Steve Cohen

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, no.

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlelady from Oklahoma for her management and Mr. Wamp, Mrs. Blackburn, Mr. Davis who spoke, and Mr. Gordon and Mr. Oberstar who provided statements. Abraham Lincoln was a great supporter of government and knew that government could do things for people in need and was an important instrument of good in society. Abraham Lincoln might have best expressed it. In a crisis like this, we realize how important government can be when first responders come to the rescue and do jobs of heroic proportion. Too many times when we are not faced with tragedies and catastrophic events, we don't reflect on the importance of government. And government is the policeman on the street. And it's the paramedic, and it's the firefighter. And it shouldn't just be on 9/11 or on days when you think about 9/11 or tornados you think about these people. But they are government, and they show government works, and they show government worked in this particular situation. It's still working as FEMA's helping people get compensation for their losses and seeing they have habitable places to live in and that the Small Business Administration is helping get businesses started. Indeed, as Mr. Wamp and others said, it's the volunteer spirit that was shown by people in Tennessee and Alabama and Arkansas and throughout the South. They showed their care for their neighbors. There were people from Georgia and the Red Cross who came into Memphis to help people there. I want to thank everybody who's helped all of the victims and thank Mr. Gordon for being the proud sponsor on this resolution. Mr. Speaker, I would ask that everybody join in voting for the passage of this resolution.

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

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, if it's appropriate, normally I would yield myself time now, but I would like to yield some time on the front end to Mr. Tanner from Tennessee because he has to be somewhere. So with the indulgence of the other side, I would like to first yield to Mr. Tanner for remarks.

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 971) expressing the sympathies and support of the House of Representatives for the individuals and institutions affected by the powerful tornados that struck communities in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee on February 5, 2008.

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time to close.

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on House Resolution 971.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, this Nation lost a great American this week. United States Congressman Tom Lantos passed at the age of 80. Last night on this floor, there was an hour of bipartisan agreement of what this man meant to this country and how much we've lost. There will be a memorial service tomorrow under the Capitol rotunda. Tom Lantos was a Holocaust survivor who escaped from the Nazis twice and survived. He helped Jewish people survive the Holocaust through the good deeds of Raul Wallenberg, and he remembered that. He was a leader in this Congress and this Nation on human rights and civil rights, animal welfare rights, all living creatures. Mr. Speaker, as a freshman Member of Congress, I was befriended by Tom Lantos, who told me to call him ``Tom,'' which was difficult to do. He was such a giant of a man. There are great opportunities to speak out on policy in this body and to serve in the greatest deliberative body in the world, but there are human stories, too. In my opinion, there are two saints that are Members or have been Members during this term that I have served. One is Congressman Lantos, and one is Congressman Lewis. They have overcome great adversity to go to great heights. I think this country owes a debt of gratitude to the Lantos family for his work. He will be sorely missed. I was fortunate to serve with him and to be able to call him a friend.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the concurrent resolution.

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 289) honoring and praising the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People on the occasion of its 99th anniversary.

Mr. COHEN. I yield back the remainder of my time.

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the words Mr. Chabot expressed and Mr. Green. The NAACP is an outstanding organization, and I would submit that during my time here in Congress, I don't know of another group that has had a more effective lobbying force on issues concerning human rights and civil rights and rights of people who are underrepresented and need the help of government and need it in a fair and just way. In my community of Memphis, the president of NAACP is Mrs. Johnnie Turner. We have had a great NAACP chapter. Ben Hooks, who is a former head of the agency, is a resident of my community, an outstanding individual who recently was honored by President Bush with a Medal of Freedom. And Maxine Vasco Smith and Jesse Turner who have been national officers of the NAACP are residents of my community as well. The NAACP has been very important to Memphis but very important to this country. I thank Mr. Green for bringing the resolution to the floor, and I appreciate the remarks made here on the floor. I urge final passage.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. ``Tom,'' as he would insist on being called, was a special person. I'm a freshman, and he befriended me in my first year. Back, I think it was last January, there was an article in The Hill, and it described my apartment. And my apartment was described as spartan, and that's probably effusive. And we had a Judiciary Committee meeting with Justice Pryor and Justice Alito, I think there were just six or seven or eight of us there, and I choose to go to that meeting rather than the Yom HaShoah program at Statuary Hall. And I felt bad about that because I had attended all those programs in Tennessee and felt strong about the Holocaust. And I rushed up here at the end and I saw Mr. Lantos and I went up and I said, Mr. Lantos, I'm sorry, I missed the meeting. He said, First of all, it is Tom. And I said, Well, okay, Tom. And I said, I went to this Judiciary meeting and I made a mistake; I should have come here, I know. And he said, No, you didn't; you did the right thing going where you belonged. You belonged in committee. You can go again next year. And then I walked away and he stopped me and said, And by the way, I read about you in The Hill. If you need some help with interior decorating, you give me a call. He was a special person. He had a wonderful sense of humor. And when I had problems with bills and votes that I didn't feel comfortable with, I would go to him; and he was grounded and helped me with them, just as he did Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz. America has lost a great leader, and I feel like I have lost a member of my family. I am fortunate to have known him. John Lewis and Tom Lantos are the two saints of Congress; we've lost one, we have another.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Thank you, Congressman Cooper. Earlier this year, on the budget, Congressman Cooper and I cosponsored an amendment to include this in the budget. Unfortunately, it didn't make it through the Senate, and I am proud to be here to support this amendment with Congressman Cooper. In my district, LeMoyne-Owen College has struggled financially. It is an institution of long and historic import to our community. It survived this year. It has difficulties with its financial base, but it has done much for our city in educating young people and continues to do so. This provision would give LeMoyne and Fisk, which has had some financial difficulties, and other schools like Bennett and Wiley, additional help so they can continue to serve a mission that is unique in this country. Anybody who saw the movie ``The Great Debaters'' should be able to understand what Historically Black Colleges and Universities mean to many people in this country. There are alumni of Fisk University, LeMoyne-Owen, Wiley, and other Historically Black Colleges and Universities which see their institutions being threatened with elimination. That is a serious thing. We consider our colleges part of ourselves and almost part of our family, that is part of your home, your mother, in essence. To have it disappear is wrong. LeMoyne-Owen is a good institution, as is Fisk, as is Wiley, and this amendment would help them stay capable of surviving and servicing people who want an education in this atmosphere, and I wholeheartedly support this amendment and thank Congressman Cooper for bringing it.

Mr. COHEN

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

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Madam Chairman, the HOPE VI program in the Department of Housing and Urban Development is a vital program that aims to improve public housing. The HOPE VI Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2007 not only extends HOPE VI, but makes important changes to the program to ensure that affordable housing is available to more people who are in need. The one-for-one replacement included in the bill will keep the same number of units available for public housing if an existing building is scheduled to be demolished. The reauthorization bill also includes language to allow HOPE VI participants to re-enroll in the program under the same guidelines as other public housing residents of the revitalized development. The reauthorization bill brings the HOPE VI program into the 21st century with the provision that requires all replacement housing to meet Green Communities standards and non-residential structures to comply with LEED standards. With so much focus on climate change and energy conservation, it is only fitting for the government to address these issues through its departments, agencies, and programs. I am proud to be a co-sponsor of H.R. 3524 and proud to support the bill today.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, I was in the Chamber when votes were cast on H.R. 3524, the HOPE VI Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2007. I listened to the debate, voted on all the amendments and the Motion to Recommit. However, due to circumstances beyond my control, I was unable to cast a vote of ``aye'' on the final passage of H.R. 3524.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, this week and in the coming weeks the American people need this House and Senate and the President to work in a bipartisan fashion to come up with a monetary policy and a fiscal policy here that will help our economy. It needs to be temporary, timely and targeted. And I would hope that we can work with our Republican colleagues in a bipartisan fashion to direct that to people in the middle income and lower income levels who need the help and will spend the money immediately. To give rebates to people who are making a lot of money, people earning salaries such as we are in Congress, and others, is not the right thing to do. We need to give money to people who are suffering the most from the high gas prices, from the loss of employment, and from the other economic effects that are hurting the people at the bottom. I ask my Republican colleagues and the President, and hopefully he will in the State of the Union, address those who need help the most and help this American and world economy.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, 25 years ago, I was a freshman member of the Tennessee State Senate, and on that occasion, the University of Memphis now, then Memphis State University, became number one in the country in basketball. It was the first time that we had ever had a number one ranking, and I got up on the floor of the Tennessee Senate and spoke proudly about my basketball team and their number one ranking. That night, my Tigers lost, and they were no longer number one. Well, today, 25 years later and a freshman Member in the United States House of Representatives, the University of Memphis is again the number one basketball team in the country. Should I talk about them? Not.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has dropped over 10 percent, and all economic indicators indicate that we are in serious financial trouble. This Congress needs to respond on behalf of the American people. Unfortunately, in the past this Congress has responded by giving tax breaks to the wealthiest, and it has created the largest gap in income between the upper 1 percent and the other 99 percent, probably in the history of this country. We need to work in a bipartisan fashion. We need to work together. The previous speaker was correct: We need to give money back to taxpayers. But they need to be the working taxpayers, who are suffering the most, the people who are now unemployed, not able to pay taxes because they have lost their jobs, or people who need help with food stamps, and people who will immediately put that money into the economy, not the wealthiest who have savings in the hundreds and thousands and millions of dollars and can live on through this and survive it and won't put that money back into the economy. The tax breaks of the past were mistakes. The spending needs to be for people who are suffering. They are the people who know the hard economic times we have. I read my e-mails on a daily basis and there are many people out there suffering who need economic help now. We need to act in a bipartisan fashion, but remember those who suffer the most.

Mr. COHEN

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

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, on Monday morning five libraries and five museums throughout the country were honored with medals at a ceremony that was presided over by Mrs. Laura Bush. The Memphis Library and Information Center was one of the five libraries and the only big city library to be honored. I was honored to have nominated them for that recognition and honored to be there with them when the library was so recognized. Libraries are very important to the future of this country, for people of all standings of wealth need access to books, access to computers, and access to other materials. The Memphis Library takes services to the community and gives people in their neighborhood the opportunity to read and make available to them cultural outreach. We also have a television and radio station that is operated by our library, and it is an important facility, and I am proud that it's Tennessee's first facility to receive such an award and the first in the mid-South. Congratulations to my city. You have a very proud congressman.

Mr. COHEN

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

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, the subject of my Special Order today is the birthday of one of America's greatest citizens, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King's birthday will be celebrated next week with the national holiday on Monday, one of the only men or women to have a holiday named for them in this country. At one time, of course, we celebrated the birthdays of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, and now we celebrate Presidents Day. But we celebrate Dr. King's Day, a great American and an individual who changed this country for the better and whose life is a testament to fortitude and courage, faith, and a desire to make America better. On April 4, 1968, 40 years ago this year, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. That was a defining moment in the history of America, indeed, in the history of the world. While Dr. King's death should not and will not ever be forgotten, I think that today on what would have been his 79th birthday, we should remember his life because it was his life, his actions and his eloquent words, that truly challenged us as a Nation to consider where we were and where we could go. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born in Atlanta, Georgia, on January 15, 1929, the son of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta King. As we all know, Dr. King followed in his father's footsteps and became a minister at the age of 24 in Montgomery, Alabama, where just 2 years later Rosa Parks refused to comply with the Jim Crow laws, which required her to give up her seat on the bus to a white man. The subsequent Montgomery Bus Boycott, led by Rev. King, changed America. The boycott lasted over a year but resulted in the Supreme Court decision outlawing racial discrimination on public transportation. Only in his mid-20s, Martin Luther King's passion and commitment were already affecting the laws of our Nation. During his life, Dr. King's house was bombed and his government wiretapped his conversations. But Dr. King never wavered from his commitment to nonviolent change. Dr. King turned a mirror on America, and the reflection was not good. It was ugly. America was not the land of the free but it was a land built by the enslaved. The very Capitol Building in which I speak and in which we make our laws was built by slaves. Dr. King pulled back the quasi-fiction that has so often been touted as patriotism as if to say, ``but what about these Americans?'' And those are his words: ``But what about these Americans?'' Jim Crow laws, which had created two Americas, which had denied access and opportunity for so long were held up for examination, and they failed the examination, as they should have. We are not there, ladies and gentlemen. I wish we were. I wish we had achieved the dream where the content of one's character is what each person is judged by, not by the color of one's skin. We are not there, but the good news, the positive message that Dr. King has etched into our national conscience is that one man can make a difference. One young man can step forward and live his life with purpose and dignity, can become the voice of all those whose voices have been stilled, whose hope has been lost. No assassin's bullet could stop what Martin Luther King had begun. Today, as we celebrate a birth which has changed us and which continues to challenge us, let us remember his dream. Dr. King's words are what he's best remembered for. And in his hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, his words will be played constantly over the weekend and through Monday as we remember how he challenged us, how he inspired us in the 1950s and in the 1960s. Radio station WLOK will be, I know, having a tribute to him in Memphis, and other places all over the country will do the same. And in Memphis there will be a basketball game, a national basketball game, that will celebrate civil rights victories of this country. Particularly Bob Lanier will be there and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and others. And we look at the steps which we have taken in this country to make the country better through sports and basketball, and I commend David Stern and the NBA for having that game in Memphis on Dr. King's birthday. At this time I would like to read some quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as will be read and as will be heard throughout this country in the coming week and the coming weekend. Many of them resonate with the issues of today. ``A genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus but a molder of consensus.'' And we need more leaders like that today who mold consensus. ``A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.'' Remember, Mr. Speaker, Dr. King was speaking during the time of the Vietnam War. We have another Vietnam, I think, today in Iraq, and we are spending more money not on military defense but on military offense and leaving programs of social importance behind. And I question the spirituality of where this country presently is, spending so much in Iraq and so little in America. ``A right delayed is a right denied.'' And there are so many rights which have not been granted to people and not just on the basis of race and religion and national origin but also of sexual orientation. ``A right delayed,'' Dr. King said, ``is a right denied.'' Dr. King said, ``Almost always the creative, dedicated minority has made the world better.'' And indeed they have. We are a country of minorities making for a great majority, and when we don't respect the rights of the minorities, we endanger ourselves. Dr. King said, ``An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.'' And I would ask each of my colleagues to hold that thought in their minds when they vote and to realize it's not just the nature of their districts and their individual concerns which are important but the broader concerns of this country, as Dr. King said, ``the broader concerns of all humanity.'' Dr. King said, ``An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.'' Dr. King and many civil rights workers violated the law, the law of the country, mostly in the South, Jim Crow laws, that said people were separate and inherently unequal. He did that with Rosa Parks when they challenged the laws that said African Americans were to ride on the back of the bus. And he challenged, along with President Johnson and this Nation in the 1960s, the law that said there could be separate establishments and would be by law for people based on race for entertainment, different public facilities, eating establishments, hotels and motels, colleges and schools. Those were wrong laws. They needed to be challenged, and they were challenged by Dr. King and many civil rights leaders, and the world changed in the 1960s. Dr. King said, ``At the center of nonviolence stands the principle of love.'' He also said, ``Have we not come to such an impasse in the modern world that we must love our enemies or else? The chain reaction of evil, hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars, must be broken or else we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.'' And, Mr. Speaker, I reflect on this when I think about what we are doing in the Middle East. Hate begets hate. Wars produce more wars. And we are in an abyss. Dr. King said, ``He who passively accepts evil is as much involved in it as he who helps perpetrate it. He who accepts evil without protesting against it is really cooperating with it.'' One must actively oppose evil. And oftentimes in the debates in Congress, you have to remember Dante, and Dr. King has a quote similar to Dante, that the warmest spots in hell are reserved for people who in times of controversy stand on the sidelines. Certainly something Dr. King did not do. In Dr. King's great speech just outside the Capitol on the mall, which I recall watching on television and which I am thrilled to be a Member of this House of Representatives so near to the mall where Dr. King gave his ``I have a dream'' speech, he said, ``I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a Nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. ``I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. ``I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.'' As I said earlier, Dr. King's dream has not totally been achieved, but we are getting closer to it. We are engaged in a Presidential debate where his words and actions are subject of much debate. But I have no doubt that Dr. King would be proud of all the candidates in the Democratic column who are running for this office and know that they are children of Dr. King's dream. To see an African American gentleman have a legitimate chance to be President of the United States and to see a woman have that same opportunity is what Dr. King talked about. And they should be judged not by the color of their skin or by their gender but by the content of their character. ``Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,'' Dr. King said. And that's something to be remembered when we see nooses hung in small towns or people being shot, tied behind cars because of aspects of their personage of which they had no choice. ``It may be true,'' Dr. King said, ``that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.'' And that is important. We have a Senate and a House that passed a condemnation of the lynching that took place in this country in the 20th century. And this House, hopefully, will pass another proposition that says that we apologize for having been part of a Nation that allowed for slavery to occur and had laws that permitted it and for Jim Crow laws that saddled this country with unjustice for 100 years thereafter. Dr. King said, ``Life's most persistent and urgent question is what are you doing for others?'' And that's a question that my friend Irbin Salky has often said to me, that the purpose of why we are here on Earth is to help others. And it's part of the Judeo-Christian religion and creed to care for others, and that's why we are here. Again, Iraq and Vietnam, they are parallels, and Dr. King's words ring true today. He said, ``One of the greatest casualties of the war in Vietnam is the Great Society shot down on the battlefield of Vietnam.'' Indeed, many of the hopes of people in our inner cities, people that are left behind by what has been considered a great economic opportunity for many Americans, mostly the richest, have been left behind because of the moneys we have spent in Iraq rather than spending them on the people in this country. There are many parallels, and I think I know where Dr. King would be on the issue of war and peace, on the issue of choosing Iraq rather than choosing America, the cities that have been neglected, the inner cities, Appalachia, Katrina victims, and others. Dr. King said: ``The moral arc of the universe bends at the elbow of justice.'' He always felt that the arc was bending in the right direction, although slowly. And justice and change do move slowly but they do move. We have change. Change is not revolutionary; it's evolutionary. It happens, but it happens in increments. But Dr. King and people like him made it move at a stronger pace, and it's necessary to have agents of change. Agents of change have moved the society forward. One of the most prophetic quotes that I think I saw, and there are so many to review in thinking about Dr. King, he said: ``The Negro needs the white man to free him from his fears. The white man needs the Negro to free him from his guilt.'' I know from my sponsorship of an apology for slavery and Jim Crow and some of the comments I have read, there's a lot of guilt in this country and it's making it difficult for people to engage in a dialog and understand and honestly see what slavery did for many people's lives. Not only did it cause the African Americans and have them be enslaved, but it caused a lot of people to make a lot of money and have a lot of great economic fortune at the expense of the enslaved, and then of the Jim Crow citizen that served their needs for 100 years. The quality, not the longevity, of one's life is what is important. I think about Martin Luther King, who died at the age of 39; I think of John Kennedy, who served in this House and lived to the age of 46; I think of his brother, Robert Kennedy, who died at age 42, but affected so many of us. All of these three men affected me in a great way. Their assassinations in 1963 and 1968 affected this world, but it affected me in a great way. It was the quality, not the longevity, of their lives that was important. And they didn't wait for tomorrow. They had the fierce urgency of now that Dr. King talked about to make a change, to make a change and a difference while they were on this Earth and to affect their fellow man and fellow woman. ``The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.'' Once again, Dr. King implores us to have moral character and fiber and to stand up for what is important for America. And he said: ``We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.'' Dr. Martin Luther King was a special man. He took his talents and he used them for his fellow man. He inspired us all. This country and this world is much the greater for his life. It is indeed a testament to him that this Congress under the unyielding leadership of Representative John Conyers passed a bill to make his birthday a national holiday. It's a national holiday that should be held in high esteem by all men and women in this country, because Dr. King was special and unique and stood up for all people and stood for the height of American ideals. I hope that everybody will take a moment over the weekend and on Monday on the celebration of his birthday to think about some of the things that Dr. King stood for: challenging the system to make it better; for peace; for people who have been left behind in our society; doing for the least of these and trying to make the world a better place. My city bears great scars for his death having taken place there. There was nothing unique to my city. It was something wrong with this country that somebody out there put a reward up for Dr. King's death and that somebody wanted to claim that reward and didn't have a regard for the humanity of Dr. King. In Memphis now there's a National Civil Rights Museum dedicated to the civil rights movement and to Dr. King's life and ideals, and I invite and encourage everyone to come to Memphis to visit the civil rights museum, which is at the spot where Dr. King was killed at the Lorraine Motel, which has been preserved, and to celebrate his life and to celebrate his values, not only on his birthday but on every day, for Dr. King was a great American. I am just lucky, as we all are, that he came my way. Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the time, and I know that you, like me, will reflect on Dr. King's works and will keep him in our hearts as we try to do what's right for America in this 110th Congress.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, today, this Congress will adjourn. I want to thank the people of the Ninth District of Tennessee for giving me the honor to represent them in this Congress. From the first vote that we, as freshmen, took to break the glass ceiling and elect Speaker Pelosi to whatever the last vote is today, during this year we passed historic legislation on energy, on ethics, and the environment. We've done things on children's health care that hasn't come to fruition, but we've tried, and the same thing in ending the war. This has been a Congress that has tried to accomplish a lot, has accomplished some, brought change for the American people, and will continue to do so next year. I have had the honor to stand up in my district for The MED, for LeMoyne-Owen College, for the COPS program, for Blue Cross at the University of Memphis, and for our largest employer, Federal Express. Madam Speaker, it's been a grand year. I am proud to be a Member of this United States Congress and to represent this great country. God bless the United States of America.