Elijah Cummings

Mr. CUMMINGS

Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, I rise this evening to discuss the Congressional Black Caucus's fiscal year 2005 budget alternative. Today, the Congressional Black Caucus offered a budget substitute that would invest in America's future while restoring fiscal responsibility in fulfilling our shared sacrifice. Madam Speaker, when we are in a state of war, finding ourselves, even as we speak, with men and women in our armed forces fighting in Afghanistan and fighting in Iraq, and finding themselves spread out across the globe, the Congressional Black Caucus, which has consistently over and over and over again reiterated that we certainly support our troops and, at the same time, we are very firm on the fact that we must address the issue of terrorism. But we also say that we must have a budget that is balanced, not only from the standpoint of economics, but also from the standpoint of doing for the people in the United States, people who work hard every day; people who give their blood, sweat, and tears to making this country the best that it can be; people who cannot even watch this on C-SPAN because they left a job at 5 o'clock today and went to another job because ends simply are not meeting. And not only those people, but 9 million people who are not watching this because they do not have cable, and the reason why they do not have cable is because they do not have a job. Nine million of them, at the end of every 2-week period when they normally would have gotten a check, they are not getting a check anymore, because they are simply unemployed. Madam Speaker, despite the best efforts of over 100 of my colleagues in the House of Representatives, our budget substitute, that is the budget substitute of the Congressional Black Caucus, did not pass. But one thing is clear, as I have said to the caucus many, many times, when I borrowed the words from former Representative Bill Clay, when he said to the caucus back in September, he said, you may not win every battle, but you will set the trend. You may not get what you want at that moment, but hopefully, we will be able to plant a seed in the minds of not only Members of this Congress, but in the minds of the country that we can do better. That is why, day after day, Members of the Congressional Black Caucus come forth to address issues that go to the center of people's lives, to the center of Americans' lives and, day after day, we come as a conscience of the Congress. The Congressional Black Caucus budget alternative fully funded No Child Left Behind to the authorized levels. In comparison, the budget that President Bush sent to the Congress broke its promise to America's children and teachers by short-changing its own education legislation by $7 billion. Every time we hear about dollars, it is so hard, I think, for many of us to put faces on that short-change of dollars. But the fact is that when we go back to our districts, as I do, and I go to visit schools and I see some children in schools where rain is coming through the roof, and so often classes are overcrowded, and many times children have basically nowhere to go at 3 o'clock or 3:30; and then to look at the provisions of No Child Left Behind where it calls for substantial testing of our children, which a lot of us do not have a major problem with, but the problem is that once you test, and assuming a State can afford to test because there is not enough money in many instances for them to be able to even give all of the tests that are required by the Federal Government, the next thing we know, many school districts do not even have the money to send them to other schools. So when we put a face on the $7 billion that is left out of the No Child Left Behind legislation and authorization, it gives us great concern. Not only did the CBC budget provide adequate funding to take care of our troops fighting in the battlefields of Iraq and around the world, but our budget provided over $8 billion for our servicemen and women once they return home. One of the things that we are seeing over and over again is young people going overseas. Many of them in the National Guard, when they joined, certainly they understood that there might come a time when they might have to go overseas. But so many of them, like the ones in our districts, find that their lives are interrupted. Resources are not there to keep the mortgage paid. Resources are not there for them to make sure that their families can carry on life the way they would normally carry on if they were not in Iraq or Afghanistan. The fact is that they find their lives interrupted. One of the things that we wanted to do is, when they do come home, to make sure that they would be okay after they had put their lives on the line for us. Madam Speaker, the CBC budget alternative would have doubled the funding for Historically Black Colleges and Hispanic Serving Institutions. I have often said that if we did not have HBCUs, we would have to invent them, for they are the institutions that provide and account for most of the B.S. degrees and the Master's degrees and Doctorate degrees for the children of African Americans. Our education increases included over $2 billion for Pell grants, so that deserving students who may not have the financial means to attend college could obtain a college education. There was a time not very long ago when a Pell grant would cover 70 percent of a student's tuition and fees. Today, the average Pell grant probably covers somewhere between 20 and 30 percent. The fact is that we educate our children, and then we want them to do better than we did, and we want them to go to college; but at Morgan State University, where I sit as a member of the Board of Trustees, sadly, out of 13,000 students we had to release somewhere between 7 or 800 of them, not because they were not qualified, not because they did not want to go to college, not because they had poor attendance but because they did not have the money. So I have said it and I will say it again, one of the worst things, if you want to talk about the threats to this society, the most dangerous threat to our society is our failure to properly educate our young. But most importantly, the CBC budget alternative fulfilled the needs of American people while setting aside money to reduce our deficit. Now, at $521 billion it would have placed our Nation back on the path of fiscal responsibility. Madam Speaker, we have to be honest with the American people. Our Nation is in the midst of a fiscal crisis. Not only is the Federal deficit spiraling out of control, but now we have reports from the Medicare actuary that Medicare will be bankrupt by 2019 and Social Security will soon follow. I did not say that. The Democrats did not say that. The fact is that the official body, looking at our Medicare and our Social Security situation, said that. Madam Speaker, I say we must be honest because up to this point the administration has been less than forthcoming with the American people and with this Congress. It has been reported that Medicare's chief actuary was told he would be fired if he reported to Congress the true costs of the Medicare bill. Earlier this year we learned that the administration fudged the conclusions of its health disparity report in order to report a more favorable national condition than what truly exists. That is a very sad commentary. One thing that we know, and it is just a basic rule of life, that in order to correct a problem you have to, first of all, realize you have it. And if we have institutions that are being paid with taxpayers' dollars that are putting out reports that are then fudged to give a different image, a more favorable image of situations like health care disparities of all things, then that is a very, very, very sad day; and it is a very, very, very sad commentary on anyone who would be about the business of causing that to happen. Just last month, the President sent a budget to Congress that conveniently neglected to include the costs of extending the tax cuts while claiming that his budget would cut the deficit in half. In my neighborhood they would say, ``Please.'' While the administration has made a practice of misleading the American public on the true state of our Union and brushing issues under the rug, the Congressional Black Caucus has faced these challenges head on and offered real solutions. If we are to truly resolve this crisis, then we must face the facts. I have often talked about my little girl when she was 3 years old. She would say, Daddy, let's go play hide and go seek. And she would put her hands up to her face and stand directly in front of me and say, you cannot find me. Well, that is okay for a 3 year old, but we are here in the Congress of the United States of America making policy for over 247 million people and affecting their lives on a daily basis. We have to be honest about what is going on in this body and in this city. Week after week the members of the Congressional Black Caucus come to this House floor to make the American people aware of the problems and challenges facing our country. Today we offered real and achievable solutions to those problems. Although others in the Congress do not seem to share our budget priorities, I hope that we will share the priorities of ensuring life, liberty and happiness of all Americans. Madam Speaker, we have one life to live. This is no dress rehearsal, and this so happens to be that life. The real truth, Madam Speaker, is that this is not a spending-driven deficit, as some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would have us believe. This deficit crisis was created by fiscal mismanagement. In the corporate world, CEOs are held accountable to the bottom line. This November I hope all of America follows the corporate example and holds the CEO of this great Nation accountable for this government's bottom line that is now over $500 billion in the red. Madam Speaker, this Congress can do better. We can do better. We can do better for the American people, and the Congressional Black Caucus will continue to press this Congress to address the issues that go to the center of people's lives. It gives me great pleasure to yield to my colleague from the great State of California (Ms. Lee), who has been at the forefront of the things that I just talked about: a fair budget process, a budget process that balances our need to protect ourselves from enemies without and enemies within, by the way, and making sure that we do all of those things that are necessary to take care of Americans. (Ms. LEE asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks, and include extraneous material.)

Mr. CUMMINGS. Madam Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman for her statement. Madam Speaker, as I listened to the gentlewoman speak, I could not help but think about the fact that when I listened to the other side talk, it seems as if they forget sometimes what the American spirit is all about and what makes America great. One of the things that makes America great is that we view ourselves like the human body, and if there is a part of us, a part of the body that is suffering or a part of the body that needs healing, then it is like the entire body has a problem, and that is one of the things that makes this country so great. I shall never forget when I went to Bosnia several years ago with President Clinton and we were talking with the leaders over there in Bosnia about how it is that we had quite a few troops over there but not one troop, not one of our personnel was harmed. I asked the question, Why do you think that is? These leaders all agreed, they said because America has a spirit and they know that if one American is harmed, they will pay big time, and that has been our spirit. That was been our strength. I listened to all of the things that the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) was talking about, the programs being eliminated. You are talking about things that help people be all that they can be. I believe that our children, something as simple as arts and education, that is something where we know that children in so many instances already have the talent within them, and it is up to us as grown-ups to do those things that are responsible for helping to bring it out of them so that they can share with the world. When I think about Empowerment Zones, many people in these Empowerment Zone areas, because we have one in the city of Baltimore where I represent, and people are trying to climb up, and they have been told in many instances in the past, pull yourself up by your boot straps; but they did have not any boots, let alone straps. So they were pulling themselves up by their fingernails and then the Empowerment Zone comes about and helps them get on their feet. They are able to create businesses, to get people employed, pay back into the State tax coffers and the Federal Government coffers, and then we are in a better situation, but more importantly, we have built a person. Then I think about the COPS program that you mentioned. It is very important that people feel safe in their environment. That is just crucial, and the COPS program has done so much. We saw all over this country for years the crime rate going down; and now slowly but surely in many of our jurisdictions, slowly we are seeing it rise back up, but when you have cops on the beat, the fact is their presence, just their mere presence is a deterrent to crime. So we talk about the Hope VI program. This is a program in Baltimore that we have seen, I think we have six or seven Hope VI projects, but as I have said, on many occasions and for those who may not know what it is, it is basically a program that allows many mainly urban areas to tear down high-rise developments and then build more or less low-rise and mixed-income developments. Baltimore has changed the landscape of our city and allowed people to own homes who would not normally own homes. It has revitalized our cities in areas that were decaying. Those areas have not sprouted up, and I said in an opening of one of the IMF Hope VI projects about 2 are 3 months ago that it was like having Andy and Mayberry in the middle of Baltimore City. So those are the things that go to making people's lives better on a day-to-day basis. Those are the things that we talk about. We hear people say tax-and-spend liberals. Well, that does not apply to this side. The fact is that we are spending a lot of money, the other side is, that is, but what about the human development, so that people will have an opportunity to live the best lives that they can? So the fact is that we can do better.

Mr. CUMMINGS

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

Mr. CUMMINGS

Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight along with fellow members of the Congressional Black Caucus to discuss the ongoing war in Iraq. As you well know, tomorrow will mark the 1-year anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom. I am sure you would agree, Mr. Speaker, that this is one anniversary that will not be commemorated with a joyous celebration. Instead, this anniversary will be met with somber reflection upon those lives, both military and civilian, that were lost or forever changed as a result of this tragic war. Just last year, Mr. Speaker, President Bush told the American people, and I quote, ``I want Americans and all the world to know that coalition forces will make every effort to spare innocent civilians from harm.'' Yet just 1 year later, the New York Times is reporting that somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 innocent Iraqis have been killed as a result of this war. In fact, as of yesterday, there have been 566 Americans, 59 Britains, 5 Bulgarians, 1 Dane, 1 Estonian, 17 Italians, 2 Poles, 10 Spaniards, 2 Thai and 3 Ukrainians that have died in Iraq. And according to the Pentagon, there have been over 3,000 U.S. troops wounded. Those troops are some of the same people that I see in Walter Reed when I visit. I was just at Walter Reed 2 weeks ago. When I see the young men and women who have gone off into war, many of them coming back missing a leg, an arm, two legs, many of them feeling a bit disoriented, many of them feeling confused, many of them just simply trying to get, as one soldier said, from one day to another, again, this commemoration will not be a joyous one. Mr. Speaker, we in the Congressional Black Caucus wholeheartedly believe in the principles of peace. We also believe in the principles of freedom as well as a necessity for America to provide security for all of her citizens. But we also wholeheartedly believe in protecting the sanctity of human life. Mr. Speaker, just last year, President Bush convinced the Nation that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and thereby posed an imminent threat to our national security. And while there have been questions as to whether our data from the CIA and other organizations was accurate, the fact still remains to this day that no weapons of mass destruction have been found. I think, Mr. Speaker, that that is one of the things that makes it so painful for so many of the families. We see them on network television and we see them on the cable shows, those families who say that they believe in this country, that they raised their boys and girls as little children to put their hands up to their hearts and to say the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. They taught them to be patriotic. They taught them to stand up for what they believe in. They taught them to stand up for the Office of the President, but, more significantly, to stand up for one of the greatest countries in the world. And so from little children they stood up and they said, ``I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.'' Those parents who now see their sons and daughters in many instances sadly coming back in sealed caskets, coming back with limbs missing, some of them have begun to ask the question, Why is it that we went to war? For when we went to war, Mr. Speaker, they did not hear the term ``regime change.'' That is not what they thought. They thought that there was imminent danger. They thought our country was in deep trouble. I am sure that as they stood at the air bases and as they stood at the train stations and as they waved good-bye to their sons, to their husbands, their wives, to their sisters, their brothers, their friends, they said they are going off because of these weapons of mass destruction that the President had told them about. Mr. Speaker, I am not here to beat up on the President because that is not appropriate. But I am here to remind us of why we went to war. I think that so often what happens is that we get so caught up in the political fray that is going on that we forget that when those parents stood at those various departing stations that they thought they were going for one reason, and then once the war got started and moved forward and as weapons of mass destruction were not found, we then began to hear new reasons. And so it is when the President said that we were going to destroy these weapons, and although I must say that the Congressional Black Caucus begged on this floor the President to think very carefully before going to war, this Congressional Black Caucus begged, because we said that the number one thing that we must always protect is the lives of human beings, be they American soldiers, be they American civilians, or be they the Iraqi innocent people, we must always look at life as the number one priority. But then we went to war. But before we went to war, we asked the President, Are American lives in imminent danger? We asked the question over and over and over again. Sadly, back then, we could not get an answer. But the implication was that we had major, major problems and that these weapons of mass destruction could be released at any time and could do so much harm. We asked other questions, too. One of those questions was as we proceed with this war, how is it going to be paid for? Who is going to pay for it? The President was very generous in an answer when he talked about the war. I shall never forget sitting in one of these seats as I listened to him. One of the things that he said was that this war had come to us, we did not go to it. He went on to say that we had to act now and we had to act so that our children and our grandchildren and their offspring would not have to deal with this issue and would not have to pay for this. And so again our soldiers went off to war, believing that as they marched onto the soil of Iraq that they were making sure that the weapons of mass destruction, when found, would be done away with so that no harm would not only come to the Iraqi people but to the world. But, Mr. Speaker, I cannot help but ask, if the ultimate goal of this preemptive war was to disarm Saddam Hussein, was our mission really accomplished? Could we have reached the same end by utilizing a different means? Day after day as I listen to my colleagues come upon this floor and talk about how it is that we now have Saddam Hussein in custody and how we have gotten rid of this tyrant and we have locked up this person who was just a person that did so much harm to so many people, I ask myself the question, Was that the reason that we went into war from the beginning? After all, we still have not yet found, by the way, the weapons of mass destruction that were supposed to have caused this preemptive war. By the way, that is another issue that we brought up, the whole issue of preemption. The Congressional Black Caucus, before this war came about, said that one of our major concerns was that we were committing a preemptive strike; that is, that we were going into a war of more or less prevention and certainly one, if one goes away from what we normally would do, and this preemptive strike is a major thing because that is something that the United States does not do; but the fact is that going into a preemptive strike caused us a lot of concern because we began to ask the question, Well, what are we trying to prevent? That is where the question of imminent danger came in. Again, that question was never answered. And to be frank, when we look back at it, I do not think this country was in imminent danger. In essence, we have traded over 600 coalition lives and that of countless civilians for that one brutal dictator. One year later, we must ask, was it worth it? Was it worth it to the young man in my district, one of the first casualties of the war? I shall never forget, Mr. Speaker, as his father heard about his death and cried out, Why is it that my son has died? He wanted to know, that is, Sergeant Walters-Bey's father wanted to know why his son had died. I shall never forget going to the funeral and standing there as he begged me for an answer to the question with tears rolling down his face, Why has my son died? His father was very clear. He had read the papers, he had watched the newscasts. He said to me, Mr. Speaker, ``I am all for doing whatever is necessary to support this country. My son was for whatever was necessary to support this country. But I question what this war was all about.'' And so, Mr. Speaker, I have asked time and time again if we had enough intelligence to determine that Saddam Hussein was hiding chemical and biological weapons then, why has the Intelligence Community not been able to lead us to those weapons? It is no wonder that the world leaders are now challenging our credibility. Mr. Speaker, I know that the truth hurts, but the President need not blame others for the predicament that he has caused. It is no secret that our standing around the world has plummeted as a result of President Bush's foreign policy. Spain, a country that stood with President Bush just 1 year ago and supported this preemptive war, is now calling the United States occupation a fiasco. Just today, Poland, a country which has about 2,400 troops in Iraq and was a strong supporter of the invasion, is saying that it was misled about the threat from Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. Unfortunately, the tide seems to be beginning to turn against the United States. Mr. Speaker, I contend that in a multicultural society bolstered by a global economy, there is absolutely no room for a unilateralist foreign policy. Following President Bush's pronouncement of war last year, the Vatican offered this response: ``Whoever decides that peaceful means under international law'' that was put at our disposition ``have been exhausted assumes a serious responsibility before God, his own conscience, and his country.'' I have often said, Mr. Speaker, a hundred years ago none of us were here and a hundred years from now, none of us will be here. The question is what do we do to make our time on this Earth the best that it can be? And perhaps the greater question is, how do we make the lives of others the best that they can be? Let us seize upon this moment to begin working with international leaders to correct our current course in order that history would reflect kindly upon us as a Nation. One year later, Mr. Speaker, we must reclaim the moral high ground for the sake of our children and those generations yet unborn. I have often said that our children are the living messages we send to a future we will never see. Our children are the living messages we send to a future we will never see. We cannot allow our children, through our actions today, to send a message of war, arrogance, and bloodshed to that future. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, ``The chain reaction of evil, hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars, must be broken; or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.'' On this 1-year anniversary, let us not only contemplate how to better secure our homeland, but let us also contemplate how to secure the peace. One of the things that is so fascinating in an article that I recently read where a young man who was a medic in this war and is now home and he wished to remain anonymous, he was stationed at the Baghdad airport as a medic, and he talked about how he had served in previous wars, and he talked about how it was interesting how different it was because the young people that come back, the soldiers that come back today, a lot of times the public never has an opportunity to see our fallen. And he went on to say that ``from what I gather, it used to be that the President would go out to the area to meet the deceased soldiers coming in. They would drape caskets and they would actually watch and give a moment of silence as the coffins came in.'' He went on to say, and this is a soldier, ``The Bush administration felt that this was too much for Americans to handle. So they secured that part of the ceremony'' and he said that ``no one knows when that fallen soldier comes home. He went on to say, ``It is an injustice to the military because you gave your life to the country and the country should give something back to you. Even just a moment of silence. Every day that someone dies, the flag should be lowered to half staff, not just because a politician dies.'' He went on to say, ``Those guys are good people. They work hard. They do anything and everything that is asked of them, and they gave the ultimate sacrifice. It should not be that you have to go to a Web site to find out who died.'' So on this 1-year anniversary, although we do not see their faces, in towns and communities all over our country, people are experiencing the pain of war. Many of them are going to funerals, and our prayers go out with them. Many of them finding themselves in hospitals, and our prayers go out to them. Our prayers go out to all the families who have suffered losses. Our prayers also go out to all of our military who have gone forth to do what they had been called upon to do by our Commander in Chief. We pause on this 1-year anniversary to simply say to them, we thank them. We thank them for putting their lives in harm's way. We thank them for standing up. We thank them for being counted. And as Swindoll, the great theologian, has often said, It is the things that you do when you are unknown, unseen, unappreciated, and unapplauded that truly matter. So we in the Congressional Black Caucus refuse, as we did before the war, to be silent. We must raise our voices as we said then, as we begged the President not to go to war, and now that so many of our soldiers have gone on, our civilians have gone on, innocent Iraqi people have gone on, so many have been injured, we again raise our voices. Only this time we raise our voices to recognize those whose names will appear in a local paper or may appear in one or two paragraphs of some article talking about casualties in Iraq. We raise them and say to all of them, to those who have gone on, to those who have been injured, to those who are still in Iraq, to those who have come home for the 2-week leave and are about to go back, to those who believe so strongly in our country, they are no longer unseen, unnoticed, unappreciated, and unapplauded. We pause to say to them ``thank you.'' And so, hopefully, Mr. Speaker, as America goes to bed tonight, perhaps all of us need fall on our knees and ask God or at least whisper a prayer or have a moment of silence to recognize all of those who I have just mentioned who have given so much to make sure this country stays strong.

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

Mr. CUMMINGS

Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott) will yield for a second, I want to ask the gentlemen a few questions. They call this a jobless recovery. Would my colleague agree that there is a recovery?

Mr. CUMMINGS. You said that is $800 billion.

Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, there has been a question that has been raised over and over again, and, as a matter of fact, I think I just heard the President say this within the last few days, that one of the problems was 9/11, and that 9/11 caused us to go through some extra economic problems. And I was just wondering when my colleague takes a look at his charts, is he taking into consideration, when he talks about 40 years back, is he taking into consideration the fact that we had this very, very unique situation and regretful situation with 9/11?

Mr. CUMMINGS. In other words, when you have the loss of jobs and you have, in looking at the very end of your chart there, does that, how does that affect the overall economy?

Mr. CUMMINGS. I want to thank the gentleman for the explanation and for his excellent work on the budget. Mr. Speaker, the Bush budget eliminates all kinds of programs, as the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott) just talked about. There is one program that eliminates and that is the Even Start program. A lot of times, Mr. Speaker, we look at the numbers in a budget and we look at them purely based upon figures; but the impact on human beings and citizens and children in our country is phenomenal. For example, this Even Start program is meant to uplift children and families through a combination of childhood education and adult literacy programs. That is very important; and when the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott) talked about the whole jobless situation, it is one thing to have opportunities at some point in the future, hopefully. It is another thing for those parents of those children to be prepared to take advantage of those jobs and for them to be able to raise their family. It takes money to raise a family. Then the Bush budget freezes funding for Head Start, which provides education and nutrition service for over 297,000 African American children, very, very significant. How do you even put a value on a child being able to get a head start in life and in school and to be able to go to school ready? When we look at health care, the picture gets even worse. The Bush budget does absolutely nothing to hold down the costs of prescription drugs. It jeopardizes medical benefits for the 4.6 million African American children who receive health care through Medicaid, and it severely underfunds programs that combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and the increase of health disparities among minority communities. These are things that go to the essence of life; and I have often said as we talk about the budget and other issues that the Congressional Black Caucus, as we do that, we are not just speaking for African Americans. A lot of people get a little bit confused. They see African American Congresspeople stand up, and they assume that in all our districts the majority of people are African American. That is just simply not true. We represent a wide range of people of all races and colors, religions in our caucus, and so over 26 million people in total. But those costs that I just talked about, those are the costs, I guess, like I said, you cannot put a value on making sure that a child is well taken care of because it used to be a commercial that said you either pay me now or pay me later. If you do not give that child a good head start in life, then government, through State government in most instances, will pay later on through, unfortunately, juvenile detention centers, sometimes prisons, sometimes all kinds of programs, teenage pregnancy programs, things of that nature, to help lift people up after they have fallen.

Mr. CUMMINGS. Combined.

Mr. CUMMINGS. One of the things that I remember when the President was considering going to war, one of the things that was asked of the President by the Congressional Black Caucus was exactly how were we going to pay for this war and exactly where was this money going to come from, because we have a limited situation. But I guess what you are saying is that what we are doing is we are overspending. I am trying to put it in laymen's terms.

Mr. CUMMINGS. One last question. I will never forget when the President talked about the war in Iraq, when the President talked about the war on Iraq. I am sure you will recall one of the things that he said was that this war had been brought to us. I shall never forget it. I was sitting in this Chamber. And he said to us we need to take this responsibility so that our children and our grandchildren would not have to address it. And it sounds like what the gentleman is saying is that at least in part this war will have to be paid by our children and our grandchildren, at least, if not our great grandchildren because of the way things are going. The other issue is this: one of the things we hear over and over again from the President is that he keeps talking about, saying that this side of the aisle wants to increase the taxes on Americans. And basically what he is saying is that if we do not extend and make these tax cuts permanent, that is like increasing taxes on Americans. That is a very interesting way to put it. I just want to know what you thought.

Mr. CUMMINGS. To veterans.

Mr. CUMMINGS. What change could reverse that?

Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott). I want to yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender- McDonald).

Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman for her statement; and I am just reminded, I think it was just yesterday the President went to Ohio. He stood there in front of quite a few people, and he said, basically, hold on, hold out; I am the one that gave you these tax cuts. Basically what he said, I still believe in this trickle-down theory and that things are going to get better. The fact is that the President has been saying that over and over again. As a matter of fact, a little bit earlier this year, in his economic report, he projected that he would be producing some 2.6 million jobs before the end of the year.

Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman.

Mr. CUMMINGS. Let us take it up to $500. I will give them an extra $500 instead of $132. The tuition has gone up almost that much, and Pell grants are being leveled off; and we have got a situation where like other States we suffered a deficit. The State is not getting as much money so, therefore, the State's going through its difficulties. So now our colleges are not getting as much money. My point is that Americans have to understand that no matter what they are going to pay, they are going to pay one way or another. Property taxes are going up, but yet and still our President runs around talking about how great a tax cut we are getting when, in fact, I think Americans are going backwards and services are being less than they have to be. It is the only way that you can do all of this and still keep institutions open.

Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, again, the Congressional Black Caucus stands up, as we have over and over again. It is said that we are the conscience of the Congress. I claim we are the conscience of the United States of America. The fact is that President Bush is doing no favors for not only the African American community but communities throughout this country; for hardworking Americans who got up early this morning, some of whom had a job, but for others who are about to lose their job, and still others, Mr. Speaker, who do not have to go to work because they have already lost their job. I just find it very interesting that the President would go to Ohio, a State where there has been phenomenal job loss, and tell people who do not have a paycheck to hold on and hold out.

Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, let me just say this. As my colleagues were talking, I could not help but think about how the President talks. Could we bring that chart back up, the first one. The President talks so much about that. It is the one that talks about the tax cuts, I mean how much money people get.

Mr. CUMMINGS. The reason why I wanted to point that chart out is because something interesting is happening here, and we are seeing it in all of our States. The tuition, for example, in Morgan State University in my district, I sit on the Board of Regents, has gone up some 25, 30 percent. The average family at Morgan State has an income around about $50,000, $55,000. So about how much would they be getting based upon that chart in tax cuts?

Mr. CUMMINGS. You had one with red, that one.

Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to highlight the unsteady budget policies of President Bush in regards to allocating Federal resources to African Americans and many working American families. Yesterday, I was joined by the House minority leader, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), and my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus to issue a report that paints an accurate picture of how the Bush 2005 fiscal year budget will impact not just African American families but the majority of middle- and lower-income families. Our findings and those of others in the advocacy community reveal that the Bush budget ignores the very urgent challenges facing Americans across this great Nation. In fact, in the face of historic unemployment, President Bush seeks to cut, if not completely eliminate, critical education, health care, housing, and small business development programs that help families and employers survive during difficult economic times. Last Friday, the United States Department of Labor reported that not one, not one single private sector job was created during the month of February, and that the national unemployment rate remains at a staggering 5.6 percent. This terrible news is particularly frightening for the African American community. The African American unemployment rate for February was 9.8 percent, almost double the national average. What is worse, since President Bush took office, the number of African Americans without jobs has increased by 20 percent. Sadly, Mr. Speaker, the outlook for the Bush 2005 budget is just as dismal as the Bush track record on job creation. President Bush touts steady leadership, but his actions say otherwise. He once said that he would be a uniter, but his budget proposes to divide Americans by rewarding the wealthiest 1 percent of our population while leaving the rest of the American people behind. The Bush budget is bad news for the 8 million African American children enrolled in our national elementary and secondary schools. It is no secret that schools with high concentrations of low-income minority students spend significantly less per pupil than schools with fewer low-income students. Instead of rising to the challenge, the President's budget underfunds his own No Child Left Behind legislation by over $9 billion. Additionally, Mr. Speaker, the Bush budget cuts in half the funding for after-school programs that enable parents to educate their children and hold down jobs. If this Congress is truly committed to family values, we must support all families from birth through the golden years. Mr. Speaker, I want to yield to another member of the Congressional Black Caucus as we come together to highlight the budget of President Bush and how it affects African Americans, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Scott).

Mr. CUMMINGS

Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to join me in commending the brave men and women of the Naval Reserve Center in Baltimore for their bravery and unselfish sacrifice; especially on the afternoon of Saturday, March 6, 2004, when a water taxi carrying 25 passengers suddenly capsized. I would also like to extend my condolences to the family and friends of those who lost their lives as a result of this tragedy. Last Saturday, on a sunny Spring-like afternoon, a large group, including many related family members, boarded a water taxi near Fort McHenry, in Baltimore, Maryland. These families were calmly crossing the water, when the dark clouds of fate appeared on the horizon. Suddenly, without warning, a violent micro-burst of wind tore through Baltimore's Inner Harbor. On that day, it was reported that winds blew at a rate of more than 55 miles per hour. Eyewitnesses report that the water taxi, filled with people, was pushed upward and flipped on its belly. One witness, Command Master Chief Melvin Johnson, was going about his regular duties at the nearby Naval Reserve Center. Master Chief Johnson gazed at the sky and noticed the sudden appearance of dark storm clouds approaching. He looked across the harbor from the dock of the Naval Reserve Center and realized that the water taxi carrying 25 passengers would be overtaken by the wind from the approaching storm. In a flash, he saw the boat turned upside down and he immediately sprang into action. He and other members of the Naval Reserve team quickly contacted emergency personnel. At the same time, some of the team members boarded their vessel, a mechanized landing craft (LCM) , and rushed to the site of the overturned water taxi. I have been told that the Naval Reserve team reached the overturned vessel within minutes to help the 25 passengers onboard. The brave men and women of the Naval Reserve team plunged themselves into the frigid waters and used their boat and ingenuity to rescue twelve (12) of the passengers of that over-turned water taxi. The remaining ten who were rescued or recovered were the result of the bravery of the Baltimore City Fire Department team. Sadly, two people died as a result of this horrible tragedy and three people have yet to be recovered. Our prayers are with their families. Many of these reservists also administered life-saving CPR. As an example of the overall bravery of the Naval Reserve team, Commander Peterson Decker jumped in repeatedly to rescue the passengers and actually lost consciousness many times from the frigid water temperatures. His acts and those of the other reservists can be described as nothing short of completely selfless. They embody the best of the mission of the Naval Reserve Center, an integral part of our military forces. By all accounts, however, the loss of life would have been much greater if not for the quick action and unselfish acts of the men and women of the Naval Reserve Center. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the many individuals from the Naval Reserve Center who always work tirelessly to reach out to their neighbors in times of emergency. I want to applaud and recognize these heros by name: Commander Jim McGovern, Command Master Chief Melvin Johnson, Commander Peterson Decker, Senior Chief Vincent Scardina, Petty Officers Jerry Neblett, Sean Tate and Jeffery King, Mr. Arthur Eisenstein, Mr. Jerome Stoney, Chief Ricardo Duncan, Chief Petty Officer Asa Johnson, Petty Officers Willliam Elwood, Patrick McKenna, David Romano, Carlos Andrews, Gregory Baccula, Garren Diggs, Quenton Dixon, Walter Volkman, Henry Zecher, Arturo Spencer, and the triage team, Lt. Commander Phillip Reed, Petty Officers Yolette Scott-Wilson, Stephen Speegle, Cassandra Fish, Wendy Cruse, Gary Harder, Joey Mercer and Renfro Smith. Again, thank you for your bravery and dedication to duty.