Danny Davis

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 58) to honor Muhammad Ali, global humanitarian, on the occasion of his 65th birthday and to extend best wishes to him and his family.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield such time as she may consume to the author of H. Res. 58, the gentlewoman from the great State of Indiana (Ms. Carson).

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure now to yield such time as he might consume to the distinguished gentleman from Louisville, Kentucky (Mr. Yarmuth), the home of Muhammad Ali.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I am so pleased that I got an opportunity to listen to the statement from the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich), who just made what I would consider to be one of the most common sense, passionate and eloquent statements about where America ought to be and what its position should be vis-a-vis the rest of the world. And so I want to thank you so much, Mr. Kucinich, for having had the opportunity to just hear the statement that you have just made. Mr. Speaker, like many others, I spent much of the weekend talking about the contributions of Dr. Martin Luther King and what he meant to America. And earlier today, we had a resolution, bill on the floor, celebrating the birthday and public holiday for Martin Luther King, Jr. One of the young staffers in Government Reform and Oversight had written a statement that I was supposed to have read at that time because I was supposed to have managed that bill, but I was not here. But I was so impressed by the statement that this young person had written that I decided that I would come and share it with the rest of America anyway. And so he wrote, Mr. Speaker, yesterday the Nation celebrated the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the impact he made on our society. His nonviolent struggle for freedom, dignity and equality of all races broke down longstanding barriers which denied equal opportunity to all Americans. Although we still have a long march ahead toward Dr. King's dream of peace and impartiality, his work inspired many to work for a world that respects and celebrates diversity. Born January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia, Dr. King stood out as a student and entered into the Christian ministry. There he responded to racial prejudices and injustices that surrounded him when Rosa Parks refused to relinquish her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus. Dr. King was elected to the Montgomery Improvement Association and led the bus boycott that ensued. Later, King would organize the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which provided him a platform to become a more influential leader in the civil rights movement. He continued to advocate civil disobedience, despite the fact that fire hoses and attack dogs were turned on him and fellow protesters in Birmingham. He spearheaded the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. The March on Washington brought more than 200,000 people to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and demanded the elimination of racial segregation in public schools, protection for demonstrators against police brutality and self-government for the District of Columbia. This march also included Dr. King's now famous, ``I Have a Dream'' speech, which became a profound turning point in the American conscience. In 1964, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and continued to lead the civil rights movement. His interests broadened from civil rights to include criticism of the Vietnam war and the plight of the impoverished. His plan for another march to Washington meant for underprivileged Americans was cut short when he was shot and killed on April 4, 1968. As we commemorate his life and work, we should apply the lessons he demonstrated in the context of current world events. His nonviolent approach to constructive change and his firm stance of fairness are leadership qualities that Washington and the world must remember and emulate. As we face issues of national importance day in and out in this Chamber, we must bear in mind the example that Dr. King set in the hope that one day, as he said, the leaders of the world will sit down at the conference table and realize that unless mankind puts an end to war, war would put an end to all of us. I think that is exactly what Mr. Kucinich was saying a moment ago. Mr. Speaker, I thank you again for the opportunity to have addressed the House this evening, and I thank my young colleague for having written such an eloquent statement.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I first of all want to thank the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia for not only organizing this special order, but for her tremendous devotion over the years. Many of us, long before we came to Washington, DC, long before we became Members of the House of Representatives, knew of the work of Eleanor Holmes Norton. As a matter of fact, I was talking to a gentleman the other day, Eleanor, who suggested that he went to elementary school with you, and that you were the smartest person in the class, and that he was always intimidated when he came to class because he knew that you were there. And I don't know whether you intended to intimidate him or not, but I do know that the passion, the intellect, the energy that you display is something for all of America to be proud of; and I know that the people in the District of Columbia are indeed proud of the representation that you have given them. The issue that we deal with, I take the position, is one of the most fundamental of all rights, one of the most fundamental of all desires, and that is the desire that people have to be represented; the notion that their thoughts, ideas, hopes, and aspirations will get the same consideration as those of anybody else. So when we look at voting rights in this country historically, it has been a privilege that people have had to fight and struggle to get. Initially, of course, the only people who could vote were landowners, who were white in America. Those were the only individuals who had the right to vote. Then we went through this long period of time, and ultimately a Civil War, where thousands of people actually lost their lives, and finally African Americans, who had been slaves, were granted at least the right, although in many instances denied the opportunity, to vote. Women, who had to wage their own war, their own struggles, ultimately won their right to vote. Only after the Voting Rights Act of 1965 did hundreds of thousands of citizens all over the country, especially African Americans and Latinos, actually have the right to vote. Yet now we still have thousands of people who are denied the right to vote because they live in States where if you have a felony conviction you can never, ever vote, unless you can obtain a waiver. So, yes, one can imagine how people in the District of Columbia have felt as we talk about expanding democracy, as we talk about guaranteeing democracy for people in Iraq, guaranteeing democracy there; and yet the people who live in our own District of Columbia have not been able to have that experience. So, Eleanor, I know that we are going to make sure this happens before this session of Congress ends as a tribute to you and a tribute to the long-standing work that you have done. One of my pleasures is to serve with you on the Committee on Government Reform and to listen and to learn and to be motivated, to be inspired, and to see the kind of wisdom that you express on a regular and ongoing basis. So I thank you for the opportunity to join you, I thank you for organizing this Special Order, and we will be standing right here with you when enough ``yeas'' are said that the people in the District of Columbia will have their right to vote. Mr. Speaker, I want to extend a thank you to Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton for this special order and her hard work and dedication to get the District of Columbia the right to vote with full representation. It is strange to me where our government by money and blood sought to assist Iraq to become a democratic state where each person will have one vote under their newly formed constitution to determine their nation's destiny. However, the residents in the District of Columbia for over 200 years have been denied by the United States government the right to vote with full representation. Moreover, DC presidents also are denied the right to full self-government--a fundamental right that should be possessed by all Americans. In 1950 with just under a million, the District of Columbia had more residents than New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, North Dakota, South Dakota, Delaware, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Alaska and Hawaii, respectively. All of these states from the beginning had U.S. Senators and U.S. Representatives representing their interests in Congress. Today, the District of Columbia has a duly elected Delegate that is not allowed to vote for legislative measures on the house floor. This is ``taxation without representation.'' The government has a history of denying its citizens the right to vote. We have seen it before the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Since its passage and signing into law by President Johnson it gave way to an enormous and positive impact to our Nation. The importance and necessity of the Voting Rights Act cannot be overemphasized. We have learned through experience what a difference the vote makes to us. The right to vote is the most basic constitutive act of citizenship. The right to vote should not be abridged by the United States or any State on account of race, color, gender, or previous condition of servitude. Fundamental fairness requires that all members of society who have reached voting age, including rehabilitated ex-felons, be given a right to the ballot in State and Federal elections. The lack of a nationwide uniform standard regarding ex-felons and eligibility to vote has led to a crazy quilt of laws, where in some States ex-felons are barred from voting for life. Currently, it is estimated that 3.9 million United States citizens are disenfranchised, including over one million who have completed their sentences. State disenfranchisement laws have had an adverse affect on African Americans. Thirteen percent of African American men, or 1.4 million, are currently disenfranchised because of such laws. We need to expand the right to vote to all citizens. Mr. Speaker, I urge all my colleagues to support the District of Columbia Fair and Equal Housing Voting Rights Act of 2007.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I want to commend first of all Representative DeGette and Representative Castle for their strong and persistent leadership on this issue, and I rise in strong support of it. I have five important research institutions in my Congressional district, and it is their position, it is my position, it is the position of a majority of my constituents, that we don't know all of the possibilities or potentialities of stem cell research, but we sure know that we have a responsibility to try and find out. Therefore, on their behalf, I express strong support for passage of this important legislation and look forward to unleashing the potential that it has.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of increasing the minimum wage. I want to thank Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic Caucus for deciding that this would be a priority for this Congress. I come from the State of Illinois where, 2 weeks ago, the Governor signed into law a new bill raising the minimum wage to $7.50 an hour, moving toward a livable wage. So I am so pleased that we are on track to follow the great State of Illinois, and I look forward to the day when we will be talking about a livable wage for every American who works so he and she can earn enough money to take care of the basic needs of their family.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on H. Res. 15.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, Gerald Ford, the Nation's 38th President, and the only person to serve both as President and Vice President, although elected to neither office, led the Nation out of the dark days of the Watergate scandal. When Ford took office on August 9, 1974, he declared: ``I assume the Presidency under extraordinary circumstances. This is an hour of history that troubles our minds and hurts our hearts.'' After playing football at the University of Michigan and serving on an aircraft carrier in the Navy during World War II, Ford was elected to the House of Representatives in 1948 as a Republican. The district he represented included his hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan. Ford's reputation for integrity and openness made him popular and well regarded among his peers during his 25 years in Congress. In 1965, he was elected minority leader. In October of 1973, Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned from office after pleading no contest to tax evasion. President Nixon, ensnared in the rising Watergate scandal, asked the well-respected Ford to leave Congress in order to replace Agnew, and he accepted. In September 1974, Ford granted President Nixon a pardon, an act that is credited for calming American anxieties about the Watergate controversy. ``It was a tough decision,'' Ford told USA Today in an interview in 2000. ``We needed to get the matter off my desk so I could concentrate on the problems of 260 million Americans and not have to worry about the problems of one man.'' Gerald Ford was a devoted public servant who led this country with grace and bipartisanship during challenging times. All of America is grateful to him for his leadership and dedication. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Virginia for his remarks and would like to yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Michigan, Representative Bart Stupak.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, in order to give additional Members an opportunity to speak on this resolution, and knowing that the morning has just begun and we are into early afternoon, I withdraw this resolution, with the objective of bringing it up at a later time so that additional Members would have an opportunity to speak.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Oftentimes when we talk about civil rights and the era of civil rights, and we talk of the individuals who were pushing perhaps the most, sometimes the name of Gerald Ford does not get included in that discussion, and he is not included in that discussion because he didn't always loom as high as some others might have. He was not necessarily one of these individuals that you would just simply know about. Oftentimes he did what he did somewhat quietly but, nevertheless, did it and it had the impact that it was designed to have. Such were his positions relative to civil rights issues, even prior to ever seeking or getting involved in public office. I was told a story of how, as he captained the football team, that there were some controversies relative to an African American member of the team who was not going to get an opportunity to play. Of course, President Ford, as football team captain at that time, a sort of president-in-waiting, learning what leadership really meant and what leadership was all about, just sort of took the position that if this gentleman was not going to be able to play, then neither would he. And of course the team was concerned, because if you have a star and the star is not playing, then of course it decreases your chance of winning. Think of what America would be if all of us stood up all of the time for stars, or for the individuals who had the potential to be stars, to make sure that they got their rightful chance, their rightful opportunity, got their acceptance because of what they could contribute and because of what they brought to the table. I guess that really was the understanding that Gerald Ford had even at that moment, and all of America continues to be grateful to him. Mr. Speaker, at this time it would be my pleasure and my honor to yield to the gentlewoman from California, the Speaker of the House, such time as she might consume.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, during the last week we have heard many discussions about the impact of President Gerald Ford. We have heard people talk about the fact that he was never elected to either the Presidency nor the Vice Presidency of the United States. But yet his impact has been felt in such a way, as I listened to Representative Ehlers from Michigan talk, that people still refer to the district as his district. I hear individuals who are sports fans who remember his days as an athlete when he played football and the fact that whatever the assignments were, that he could pick up the assignment and do exceptionally well with it, and that oftentimes he didn't veer too far from the center. He didn't always veer so far to the left or he didn't always veer so far to the right, but he was one of these kind of straight-down-the-middle people who protected the interests of his colleagues, who protected the well-being of his mates, who protected the interests of those on the team. I think he saw America as a team and, when he was given the ball, decided that his greatest challenge was to protect the interests of America. And that is what he did, even though he probably knew that it would cause some difficulty with his reelection. Even though he knew that in all likelihood and all probability there were individuals who would be concerned enough that they may not give him the kind of support that he would need to be reelected, he did it anyway. He did it because he could put the interests of the country above those of any personal feelings or personal need that he had. I think that that is really what puts him down in history as one who excelled to the point of greatness, because he served the country and served the interests of the country extremely well. Mr. Speaker, when students study politics, when young people are trying to understand what it is that they need to be and what they ought to become if they really want to be a great public servant, they should study the life of President Gerald Ford, and they should understand that being a public servant is to put the public interest first. That is what he did, that is what he is noted for, and that is why all of America continues to revere him, especially those of us who are old enough to remember that period, who are old enough to kind of recall the mood of the people and what was taking place and what was going on at that time. No matter how historians write the script, you can never take away what President Gerald Ford did for America. That is why we salute him, and that is why we raise him up; that is why we lift him to the American people, and that is why this resolution is so important. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the debate on the pending motion to suspend be extended to 1 hour.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure now to yield such time as he may consume to one who knew President Ford well, the Dean of the House of Representatives, the Honorable John Dingell from the State of Michigan.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks on H. Res. 15.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield such time as he may consume to the majority leader, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), one who did know the President, but, as I observed a few minutes, not quite as long as Representative John Dingell.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, as I close, let me just first of all commend and thank Representative Ehlers for introducing this resolution. I also want to thank all of those who have come down and taken the time to speak. In summing up the life of President Gerald Ford, I am reminded of something that my mother used to tell us all the time, and that is that if a task is once begun, never leave until it is done; be the labor great or small, do it well or not at all. President Gerald Ford, wherever he was, did his work well, whether it was on the football field, at the university, in the halls of Congress, as Vice President and ultimately as President of the United States of America, and our country is a better place because of it.

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

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the debate on the pending motion to suspend the rules be extended to 1 hour.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, thrust by President Nixon's resignation into an office he had never sought, former President Gerald Ford occupied the White House for just 896 days. They were, however, 896 extraordinary days that President Ford used to guide the Nation through and out of the dark days of the Watergate scandal. When Ford took office on August 9, 1974, he declared: ``I assume the Presidency under extraordinary circumstances. This is an hour of history that troubles our minds and hurts our hearts.'' Ford got his first exposure to national politics at Yale University, working as a volunteer in Wendell Willkie's Republican campaign for President. After World War II service with the Navy in the Pacific, he went back to practicing law in Grand Rapids and became active in Republican reform politics. The rest is history. President Ford was elected to the House of Representatives in 1948 as a Republican. Ford's reputation for integrity and openness made him popular and well regarded among his peers during his 25 years in Congress. In 1965, he was elected minority leader. Mr. Ford was a devoted public servant who led his country with grace and bipartisanship during challenging times. The country is grateful to him for his leadership and dedication. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 15) mourning the passing of President Gerald Rudolph Ford and celebrating his leadership and service to the people of the United States, as amended.

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois

Mr. DAVIS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I attended the inauguration ceremonies for the constitutional offices of the State of Illinois. I want to congratulate the people of Illinois for the diversity in its selection of individuals to run their State. Governor Rod Blagojevich was reelected; Lieutenant Governor Patrick Quinn, Irish American; Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a young Irish American; Secretary of State Jesse White, African American; Comptroller Dan Hynes is Irish American; and State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, a Greek American who is 30 years old and is going to do an outstanding job. I simply congratulate the people of the great State of Illinois on its selection of constitutional officers to run its State.