin Islands and St. Croix in particular, this closing will have a major impact, especially on the east coast, as Hovensa has been a major supplier of gasoline to the east coast. So, again, I ask for your prayers and your support. With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. This year and every time the Democrats have tried to do the right thing for the American people, the Republicans say ``no'' unless they add their poison pills. In the past, that might have led to negotiations that might have ended in a bipartisan solution--but not so today. Today, Republicans are trying to force us to accept the Keystone pipeline before we are sure it is safe for the communities it will traverse and won't make the air we breathe dirtier than it already is. The President is right to wait until those things are assessed. In their zeal to kill the Affordable Care Act, they want to slash the Public Health and Prevention Fund and other programs that keep people healthy and reduce health care costs for families and our country. Democrats have been calling for passing our Make It in America and other jobs bills, but the Republicans insist on jobs that damage the public health and on killing jobs in the only sector that is growing-- health care. Because they have not helped the recovery, our fellow Americans still need the payroll tax deduction and unemployment insurance and a fix of doctors' Medicare reimbursements so that they can continue services to the millions of Americans on Medicare. Let's do a clean bill in the spirit of Christmas, Chanukah and Kwanza. A big ``welcome home'' to our troops. I thank them all for their service.

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN

Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. I thank the gentlelady for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this point of order on H. Res. 491. Here we go again with another misnamed bill that is designed not for middle class tax relief or for job creation but to hold a ``must pass'' vehicle hostage through some misguided Republican pet projects and policy initiatives that harm the environment and threaten public health. It is also a bill that is wasting time, time that could really be used to create jobs and help the middle class because, with these poison pills, it is going nowhere. Unfortunately, the good things in the bill are threatened because of these other provisions. The payroll tax deduction, the 2-year SGR fix, as well as one or two other health care provisions are good parts of the bill that are needed by our Nation's families, our doctors and Medicare beneficiaries, but they should not be weighed down by the provisions that allow the Keystone pipeline to bypass regulations, that allow industrial boilers and incinerators to pollute, and that cut billions of dollars and, therefore, important services that are in the Affordable Care Act. With millions of our fellow Americans out of work, it also fails to provide the full extension of unemployment that is needed in this time of improved but still slow job creation--something the Republican leadership has talked a lot about but has done nothing to help. This bill is pure politics. And what is it that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle do not understand about drug addiction being an illness? One of the Republican Governors tried a similar proposal for food stamps in Florida. Not only was it bad policy, it yielded nothing. It unfairly targeted and branded poor people, and it wasted taxpayer dollars. All of this is designed to deny unemployment benefits that they have resisted and are still not fully funding. I hear a lot about class warfare, but real class warfare is protecting everything for the rich and punishing the poor, the middle class, the elderly, and the unemployed. It has got to stop. I urge my colleagues to support this point of order and to vote against the rule and the bill. We need a clean extension of the payroll tax, 99 weeks of unemployment, and a 2-year SGR fix. Yet it should not be paid for by taking funds from programs that are needed to protect public health and safety.