Yvette Clarke

Ms. CLARKE

Ms. CLARKE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. The resolution we are voting on today would recognize the contributions of the on-premise sign industry to American commerce. The designers and manufacturers of signs are themselves small businesses that employ thousands of Americans. But this industry's economic effect extends beyond those Americans that it employs directly. On-premise signs are an effective and affordable advertising medium, helping small businesses communicate with potential customers. Many small businesses do not have the resources to invest in expensive advertising or costly marketing campaigns. This is especially true in tough economic times like right now. This industry provides an affordable advertising option for small business on Main Street USA. Mr. Speaker, this resolution acknowledges the contributions of the on-premise sign industry to American small business. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the resolution. I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. CLARKE. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. CLARKE. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. CLARKE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Ms. CLARKE

Ms. CLARKE. Madam Speaker, I would like to state for the record my position on the following votes I missed due to personal reasons. On Monday, March 23, 2009 I missed Rollcall votes 145 and 146. Had I been present, I would have voted ``aye'' on the following votes: Rollcall vote 145: Yes on the motion to suspend the rules and pass H.R. 918, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 300 East 3rd Street in Jamestown, New York, as the ``Stan Lundine Post Office Building''; Rollcall vote 146: Yes on the motion to suspend the rules and pass H.R. 1218, to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 112 South 5th Street in Saint Charles, Missouri, as the ``Lance Corporal Drew W. Weaver Post Office Building''.

Ms. CLARKE

Ms. CLARKE. Mr. Speaker, I first want to thank the gentlewoman from Ohio for her leadership in organizing this Congressional Black Caucus Special Order this evening. I'd also like to thank Representative Fudge for yielding so that I may discuss how foreclosures are adversely affecting so many African American communities--communities in my district and throughout the country. I also want to commend her for her leadership role in organizing us around the issues that have been of such concern and are so critical to the strength and the underpinning of the communities that the members of the Congressional Black Caucus represent. Let me start by joining my chairwoman, Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California, in calling for the moratorium on mortgage foreclosures. Tonight, I rise as a member of the 11th Congressional District to state how foreclosures have devastated the lives of two individuals that I represent. First, there's Mr. Simeon Ferguson. Mr. Ferguson is an 86-year-old retiree from Crown Heights, Brooklyn. He worked for more than 20 years as a chef at the Long Island College Hospital. In 1975, he bought a three-story brownstone in my district. This benevolent man would grow tomatoes and callaloo leaves--those of you from the Caribbean know what callaloo is--it's sort of a spinach--in his garden and, according to his daughter, would love to give the excess to his neighbors and friends at no cost, as he would cook the rest of it. But around 3 years ago, a mortgage broker sold Mr. Ferguson, at the age of 83, a new $450,000 option adjustable rate mortgage that would almost certainly put his home into foreclosure. Mr. Ferguson had no attorney present at the time during the closing and believed he had made a good deal. To make matters worse, Mr. Ferguson had dementia, a condition he was diagnosed with in 2005, and had only his Social Security and a pension as sources of income. So this gentleman of Jamaican descent could easily forget to make a mortgage payment that could balloon to such a frightening amount that it would be insurmountable to pay back. Mr. Ferguson is a victim of predatory lending, and now he may lose his home. Low income, elderly people are experiencing widespread theft of their equity. Elderly people are simply more susceptible to abusive predatory lending practices. Home equity scams are appealing to financial predators because the money is substantially easy to find, and the elderly can be induced into losing the equity in their homes and, even worse, becoming homeless through predatory lending, foreclosure rescue scams, and estate planning. The mortgage foreclosure crisis has had a profoundly injurious impact on our seniors. Now, as this is the month of March and it is Women's History Month, I thought it would be good to share some of the impact of this crisis on the women of our Nation. By 2010, women will head almost 28 percent of all households in this Nation. Of families living in poverty in 2001, 50.9 percent were women- headed households with no spouse present. But, in fact, the tremendous growth in the number of women filing for bankruptcy shows that economic instability for women reaches also into the middle class. Unmarried women accounted for 30 percent of the growth in homeowners from 1994 to 2002. Women account for a larger share of the subprime loans than of prime loans. Women are particularly vulnerable to predatory lenders. Women are particularly vulnerable to financial hardship. Older women are at greatest risk. Older women may be open to promises of ready cash if they live on modest fixed incomes that do not cover property tax increases, necessary home repairs, and unanticipated medical expenses. Women are especially susceptible to financial hardship. I want to share with you now one of the stories of another one of my constituents. Her name is Ms. Waver Brickhouse. At age 69, Ms. Brickhouse is a gray-haired, soft-spoken woman from the Brownsville section of my district. She is a victim of mortgage fraud, and now may have her home put into foreclosure, too. She turned to what she believed to be a home rescue firm, who then secretly sold her home and added at least $150,000 of fraudulent mortgage debt. This retired City Parks Department worker said in a recent New York Times article, and I quote, ``I am going to drown in debt. I feel like it is just a matter of time until I am out on the street with my children.'' However, these stories are not irregular in my district. African American seniors in New York and all across this Nation are at risk of losing homes they worked so hard for decades to some day acquire full equity of their property, but at this moment some are facing homelessness. Mr. Speaker, just listen to the alarming numbers. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, by the fall of 2007, one in four homeowners with subprime mortgages lived in neighborhoods in my district such as Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant, and these mortgages were in foreclosure. In 2008, Federal data reported that there are 5,861 foreclosures in Brooklyn alone. And the Center for Responsible Lending projected that, in 2009, there will be 435 foreclosures in my district, and within the next 4 years that number will rise to 1,448. Communities such as the one I just mentioned as well as others throughout the Nation collectively lost as much as $92 billion in wealth over the last 8 years resulting from predatory lending practices within the subprime mortgage crisis. For these reasons, Mr. Speaker, I intend to introduce legislation. My bill is entitled the Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2009. This bill will provide funding to the National NeighborWorks Association for mortgage foreclosure mitigation activities. NeighborWorks has been instrumental in partnering with the State of New York Mortgage Agency to not only promote home ownership in underserved communities such as Bedford- Stuyvesant, Brownsville, and Flatbush, but they also provide foreclosure counseling that could some day help predatory victims like Mr. Ferguson and Ms. Brickhouse. In addition, I recently voted for H.R. 1106, Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009, which allows for mortgage modifications through the bankruptcy court, and I also support applying the FDIC model. The Federal Deposit Income Insurance Corporation has pioneered a promising approach that, even with some limitations, would strengthen incentives to prevent foreclosures and greatly boost the number of successful loan modifications. I commend President Obama and his administration for their ongoing efforts to mitigate the damage and assist our families in staying in their homes. But we must also look at ways to advocate for legal reform that would ultimately prevent the elderly from losing their homes. So I urge my colleagues tonight to work together with the CBC to take the lead in addressing the foreclosure crisis and, more important, mitigate the racial disparities of predatory lending and its impact on African American seniors. I want to thank you again, my colleague and the leader of this special order, Congresswoman Fudge from the 11th Congressional District of Ohio, for being a beacon of light this evening to those in our communities who are really struggling to keep their heads above water and, most important, their dignity.

Ms. CLARKE

Ms. CLARKE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to submit into the Record, an article expressing why it is important for governments throughout the world to stay committed to achieving gender equality. The article, published by the UN News Service, cites critical information from a newly released report from the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). The report, entitled ``Who Answers to Women? Gender and Accountability,'' alarmed us about the enormous gaps between men and women when it comes to responsibility in official segments of society. Ms. Hanny Cueva-Beteta, Data and Statistics Specialist with the UNIFEM, stated that women's priorities are non-existent when it comes to conflict resolutions and war crimes committed against them are often not prosecuted. The article poignantly points out that women are outnumbered 4 to 1 in legislatures around the world; almost \2/3\ of all unpaid family workers are women; and approximately \1/3\ of all women suffer gender- based violence during their lives. Madam Speaker, I want to commend the UNIFEM for their exceptional and vital research and I urge my colleagues to support efforts to alleviate gender disparities throughout the world. Accountability Key To Meeting National Gender Equality Goals, Says UN Report 20 February 2009--Strengthening accountability for commitments made by governments will be vital to achieving gender equality and women's rights, according to a new report released today by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). ``The actions of those in power need to be reviewed and made accountable to women,'' Hanny Cueva-Beteta, Data and Statistics Specialist with UNIFEM, stressed today at the launch in Monrovia, Liberia, of the agency's flagship publication, Progress of the World's Women 2008/2009. The report, entitled ``Who Answers to Women? Gender and Accountability,'' pointed to vast gaps in accountability between men and women, which lead to weakened participation of women in the formal sector, according to a news release issued by UNIFEM. Ms. Cueva-Beteta said that in areas such as conflict mediation, women's priorities are silenced and war crimes committed against them are often not prosecuted. In both national governments and multilateral organizations, accountability systems need to be changed and oriented to answer to women, if commitments to gender equality are to move from rhetoric to results, she stated. ``It is time to move from lip-service to real results,'' she said, adding that commitments made by governments should be accompanied by funding and planning. There is still a long way to go in that regard, she noted, given that women are outnumbered 4 to 1 in legislatures around the world; over 60 per cent of all unpaid family workers globally are women; and about one-third of women suffer gender-based violence during their lives. Also speaking at the launch, Liberia's President, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, highlighted some of achievements made in her country towards women's empowerment. They include the establishment of a special ``Criminal Court E,'' dedicated to gender-based violence crimes with an emphasis on rape, and an empowerment programme, funded by the Nike Foundation, for 1,500 adolescent girls. There is also the Sirleaf Market Women's Fund, which the President set up to support girls' education and improving markets for women. Ms. Johnson-Sirleaf thanked UNIFEM for its efforts in getting countries to make greater commitments towards the empowerment of women and implored those at the launch to ``join hands at all levels and work together for the enhancement of women as a means of acting towards the development of society as a whole.''

Ms. CLARKE

Ms. CLARKE. Mr. Speaker, nearly everyone in the homeland security community agrees that having a single comprehensive list of terrorist suspects is an important tool in keeping America safe. However, there are flaws in how the terrorist watch list is maintained and used. Over the years, this list has grown to have over 1.1 million entries. With so many different names on the list, it is not surprising that every single day countless Americans are misidentified as terrorists. The errors most commonly occur when an innocent person's name happens to be similar to the one listed in the database. For example, if your name is Al Smith and there is an A. Smith on the list, guess what? You're going to be caught. This is even worse for the millions of American residents who have names which can have different pronunciations or ways of spellings. This wastes time both for law enforcement, because they're using resources investigating innocent people, and for the general public who face the prospect of being wrongfully detained and possibly altogether prevented from going about their business. Most commonly, this affects air travelers who are screened against a watch list more often than anyone else. Currently, each time a reservation is made, airlines must determine whether a customer is a potential match based on information from us, from the government. Every day, thousands of people are pulled aside, required to go through special procedures, detained, or even denied boarding altogether at great personal and financial costs to the frustrated travelers who've missed flights. For private citizens, this can lead to ruined plants. These practices have, in essence, begun the process of eroding the foundation on which our civil liberties were built. However, at a time when we're doing everything we can to stimulate the economy, this problem can be catastrophic for business travelers and companies. The inability for thousands of people to travel for work puts jobs in jeopardy. And for every employee unable to make a meeting because of being mistakenly denied boarding, companies needlessly lose productivity. This is a waste when Congress is spending money to help commerce grow. Furthermore, because the terrorist watch list is used by many different screening agencies, other people have also been impacted by this problem, including anyone whose license plates are run by local law enforcement; port workers who have been incorrectly denied a Transportation Worker Identification Card, which is now required to work at port facilities in the U.S.; international travelers delayed or denied entry into the country by CBP, and potential foreign visitors denied visas by the State Department. In the future, this will likely become a greater issue as more potentially sensitive activities are tied to screening against the watch list. This is why I originally introduced the FAST Redress Act, which I'm proud to say passed the House last year with very strong bipartisan support. Unfortunately, despite more bipartisan support in the Senate, the other chamber ultimately failed to move this forward. Therefore, I have reintroduced this bill in the 111th Congress in the hope that this time we can push it through and help millions of people. The FAST Redress Act solves the misidentification problems by granting DHS the tools to create a department-wide office of redress and appeals--a one-stop shop for any individual who feels they're being incorrectly identified as a terrorist whenever they have contact with the government. This bill will greatly streamline the process for the countless people who, just because of their names, are regularly misidentified as a terrorist, creating a single, highly visible office within the government for everyone who wants to clear their names. I'm glad to see the U.S. House of Representatives taking up this bill once again--and doing so with such speed-- demonstrating the strong show of support to help the people affected by this issue. I'm very thankful to Chairman Thompson and Ranking Member King for their great bipartisan leadership in pushing the FAST Redress Act forward; Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee and ranking member, I also thank them. I thank the staff on both sides of the Homeland Security Committee for their hard work and the time they put into this bill, and my own senior legislative aid for Homeland Security, Mr. Daniel Hattis, for his hard work, his vigilance, and his commitment for making the FAST Redress Act the law of the land. Further, this bill has received strong support from the National Business Travelers Association, which has recognized that the problem of misidentification hurts the economy and how this bill benefits the business travel committee. I ask my colleagues to join me in support of this bipartisan support Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.

Ms. CLARKE

Ms. CLARKE. Those are the people I'm talking about.

Ms. CLARKE. I thank you very much. I just want to close by thanking you, Congressman Ellison, for organizing this special order with members of the Progressive Caucus this evening. I think we have pretty much driven home that we are at the advent in the passing of H.R. 1 of the remaking of America, as our President, Barack Obama, likes to state it; that the things that we need to do have just been putting in place fundamentals, sort of the railing on which our economy will roll out from in the next 18 months to the next 4 years. There is a lot of work to be done, a lot of human resource development to take place, a lot of training, and a lot of stimulating of our economy. And I want to take my hat off to all of my colleagues who voted in favor today of supporting the Reinvestment Act that we passed today, the economic stimulus and Reinvestment Act. And I look forward to getting back to my district and working with the folks in the community to be able to make sure that they access and hold accountable this Congress for making sure that this measure works for them. We all have to be engaged in this for it to work. If anyone is sitting back thinking that someone is going to come and hand something to them, I think that they missed the whole point of why we voted for change. The change is that we are going to stay engaged, that we are going to ask for accountability in government, that we are going to demand it, and that we are going to see it come to fruition in the same way that we saw a new President become elected and installed.

Ms. CLARKE. I'm just thinking about what a pressure valve this piece of legislation is for so many States. We can probably count the number of States that are currently not in deficit and not cutting services on both hands. This Nation is really rocked by the devastation of an economic downturn, like your State, like the State of Maryland, the State of New York. We were here just before our significant break before we came in for the new session to deal with the automobile industry. Prior to that, we did the TARP. The TARP for New York City and New York State was like saving and industry that was a free-fall in terms of being an economic engine not only for our city, not only for our State, but for our Nation. So I can really relate to what so many of my colleagues from across this Nation, whether they are from the Midwest, the far West, the Atlantic region, the Southwest, have been experiencing when manufacturing has been leaving all these years, when so many other industries have faltered and we were not there responsibly addressing those unemployment issues. This ripple effect has hit home for every single American. If you have not personally been touched by what is happening in this economy, you are not breathing on this earth right now. You either know someone who's been impacted or you are yourself have been impacted, whether it's your home being foreclosed on or it's that company that has left town and has not been replaced in any form or fashion. All of these issues are at the premium right now in everyone's minds, everyone's hearts, and everyone's pockets. And so H.R. 1 to the rescue. We are here, and we have opened the door with the advent of something new, something progressive, and we are supporting it 110 percent.

Ms. CLARKE. Those people.

Ms. CLARKE. Those are the seniors who were just about to retire when the market went down and their 401(k)s went down the drain, who now have to choose between a mortgage payment and purchasing their medication.

Ms. CLARKE. You know, as we are all just too keenly aware, the current economic environment that we are in the midst of was a gift left to us by the Bush administration. And I really want Americans to focus on the fact that we have had 8 years of neglect, destruction, of total malfeasance when it comes to the economy of this Nation. And we have just begun today, less than an hour ago, just minutes ago, to, you know, sort of begin to address in a very substantive way the impact of a mismanaged economy and, by extension, a mismanaged nation. We are excited about what is taking place, the level of enthusiasm that our Progressive Caucus had for this particular piece of legislation, H.R. 1, the Democratic Caucus has had, that the American people have had. And we are supporting our newly elected President, our newly installed, sworn-in President and his vision for taking us out of what is a very dramatic downturn in our economy, and it's going to take some time. We are at the advent of that, and, I mean, I think for each of us who is here tonight, there are many more things that we know will have to be done. We are at a good place, at a good starting point, for our communities and the turnaround of these economies, the investments we are making. Because these are truly investments, these are not just giveaways; we inherited a World War II infrastructure, if you will. If it weren't for those folks who, you know, sacrificed during the World War II generation, you know, the subway systems we enjoy today, the mass transit, the technology, all of that was invested during that period of time, and use of the benefit of mobility and economy and took us to this point. We kind of coasted off of that generation's innovations. It's our generation's time to step up. Barack Obama has led the way by being on the Hill, working in a bipartisan manner and making it unequivocally clear to the American people that it's our time now. And H.R. 1 speaks to its being our time now. And I am just really proud to be here at this moment to have the Progressive Caucus in lockstep recognizing that we are not going to get everything we want, but if you don't put it out there, you are not going to get anything of what you want. So you put out there everything that you think is needed to make your community strong, solvent again, to help small businesses, which are really the major employers in many of our communities. And it's all in here, the benefits and tax cuts and tax deductions for small business are phenomenal. They will be the ones that, when the contracts are broken down, we need those nails and those hammers, they will be the ones who can provide those, who can supply those. When their workers need to move goods from one place to another, the small businesses and our employers in our local communities will benefit from the work that we just did moments ago. So I want to thank you for that, Progressive Caucus members.

Ms. CLARKE. You know, I would like to ask about this progressive agenda. You know, we also have to be forward thinking; we can't just settle with this opening salvo in what will be a protracted struggle to realign our economy in this Nation, and our voices are going to be imperative because so many have been left out of the economy that was driven by deregulation, that was driven by greed, that was driven by policies that excluded such a significant part of our human resource in this Nation. You know, patience is really going to be a virtue for a lot of us, and it's in short supply, unfortunately, because people are experiencing real pain in this current economy. But patience is going to be what's required as we recraft, reshape, recalibrate the economy in which we operate, and we now know that our economy is not just an American economy, but is an essential component of a global economy. And as we make America stronger, there are going to be global implications in what we do and what happens with regards to the whole realignment of our market system. I want to make sure that there's always going to be a voice coming from our caucus that talks about human resource development. Human resource development. More productive Americans are in their skill and talent and ability, the stronger our Nation will be. So I would like to see us in the future, in the very near future, really look at how Community Development Block Grants can be utilized for rural and urban and suburban development. I know that it has been very successful in programs like the empowerment and enterprise zones of rural and urban communities. I think there may be a time within very short order where something similar will have to be engaged in order to make sure that we capture all of the human resource productivity that we can. Our productivity quotient has to really rise as a result of us stimulating our economy. And as we stimulate our economy and our companies begin to buzz again, as it begins to grow, we need to make sure that all of our talent, skill, and ability is applied, all shoulders to the wheel to, as you say, making the rising tide lift all ships. I yield back.

Ms. CLARKE. When the American people called for change, Congressman Ellison, they were really calling for progress. We were stuck in a rut. The morale of your average, everyday citizen was being diminished with each and every hour that the Iraq war was raging, that the Dow Jones was dropping, that they were receiving letters about foreclosure at their doorsteps, as they were receiving pink slips from their former employers. I mean it was an all-time low. The one area where people saw sort of like a glimmer of hope was in the change in administration, a new leadership that spoke to progress, that spoke to the need to turn the page and get things going again. Today, our act on H.R. 1 was turning that page. It's the advent of something new, something progressive. As my colleague, Donna Edwards has said, it's sewing that thread together of innovation, of progress, of understanding the needs and the desires of the average, everyday American. These are not the wealthy people who can afford the lobbyists. These are not the wealthy people who can jet off to another location and put their sorrows behind them. These are the folks who wake up every morning and wonder, Will I have enough dollars left in my pocket to make sure that my children eat this weekend? So what we did today was we brought dignity back to those who were struggling and who have been left out of the equation of our common humanity for quite some time.

Ms. CLARKE. You're absolutely right. First of all, Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my distinguished colleague Congressman Keith Ellison for managing the time requested by the Progressive Caucus on the floor to speak about the economic recovery package. You just pointed out, it's there in black and white, Zandi's estimates for the multiplier effect, the top three items that were requested by this caucus were in this recovery package. When we talk about economic stimulus, we're talking about things that people need from our economy in order to stimulate it. People must meet the needs of their homes and families' ability to feed themselves. Hence the use of food stamps is something that is constantly churning in communities across this Nation. Infrastructure repair, I remember the most demonstrative thing that I could see since I've been a Member of Congress was that bridge fall in Minnesota, a neglected infrastructure that, thank God, we didn't see much more harm done to the population of Minnesota. But life was lost, Commerce was disrupted. Infrastructure, the multiplier effect. Just think about all of those trucks that have got to move the goods and services across our Nation. Truck drivers are being employed. Let's talk about the folks who are going to do the bricks and mortar of it all. They're going to be able to meet their mortgage payments, do some savings, make sure that their kids can go get a great education, be responsible for their families and their communities. That's what it's all about. So I want to commend our leadership in the Progressive Caucus, Ms. Woolsey and Mr. Grijalva, for having the vision to reach out to the administration, to make sure that they're aware that there are some easy matter-of-fact things we could do within this package that will make the difference almost instantaneously in communities across this Nation. And those three items that were discussed are the items that make the difference each and every day in every community in which we live.

Ms. CLARKE

Ms. CLARKE. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of House Resolution 1429, which recognizes September as National Emergency Preparedness Month. I would like to thank the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Etheridge) for managing this very important resolution. This resolution applauds the public servants at the Department of Homeland Security for their outstanding dedication to securing our Nation. More importantly, the resolution also encourages citizens to prepare themselves and their families to respond to emergencies, whether it's an act of terrorism, a natural disaster or another crisis. As the sole member of the Committee on Homeland Security who resides in the City of New York, I am keenly aware that one of the most important lessons from the tragic attacks on September 11, 2001 and from Hurricane Katrina is that each and every American must be vigilant about their preparedness for an emergency. As we all know, with the recent bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Pakistan, terrorism is alive and well and continues to be a very real threat in this world. Likewise, this country has experienced widespread wildfires in the West, numerous tornadoes in the Southeast, overwhelming floods in the Midwest, and late this summer the Gulf States were wracked by Hurricanes Fay, Gustav, Hannah and most recently Ike. The dedicated workers of the Department of Homeland Security and other Federal agencies successfully coordinated with State and local officials and the private sector to assist with the pre-positioning of lifesaving equipment, evacuation efforts and search-and-rescue methods. Similarly, we saw Members helping their fellow brothers and sisters in their time of need. This marks the fifth year that DHS has observed September as the National Emergency Preparedness Month. In promoting this, DHS has partnered with over 1,700 organizations, including the American Red Cross, in its efforts to reach out to the public. Since this is National Emergency Preparedness Month, this is an ideal time for all of us to collectively prepare for all types emergencies. Among the department's recommendations to help Americans prepare for emergencies are: Number one, get a kit. Build a disaster supply kit that includes enough supplies for each family member for 3 days and remember to check the kit every 6 months. Number two, make a plan. Every family should develop, communicate and practice their evacuation or other sheltering. Number 3, be informed about the type of disasters or emergencies that may occur where you live, work and/or play and how they can affect you, your family and community. Number 4, get involved. After preparing yourself and your family for possible emergencies by getting a kit, making a plan and being informed, take the next step in getting involved in preparing your community. I ask my fellow colleagues to encourage their constituents to visit the Federal government's Citizen Corps website at www.citizencorps.gov to learn how we can bring key community figures together to plan for, mitigate, respond to or recover from an emergency. I am also happy to note that more than 2,200 State, local, tribal and territorial governments in all States and U.S. territories have formed Citizen Corps Councils, and that every day, new councils are formed in communities around the country. Before I close my remarks, I would like to thank and express my gratitude to Homeland Security Chairman Bennie G. Thompson and Ranking Member Peter King for their support for this resolution and their leadership on preparedness issues. Further, I want to thank the subcommittee chairman, Henry Cuellar of the Subcommittee on Emergency Communications, Preparedness and Response for sponsoring H.R. 5890, the Citizen and Community Preparedness Act. Mr. Cuellar has championed the authorization of Citizen Corps, and he, too, encourages every citizen to get involved to improve their individual and community's preparedness. Mr. Speaker, I also want to thank my Republican colleagues for cosponsoring this resolution. After all, preparedness is not a partisan matter. In closing, I want to honor all of the sheroes and heroes who dedicate their lives to keeping Americans safe. I urge the citizens of this great Nation to visit the website, www.ready.gov so we can all learn how to be vigilant, alert and prepared for an emergency. I urge all my colleagues to adopt this resolution.

Ms. CLARKE

Ms. CLARKE. I thank the gentleman from Chicago, Illinois for his eloquence and for the sharing of his insights based on the constituency that he represents and based on the years of knowledge and on the years of experience that he has had here in Washington in dealing with these matters. This is truly an unprecedented time, but we have got to look back a bit to really get a sense of how we got here. Follow me on this chart over here. It's building a wall of debt. When you look back at the year 2001, our debt was at $5.8 trillion. Fast forward to 2009, and it is projected that our debt will have basically doubled in that time. Then let's also recollect the philosophy of the Bush administration and of the Republicans of this body. There was a great proclamation about the ownership society. That is, we want to make sure that this Nation is underpinned by the need and by the capacity and by the ability to own. Well, at the end of the day, what we see is that we own a whole lot of debt. On top of this debt, we're going to be owning $700 billion in poor assets, in assets that no one else was able to leverage to create profit. There were all of those loans that were given to those who wanted to be a part of the ownership society. In their hearts, they knew it was the best thing to do, but they were seized upon by unscrupulous individuals who provided a product that was basically a pipe dream. We were all part of the ownership society, all right. And in the words of Colin Powell, you broke it, you own it. And I just find it quite interesting that everyone is getting on TV, particularly those who were responsible because of their lack of stewardship, because of their breaking of the public trust, to say, you know, no one is to blame here. Well, when you pursue policies that create such damage to American finance, American households and communities, the American psyche, well, I think you need to own that too. So today we are talking more about some of the proposals that are coming before us. I just want to put in a word about the fact that in this whole ownership society there was also a lack of discipline, and discipline can be shaped up in a number of different ways. The way I like to discuss it, it has to do with regulation. I find it ironic that there are people in the financial world, real bigwigs, who have not been able to come to grips with the fact that their joyride is over, that happy days are not here again, but that they have driven our economy into the ground, and they are all lining up right now to want to be part of the solution, without regulation, without accountability. Those days are over. I can tell you that the members of the Congressional Black Caucus, the members of the Democratic Caucus, the Members of the new Congress are not going to sit by idly have false proclamations made without substantiation. We have back in March of 2008 when we spoke about the issue of regulation and the need for regulation, our own President saying, ``I'm deeply concerned about law and regulation that will make it harder for the markets to recover, and, when they recover, make it harder for this economy to be robust.'' Well, Mr. President, the markets failed with no regulation. Regulation was not a part of the equation here. Then you have our nominee in the Republican Party, Senator McCain, who says, ``I am always for less regulation. I would like to see a lot of the unnecessary government regulations eliminated.'' March of this year. Now, everyone knew. Everyone knew this was coming down the pipe, and they are now the ones calling for regulation. Well, now that the horse is out of the barn and the crisis has hit, it is easy to make that determination, because hindsight is 20-20. But when reasonable people pleaded, held hearings to talk about the need to regulate what was going on, when we saw predatory lending becoming a cancer, a gangrene in communities of color, when we saw the subprime foreclosure market just eat communities alive, there was no mercy. There was a wink and a nod, and the feeding frenzy continued. Then it spread to the prime market, and the feeding frenzy continued. It continued so much so that in many of these financial institutions folks were almost delusional about the condition that their companies were in. Overnight it seemed, all of a sudden everything came cascading down. You know, for the average American, we don't get bailouts. We get reprimanded. We get marginalized. We get being told that we are irresponsible. Yet I hear none of that terminology for all of these folks who have not only upset the U.S. market, their reckless behavior has upset the world market. The world market. We have an over abiding obligation in the United States of America. We are looked to around the world for our excellence, for our ability to handle our affairs, and that has been eroded to nothing under the Bush administration. Not in one area can we say that we have held to the American ideals, and this economic crisis marks that. Let me also share with you something you already know, and this has to do with our economy, it has to do with the loss of jobs. Back when Bill Clinton was President of the United States, as you can see, our economy was robust and we were on a path to prosperity with respect to job growth and development. Under the Bush administration, in just 8 years we have brought so many families, so many communities into poverty. The number of new jobs needed per month to keep pace with the growth in the working age population, 150,000. And look at the performance of the Bush administration. This says it all, folks. We are in an economic downturn. Individuals are unemployed, health care costs are skyrocketing, energy costs are through the roof, financial markets are crashing. All of this, all of this did not happen overnight. It certainly hasn't happened since the new Congress. This was a building process. And for individuals to stand up and say that it was the Democratic Congress that caused this to happen, it is insulting the intelligence of the American people. It started during a period of time where the philosophy was in place that anything goes in the free market. It started when there was a philosophy in place that said that the ownership society is one that does not need to be regulated. It started and continued on a path of destruction under the leadership of the Bush administration. Compounding that is the continued war in Iraq. Compounding that is the cost of health care, that grows exponentially each month. Compounding that is the loss and the hemorrhaging of jobs. So Wall Street has now caught up and our economy is so fragile that meetings are taking place throughout Capitol Hill in every nook and cranny to save, to save, our financial well-being. When we say our financial well-being, it is truly our financial well- being, because we have known in urban communities for quite some time when the unemployment rate was rising that something was wrong. It was an indicator. When people began losing their homes, filing for bankruptcy. When folks who had formerly been middle-class had quickly in the blink of an eye become part of the working poor or homeless, no one shed a tear. And now every news media outlet is crying the woes of the financial giants. Well, I guess this is the day of reckoning, and this is the time where the great equalizer is making things happen in real time, because this Congress has an obligation, and I certainly will not be voting for any bailout that does not include a bailout of the people that I represent. When the Bush administration took office in 2001, it inherited a projected surplus for 2008 of $651 billion, $651 billion when they took office from the Democratic President Bill Clinton. The unemployment rate as we know it today continues to increase, from 4.7 percent to 6.1 percent, and shows no sign of slowing down. We are truly, truly being governed by an administration that has moved in the wrong direction, and our economy is a reflection of those policies. So what is the House of Representatives being asked to do? Well, this week we will begin going over a number of proposals. The package that has been talked about so much in the press puts limits on executive compensation and sets the economic structure in a way in which we will advocate help for homeowners from foreclosure so the crisis will not cripple our communities. We are calling for oversight. Oversight. The Government Accountability Office needs to monitor the progress of any proposed programs. We are granting the Treasury Department way too much power as estimated and as called upon by many of you out there in our communities, and there needs to be much more transparency. The anything-goes Bush administration policies have been irresponsible. The non-regulation of financial institutions has led to this crisis, let there be no mistake about it. There is a lot of spin going on out there. There are a lot of folks who want to sugarcoat what has been in my estimation a dereliction of duty. We need to move in a new direction, with responsible regulation and safeguards for middle-class folks, for folks who live in urban centers who have been paying for all of these bailouts. We will also launch an investigation of the regulatory failures and mismanagement that has treated our financial system as a cash cow for some. And, most importantly, we will build a future of financial security for those who are hurting in our Nation right now, in particular those who are in the working and middle-class. It is clear that the administration has requested that Congress authorize in very short order very sweeping and unprecedented powers for the Treasury Secretary to confront a financial crisis of what people are saying are epic proportions. Well, that is going to come at a price as well. This administration has not demonstrated that it can be charged with the responsibility of managing the affairs of this Nation in a way in which harm is not done to its people. So, good luck with that one. In working with the administration, we will strengthen the proposal by ensuring that the government is accountable to taxpayers in any future action under this broad grant of authority. Now, we don't want to make this seem as though we are not going to work in a bipartisan manner. We are. But we are not going to have shoved down our throats policies that promote more of the same bad behavior. That behavior is gone, it is in the past, and we are saying that if you want to collaborate, we are willing to work with you, but there has to be a recognition of the failures so that we don't repeat them in the future. When the Bush administration took office in 2001, there was a projected surplus of $651 billion. Today we stand on the advent of having to bail out the financial institutions of this Nation to the tune of $700 billion. While people say that, well, this is not going to impact the budget because we are seeing this really as an investment as opposed to an expenditure, well, we have to expend it first, and we have to create an environment that encourages the purchase of what has been bad business. How we shape that is really up to those in the financial sector to come to the table. But I can tell you, the American people will not be left holding the bag here. They will not be left holding the bag for those who decided that they were going to treat this country like their own personal ATM and that they were going to bankrupt us at a time when we should be experiencing great prosperity. The debate has begun, the conversations are being had throughout the Capitol across party lines. As we concern ourselves about our financial instability, we reflect on those who live in our communities, who are senior citizens, who could have been hoodwinked into partially privatizing their Social Security and the proposals that are coming out of the Republican party to partially privatize and invest for health care. If we had pursued those policies, can you imagine the hysteria in so many parts of our community where people have invested their lives, their well-being in a scheme that benefited the most wealthiest sectors of our Nation? Can you imagine that under the Bush administration the tax cuts that were given to this same class of folks, the wealthy, and you look at the rising of the deficit, and you look at all of these indicators of greed, of free-market greed, you have to ask yourselves, do we and can we trust, again, an administration and a party that would be so derelict of duty, that would be so frivolous as to cause the type of hardship that we are all digging deep to endure right now? Well, in this new Congress, under the Democratic leadership of Speaker Pelosi, that type of behavior has come to an end. As we debate, as we go over all of the proposals, as we vet every line, every comma, every period of what is being proposed for legislation, I assure you that the members of the Congressional Black Caucus, under the leadership of Congresswoman Carolyn Kilpatrick, will keep their finger on the pulse of what is happening and what has happened and what must never be allowed to happen again within our communities, within communities across this Nation that have had to bear the brunt of this feeding frenzy, have had to shoulder the burden of economic crisis way before Wall Street met its day of reckoning. We will be there to make sure that there is some parity for those who are struggling each month to keep up with that mortgage payment, for those who are concerned about how to juggle the mortgage payment with the home heating oil payment and the health care costs, for those who are still caught in the credit crunch and their child's tuition bill is coming up, to those who are just trying to get by and do their part as Americans. You are not forgotten in this new-direction Congress. We stand with you, as a part of you, as we struggle through this debacle in our financial sector. I assure you, at the end of the day, we will come out of this process much stronger, much wiser, and certainly understanding that the days of free-for-all feeding frenzy, unregulated financial markets in the United States are over. By extension, we will be setting an example for how business will be conducted around the world. I thank you for being a wonderful Speaker pro tempore and for being there as we have our conversations during our CBC hour to open eyes and ears about the challenge that we will face this week. We will face it with all courage and dignity.

Ms. CLARKE. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus, our chairman, Ms. Carolyn Kilpatrick, and the 42 other members, it's my privilege to come and discuss the topic of the hour--I believe the topic of the century--and that is the collapse of our financial service sector and the proposed bailout that we've all heard of this past weekend. You know, it wasn't that long ago that I heard a gentleman who was serving as Secretary of State to the United States saying to us, when we launched into Iraq and we knew that there was going to be a whole lot of trouble and it was going to be an expensive venture, that if we went in there and we broke it, we own it. Well, ladies and gentlemen, another example of breaking it, now owning it. You know, the Bush administration and the folks on the other side of the aisle turned a blind eye and a deaf ear in the name of so-called ``free markets''--which, in fact, is not free and all Americans are learning today it's costing us $700 billion; very, very expensive lesson. Because when the call for regulation in this sector went on deaf ears and more deregulation was the mantra, and keeping the free market free led to this feeding frenzy that now has all of us pulling out our hair wondering how we got here. Well, I can tell you that in communities like mine, we got here because people were given bad loan products, they were given subprime loans. There was no investigation, due diligence done to make sure that individuals could, indeed, understand the terms and conditions in which they were being subjected. And we turned a blind eye to that. We felt that the crisis in the subprime market was only for those people, and it wouldn't impact on the overall society. So we said, well, poor them, and they should have known better. Where are the folks screaming ``they should have known better'' now? Where are they now that the so- called folks in the know who should have known better allowed their corporate interests and corporate greed to supercede their obligation to our Nation, to our overall economy, to our well-being, where are they today? Well, they're meeting behind closed doors. There are meetings taking place all over the place this evening, folks trying to scramble here and there to come up with the best deal for ``the bailout.'' Well, I can tell you that in just about all of the offices of the members of the Congressional Black Caucus the phones are ringing off the hook. They're ringing off the hook for people who have had to file bankruptcy because they had no health care insurance and someone got ill in the family and they had to use everything they owned to pay off health care costs that have skyrocketed and they've had to refinance and refinance and refinance their homes over and over again to get the money needed to help in a health care crisis. And we're getting phone calls from people who got their economic stimulus rebate only to face skyrocketing oil costs and gasoline costs and costs of living just going up while their wages have stayed stagnant. And we're getting calls from individuals who, due to lack of real management in these financial firms, are mid, low-level employees that are now unemployed and who also bought into the ``American dream'' and their mortgages are coming due and they don't know where their next check will come from. Well, we are in an economic crisis, and I think we need to not have amnesia at this time. We need to remember where all of our financial woes have come from. They've come from an administration and a party that the free market is truly free, that the need for regulation is something that is not a part of being Americans when we regulate every other part of our lives and we regulate just about everything else we do except for the feeding frenzy and the greed that is taking place in this Nation over the past 12 years. It's unfortunate that we've arrived at this moment in time, and it's a very expensive wake-up call for all of us. I understand that folks are moving very aggressively to address the financial crisis, as quoted by our speaker, Nancy Pelosi, ``to aggressively address the financial crisis.'' ``We will investigate the Bush administration's mismanagement of financial regulation, how it led to this crisis, and what solutions Congress can act upon.'' ``I don't think the American people want us to wait until next year. We would hope to have something as soon as we can.'' And I agree. We must have some accountability here. This is not a time to use fear tactics, to get people to just go along, to get along. This is a time for accountability. We are at a time where the crossroads have come and where we're right at that fork, and either we will continue with the same or we will make a change for the betterment of our civil society. Let me just say that, as we look at this bailout, it is our hope that we will look at Main Street and, as opposed to the trickle-down economics that got us to where we are today, that we will start at Main Street and will look at the needs of those who have been given these flimflam subprime loans and will work to make sure that we can keep Americans in their homes. We need to come out of this process with a corridor or with a pathway for American families to be able to renegotiate their terms in the same way that our financial institutions are asking for the renegotiation of their terms. What is good for those who have benefited from this feeding frenzy, from this bonanza, from this greed, from this run-on money is good enough for those who have had to pay the cost. It is our hope that that will be a part of what ultimately is negotiated so that we can pass in this House a bill that is reflective of the desire of the American people. The financial rescue that we are asking to consider this week will require some legislative solutions. It will conduct investigations into how Wall Street actually got into this crisis, and it will clean up what has become a huge mess, and it will insulate Main Street from Wall Street. We want to know how we will prevent this from ever happening again. Congress is ready to work, but we are ready to work as coequal partners in this process. We are not willing to have the administration dictate to us the terms under which we will do what needs to be done to set our financial house in order. It's not up to us to simply hand over a $700 billion blank check to those in the financial sectors who are now in crises and hope for a better outcome. The CBC, working along with our colleagues throughout this body in the New Direction Congress, will work to protect taxpayers' interests. We will make sure that the necessary safeguards that we believe will provide a responsible solution will include independent oversight and protection for homeowners with reasonable limits on executive compensation for CEOs and for other top executives. I think one of the things that really boggles the mind of the average, everyday American is the fact that the corporate CEOs have gotten away with wrecking their corporations while receiving bonuses-- golden parachutes--when they're asked to leave. Now, for the average, everyday American, when they don't perform well at their jobs, all that they can expect is an escort out the door of their employers'. Yet somehow we've gotten it so twisted that we are actually giving rewards for bad performance. This has got to stop. I do not understand how in a day and time when we're asking for accountability from everyone that we would enable these individuals who have been reckless in their endeavors to walk away scot-free. So we are clear that whatever we legislate this week will have implications for those who are in executive office and for those who are seeking to receive compensation as they depart from jobs poorly done. I see that I have been joined this evening by the very distinguished gentleman from Chicago, Illinois, by a gentleman who has been a part of the Congressional Black Caucus for quite some time now and who has been a leader in education, in labor and in understanding the challenges of our urban communities across this Nation. I know he, like so many other members of the Congressional Black Caucus, has been getting phone calls throughout the weekend, starting Friday into today, nonstop, from his constituents who have been raising their concerns and their issues about the crisis that we're in, and they've been giving their advice about what they would like to see from us as a body representing their interests. So, at this time, I yield as much time as he would like to consume to the gentleman from Chicago, Illinois, Congressman Danny Davis.

Ms. CLARKE

Ms. CLARKE. Mr. Chairman, today I rise in support of H.R. 3036, the No Child Left Inside Act of 2008. The effects of global warming and climate change, as evidenced by wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, and floodings has been experienced by hundreds of thousands of Americans. These things, coupled with the energy crisis, are calling out for investment in renewable energy. We must be ever cognizant that future generations will inherit a myriad of complicated environmental challenges. By encouraging schools to incorporate environmental education into their curriculum, H.R. 3036 will give future generations a solid understanding of environmental issues and a knowledge base that will equip and empower them with the tools needed to overcome the environmental problems that plague our civil society and our environs. I am pleased to have language from my bill, H.R. 5902, the GREEN Act, incorporated into this bill. My bill's language would give schools the option of integrating an environmental justice curriculum into their own educational program. Located in my congressional district, the Brooklyn Academy of Science and the Environment provides an innovative example of how environmental justice concepts can be used as an integrating context for learning. Created through a partnership with the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, Prospect Park Alliance, and the New York City Department of Education, this is one of New York City's first public environmental education high schools. In closing, I want to thank Congressman Sarbanes for being a champion for America's scholars and for his consistent leadership on environmental education and for including my bill, H.R. 5902, as part of the No Child Left Inside Act of 2008, a bill that I believe will greatly transform our Nation in the years to come.

Ms. CLARKE

Ms. CLARKE. Thank you very much, Congresswoman Barbara Lee, for your leadership, your commitment as a remember of the CBC, and a Member of the House of Representatives. You have been very outspoken and a real leader in addressing these challenges that are before our international community, our friends, and our allies. So this evening, if I didn't see it for myself, I would not believe it. Haiti is in crisis. As we stand here today, lives are tenuous. And what Haiti needs immediately we've been able to identify. Haiti needs as much support as we can give from this body, as much as we can orchestrate through our Department of Defense. There is a need for watercraft that can travel across the waters to get to very remote areas that have been cut off by land; there's a need for assessment to take place as quickly as possible about the structural soundness of the infrastructure that currently exists, any modern technology that can be utilized to pump waters back into the seas to help dry out those areas. Certainly food products are very important. We see a hunger crisis coming down the pike of a magnitude that I don't think we every witnessed in this hemisphere. We need clean water. The waterways of Haiti have been contaminated by the death and destruction around them, the death of humankind, the death of livestock. They need clean drinking water, they need medication and medical support because we are anticipating and trying to get ahead of any outbreaks of airborne diseases, of mosquito-borne diseases. They need support for those who are struggling with their own health conditions currently. We've asked the President of the United States to move forward with temporary protected status for Haitians, to halt the deportation of Haitians from the U.S. To send individuals into that environment right now is cruel and unusual punishment. We hope that the administration will heed this call at this time. There are immigration issues, but there's an unprecedented international relief effort going on right now in Haiti, and the last thing that the Nation can do right now is provide for those who are returning deportees. Despite the frequent report of drowning caused by unsafe refugee boats collapsing, the current conditions and crisis in Haiti may trigger an exodus of Haitian immigrants to the United States. Desperate times call for desperate measures. You have desperation climbing each and every day. Since fiscal year 1998, the Coast Guard has interdicted well over 1,000 Haitians each year. Over 1,000 Haitians have already been interdicted in 2008. Temporary protected status is the most inexpensive, immediate form of aid the President can single-handedly provide, and we ask that he make this possible as soon as possible. There are currently six countries that are protected under TPS provisions: Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Burundi, Somalia and Sudan. And while other countries under similar circumstances have been afforded relief through TPS, Haiti has been overlooked time and time again. Remittances are currently one-third of Haiti's gross national product. If we indeed want to underpin and undergird this country in its recovery, it is critical that we look at every vehicle and instrument we have at our disposal to help the people of the island nation of Haiti. So we've put some recommendations forward. We look forward to further debate and conversation here in the House of Representatives. Haiti is a country in crisis. I've seen it. I know it. It is our time now to act upon it. Mr. Speaker, I thank you for giving us this time as the Congressional Black Caucus. I want to thank our chairwoman, Carolyn Kilpatrick, for her vision and leadership and her insistence upon us traveling on this emergency codel. I'd like to thank again my colleagues Congressman Kendrick Meek for his leadership in this codel and his ability to get things moving and done through his affiliation and work as a member of the Armed Services Committee. And I'd like to thank our newest Member, Donna Edwards, for her leadership. She is a rising star. She is a part of making things happen here on the Hill, and it's just a source of pride and inspiration to work with her on this very important endeavor.

Ms. CLARKE. I thank the gentlelady from California for sharing with us her resolve to be a problem solver, to be a leader in this body in making sure that we can do all we can on behalf of the people of the island nation of Haiti. I would like to acknowledge at this time another powerhouse coming out of California, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, our vice chair, none other than the Honorable Barbara Lee.

Ms. CLARKE. I want to thank the gentlelady from Maryland, our newest member in the Congressional Black Caucus, Ms. Donna Edwards, for her courage and her nimbleness. She rearranged her schedule very quickly to heed the call for her expertise and her ability. Donna has come to us with a background and expertise in the philanthropic world, and she shared that with the prime minister, with the Ambassador to Haiti, and so I know that she will be called upon in the future as Haiti rebuilds to bring that expertise to bear. I want to thank you for being my traveling partner, and I look forward to working further with you and the CBC and our colleagues to make things happen for the Nation of Haiti. I'd like to acknowledge someone who really doesn't need an introduction, but has been one of the foremost experts on the island nation of Haiti, has been an outstanding, outspoken advocate for the people of that island nation, none other than the honorable Maxine Waters. She's being acknowledged for 5 minutes, or as much time as she may consume.

Ms. CLARKE. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus and its members, we are presenting this evening during our message hour a call to action, that is Haiti, country in crisis. We have witnessed this year, so far in the hurricane season, tremendous distress, death and destruction. I want to start by expressing the sympathies of myself and the members of the Congressional Black Caucus, our condolences and support for the people of Texas and the Gulf Region, who have been toiling under storm after storm after storm and dealing with the destruction that comes from nature's wrath, as some would place it. In this context, I wanted to speak a bit this evening with my colleagues and with the public about the need to actually look at what happens, not at the point at which the hurricane ends on our shores, but also its path and the death and destruction that it leaves in the wake of its path. I am speaking of the Caribbean region in our hemisphere, and the many nations in those waters that have been devastated by the series of hurricane activity this year, be it the island nation of Turks and Caicos or the island nation of Jamaica, the island nation of the Dominican Republic, the island nations in the Caribbean region have been rocked by this year's hurricane season thus far. I have had the opportunity to join with Congressman Kendrick Meek and Congresswoman Donna Edwards from Maryland on an emergency codel to destination, Haiti. The devastation that we witnessed firsthand on that nation is truly a call to action. As you can see here, this year we have had a number of storms from Category 1 to Category 5 in their strength. The nation of Haiti in just 3 weeks was struck by four storms, Tropical Storm Fay, which hit on August 16; Hurricane Gustav, which hit on August 26; Tropical Storm Hanna, which hit on September 1; and then Hurricane Ike, which hit on September 7. It is estimated that over 850,000 people have been affected by this storm on the island nation of Haiti, and almost half of those affected were children. It is estimated that over 500 people have been killed and rescuers and aides are only beginning to reach some of the hardest- hit areas, as I speak to you right now. It is also estimated that over 150,000 people are internally displaced, and only about half of those people are in shelters. You will notice that I have been saying, as has been estimated, and this is the case, because Haiti has lost its ability to communicate across its island. The destruction that has rocked that nation has eight of Haiti's 10 geographic departments, which have been flooded. All of the major roads and bridges granting access to many of the hardest-hit areas have been washed away. Haiti's prime minister says that 1 million people or more may be homeless. The storms have crippled Haiti's already delicate infrastructure, and most of the City of Gonaives, which is the second- largest city on the island, is damaged so badly that it cannot be repaired. Local officials are considering moving the entire city to another part of the island that is on higher ground. We had an opportunity to meet with President Rene Preval on our codel, and he said to us, this is the Katrina of an entire nation, but we are suffering without a fraction of the means that Louisiana had. A lot of infrastructure that was destroyed by Hurricane Jean in 2004 was recently rebuilt and recently destroyed by this latest series of storms. This includes the hospital in Gonaives. Radio NPR reports that in the Grand Ravine neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, 700 people are living in a school where there is no running water, no electricity, no beds and often no food. People have been packed in there for weeks, but all is not lost. I was proud to see that, very swiftly, the United States has moved into action to aid our neighbors and our friend known as the island nation of Haiti. Upon arriving in Port-au-Prince, we saw a lot of helicopter activity and were informed that the USS Kearsarge is in port in Port-of-Spain providing needed humanitarian assistance and aid. As I said earlier in my presentation, all of the major roads and bridges have collapsed. That has isolated many of the communities and the cities that have historically been connected in commerce and in bringing foods and goods and services across the island. So the only way that people can be fed, can be given water, can be administered medicine is through the air, and we are proud to know that our aircraft carrier is there, as we speak, administering that much needed aid and support. I want to thank the young men and women I met there who sought not robbery but, rather, to change their mission, to move along with their admiral and captain and crew into the Caribbean Sea from Latin America and over to Haiti where they're working night and day to try to preserve as much life as possible. I can tell you that, from my observations, this is a mammoth task. The mammoth task exists because Haiti remains flooded out. In Gonaive, we did a flyover, and we were able to see in the streets where people live. There was rushing water, like rivers, flowing past people's homes, flowing over all of their planting grounds, and making it so that people were actually risking their lives in simply trying to get from point A to point B. Many of the residents have taken to their rooftops to live. In other areas, we witnessed the levels of mud that have accumulated as the waters have receded. In some areas, there are as much as 2 to 4 feet of mud before people's homes, in the roadways, in the byways of the communities in which people live. We had an opportunity to pass over Haiti's breadbasket, an area in Haiti where new harvesting was taking place--the planting of rice. That entire area is completely flooded out, having basically killed off this planting season for Haiti, and so we have a nation in crisis. The crisis is one of a magnitude that I, personally, have never witnessed before. The circumstances become more and more dire with each passing moment. Haiti is the poorest country in our hemisphere, and it is one of our closest neighbors, just a little over 700 miles away from Miami, Florida. Many in Haiti were looking forward to the harvest of rice crop. Unfortunately, much of it, if not all of it, has been destroyed by these storms just as the food crisis in that country was beginning to abate. The USAID has moved in. They are providing as much as they possibly can in terms of response. They have allocated $7.5 million in humanitarian assistance. The total value of U.S. Government humanitarian assistance is currently $20 billion. According to the USAID, Haitian Government officials have stated that these recent storms have caused an estimated $265 million in damage, particularly affecting their housing stock, agriculture, public infrastructure, and education. In meeting with the newly installed Prime Minister for Haiti, Madam Michele Pierre-Louis, we were informed that the children's school has been postponed until the month of October, somewhere around October 3. My observations are that we will have to move with all deliberate speed to help and to assist in the recovery and in the rescue of those people in the various departments residing in the nation of Haiti in order for that part of their lives to be resumed. We are not in this alone. I was very glad to see that the international community has responded as well. The U.N. troops and peacekeepers are on the ground, helping with the civil society, and the embassies of many of their partner nations--namely Canada, France and Brazil--are also collaborating with their local relief NGOs to bring as much to bear in this forward movement to get Haiti back on its feet, and it's going to take a coordinated effort to make sure that this is done in a timely and in a coordinated manner. It is my hope that, through tonight's discussion, through tonight's presentations, we will see the need as a Nation to respond and to keep our response going and that when the TV cameras and the press crews have left Haiti that we will remember that this is a nation that is struggling to stand on its feet and that its civil society is extremely fragile. These storms have compounded what has been an ongoing challenge for Haiti to feed its own people. So, this evening, I wanted to just share some of what I witnessed in the emergency codel commission by the Congressional Black Caucus, and I want to express gratitude to Speaker Pelosi and to Congressman Kendrick Meek for being so expedient in putting this codel together so that we could bring back the relevant facts to this body and to make sure that we're able to do all that we can do as we rebuild here in our own Nation and to make sure that, as to the hemisphere that we reside in, we are good neighbors and that, for our own sakes and for the sakes of the people who reside in Haiti, we do all that we can to make sure that they are on a safe road to recovery. Having said that, I'm joined by a number of my colleagues this evening, all of whom have had longstanding ties to the nation of Haiti, all of whom have worked very hard in this body to make sure that we remain true to our values as a Nation. They have been there throughout many crises in Haiti. I'd like to acknowledge Congresswoman Donna Edwards of Maryland, Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California and Congresswoman Maxine Waters of California to make their statements.