Steve Cohen

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, today the President will be speaking in Knoxville, Tennessee, on extending college educations to Americans. I share with the President the goal of giving more Americans the opportunity to go to college, but I would submit to him he should not be holding up the Tennessee Promise plan in Tennessee as an example. He should be holding up the Tennessee HOPE Lottery Scholarship program, which I worked 20 years to achieve in Tennessee and has provided over $3 billion to education, $250 million a year. Scholarship programs such as the President is talking about should have standards for students in high school to achieve to get a scholarship. They should have strong standards in college to maintain them. They should be in addition to Pell grants and in addition to other scholarships to pay for books and tuition. The Promise plan takes from middle class and lower income students and gives to higher income students, doesn't have standards in high school to get the scholarship, and doesn't have high standards to keep it. It is a last dollar scholarship. The President's plan should be more like the Tennessee HOPE Lottery Scholarship: assure students have an incentive in high school to get it and incentives to keep it with high grade standards, and it shouldn't go to for-profit schools, for that is an invitation to abuse. I thank the President for his commitment, but I think he has the wrong program as his model.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call the Congress' attention to what I think is our most important issue we face as a Congress and as a people, and that is preserving America's greatest asset, which is the health and lives of our citizens. In doing so, I request, as I have done on many occasions, that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle join me in adequately funding our Nation's other department of defense--coequally important--the National Institutes of Health. Yes, the Department of Defense is important, and we fund it more than adequately, more than they even ask for, and it protects us from ISIS and others that caused the great tragedy in Paris and has caused terror and havoc in Great Britain, Australia, and Canada and that I am sure will come to our shores sooner than we expect, but the National Institutes of Health protects us from disease, disease that threatens every American and every American's loved one. The sequestration has cut billions from NIH's budget, and that is our country's foremost medical research center. It has helped billions of people across the country and across the world who suffer from heart disease, cancer, HIV/AIDS, diabetes, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, you name it, but we have inadequately funded the NIH. It has not kept up with the level of inflation over the last decade. Based on that level of inflation, the funding we have given the NIH has resulted in a 10 percent diminution in funding on the purchasing power of the National Institutes of Health. The likelihood of any one of us dying from a terrorist attack or from some weapon fired from North Korea or Russia or Iran is very slim, but the odds of us suffering from the diseases which I have mentioned previously is likely in our loved ones. We need to fight those diseases. We can do it, and we can successfully come up with treatments and cures if we fund the National Institutes of Health. Supporting the NIH used to be a bipartisan commitment, especially seeing that every dollar invested results in about $2.21 in economic growth. I hope that this new American Congress will see that and that my Republican colleagues will agree with me that we need to put a focus on our individual capital, the personal capital of people, their health and their well-being. I talked to Representative Marino recently, and he is going to join me in founding an NIH caucus. I think there is nothing more important. In the past, many times, when I have brought up funding for the NIH, friends on the other side have said: ``Well, we will have to pay for it. If we put more money in it, then our children and grandchildren will be paying for the debt for years to come.'' That may be true, but nevertheless, the children and the grandchildren will be receiving the benefits of the treatments and cures more likely than any of us will, for research takes a long time. We also need to change our course in stem cell research. We have had problems with allowing scientists to use this opportunity to come through with great medical breakthroughs. Federal funding is currently prohibited by the 1996 Dickey amendment to the appropriations bill that funds the NIH, but researchers around the world have dived headfirst into the field using stem cells and producing incredible findings and progress. In 2010, a gentleman named Darek Fidyka, a Polish man, was stabbed multiple times in a knife attack, and he was paralyzed from the chest down, but thanks to stem cell research in Poland, in collaboration with researchers and doctors there and in the United Kingdom, Darek can now walk again with the help of a walker. Dr. Geoff Raisman, the chair of neurological regeneration at University College London's Institute of Neurology called this development--and I agree with him--``more impressive than man walking on the Moon.'' We allowed a man who couldn't walk, couldn't stand to walk, and more will come from that research on stem cells and other scientific research. Darek otherwise would have been paralyzed for life, and now he is walking again thanks to private investment in stem cell research, but the government needs to participate. Mr. Speaker, it is time for this Congress to adequately fund the National Institutes of Health, recognize its importance to our constituents who are important to us, and whose lives and health are the most important things that we can provide for them. It is time this country no longer turns a blind eye to research, and to stem cell research in particular. I urge my colleagues to seize the opportunities offered by this new Congress and join me in the efforts to fund the National Institutes of Health and to join the National Institutes of Health Caucus.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. You are very welcome, Representative Lee, and I thank you for bringing this Special Order. You have indeed, as people have said, been the leader on this issue for many years, and I appreciate that and so many other issues you have been a leader on, but this in particular. Also, Mr. Rangel has been an important leader on this issue, as have Mr. Meeks and others. I had written the President and talked to Valerie Jarrett about what I considered the three Cs that he could engage in with executive authority, one of which was Cuba, and I commend him for taking this leadership role; the second of which was commutations, which he has not done nearly enough to commute unjust sentences here in this country; and the third is cannabis, which should be rescheduled to a schedule III drug so we could do research on medical marijuana and Charlotte's Web, that can help children with epilepsy who otherwise are either dying are not being treated. But I commend the President for his actions toward Cuba. This is a policy that many have mentioned has been a failed policy for over 50 years. We do have engagements and diplomatic relations with China, where the Maoists are getting more and more power, with Vietnam and with Russia. Why should we not have relations with Cuba? There was no reason. The only reason was Florida and electoral votes. So I commend the President for rising above politics and doing the right thing for human beings and for Americans. As Representative Castor said, so many Americans want to travel to Cuba; and for many years I thought it was absurd that I couldn't travel to Cuba, because I wanted to and I couldn't because my country was stopping me from doing it. People were going through Canada or going through Mexico and other countries and getting in and subverting the law, but that wasn't right. If you were going to follow the laws of your country, you couldn't go and you didn't go. It was wrong. I did the have the opportunity to visit Cuba as a Member, and I found the Cuban people very, very, very friendly. As I was walking around Havana, I thought: This is so strange. I am supposed to think that these people aren't going to like me, that this is our enemy. They are on the terrorist list. I should be concerned. But I felt as safe as I was anyplace in the United States or anyplace in the world, and people were very friendly and very nice. It was no different than being anywhere else in the hemisphere. I really like the old cars, the old fifties cars that are all over Havana, and they are kind of part of the culture now. While I like them because I remember as a child those cars and my parents having them and seeing them and thinking fondly upon them, I also thought about AutoZone in my district and all the parts they could be selling in Havana to make those cars work more efficiently and maybe have less impact on the environment. I also thought about Federal Express and how many packages that might be shipped in and out of Cuba by America's number one and the world's number one carrier of products. I thought about the hotel industry that is located in my community--we used to have Holiday Inn; we have still got Hilton--and the hotels that could be built there. Other countries-- mostly, I think, Spain and Sweden and Canada and even Israel--had hotels and restaurants and businesses, but not America. So it made no sense. I remember Katrina and the great tragedy just south of Memphis in New Orleans and when Cuba offered medical aid, doctors and medical aid, and we turned it down. How foolish of us to turn down an offer of humanitarian aid, but we did. And they offered aid after 9/11 as well. Now, my appreciation for Cuba goes back to my childhood. In 1955, I was befriended by a baseball player whose name was Minnie Minoso. His real name was Aurelio Saturnino Armas Minoso, the Cuban Comet, number 9 with the White Sox, with the Indians, a little bit later with the Cardinals and the Washington Senators. Minnie befriended me and gave me a baseball when I was just 5 years of age. It was in the segregated Memphis, Tennessee, so the player who gave me the baseball originally was a White player named Tom Poholsky. I guess I didn't have to say he was White when his name was Tom Poholsky, but he was. I went to thank him. I had crutches at the time. I had just gotten out of the hospital some months earlier from polio and had a White Sox T-shirt and cap--it was an exhibition game--and thanked him. He said: You don't need to thank me. You should thank number 9 over there, the darkest player on the field. And so Minoso came over and we thanked him. What it was is he was kind of inhibited from the segregation laws in the South of being the nicest guy on the baseball field and coming up and giving me a ball. He became my buddy. I have known Minnie Minoso ever since. He is my nom de plume on some email sites and some phone books and some other things where I need kind of an alias, and he has been my friend and we have visited back and forth. He was a Cuban player who was beloved in Chicago, and I think is the most beloved player in Chicago today. A lot of Cuban players have gone to play in Chicago, and they play great baseball. We could have a great baseball relationship with Cuba, a great tourism relationship, a great cultural relationship and medical care. In traveling to Latin America as a Congressman, I have been told the biggest impediment to our relations with Latin American countries is our treatment of Cuba. The President, by starting to formalize relations with Cuba, has helped America in Latin America, which is our number one--South America, Central America--our number one trading partner. It makes a lot of sense economically as well as humanely. I look forward to the time when all Americans can visit Cuba, the great culture, and exchange good wishes. They are our friends. Thank you, Representative Lee, for having this session on this program which shows President Obama's leadership.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I was traveling with President Obama and was unable to be present for Roll Call Vote numbers 552 and 553, the Motion to Recommit and Final Passage of H.R. 5781, The California Emergency Drought Relief Act of 2014. Had I been present, I would have voted Yes on Roll Call 552 and No on Roll Call 553.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, yesterday there was a vote by the Major League Baseball committee on who should be inducted into the Hall of Fame from a particular area. One of the players who was up for consideration--and, unfortunately, wasn't chosen--was Minnie Minoso, and it reminded me of the debt I owe Minnie Minoso. Minnie Minoso was the first African Latin baseball player. And in 1954, in Memphis, Tennessee--a town I was born in and a town in the Southern United States that was especially a part of the Jim Crow era--I went to a baseball game, an exhibition baseball game. And I was on crutches because I had polio. I had a Chicago White Sox cap on and a Chicago White Sox T-shirt. A player came to give me a baseball from the opposing team, the St. Louis Cardinals. I thanked him. And I went and told my father. And we came down to thank him. And he said: ``Don't thank me. Thank that player over there.'' He was the blackest player on the field, number nine, Minnie Minoso. He didn't feel comfortable in 1955 to give me a baseball. Yet he was the player with the most compassionate heart and humility on the field because that was the segregated South. Minnie Minoso became my hero, and I followed his career and became friends with him. We exchanged gifts. He came to Memphis, and I went to Chicago. In 1960 when he came to Memphis, he was staying at the Lorraine Motel--the segregated African American hotel in Memphis--because African Cuban Latin players, African Americans weren't allowed at the Peabody Hotel, where the other players were. I couldn't believe that my baseball hero, a great all-star, was staying at the Lorraine, which happens to be where Dr. King was murdered. But that is where he had to stay. I learned about segregation from living in Memphis and from being befriended by Minnie Minoso. The insanity of segregation and the separation of people by race, that period of Jim Crow and previous slavery--which existed in this country for 250 years of slavery and 100-and-some-odd years of Jim Crow--still pervades this country. There are lingering consequences which must be dealt with. The gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff) well addressed them. Much must be done in law enforcement and criminal justice but also in education and opportunities for jobs, which people don't have today in the South and many other places, in inner cities. So as I think about Minnie Minoso, and I think about segregation and the effect that it has had on America--America's original sin was slavery. We haven't overcome it. Some write about it and get recognition. People read their books. Ta- Nehisi Coates wrote in the Atlantic. Edward Baptist has written a book about the benefits that America got from the slave trade and how many people made money from it shipping cotton, making clothes, insuring the slave trade. It was the great economic benefit of this country and made this country great, all on slavery. Edward Baptist writes it well. Michelle Alexander writes in ``The New Jim Crow'' about the incarceration rate of African Americans, that it is wrongfully high. If you are African American, the likelihood that you are going to be arrested and incarcerated is so much greater than a Caucasian for living in the same society and doing the same things. We must put an end to discrimination in all its forms and fashions. In the criminal justice system, sentencing reform needs to take place. In the criminal justice system, we need to see that law enforcement agencies and prosecutions of law enforcement officers are done transparently and fairly and justly. We need to be sure that Americans continue to have faith that this is the land of the free and the home of the brave, and that our Nation is one in which people get equal justice, as was planned by our Founding Fathers but was never quite implemented.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and congratulate Harrison D. McIver III of Memphis, Tennessee for receiving the American Bar Association's (ABA) Charles H. Dorsey Award, which is awarded to attorneys who work in legal aid or legal service corporations representing low-income people. He has been at the helm of legal aid organizations from Mississippi to our nation's capital, working to ensure that all people have access to legal representation regardless of their economic backgrounds. McIver received his undergraduate degree from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia before earning his doctor of Jurisprudence from Rutgers University School of Law in Newark, New Jersey. He began his legal career as a Reginald Heber Smith Fellow with North Mississippi Rural Legal Services and later became a managing attorney for the Southwest Mississippi Legal Services and North Mississippi Rural Legal Services. McIver was Executive Director of the Central Mississippi Legal Services in Jackson, Mississippi before becoming Executive Director of the Project Advisory Group in Washington, DC, which is the national organization for legal service programs. He served in this position when Charles H. Dorsey, Jr. sat on the organization's board of directors. In 1998, Harrison joined the Memphis Area Legal Services Inc. (MALS) as the Executive Director and gave the program new direction and focus as well as expanded the program's outreach potential. He was responsible for creating the program's first vision and mission statements, and strategic and business plans that were focused around a common purpose. McIver also worked to improve access to services by streamlining the program's delivery system. Additionally, Harrison formed partnerships and collaborations with the private bar to maximize resources. Under his leadership, MALS became the first legal aid organization participant in the Program for Nonprofit Excellence, which is a nationally recognized capacity building program that assists in providing high quality legal service. His dedication to client services has been outstanding and his 15-year leadership at the Memphis Area Legal Services is testament to his work, vision and commitment to providing legal aid services to the Memphis community. During his 15-year tenure at MALS, Harrison has been involved in legal aid work at the local, state, regional and national levels, including at the Memphis Bar Association; the Ben F. Jones Chapter of the National Bar Association; the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services; the Tennessee Bar Association; the Southeast Project Directors Association; the National Legal Aid & Defender Association; and the American Bar Association. Harrison has received the Ben F. Jones A. A. Latting Award, the Tennessee Alliance for Legal Services' B. Riney Green Award, and has been inducted as a Fellow by the Tennessee Bar Foundation, the Memphis and Shelby County Bar Foundation and the American Bar Foundation. Mr. Speaker, Harrison D. McIver has served the Memphis legal community well and I ask all of my colleagues to join me in congratulating him on receiving the American Bar Association's 2014 Charles H. Dorsey Award.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Thank you, Mr. Polis. I appreciate the time. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to the passage of the rule and H.R. 5682, the underlying bill. You first have to consider the opinion of the world's undisputed foremost climatologist, former NASA scientist Dr. James Hansen, the guru on this subject, Betty Crocker, Good Housekeeping Seal, one of the first scientists to warn of the dangers of burning carbon fuel. Dr. Hansen is a member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, and he has likened the building and the use of the Keystone XL pipeline to the lighting of ``the fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the planet'' and nothing less. ``The fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the planet,'' that is Dr. Hansen. Dr. Hansen has warned the completion of this pipeline will only reinforce our dependence on fossil fuels, not strengthen our Nation's energy independence, as has been argued by some of my friends on the other side. When you brush aside the studies funded by TransCanada and other oil companies and you analyze the pure scientific studies that have no political motivation, every analysis clearly demonstrates that the Keystone XL pipeline poses major threats at every turn, in extraction, in transportation, in refining, and in consumption. Nationwide, about 3.2 million gallons of oil spill from pipelines every year. Spills such as those pollute drinking water, ruin American farmland, potentially destroy sacred tribal grounds, and create an uninhabitable environment for our own homeowners. In fact, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, there was a spill in 2010 of tar sands oil that cost $1.2 billion and years and years and years to clean up. That is where the permanent jobs are going to be created, in cleaning up the spillage, and that is not the kind of jobs the American people want. Building the pipeline carries the dirtiest oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and is exactly the opposite of addressing climate change, which is what we should be doing today, and most of this oil will not go to America, but will go through America, endangering mid- America, and be exported overseas. There are no export restrictions on nondomestic crudes. H.R. 5682 is a special interest earmark that will make the U.S. a permanent conduit to international markets for one of the dirtiest fuel sources on the planet. My colleague and friend says that we are going to be helping our friend. Yes, Canada is our friend. We play hockey with them, basketball, whatever; but this oil is going to go to our other friend, China. This is about Canada shipping oil through America and endangering American lands to supply the Chinese with oil. The Keystone XL proponents like to talk about these jobs it would create, but the vast majority are temporary. The permanent jobs measure but 35, and as I said, the permanent jobs will really be cleanup.

Mr. COHEN. As was mentioned by Mr. Polis, these jobs are important if they are in transportation infrastructure. That creates real jobs in this country, getting goods to market, and my friends on the other side have resisted transportation infrastructure jobs. Clean energy is permanent jobs. Wind and solar are permanent jobs. The only permanent jobs are the cleanups. When the U.S. and China have come together in historic agreement is not the time to light the fuse to the biggest carbon bomb on the planet. For these and other countless reasons, I urge my colleagues to vote ``no.'' It is time to return our focus to an issue that centers on true energy independence through renewable sources and greener, domestic energy production.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, this is Constitution Week, the week that we honor our Constitution, drafted in 1787 on September 15 and signed on the 17th. I spoke to a class about it in Memphis. I looked at the class, which is almost entirely African American, and I thought about the Constitution having in it slavery and not having in it a woman's right to vote. Then I have been watching Ken Burns' ``The Roosevelts'' and seeing how Teddy Roosevelt would have thought about where we are today. Teddy Roosevelt and Franklin Roosevelt knew we needed a central government to work for the people. Teddy Roosevelt said the Constitution was for the people, not the people for the Constitution. He put right first and he fought the trusts and he looked after labor and he looked after the average American worker. He would have been repelled at the idea of not having a Voting Rights Act, as he had Booker T. Washington, the first African American in the White House. He would have been concerned about what this Congress is doing today and the prospect of war and our power to declare war and not acting and not exercising our constitutional prerogatives. The Ken Burns series is a tribute to two great men and a great family, Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt, who made America better. I wish this Congress would do the same.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, today in Emancipation Hall, the United States Congress and the United States Government honored the fallen heroes of 9/11 with a Congressional Gold Medal ceremony--three gold medals: one to the individuals who died in Shanksville, Pennsylvania; one to the folks who died at the Pentagon; and another to those who died at the World Trade Center. Their names are all in this memorial book, nearly 3,000 innocent victims of radical Islam. Radical Islam and al Qaeda continues to stay in ISIS. The President will address the Nation tonight about the dangers ISIS presents to the world, to democracy, and to the United States. I plan to support the President in his request for us to join him militarily, economically, and in other measures to see that ISIS does not hit our homeland, attack democracy, and create a caliphate that will be dangerous to freedom-loving people all over the world. I attended the National 9/11 Memorial Museum 2 weeks ago. It is stirring. It made me think of the heroes, the firemen, the policemen, the first responders, and the people on that airplane, but it also made me think of the hate of al Qaeda and ISIS. We must respond. We are America. God bless America.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. I appreciate the time. Mr. Speaker, this is a tremendously important topic because this Congress, unfortunately, and our government are affected so much by political contributions. Because of Baker v. Carr, ``one man, one vote'' exists, but that one vote is not equal to the voice of corporations or individuals with unlimited amounts of money. The fact is those people, those corporations, have gotten more of a voice than any one person's vote. Most Members of Congress spend a great deal of time raising money when they should be studying issues, listening to debate, participating in debate, listening to constituents. The amount of money that is in this system and determines who comes into this body is beyond anything the Framers of the Constitution ever imagined. The amendment that we offer would allow the Congress to put limits on the amount of money that can come into the system. It promotes the idea of everybody being equal, of ``one man, one vote'' and our representing people equally. It simply gives Congress the power to set limits. I don't know why anybody in this Congress would object to giving Congress the power to set limits on corporate spending involving campaigns, which takes away the fundamental aspect of democracy that each person is considered to have a voice and one's perspectives presented on this floor in equal opportunity with those who are the most wealthy. There is nothing that affects this House in a more adverse way than money. This amendment can help this House be more representative of the great democracy that we represent and intend to represent and make it the democracy that it is supposed to be. It simply gives Congress that power.

Mr. COHEN. I would urge this amendment to be considered and to be voted on in order to uphold the idea that each individual and his position is sacred and equal, that money is taken out of the system in the best possible ways, and that corporations don't continue to have the extraordinary influence they have had on this body.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the time. I find it interesting that this is all about President Obama engaging in an executive overreach. Look at the statistics. During President Obama's first term and comparing him to prior Presidents, President Bush issued 173 executive orders, President Clinton 200, President Reagan 213, and President Obama only 147. And during this part of President Obama's second term, he has thus far issued only 36 executive orders, while President Bush, during his second term, issued 116; Clinton, 164; and Reagan, 168. So I ask you, based on the statistics, is that overreach? No, it is underreach. It is underreach. Mitch McConnell said upon President Obama's inauguration the job was to see that this man wasn't reelected. Now the job seems to be to see that the attack on the President can be such that the Republicans take the Senate and hopefully set the stage for 2016 of the Presidency. This unquestionably is impeachment lite. It is an attempt to put the President in a situation in a lawsuit that, if successful, which I find hard to believe, would be the foundation for impeachment. This President has done nothing that is impeachable, nothing that merits this type of action, nothing that merits this type of disrespect. He should be respected as our President and supported, and we should work to create jobs, pass an infrastructure bill, pass a minimum wage bill, and extend unemployment insurance.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, Sunday's New York Times editorial page--the entire page, a very unusual circumstance--was dedicated to ending our crazy and unsuccessful and expensive war on marijuana, emphasizing that the war on marijuana costs us much money in prosecuting and also ruins people's lives. It costs us more than it protects, and it has a disparate impact on African Americans and minorities, as they are much more likely to be arrested, have a scarlet M on their chest for the rest of their lives, denying them public housing, scholarships, and often jobs. It is time we left the situation to the States, like we did with alcohol, the last prohibition we had in this country, and let the States make these decisions, as Colorado and Washington have, the laboratories of democracy. Let's make sense of our drug policies and drug laws and not have marijuana and heroin in the same class.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call to the attention of my colleagues an upcoming national art show that will showcase America's creativity and diversity. In August, great American art will be displayed on billboards and buses, as well as in airports, malls, movie theaters, and transit centers. This portfolio, known as ``Art Everywhere US,'' was selected by top museums and was guided by online public voting. This unique celebration of American art will showcase leading African-American artists, including Romare Bearden, William H. Johnson, Archibald Motley and Charles White. Romare Bearden was born in Charlotte, NC, in 1911. At an early age, he moved to New York City as part of the Great Migration. For much of his life, Bearden worked for the New York City Department of Social Services, leaving nights and weekends available for creating art. In 1964, he was appointed the first art director of the Harlem Cultural Council. In Charlotte, the 5.4-acre Romare Bearden Park opened in 2013, in a prime location near BB&T Ballpark. Bearden's 1968 collage of three musicians performing entitled ``Soul Three'' will be part of Art Everywhere US. Like Bearden, William H. Johnson (1901-1970) moved from the South to New York, where he became a foremost painter in the Harlem Renaissance. Johnson taught at the Harlem Community Art Center as part of the Roosevelt-era Works Progress Administration (WPA) Federal Art Project. Johnson died in obscurity in 1970, but his artwork, which numbers more than 1,000, bear witness to one of America's most important painters. Johnson's ``Blind Singer'' will be displayed via Art Everywhere US. Archibald Motley (1891-1981) was born in New Orleans before his family journeyed to Chicago when he was two years old. Although he never lived in Harlem, Motley's depiction of urban African-American social life identified him with the Harlem Renaissance. Motley painted portraits and scenes in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood, home of most of the city's African-American population. Motley's 1943 ``Nightlife'' is part of Art Everywhere US, showing the motion of jazz through composition. Charles White (1918-1953) was born in Chicago. His mother, a domestic worker, bought him his first set of oil paints for his seventh birthday. In his career, White was committed to representing the African-American experience, a goal reinforced after he journeyed to the rural South. Art Everywhere US will display White's powerful drawing ``Harvest Talk,'' which depicts two farm hands whose strong and imposing physical presence embody the dignity of their work. Art Everywhere US spans the history of our nation, from the Revolutionary era to pop artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and James Rosenquist. Supporters and patrons of the arts tell us of the multiple benefits of art education. In August, we'll learn a bit more about great American art and artists, including outstanding art of the Twentieth Century by prominent African-American artists.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Madam Chair, I thank Mr. Kline for his explanation and his support. He is upriver from us, but that is where the Mississippi River starts before it becomes so beautiful on the bluffs of the city of Memphis. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. COHEN. Madam Chair, this amendment is very simple. It would add an explanation of how Federal and private student loans are treated in bankruptcy to the list of the disclosures contained in the underlying bill. Unfortunately, too many students lack basic financial literacy, and if they don't have a proper understanding of their rights and responsibilities when it comes to student loans, it can lead to serious consequences for their financial future. That is why I am pleased to support this legislation that Mr. Kline has offered--he has done such a good job bringing a bipartisan bill here--and the important financial counseling it requires. However, one area that is not included is an explanation of the stringent requirements we have placed when it comes to erasing your student loans in bankruptcy. While bankruptcy is never something to be taken lightly, our system does allow an honest but unfortunate debtor the opportunity for a fresh start if their financial situation is desperate enough. Most people assume that their student loans can be discharged along with their other consumer debts during bankruptcy proceedings, but that is not the case. Under current law, borrowers must show that continuing to back their loans would impose an ``undue hardship'' on them and their dependents, a standard that, in practice, is nearly insurmountable. Bankruptcy law exempts very few types of debt from elimination through the bankruptcy process, but there are certain exceptions. For example, for principled policy reasons, we exempt child support, taxes, criminal fines, and intentional torts. In 1978, Congress added Federal student loans to this list. This protects Federal student loan programs--and the taxpayer dollars that fund them--from fraud and abuse by borrowers. This also makes sense because Federal loans offer certain protections to ease the burden on debtors, like fixed interest rates and opportunities for deferments, income-based repayments and forbearance; but in 2005, the Bankruptcy Protection Act was passed, and the bankruptcy protection was extended to private loans, which are not required to have and often do not have such consumer protections. In fact, private lenders often market directly to students, luring them into unaffordable loans that saddle them with debts for decades to come. That is why I have introduced legislation to remove the exemption for private student loans and why the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has called for a study on whether bankruptcy rules for student loans should be modified. That, however, is not the issue here. The fact remains that this is the law, and students should be aware that their loans, both Federal and private, can only be discharged in bankruptcy in exceptional circumstances. That is why I propose this small refinement to the underlying legislation--to ensure that borrowers understand the hurdles they may face in wiping the slate clean. I thank Mr. Kline for allowing this and the Rules Committee for allowing this amendment to be made in order, and I urge my colleagues to support it. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COHEN. Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, today I recognize Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity, my Brotherhood, and its antecedent group Phi Alpha Fraternity in honor of the 100th anniversary of the founding of Phi Alpha in celebration of the centennial International Convention of Zeta Beta Tau. Phi Alpha Fraternity was founded at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., on October 14, 1914, by David Davis, Edward Lewis, Hyman Shapiro, Reuben Schmidt and Maurice Herzmark, who saw the need for an idealistic brotherhood. The first pledge ceremony in February 1915 was followed by the establishment of a chapter house, one of the most luxurious establishments in the nation's capital. At one time, Phi Alpha had chapters at nearly 30 universities, but as with many other fraternities, the Depression and World Wars took their toll. During the uncertain war years, many chapters became inactive when almost all the men in the chapters entered into military service. In April 1959, Phi Alpha Fraternity merged with Phi Sigma Delta Fraternity, creating a combined fraternity with 47 active chapters. In 1969-70, Phi Sigma Delta merged into Zeta Beta Tau. Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity has convened its International Convention 100 times since the first event was held in 1906 in New York City. The event presents the opportunity to share Fraternity in its truest sense with brothers from around the world. Washington, D.C., has hosted the International Convention four times, in 1937, 1957, 1974 and 2014. Today, as a brother of Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity, I join International President Michael (Mike) D. Cimini, Kappa (Cornell University) '92, and my entire Brotherhood in honoring the men of Phi Alpha Fraternity. We are honored to celebrate our Fraternity's 100th Convention in the nation's capital while honoring Phi Alpha and The George Washington University. I am proud to be a member of the distinguished Brotherhood of Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity, an organization of men who dedicate this day and every day to fostering leadership and service and developing the tenets of our Credo--Intellectual Awareness, Social Responsibility, Integrity and Brotherly Love--in all brothers.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, Friday, July 25, marks the 40th anniversary of the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). In 1974, Congress--with bipartisan support, including that of President Nixon--established LSC to be a major source of funding for civil legal aid in this country. LSC is a private, nonprofit corporation, funded by Congress, with the mission to ensure equal access to justice under law for all Americans by providing civil legal assistance to those who otherwise would be unable to afford it. LSC distributes nearly 94 percent of its annual Federal appropriations to 134 local legal aid programs, with nearly 800 offices serving every congressional district and U.S. territories. LSC-funded legal aid programs make a crucial difference to millions of Americans by assisting with the most basic civil legal needs, such as addressing matters involving safety, subsistence, and family stability. These low-income Americans are women seeking protection from abuse, mothers trying to obtain child support, families facing unlawful evictions or foreclosures that could leave them homeless, veterans seeking benefits duly earned, seniors defending against consumer scams, and individuals who have lost their jobs and need help in applying for unemployment compensation and other benefits. It is LSC-funded attorneys who help parents obtain and keep custody of their children, assist parents in enforcing child support payments and help women who are victims of domestic violence. In fact, three out of four legal aid clients are women, and legal aid programs identify domestic violence as one of their top priorities. Given the vital role played by LSC-funded attorneys, we need to do better than turn away more than 50 percent of eligible clients who seek assistance because of lack of LSC program resources. With the growing number of Americans eligible for services and increased demand for legal services, the need for legal aid attorneys has never been greater. On this anniversary, I salute the Legal Services Corporation and LSC-funded attorneys for the vital work they do every day on behalf of Americans who need qualified counsel. Every day that a legal aid attorney protects the safety, security and health of our most vulnerable citizens, they bring this nation closer to living up to its commitment to equal justice for all.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, on July 14, 2014, my flight was delayed and I was unable to vote on rollcall votes 405 and 406. If present, I would have voted ``yea'' on H.R. 4195 and H.R. 5029.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chairman, I rise on the provision in this bill that would deny the D.C. Council the right to have a different policy on marijuana than they have had in the past. I can understand politically the other side not wanting the people of D.C. to have Senators and Reps because the likelihood is they would be Democrats, but not to let them have self-rule smacks of colonialism, colonialism that is of another era, colonialism that is of the days of Jim Crow. To not allow D.C. to have the right to pass their own laws and to have the same opportunity to have laboratories of democracy, as Louis Brandeis talked about, is wrong. What it will do is it will not stop teens from doing marijuana, but it will put more teens in jail with a scarlet letter and an expense and maybe prevent them from having the opportunity to get a scholarship, housing, and a job. It is against the wrong side of history for them to stop D.C.'s Council from having the authority and for putting African Americans, who are disproportionately affected, in jail and ruining their lives. I object to what has been included and wish that they would reconsider.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, while we were on break, the 58th anniversary of the interstate highway system was celebrated, and while there is a lot of discussion here in the House about different issues, there is nothing more important for this Congress to do than to create jobs for the American public. The best way to create jobs is to pass an extension of the Highway Act--infrastructure bills. President Eisenhower was a President who knew we needed a strong infrastructure and a highway system. When he needed a sponsor in the Senate, it was Albert Gore, Sr., from Tennessee--a Democrat--who sponsored that bill. We need bipartisanship the way we had it with Eisenhower and Gore in order to come up with a highway extension. If it is a gas tax--whatever it is--we need to do it. We need to put Americans back to work, and we need to put our infrastructure first. Those should be the responsibilities of this House. I pledge to support transportation efforts to get a bill passed and to make America proud about its infrastructure again--bridges, runways, and roads.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Chairman, I am going to close by saying that one day-- one day, this House will see that we need to have more and more money put into research on energy efficiency and renewables and not into fossil fuel. I feel a cold wind coming from the South, and I realize that today is not that day, but one day, one day. I feel a chill coming, and I don't want anyone else to get a cold. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.

Mr. COHEN. I offer an amendment, Mr. Chairman, which should be at the desk.