Steve Cohen

Mr. COHEN

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

Mr. COHEN. I yield myself such time as I may consume. This resolution extends condolences to the families of four Lakewood, Washington, police officers, Sergeant Mark Renninger, Officer Tina Griswold, Officer Ronald Owens, and Officer Greg Richards, who were senselessly slain by gunfire in the line of duty on Sunday, November 29, 2009. These brave and honorable Lakewood Police Department officers were ambushed as they sat in a local coffee shop, catching up on paperwork at the beginning of their Sunday morning shift. By way of this resolution, the House of Representatives honors the lives and mourns the loss of these Lakewood police officers. We join the city of Lakewood and the entire State of Washington in celebrating the lives and grieving the deaths of these police officers. Sergeant Mark Renninger was described as a ``tough guy'' who excelled at his job and was regarded as a leader and teacher in the close-knit Lakewood police force. He was married with three children. Officer Tina Griswold liked to cook, ride her dirt bike, and was a certified diver. Her father is a retired police officer. She began working in law enforcement as a dispatcher and came to Lakewood 5 years ago as an officer. She leaves behind a 21-year-old daughter and a 7- year-old son. Officer Ronald Owens, known to friends and family as Ronnie, was described as having a fun-loving personality and as someone who made everyone around him feel positive. Officer Owens leaves behind a daughter. Officer Greg Richards enjoyed music in his spare time, playing drums in a rock band. He liked nothing better than spending time with his wife, Kelly, and his three children. By passing this resolution, we want the families of these police officers to know that they are not alone in mourning the loss of the Lakewood officers. My first job, Mr. Speaker, was as an attorney for the police department. I served 3\1/2\ years as an attorney for the Memphis Police Department, and I relate to the loss that the department and this Nation have suffered. I urge all my colleagues to support this important resolution. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I ask for unanimous consent to withdraw my name as a cosponsor of H. Res. 648.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. This morning during 1-minutes, 15 Members of the Democratic Caucus honored Rev. Jesse Jackson on the 25th anniversary of his Presidential run. He was the first African American male to run for President, and his contributions to our society cannot be overstated. He has a long career in civil rights work, and his leadership in forming the Rainbow Coalition is well known to all Americans. It is important to note his place on the world stage, a role in which he has been an effective leader, negotiator, and voice for America around the world. Rev. Jackson's skills have been applied to international relations in Syria, where he freed Navy Lieutenant Robert Goodman in 1983. President Reagan recognized Rev. Jackson's essential contribution by hosting Rev. Jackson and Lieutenant Goodman at the White House. In 1984, Rev. Jackson negotiated the release of 22 Americans held in Cuba. Although Rev. Jackson declined an opportunity to become Ambassador to South Africa because he wanted to help his son Congressman Jesse Jackson, Jr., seek election--which he did, as he was elected to this body in 1996--President Clinton had requested he be named Ambassador. He, instead, named him a special envoy for democracy in 1997. Subsequently, Jesse Jackson met with Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi to promote free and fair elections in Kenya. In 1999, he was in Kosovo and negotiated the release of three POWs. Jesse Jackson's career on the international stage has been spectacular, and his place in history is assured. His passion, his dedication, and his continuing influence for change are hallmarks of his life. We need look no further than today's tribute to him when a group of House pages, a Rainbow Coalition themselves, excitedly sought to have their picture taken with the Reverend Jackson and did, after he finished his appearance here in the gallery and listening to the 1- minutes this morning. I join my fellow House Members in recognizing this 25th anniversary of the Presidential run of Rev. Jesse Jackson and appreciate what he's done for our Nation.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, for almost two decades, the Republics of Turkey and Armenia have been meeting to discuss a pathway for normalization of relations. These diplomatic discussions were not easy and often involved complicated multi-dimensional implications. However, on October 10th, the two neighbors signed a historic rapprochement, a ceremony which was followed around the globe. In the two protocols signed, the two nations agreed to establish diplomatic relations, normalize their bilateral relations in all aspects, open their border and create a framework to determine their joint history. This agreement would not only bring stability to the region, it will also provide an example for other nations to come together to resolve their past disputes. At their signing ceremony, the Turkish and Armenian foreign ministers were joined by foreign dignitaries from the United States, France, Switzerland, Russia, the European Union, and the Council of Europe. While each country's parliament must now ratify these protocols, we should acknowledge the significant progress for these two neighbors. The U.S. administrations of the past, as well as the current Obama administration, all support the diplomatic discussions between Turkey and Armenia. I want to commend both countries as they move this historic agreement through their respective parliaments.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, this debate in the House is part of a 97- year-old debate in America. It started with a Republican, Teddy Roosevelt, and continued with Democrats Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson, then a Republican, Richard Nixon, who, while short on veracity, was great on policy and government. It continued through Bill Clinton, and now we are in a day when we have a chance to accomplish something worthwhile, something Daniel Webster tells us we should do while we are here in our generation and our time, to do something worthy of being remembered. Theodore Roosevelt said, In this world the only thing supremely worth having is the opportunity, coupled with the capacity, to do well and worthily a piece of work, the doing of which is of vital consequence to the welfare of mankind. I plan to take my voting card, along with hopefully at least 218 others, and do something that Teddy Roosevelt would see as proper, and provide health care for Americans.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, today is indeed an historic day. As the plaque over the Speaker's rostrum says, In our time and our generation, we should do something worthy to be remembered. Those were Daniel Webster's words, a man who served in this House. We can fulfill the destiny of other people who have served with us in the Federal Government, from Teddy Roosevelt to Franklin Roosevelt to Harry Truman to Hubert Humphrey and to the recently late Senator Ted Kennedy. This is an important date for America when we bring us into the 21st century. We should have been here 50 or 60 years ago. It is wrong that our country has an infant mortality rate equal to third-world nations. This bill will set out a newborn program that will try to rectify that. It will see that private practice doctors go into the inner cities, with general practitioners having an incentive to go there. With community health centers in the inner cities and wellness and prevention programs not having a deductible, it will bring America into the 21st century. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be a Member of the United States Congress, and never prouder than this weekend.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. I had planned on doing a 1-minute on the Berlin Wall. I think the 20th anniversary of the falling of the Berlin Wall is a historic occasion. It is a story about freedom and oppression and people having the opportunity to have that freedom. I had the opportunity to visit Berlin before the wall came down and after the wall came down. The contrast in East Berlin and West Berlin, when the wall was up, was about as stark as the debate is from this side of the aisle and the other side of the aisle. There was the idea of light and frivolity and freedom and action and caring--and just life on one side, and the other side of the wall was dark, negative, gray and repressive. When I traveled over there, it was just startling for me to experience it. Kurfurstendamm, which is the main street in West Berlin, was a street of people and musicians and buskers on the street and wonderful food and all kinds of life and freedom, and the other side was dark. As soon as the people went home in these communist-style, Stalinesque architecture buildings, they went home, they were not out, there was no nightlife. The waitress that waited on us in an East German, East Berlin restaurant was almost afraid to talk to us. She yearned to visit the West and to visit around the world, didn't know if she would ever have that opportunity. We tipped her handsomely, and I hope she used that money at some time to make her trip across to the free world. When we went through Checkpoint Charlie, I gave the guard there--and it was one of the most ominous moments that I've experienced seeing a combination of a police person, a border patrol person, a German--and I say that in all the best respect to Germans, just a characterization thereof, the same for police and border guards--and a communist checking you through Checkpoint Charlie. It was rather stern and official-like and intimidating. I slipped him an Elvis Presley swizzle stick, which he kind of looked askance and took his hand and got it into his hand and stuck it in his pocket and never moved his eyes from looking forward. I was happy to pass Elvis along. While I agree with the gentleman who spoke earlier about President Reagan and some of the things he did in spending to help defeat the Soviet Union and bring down that wall, a lot of what brought down that wall was the people and their yearning for freedom, which was expressed through Radio Free Europe and other manners in which the German youth heard American music and saw American life. They saw blue jeans and they heard rock and roll, they heard Elvis, they heard the Beatles, they heard all kinds of people. Eventually that wall came down and they heard Pink Floyd; Pink Floyd played and the world listened and the wall came down. When I returned years later to Berlin, I drove through the Brandenburg Gate, which I don't think I was supposed to, but I did. And that was fun, I could do it, it was freedom. I thought back upon the last time I had been in East Berlin and you couldn't do anything; it was such an ominous state. East Berlin now is a fun, thriving, great place with great restaurants and art scenes and freedom and people. It has really become more happening than the KuDam or Kreuzberg or the other areas in the West which are happening as well. But it was a great day when that wall came down. The Newseum has three or four portions of the wall here in Washington. I went there last week. I would encourage everybody, Mr. Speaker, to go to the Newseum, which is a great museum. It's a museum about history in America and the world, not just the news media, but about freedom. The reason they've got the Berlin Wall there is because of that freedom in the First Amendment, the freedom of press, the freedom of expression, and the freedom of association. You can learn about that and value it. You look at that wall and you see pictures of the people who died trying to get across, and coming up with ways to tunnel their way under the wall or to leap or to create some type of flying machines, and all the different ways, being inside cars or under cars and taken to freedom. Many died, some made it. It's a great tribute to people's yearnings for freedom and their desires to overcome the barriers put before them by repressive regimes. So I wanted to speak today because that was a momentous occasion in my life to see the Berlin Wall, to go into East Berlin and see the difference between our type of government and the Soviet repression, and then to go back later and see the joy that is now in East Berlin and the freedom that has been allowed to flourish. So I thank the gentleman for bringing the resolution, I thank the lady for bringing the resolution, and I encourage everybody to go to the Newseum and to cherish their freedom.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Madam Speaker, this weekend this House will be the scene of a debate on the most important bill that has faced this Congress and this country since 1965, and that is health care, putting out country on a path where it should have been in the 20th century but catching up. The AARP has recently endorsed the bill because they know that it helps senior citizens. It will guarantee that the rates don't go up and the doughnut hole will be closed. My local alternative paper, the Memphis Flyer, had a feature story, Young People and Health Insurance. Most young people don't have health insurance. They think they're invincible, they don't necessarily have jobs, and they can't stay on their parents' policy. When this bill passes, Madam Speaker, young people will be able to stay on their parents' health insurance policies until they're 27, filling a great void. Most parents don't like the idea of their children not having health insurance. This will help the young and the old. It will help all of America. It is, indeed, America's bill. I will proudly vote for it.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, today is the 14th anniversary of the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. Yitzhak Rabin was the Prime Minister of Israel on November 4, 1995, when he was assassinated. He was one of the great men of the world, and like November 22 in our country, that is a date that we should all remember. Yitzhak Rabin served two terms as prime minister, from 1974 to 1977 and 1992 to 1995. He also served as Defense Minister in Israel during the Six-Day War, and was responsible for the raid in Entebbe. He was a great Israeli leader who was killed because he reached out to bring about peace with the PLO. He was given the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts. During his time as Prime Minister in the seventies, he brought about peace with Egypt, and in the nineties with Jordan and with the PLO and with Yasser Arafat. We had a debate on this floor yesterday about a resolution. I don't think we would have been having that debate if the assassin's bullet had not struck Yitzhak Rabin. I think we would have peace in the Middle East. It takes strong men like him, sometimes men of war, to bring about peace and reach across the aisle to their adversaries.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, as we're up here discussing this, there are folks in the Democratic caucus trying to better understand the support that exists for this bill. This bill is not Speaker Pelosi's bill, and it's not the Democrats' bill. Mr. Speaker, this is America's bill. We are the only industrialized Nation in the world that doesn't have a plan to take care of health care for its citizens. America is catching up to the 21st century to where other countries have been in the 20th. In my community our emergency room at our public hospital is about to close because they're so far in debt because they have so many people that don't have insurance and can't afford to pay. They take them, but they can't afford to pay it with the property taxes that are ever- rising. This bill will help keep emergency rooms and trauma centers open. It will say to people that have preexisting conditions in America, and that's people give or take my age and older, 60 and up, in that area, and even younger people can get insurance, that there won't be a limit on the amount of moneys that you had before. And it will say to the insurance companies they don't make the rules, the people make the rules. And we will have insurance that's affordable and available and save our country economically and save individuals as well.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, this weekend, when I went home, I went to the laundry. A gentleman came up to me and said, You know, we've been friends for 40 years, and you're more liberal than I am--I'm a conservative--but let me tell you that I had a heart attack last month. Do you know what it cost? It cost $100,000. He said, Y'all have got to pass something with this health care. It's just too expensive, and if I were in a different situation, I might lose my health care and might not be able to get it. I had a Halloween party at a friend's house. I'm 60, and my friends are within the margin of error. They're about the same age. Several of them had had cancer, and they talked about how they couldn't get out of their health policies. The premiums were going up. The deductibles were going up, and it was costing them more and more; and they weren't authorizing certain treatments that they needed. They said, You need to pass that health care bill. It's important. I went to my local pharmacy, and a lady came up to me, and she told me about what the cost of prescription drugs was doing to her. I told her we were going to close the doughnut hole, that we were going to help her with her prescription drug prices. We need to get this country's health care policy where it doesn't destroy the financial condition of people's lives. We need to allow them to move on.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, this resolution, H. Con. Res. 177, recognizes the importance of citizen and community involvement in an effort to prevent crime and express support for the designation of October 1 through October 3 as Crime Prevention Week and October as National Crime Prevention Month. Celebrate Safe Communities is a relatively recent crime prevention initiative of the Justice Department in partnership with the National Sheriffs' Association and the National Crime Prevention Council. The goal of this initiative is to strengthen the partnership between citizens and law enforcement. In Memphis, my hometown, Stevie Morris formed a group called FFUNN, which works with young people to prevent crime. There are neighborhood associations. Neighborhood Watch is an effective group that works in the community, and so are Crime Stoppers programs. During the first week in October, communities throughout the country held events, educating the public about crime prevention and public safety programs. Not only do these events highlight crime prevention, but they encourage citizens to become personally involved in these programs. That's what the FFUNN group in Memphis and Stevie Moore did. Similarly, during the month of October, communities and law enforcement organizations commemorate Crime Prevention Month, promoting awareness of important issues such as victimization, volunteerism, and creating safer, more caring communities. The monthlong celebration highlights successful crime prevention efforts at the local, State, and national levels, all of which are important in our communities. I thank the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Reichert) for introducing this resolution. I urge my colleagues to support it. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, as I mentioned earlier, in Memphis, we've got many programs similar to these that have been discussed. The Freedom from Unnecessary Negatives with Stevie Moore is in the community, often visited by our sheriff, Mark Luttrell, who was named National Sheriff of the Year, with District Attorney General Bill Gibbons and with others, who visit and have cookouts, who talk about crime and who get the community oriented with their law enforcement officers--where they'll be wanting to report and work with the law enforcement officers. It has been a successful program. Crime Stoppers is a successful program where people get rewarded for turning in criminals. They get rewarded with financial incentives. The Neighborhood Watch programs are great programs where people work together to be aware of crime. These are all important, and this is an important effort to fight against crime, and that's why I ask everybody to support this bill. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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

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

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

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the concurrent resolution (H. Con. Res. 177) raising the awareness of the need for crime prevention in communities across the country and expressing support for designation of October 1, 2009, through October 3, 2009, as ``Celebrate Safe Communities'' Week, and October as ``Crime Prevention Month''.

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that this is a noncontroversial, bipartisan bill. As a Tennesseean who represents the district, which over, maybe, give or take, 200 years ago was represented by Davy Crockett, who went to Texas and made sure that these two fine gentlemen weren't part of a territory or part of a foreign nation, I am proud to work with them to see that this legislation comes to the floor.

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

Mr. COHEN. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I am honored to bring to the floor H.R. 3632, the Federal Judiciary Administrative Improvements Act of 2009. This bill will enact basic improvements to the Federal courts to ensure that our Federal court system is efficient and effective. The first section of H.R. 3632 seeks to address an inconsistency in the law on the eligibility of senior judges to participate in court governance matters. This minor change will ensure that senior judges have the ability to participate in the selection of magistrate judges. This legislation will also streamline the work of the District of North Dakota by eliminating references to divisions while maintaining the present situation that North Dakota constitutes one judicial district. H.R. 3632 will also correct inequalities among the members of the judiciary. First, it adjusts the disability retirement coverage and cost-of-living annuity adjustments of four territorial judges so that these members of the judiciary will be treated like other term judges, such as bankruptcy and magistrate judges. Second, this bill will change the annual leave limit for judiciary branch executives, and it will adjust the pay scale. H.R. 3632 also makes some minor adjustments for criminal matters. For example, it will improve the control and protection of confidential information by allowing the courts to separate the Judgment and Statement of Reasons forms. In addition, small changes will clarify the scope and authority of Federal pretrial service officers to assist juveniles. Finally, H.R. 3632 will change the timeline for the statistical reporting of criminal wiretapping orders by extending the deadline for judges to file these orders, by several months, with the Administrative Office of the Courts. Wiretap reports will continue to be provided annually to Congress, but this change will ease the administrative burden on judges, and it will make those annual reports more accurate. This noncontroversial legislation has bipartisan support. It has the full backing of the Judicial Conference of the United States, and the Senate recently introduced companion legislation. I ask my colleagues to join me in supporting this measure. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. COHEN. I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3632) to provide improvements for the operations of the Federal courts, and for other purposes.

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

Mr. COHEN

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, at the end of President Bush's term, this House was faced with a TARP bill. The American public likes bipartisanship, and we had bipartisanship on that bill. There were Democrats and Republicans who voted ``no,'' but there were Democrats and Republicans who voted ``yes.'' Just about everyone agrees that bill saved us from going over the abyss into a Great Depression similar to 1933. It was a moment of bipartisanship and a moment I was proud to participate in. When President Obama became President, bipartisanship ended. The ARRA--which everybody agrees, the stimulus package, has helped our economy and provided millions of jobs in State and local government and education and other places and provided jobs in the private sector-- didn't have a single vote on the Republican side. Not one single vote. And now on health care, we see not one single vote coming from the Republican side. Doing nothing is not the answer. Everybody knows the health system needs reform. In my city, the emergency room at Charity Hospital, the public hospital, is about to close. People are having great problems paying their premiums. We need health reform, and we need bipartisanship.