Hansen Clarke

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. This amendment would restore $5 million to the Women, Infants and Children Farmers Market Nutrition Program. This would allow low-income pregnant women and low-income women who have just given birth to purchase food directly from farmers to benefit their young infant children up to age 5. This is very important in many areas around the country, especially in the area that I represent, the city of Detroit, where you don't really have that many markets around. Many times, families--even young mothers--have to go to gas stations and drug stores just to purchase groceries. That's not acceptable. That really encourages poor eating habits, poor nutrition, and it really increases our health care costs that all of us as taxpayers ultimately bear. So I urge you to consider this amendment. It's a fair proposal, and it's very cost-effective. It provides low-income mothers and their children with good nutrition, which is the best medicine for health care--helping to get better nutrition to prevent people from getting sick. The other thing, too, is that, throughout the entire debate on this budget, many of the speakers would say that those who benefit from these programs--low-income women, infants and children--really don't have a voice, so many of us here in Congress have to be their voice. I'd like to say, though, that the people who have benefited from these programs do have a voice. My mother, Thelma Clarke, was a single parent, and she raised me. She was a child of the Great Depression. Ironically, during the Great Depression, she passed out in her school classroom because of malnutrition. It was during the 1930s, and times were very dire in the city of Detroit. She was experiencing tough economic times all the while I was growing up as a young kid and as a teenager. She vowed what happened to her would never happen to me, so she provided me with all the food I wanted--great meals with groceries that she purchased with food stamps. It worked for our family, so I want to say this, not just about this amendment but about the role of government. I think the reason why this country is so great, and I thank God that my dad immigrated to this country, the United States, as opposed to another one, we are so great because we understand the value of pooling our tax dollars together to help each other. That makes this country stronger. It provides everyone, everyone, with an equal opportunity. That is what makes this country one of the most extraordinary in modern civilization. So I ask for $5 million. Let's give every child that same chance. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. Well, it relates to a different issue. It deals with food safety, and that comes right after this. It does amend page 6 as well.

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. At least not dealing with this specific subject matter. I do have an amendment that amends this same page, page 6, and page 17, but that deals with reinstating funding on a food safety bill.

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. Let me consult with our staff here.

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. Thank you very much, and I will ask for a vote on this.

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. Madam Chair, the funding source that I'm using to offset the cost of this amendment I believe won't undercut the vital mission of this agency, unlike the other sources that have been mentioned. However, I am willing to work with the majority on negotiating a proper funding source. All I care, the bottom line, is that the public is safe and that we are diligent and do the best that we can to identify these bacteria sources that could make the public sick.

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. I move to strike the last word.

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. Mr. Chairman, I represent metropolitan Detroit. And not too long ago I took some corporate officials for a tour of neighborhoods on the city's east side near where I grew up. I showed them blocks of big, beautiful brick homes, three and four bedroom homes. And when you got up close to those homes, you realized that none of them had windows, none of them. There were blocks and blocks and acres and miles of neighborhoods that have been devastated, devastated. Now, I'm a member of the Homeland Security Committee. My duty is to protect metro Detroit from terrorist attack or tornado or some other natural disaster, but it wasn't a flood or a fire that destroyed those neighborhoods. They were devastated because of foreclosures, foreclosures that this body--that I accused when I was a member of the Michigan legislature of not effectively addressing the housing crisis. But also foreclosures that were caused in part by a lot of rich folks around here who are hoping, praying, gambling, wishing, betting that homeowners would lose everything that they have. What kind of country is this that we encourage people to make money--billions of dollars-- off people losing everything? That's outrageous. That's not American. Come on, people. We want folks to get rich because families lose their homes and other neighbors stay in their homes but they lose their entire life savings that they invested in it? Of course not. This is why I ask us to support the Rosa DeLauro amendment, because the Commodity Futures Trading Commission needs more staff, it needs more resources. And some of you are saying, well, we can't afford it. But look at the cost, the cost to our families, the cost to our local units of government that can no longer afford to hire police and fire, the cost to our taxpayers who are now living in fear of crime because they don't have the protection of their first responders. That's a cost that we cannot afford to bear. I urge all of you to support the DeLauro amendment. It's something that we need, and it's right for this country. We want people to earn money from offering value, not by destroying neighborhoods. I'm appealing to the best in you, support this amendment. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. Madam Chair, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. Madam Chair, this amendment would restore $1 million to the Microbiological Data Program. Now, this is a USDA program that collects and tests fruits and vegetables, domestic and imported fruits and vegetables for bacteria that could cause illness and even death. Recent tests have discovered salmonella and strains of E. coli similar to that found in the German food supply that resulted in the deaths of 24 people and which infected over 2,400. So this amendment is important in order to protect the public from food-borne pathogens that could make the public sick or that could put innocent lives at risk. I do urge your support. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. Madam Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. Madam Chair, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. Madam Chair, this amendment would really undercut the whole purpose that I was offering an additional $1 million: to help protect the American people from food-borne bacteria. Over 2,400 people were infected in Germany by a strain of E. coli; 24 of them died. We don't want this to happen here in this country. The gracious chairman, the gentleman from Georgia, and I agreed to work something out to better protect the public. I'm just asking if maybe you could withdraw this amendment to give us a chance to work out something here. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, we must save Medicare and Medicaid. With more and more people growing older and the costs of medical technology skyrocketing, the proposal to end Medicare would result in many seniors on a fixed income going bankrupt. The proposal to gut Medicaid would end up throwing our loved ones out of nursing homes and into the streets. I will tell you how Congress can best balance the budget. Just do these three things: Help create more jobs, help stop foreclosures, and help keep people healthy by providing health care to everyone.

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. I would like to address the point of order.

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. Mr. Chair, what I heard is my amendment may not be in accordance with the rule; but I know one thing, it's in accordance with what we need in this country. We need to take a share of that money that we are spending in Afghanistan to secure those people to secure our people here back home. That money that you say is not being spent, give it to me. The city of Detroit, we'll spend that money. We need the police officers, the firefighters, the emergency medical providers and radios to talk to each other.

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. I will do so, Mr. Chair, and to that end, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment and will offer separate legislation to protect the American people. We need to redirect that money from Afghanistan and bring it back home. Our people need it. It is our money in the first place.

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. Mr. Chair, I offer an amendment.

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. Yes.

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, Americans are at risk. They are at risk of having their homes and their businesses demolished, of being injured and even killed, either by a natural disaster such as the tornados that have hit us recently or through a terrorist attack that will more likely come from within the United States. This is not the time to cut the Homeland Security budget, and that's why today I propose taking military aid to Afghanistan and redirecting it to better equip and to hire more firefighters, more police officers, more emergency medical providers. State and local governments don't have the money to provide these resources because our home values have plummeted due to the foreclosure crisis, which this Congress has failed to address effectively. There is one responsibility, though, that this Congress must honor, our duty to protect the American people. We, who live in this country, deserve to be safe. Restore the cuts to the Homeland Security budget, and redirect the money from Afghanistan to protect Americans.

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. I move to strike the last word, Mr. Chair.

Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. Mr. Chairman, I support this amendment, as well, for several reasons. Number one, it's very obvious that our first responders, our firefighters, they are the first there to take care of the public when a natural disaster such as these tornadoes that have hit our country demolish homes and injure people. But most importantly it is this: our local units of government right now don't have the money to properly equip and staff their firefighters. And here's why: their property values that they have depended on for their funding, well, they've been diminished because of the foreclosure crisis, a crisis that this Congress has failed to effectively address. So there's one duty, however, that we can't turn our back on. And that's the safety of the American people. And that's why I urge you to at least partially restore funding for these important firefighter grants. And while I may have a problem with the funding source of this amendment, I will tell you the appropriate way to fund our first responders, firefighters, police officers and emergency medical providers, take a share of the military aid that's going to Afghanistan right now; bin Laden is gone. We need to reassess our mission in Afghanistan and redirect some of that money to protect Americans right here at home. Let's put some of that money in the Homeland Security budget. It's our firefighters that are our first defense against a terrorist attack. I support this amendment. We have the money. We just need to allocate it right. We've done enough in Afghanistan. Let's take some of that money and put it right here to protect the American people. Support homeland security, because the next threat that we likely will get from a terrorist will come from within our borders. Let's take care of our people right now. I yield back the balance of my time.