Steve Cohen

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, this weekend I had the privilege, unfortunately, to attend a funeral of a great American, a constituent of mine living in Tucson, Arizona, when he passed at age 91, Colonel Luke Weathers. Colonel Weathers was a Tuskeegan Airman. Born in Mississippi, he came to Memphis at I think it was age 5, and went to the famous Booker T. Washington High School. At age 23, he went to Tuskeegan. He was one of the first Tuskeegan Airmen and was decorated with more honors and awards than you can imagine, every flying award you can possibly get. He later went on to work with the air traffic controllers and was the first African American air traffic controller in Memphis, Tennessee, at our air traffic control station. He served 25 years with the FAA as an air traffic controller, serving duties in Anchorage, Alaska, where he started; also in Atlanta, Georgia; and in Washington. Luke Weathers was a great man who didn't let race stop him, even though sometimes his country's policies made it difficult to both integrate the Air Force and the squadron and the FAA. And even his church where the funeral was, Little Flower, he was the first African American member of that church in 1963. I was pleased to be with the family, honor this man's memory, and appreciate what he did for our country. Mr. Speaker, Luke Weathers was a great man.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Tonight is going to be the sixth game of the World Series. Sports means money, business, and jobs. The St. Louis economy has been spurred on by the World Series to where they're not cutting employees because they have had increased sales tax. It's the same way with college sports. I want to encourage all the Big East presidents to consider the University of Memphis for membership. Memphis is a major city. It is the home of Federal Express, International Paper, and other major companies. We don't have a professional football team in Memphis. So if we get in the Big East, in essence, you are our professional football team and the city would rally around it, unlike in Dallas and Houston, where they have professional teams. The Big East is known for basketball. Rick Pitino, the coach of our rival, the University of Louisville, has suggested Memphis should be in the conference to keep the Big East as a primary basketball conference. What a great thing to see Memphis and Louisville again in a conference game. We ought to be beyond just dollars--although Memphis can bring them-- but also competitive rivalries that make the sport what it has been in the American appetite. I encourage the Big East to include the University of Memphis in its expansion plans.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend President Obama for announcing a plan this morning to lower student loan payments. The New York Times recently reported that student loan debt outpaced credit card debt for the first time last year and that the growth in student loan debt threatens to undermine the future life prospects of the current generation of students. It was this realization that led me, as a State senator, to pass the Tennessee Education Lottery program that gives scholarships to our Tennessee students. Too many young people have an unbelievable amount of debt that burdens them for the rest of their lives. The students that participate in Occupy Wall Street are very aware of this threat. Earlier this year, I reintroduced H.R. 2028, the Private Student Loan Bankruptcy Fairness Act, which will restore fair treatment to Americans in severe financial distress whose debts include private student loans. Before 2005 private student loans issued by for-profit lenders were appropriately treated in bankruptcy like credit card debt and other similar types of unsecured consumer liabilities. The bill I've introduced with Senator Durbin in the Senate would ensure that privately issued students loans will once again be treated like other debt and be dischargeable in bankruptcy. We need to give our students a fair chance.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, just this past week, the country of Turkey, an ally of ours, experienced a devastating earthquake. Nearly 400 people, they believe, have died, and there's been great damage to the countryside. We've seen these disasters now in Japan and South America and other places. We've seen them in our country, too. We had problems last year. Who comes to the aid of the people in Turkey whom we look out for as well and are concerned about? First responders, policemen, and firepeople. My city of Memphis, Tennessee, lies on the New Madrid fault, the most likely place in our country to have a major earthquake. When that event occurs, I want to have adequate policemen and firemen there to help our citizens. We can have them with the Jobs Act, have them this year when we don't know whether it will occur or not. First responders are so important to the future of America, and passing the Jobs Act will guarantee that we will have security when a natural disaster occurs. We need to keep policemen and firemen employed.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Madam Chair, I rise today to state my opposition to H.R. 2273, the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act. On October 14, 2011, I inadvertently cast a vote in support of final passage of this measure. However, I am adamantly opposed to this legislation and want the Congressional Record to reflect my true sentiments. The EPA's proposed coal ash rule is a much needed response to an incident that occurred in 2008 in my home state of Tennessee. On December 22, 2008, a coal ash pond at the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) Kingston power plant breached, spilling 1.2 billion gallons of coal ash and its contaminants--including arsenic, selenium, and mercury--into two rivers. The disaster moved homes off of their foundations, and the ongoing cleanup, which has only removed half of the coal ash that was spilled to date--is expected to cost about $1.2 billion. The EPA coal ash rule would set standards in place to ensure that a horrific tragedy such as the Kingston spill never occurs again. However, H.R. 2273 would undercut the coal ash rule and create a dangerous plan consisting of nothing but ``guidelines'' for regulating coal ash--guidelines that do nothing to protect citizens throughout America from another Kingston spill. Despite the Kingston disaster and EPA's acknowledgement that wet ponds can pose as high as a 1-in-50 risk of cancer to nearby residents, this bill fails to take the obvious and necessary step of phasing out surface impoundments. Meaning if this legislation were adopted, it would do nothing to avert tragedies such as Kingston from occurring in the future. Another reason I oppose the Coal Residuals Reuse and Management Act is because it interrupts an EPA rulemaking process that has been ongoing for nearly three years and silences the concerns of the American people. Over the last three years, the EPA has held eight public hearings and received more than 455,000 public comments on its proposed coal ash rule--a precedential response to an EPA rulemaking. Congress should not be interfering and obstructing this critical public process. In an effort to prevent the passage of H.R. 2273, I circulated a Dear Colleague letter that informed my colleagues of the legislation's immense shortcomings and failures to protect the American people. I also offered an amendment, which unfortunately was not made in order, but would have required the EPA Administrator to revise the disposal criteria upon which the bill relies to ensure that human health and the environment are protected from the risks posed by coal combustion residuals. In some parts of the country people justify the status quo because they have not seen the full dangers of unregulated coal ash. In Tennessee we cannot ignore these consequences and cannot tolerate legislation that would usurp a beneficial rulemaking and replace it with legislation that fails to protect the American people. For these reasons, I oppose H.R. 2273 and would like the record to reflect my strong opposition.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, one of the great, unsung leaders of the Civil Rights movement, and a major figure in the historic fight for justice and equality. Fred Shuttlesworth was born Fred Robinson on March 18, 1922 in Mount Meigs, Alabama. He was raised in Birmingham, Alabama by his mother, Alberta Robinson who married William Nathan Shuttlesworth at which point Fred Robinson took the last name Shuttlesworth. Fred Shuttlesworth was the eldest of eight siblings. His family survived by sharecropping and making moonshine liquor. In the early 1940s, Fred Shuttlesworth became a truck driver before joining the Baptist Church in 1944. He then studied ministry at Selma University and began preaching at Selma's First Baptist Church. He graduated from Selma in 1951. In 1953, Shuttlesworth became pastor of Bethel Baptist Church in Birmingham. His life as a social activist peaked that following year, when his attention was captured by a newspaper headline announcing that the U.S. Supreme Court had outlawed school segregation in Brown vs. Board of Education. ``I felt like I was a man, that I had rights,'' Shuttlesworth said, recalling his reaction. In 1955, he supported the Montgomery bus boycott, led by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Shuttlesworth became a Birmingham activist, joining the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in their voter registration efforts. When the state of Alabama essentially outlawed the NAACP in 1956, Shuttlesworth found and led the Alabama Christian Movement for Human Rights to take direct action to end racial segregation. Reverend Shuttlesworth was no stranger to adverse racial situations and always emerged strong and undefeated. On Christmas night in 1956, Shuttlesworth survived a bomb blast that blew out the walls and floor of his home, destroying his residence. In response to being told by an officer that he should leave town, he replied, ``Officer, you're not me. You go back and tell your Klan brethren if God could keep me through this, then I'm here for the duration.'' The next day he led 200 people onto Birmingham's buses. In 1957, he undertook integrating Birmingham's schools by attempting to enroll his daughters in an all-white high school. Outraged by his act, Klansmen attacked him with brass knuckles and chains. He miraculously survived without a concussion and said to the doctor, ``Doctor, the Lord knew I lived in a hard town, so he gave me a hard head.'' Dr. Martin Luther Jr. described Shuttlesworth as ``the most courageous civil rights fighter in the South.'' Later that year, Shuttlesworth joined Dr. King, Ralph Abernathy and Bayard Rustin to launch the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which became the leading force of the civil rights movement. Shuttlesworth served as the organization's first secretary from 1958 to 1970. He later served briefly as its president in 2004. During the early 1960s, Shuttlesworth participated in numerous sit-in protests, mobilized marches, helped Congress on Racial Equality organize its Freedom Rides and had already been arrested more than 30 times in his fight for equality. In 1963, this collaboration culminated in colossal demonstrations in Birmingham to pressure downtown department stores to desegregate. A few days after being hospitalized due to being slammed against a wall by water from a fire hose, the local leaders of Birmingham announced that fitting rooms and lunchroom counters would be desegregated, signs on restrooms and drinking fountains would be removed and that there would be further steps to advance African-American employment. When President Kennedy introduced to Congress legislation that would later become the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he told Shuttlesworth and King, ``But for Birmingham, we would not be here today.'' In 1966, Rev. Shuttlesworth became pastor of the Greater New Light Baptist Church. In 1988, he founded and served as director of the Shuttlesworth Housing Foundation, an organization that helped low- income families buy their homes. In 2001, President Bill Clinton awarded Rev. Shuttlesworth a Presidential Citizens Medal--the nation's second-highest civilian award--for helping found the SCLC and for his ``leadership in the ``non-violent'' civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s, leading efforts to integrate Birmingham, Alabama's schools, buses and recreational facilities.'' Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth passed away on Wednesday, October 5, 2011 in Birmingham, Alabama at 89 years of age. Reverend Shuttlesworth is survived by his wife, Sephira Bailey Shuttlesworth, four daughters, Patricia Massengill, Ruby ``Ricky'' Bester, Carolyn Shuttlesworth and Maria Murdock; a son, Fred Jr.; a stepdaughter, Audrey Wilson; five sisters, Betty Williams, Truzella Brazil, Ernestine Grimes, Iwilder Reid and Eula Mitchell; 14 grandchildren; 20 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild. He will be remembered for his leadership and commitment to the Civil Rights Movement. His was a life well-lived.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, Thomas Jefferson originally penned the Declaration of Independence that all men were created equal. But it was Dr. Martin Luther King and civil rights workers that made those words ring true. It took almost 200 years for that to happen. On Sunday, in this Nation's Capital, Dr. King will be honored with the dedication of a monument to him on the Mall, and it's a monument to a great man who deserves recognition. But it should be considered a monument to all the civil rights workers, the sit-ins, the Freedom Riders, the students that went to Mississippi, that marched from Selma to Montgomery, the John Lewises, the Julian Bonds, the Joseph Lowerys, the Harry Belafontes, the Vasco Smiths, Maxine Smiths, Russell Sugarmans, and all the great civil rights leaders who made this country's promise be fulfilled. All men now are created equal, but we have a long way to go. I thank the civil rights workers. They are veterans fighting who had to fight their own country to secure the rights that we now enjoy.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize and celebrate Dr. Reverend James L. Netters, Sr., Senior Pastor of Mount Vernon Baptist Church-Westwood in Memphis, for his upcoming 55th pastoral anniversary. Reverend Netters has served his congregation at Mount Vernon Baptist Church and the larger community of Memphis with honor and grace and is a distinguished representative of his parishioners and our great city. Reverend Netters continues to be a guiding figure for good with Memphis-area pastors and their congregations and outreach programs. His leadership demonstrates what is possible when congregations plant seeds of hope in their surrounding communities. Programs involving prison outreach and projects for the reformation of blighted areas show a commitment to lifting up those who have fallen behind and helping them back to the fold. From working with young adults and raising money for college scholarships to comforting and sharing the wisdom of the elderly members of his congregation, Reverend Netters and his church are actively engaged in building a better Memphis. The Mount Vernon Baptist Church-Westwood was founded in 1902, and Reverend Netters has been their pastor for the past 55 years, earning the distinction of being the longest serving pastor of a single church in Memphis. I wish Dr. Reverend James L. Netters, Sr. many more prosperous years with Mount Vernon Baptist Church, so that he can continue working tirelessly to lift up his congregation and our great city of Memphis.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that my name be removed as a cosponsor of H.R. 822.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. COHEN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. My amendment is a very simple amendment. It should get unanimous support here. It simply requires the Environmental Protection Agency administrator to consider increases in illness-related absences from work when establishing a compliance date for the boiler rule. Last week, I offered similar language as an amendment to the Cement Sector Regulatory Relief Act, which, unfortunately, didn't pass. I don't think it was clearly understood by both sides of the aisle. However, I believe my amendment is more applicable to this legislation since boilers and incinerators pose an even greater health threat to the American people. In fact, EPA's analysis demonstrates that for every year this rule will be in effect, it would prevent up to 320,000 missed work- or schooldays. During the debate on my amendment last week, the majority conceded, which I appreciated, that the amendment would do no harm because the majority thought that the language was already in the bill and that it would be duplicative and unnecessary. The reality is that there's nothing in the underlying legislation that requires the administrator to consider illness-related absences from work when setting a compliance date. Now, indeed, it should have been in there--and I can understand why the other side thought it would be in there because it should have been in there--but it wasn't in there, and that's why I offered this amendment. But this factor is critical, and any establishment of a compliance date that does not consider the health of the American workforce is fundamentally flawed and inadequate. As the majority correctly stated last week, the EPA already knows how many work days will be missed as a result of delaying the boiler rule, so my amendment will not hinder the EPA's decisionmaking process. Additionally, as the majority admitted last week, at worst, my amendment does no harm--or, as kind of the NBA rule, no harm, no foul. However, at best, my amendment ensures that EPA's decision is based on a more complete analysis of the economic impacts of the rule. And given the economic consequences of 320,000 days of missed work or school a year, it's imperative that EPA factor this information into its compliance date decision. I ask the majority to recognize that if the United States is going to retain its status as the world's economic engine, then we need to have the world's healthiest and most productive workforce--and children. But that will not happen if we continue to let polluting boilers and incinerators undermine the health and well-being of millions of American workers and children. I encourage my colleagues to understand the importance of a healthy workforce and support my amendment. On behalf of the millions of American workers and schoolchildren who have been forced to miss work or school because of sickness incurred by breathing toxic pollutants from boilers and incinerators--mercury, no less, which interferes with young people's abilities to think--I ask that you support my amendment. It's time to put partisanship aside and work together to strengthen the American worker and the American school child. I urge passage of my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Some few weeks ago, the President addressed this Congress in this Chamber about jobs and introduced the American Jobs Act. Something that would help small businesses, something that would help put policemen and firemen and teachers to work, something that would help rebuild schools, a bill that would appropriately put Americans back to work and address our problems, but the Senate killed it yesterday. We should have known, and we did know the Senate would kill it because Senator McConnell said right after the President was sworn in: Our main job is to see that he's not reelected. The President is in support of these trade agreements. I'm not; he is. The Republicans are, but they don't give him credit for it. They condemn him today, the previous speaker, and yet he's for the trade agreements. He couldn't do anything for them. If he made them a kidney transplant, they'd want two. There's nothing he could do they'd think was right. We need to create jobs. It's the main issue in my district and in this Nation. We need to work together to create jobs in America, and the millionaires need to pay their fair share.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Dr. Raza Ali Dilawari, a great Memphis surgeon known for his work in the field of oncology. He was born in the Walled City of Lahore, Pakistan and completed medical school there at King Edward Medical College in 1968. He then completed his surgical residency at SUNY Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, New York and his surgical oncology fellowship at the University of Rochester at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, New York and the Roswell Park Memorial Institute in Buffalo, New York. Dr. Dilawari then went on to spend 35 years in Memphis serving the community as a doctor, teacher and mentor, touching thousands of lives in the process. Dr. Dilawari was appointed Assistant Professor of the Department of Surgery at the University of Tennessee Center for Health Sciences in Memphis in 1978. He became the Assistant Dean for Clinical Affairs there as well as Vice Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Methodist University Hospital. His time in academia left a great legacy of research and peer-reviewed publications, but arguably his most significant contribution to Memphis was his mentoring of medical students and the training of over 200 surgical residents, ensuring his lasting impact and legacy. His focus and dedication to training the next generation of doctors and surgeons will have a lasting impact on patients in Memphis and around the world. In addition to his great work as a teacher, Dr. Dilawari opened a surgical oncology practice at the Regional Medical Center and Methodist Central Hospital in Memphis. His surgical practice allowed him to operate on thousands of patients over the years, often without regard to payment. Dr. Dilawari was also very active in his community as a founding member of the Al Rasool Center and through his work with the Islamic Society of Memphis. Dr. Dilawari was a gracious and kind man who, until the end of his life, maintained the good nature and wisdom he had gained from years of treating cancer patients. Dr. Raza Dilawari passed away on September 18, 2011, at 64 years of age. The Memphis community mourns the loss of one of its great citizens. He is survived by his beloved family: his wife Bushra A. Dilawari, his five children Asma, Amina, Mariam, Asad and Saba, his granddaughter Zara as well as a host of other family and friends across Tennessee and the world. We are grateful to have had the pleasure of his dedication, skill and compassion in the Memphis community. His was a life well-lived.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the 100th birthday of lifelong Memphian Margaret Askew Cooper. Born October 8, 1911, Mrs. Cooper is the mother of three children, Charles Askew, Mauri Askew and Turner Askew. She has five grandchildren, six great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. Mrs. Cooper has dedicated much of her life to serving the Memphis community. She was instrumental in the founding of the Le Bonheur Club which is a non-profit organization that supports Le Bonheur Children's Hospital through fundraising and volunteer service. Mrs. Cooper helped shape Les Passees, Memphis' original women's volunteer organization. Les Passees was incorporated in 1932 and has since supported the USO, the Shelby County Chapter of Society for Crippled Children and Adults, opened a center for children living with cerebral palsy and centers dedicated to the well-being of children and families. Throughout her life, Margaret Cooper has had quite the reputation as a great dancer. Today, she still makes Saturday nights her dancing nights. During her 100th birthday celebration, well-known Memphis band leader Jim Johnson will fulfill a promise he made to Mrs. Cooper nearly 20 years ago. He told her that he would get his band back together to perform at her 100th birthday party. I am certain that she and all of her family and friends will have a memorable celebration filled with fun and dancing. All who know Margaret Cooper admire her perennially positive outlook which has influenced hundreds throughout her life. I ask my colleagues to join me in wishing Mrs. Margaret Askew Cooper a happy 100th birthday and in commending her on a life dedicated to her family and her community.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Chair, I respect the gentleman from Kentucky greatly and appreciate his remarks, but I would say if his position is there's no harm, no foul, if there's no harm, no foul and it's duplicative, then there's no reason not to adopt it in case he's wrong, and I think he is. I think it does add something. So the best case is you protect the worker, and the worst case is you have a couple of extra sentences in the law that make no difference. So I would ask that we all join together in a bipartisan Kumbaya moment that we've been missing and need to have again, and I ask you to support it.

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Chair, my amendment simply requires--it's a very simple amendment--that the Environmental Protection Agency administrator consider the potential reductions in the number of illness-related absences from work when establishing a compliance date for this cement kiln rule. Cement kilns are the second-largest source of airborne mercury pollution in the United States and also a leading emitter of lead, arsenic, and other toxic dangerous metals--nothing, of course, that anybody on either side of the aisle would like to see floating around the atmosphere and absorbed in our bodies. Dramatically reducing the amount of toxic pollutants cement kilns can spew in our Nation's air and water will make America a healthier, more productive nation. The EPA projects that every year that this particular rule is applicable, the administration's cement kiln rule will prevent up to 2,500 premature deaths, 17,000 asthma attacks, and 130,000 days when people will be too sick to go to work. Despite the erroneous claims from a handful of vocal individuals within the cement industry that this rule will ruin the economy, the truth is the cement kiln rule will strengthen America's economy and the American worker because cement kilns emit thousands of pounds of mercury and acid gases every year, thousands of workers are unable to go to work because they are simply too sick, meaning every day hardworking Americans are unable to work and earn a paycheck so they can put food on their family's table. Not only are these hardworking Americans not generating income, but many of them are forced to spend their limited income on doctors' bills, emergency room visits, and expensive medicines. These Americans want to work. They want to be productive citizens. Their employers want them to work, but the employers are spewing environmental disaster into the air that prevents them from working. Despite their most sincere interest and desire to put in a hard day's work, they can't because the dirty cement kiln is spewing toxic pollutants into the air making them sick and making them drive to the hospital instead of their offices. If the EPA administrator has to factor in issues such as potential net employee impacts when establishing compliance dates when they shouldn't, the administrator also will have to factor in potential reductions in the number of illness-related absences from work. But what good is saving 1 day's work at a cement plant if it means that dozens of people will be too sick to go to work that day? If the United States is going to retain its status as the world's economic engine, then we need to have the world's healthiest and most productive workforce. But that will not happen if we continue to let a handful of dirty cement kilns scattered across the country undermine the health and well-being of thousands of American workers. I encourage my colleagues to understand the importance of a healthy workforce and support my amendment. We must recognize that any establishment of a compliance date that does not factor the health of the American workforce is fundamentally flawed and inadequate. I also would mention that this will affect horses, for horses and animals, dogs and horses will breathe in the same air and it will affect their well-being--well noted. On behalf of the hundreds and thousands of American workers and animals who have been forced to miss work because of the sickness incurred by breathing in toxic pollutants from cement kilns, I ask you to support this amendment. It's time for this Congress to stand up to protect our Nation's most valuable resource, the American worker, and also the American worker's best friend, his dog, and sometimes his horse. I urge passage of my amendment, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the departing Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the United States of America, His Excellency Yashar Aliyev. Mr. Aliyev has served in this post since December 2006, but his diplomatic career is long and distinguished. Ambassador Aliyev began his diplomatic career at the United Nations in 1992, serving as political affairs counselor and charge d'affaires of Azerbaijan's Permanent Mission. He was also Azerbaijan's delegate to the First and Fourth Committees at the forty-seventh through fifty- sixth sessions of the United Nations General Assembly. Having joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan in 1989, Ambassador Aliyev held posts as political officer, first secretary and deputy director in the Ministry's Department of Information and Political Analysis, as well as director of the Department of International Organizations. From 2002-2006, he served as Azerbaijan's Permanent Representative to the United Nations. It has been my honor and privilege to work with Ambassador Aliyev on issues important to Azerbaijan. I have come to regard him as a determined and passionate advocate for his country and the strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and the United States. I praise the Ambassador for his tremendous efforts and contributions to raise awareness among Members of Congress and Administration officials of the important role Azerbaijan is playing in the security of the United States. I want to offer Ambassador Aliyev my appreciation for his 5 years of service in Washington, D.C. As Ambassador Aliyev moves on to new responsibilities and assignments, I extend to him my highest regards and best wishes. Mister Speaker, I ask all of my colleagues to join me today in wishing His Excellency Yashar Aliyev the best and congratulating him on his impressive service.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the heroic deeds of a young man from Memphis, Tennessee whose quick thinking and courage helped save the life of a child caught in an unfortunate accident. Igor Tobas, 21, was working as a valet at Elfo Grisanti's restaurant on September 10th when he was alarmed by the sounds of a child screaming in agony. Igor quickly rushed to the scene to find that Caleb Roedel, 15, had sustained a severed leg from the knee down after his leg became trapped underneath a slow moving train. Tobas, without delay, tied his belt around Caleb's leg to prevent him from losing blood and he continued to apply pressure to the wound until paramedics arrived on the scene. The paramedics continued to use Igor's belt until they were able to airlift the child to a local hospital. If it were not for the quick thinking and heroic act of Igor Tobas, Caleb Roedel would possibly not be alive today. What makes this event so remarkable is not only the quick thinking of Igor but the fact that he does not consider himself to be a hero. When asked about the event, Igor responded by saying that he only did what he could since no one on the scene knew what to do. Even more remarkable, Tobas returned to work after the event even though his arms were still covered in blood after saving a child's life. His boss, Mr. Grisanti, said of Tobas, ``the world needs more people like him.'' Mr. Speaker, I ask all of my colleagues to join me in honoring the brave actions of Igor Tobas. His actions clearly show that anyone can perform acts of heroism if they simply choose to engage in service to their fellow citizens, regardless of the situation. While Mr. Tobas does not consider himself to be a hero, I think that the family of Caleb Roedel and citizens of Memphis surely do. Thank you, Igor Tobas, for your courage and commitment to protecting the life of a fellow citizen. It is my sincere hope that we can all find it in our hearts to follow your example in the future.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. On the 17th of September in 1787, the United States Constitution was ratified. Senator Byrd in the year 2005 introduced the House-passed Constitution Day. So, this weekend, we'll be celebrating Constitution Day. When I think of the Constitution, I think of Dr. Martin Luther King and the right to peacefully assemble, which is enshrined in the First Amendment. That meant he could go to Selma, that he could come to Washington and fight for civil rights and secure those rights for the people of this Nation. I also think of women's rights embodied in the 19th Amendment. Women were given the right to vote--Tennessee being the perfect 36th State to give women that right to vote. I think of a woman's right to choose, which is given through the Constitution and the Bill of Rights--in the Ninth Amendment, the Fourth and through the First and Third as well. But that is just the tip of the iceberg. The Constitution embodies the fundamental values of this Nation: freedom, fairness, justice, and equality. We haven't always lived up to the Constitution's ideals; but with the rights it guarantees and the freedoms it protects, we can continue to move forward and be the more perfect Union that it promises.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. How about the hedge fund guys? There's another Steve Cohen. There's the one in New York that's got all the money, the hedge fund guy, billions and billions of dollars. What does he pay on his income?

Mr. COHEN. We've got lots of warehouses. They're full of goods ready to go on Federal Express planes and service the rest of this Nation. It all starts in Memphis, Tennessee, and goes out from there.

Mr. COHEN. And that shouldn't exist. That's absurd. There's another Steve Cohen, the magician, and apparently he had something to do with the Tax Code when they took care of the other Steve Cohen.