Jimmy Duncan

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to this bill. As the House Liberty Caucus wrote, this bill violates the 10th Amendment that conservatives have always supported. More troubling is the way this bill is worded. It could lead to what the Liberty Caucus describes as a ``massive expansion of Federal authority'' because it could make almost every medical malpractice case a Federal case. Every case should not be a Federal case. The States have already put pretty severe limits on medical malpractice cases. I have two other problems with this bill. I am in my 29th year in Congress. The doctors were asking for this $250,000 limit then, too. $250,000 29 years ago is certainly not $250,000 today. Finally, this bill, in the end, is saying there are really no limits on suits against 99.8 percent of the people I represent, but we are going to have special protection for this one very respected group of people. Conservatives have traditionally had more faith in people than in government. I was a judge for 7.5 years before coming to Congress. Conservatives used to believe strongly in the jury system, and still should believe in that today.

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, in one of the Capitol Hill newspapers today is this cartoon, a cartoon showing a general with several stars on his shoulder, saying: ``Sixteen years of blood, bombs, bullets, and devastation, and no one's winning,'' talking about our 16- year war in Afghanistan. And then the cartoon shows a very greedy- looking man holding a briefcase called War Incorporated, with all kinds of cash sticking out of both sides and with this greedy smile saying, ``Oh, I wouldn't say that.'' And that is what this war is now all about, this 16-year war. It is being held up and continued only because so many people and companies are making money out of it. Just yesterday, in The Washington Times, there was this story entitled, ``War and Waste,'' and I would like to read some of that story. ``Those are the basics for outfitting an Afghan soldier. But in that simple uniform combination are the threads of two troubling stories-- one about the waste of millions in American taxpayer dollars''-- actually, it is many billions--``the other about the perils of propping up a partner army in a seemingly endless war. ``Together these tales help explain why some in Congress''--and it should be everyone in Congress--``why some in Congress question the wisdom of investing even more resources in Afghanistan, nearly 16 years after the United States invaded the Taliban-ruled country in response to the al-Qaida attacks of September 11, 2001. The Army general who runs the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan calls it a stalemate. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says the U.S. is `not winning.' '' And I will continue with this story: And, sadly, the only Americans who are being killed in recent weeks have been killed by the Afghan soldiers who we are paying and who we are there trying to help out. Continuing this story: ``The long war has generated repeated examples of wasted funds, which may be inevitable in a country such as Afghanistan, where the military has been built from scratch, is plagued with corruption and relies almost completely on U.S. money for even the most basic things, including salaries and uniforms. Among the costs rarely noted publicly: The Pentagon has spent $1 billion over the past 3 years to help recruit and retain Afghan soldiers.'' And then, I continue with the story: ``The Pentagon has not disputed the gist of findings by its Special Inspector General for Afghanistan, John Sopko, that the U.S. spent as much as $28 million more than necessary over 10 years on uniforms for Afghan soldiers with a camouflage `forest' pattern that'' is totally ``inappropriate for the largely desert battlefield. ``In a report released this past week, Sopko's office said the Pentagon paid to license a propriety camouflage pattern even though it owns patterns it could have used for free.'' The Pentagon spent $28 million to get something that it could have gotten for free. ``The choice,'' it said, was based on the seemingly offhand fashion preference of a single Afghan official. `` `This is not an isolated event,' Sopko said in a telephone interview. The U.S., he said, has been `in a mad rush to spend money like a drunken sailor on a weekend furlough.' It reflects a pattern, he said, of spending too much money, too quickly, with too little oversight and too little accountability.'' And he continues, Mr. Sopko: `` `This was more than just a bad fashion move,' he said. `It cost the taxpayer millions of dollars' more than might have been necessary. ``Money is rarely part of the debate over what the United States should do differently or better in Afghanistan, and thus the accumulating costs are often overlooked. ``Since 2002, the U.S. has spent $66 billion on Afghan security forces alone''--in addition to many, many billions more on other things in trying to do nation building in Afghanistan, which we never should have been doing in the first place. ``In recent years, this spending has grown''--listen to that. In recent years, this spending has grown over the $66 billion. ``Stephen Biddle, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, said the money wasted on camouflage uniforms is symptomatic of a broader problem of official corruption that has sapped the strength and spirit of too many Afghan soldiers.'' And he added this: `` `The real problem in Afghanistan is not, ``Can we get a rational decision about which camouflage design it should be.'' The real problem in Afghanistan is that cronyism and corruption' ''--that word is in that story several times--`` `corruption in the government and the security forces saps the combat motivation of the soldiers.' '' Mr. Speaker, it is time for us to end this very wasteful war and get out of Afghanistan.

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, for 7\1/2\ years before coming to Congress, I was a judge in Tennessee trying felony criminal cases. I tried the attempted murder of James Earl Ray and many other high- profile cases. Robert Mueller, with his close relationship with James Comey, should never have been appointed as special prosecutor in a case in which Mr. Comey is such a central player. Mr. Mueller should never have accepted such an appointment when offered. That would have been the honorable thing to do. Then, to make matters much worse, he has hired several lawyers who are big contributors to and are active campaigners for Hillary Clinton and other Democrats. Most people believe there are many conflicts of interest here. There are hundreds of thousands of lawyers who could have been hired who had not been involved in any way for either the President or Mrs. Clinton. This investigation has been tainted, and any action now will look like a partisan witch hunt. Former Speaker Gingrich said what we now need is a special counsel to investigate the special counsel.

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, this morning I met, once again, with representatives from Remote Area Medical, its founder and president, Stan Brock, and its leaders, Jeff Eastman and Anabel Evora. Remote Area Medical, also known as RAM, is an organization that helps medical professionals volunteer their services to our Nation's neediest. Over its 32 years, RAM has provided free healthcare to almost 1 million people over the course of 862 weekend events so far. Their largest clinic was in Los Angeles, where over 7,000 people showed up to receive free dental care, eyeglasses, women's health services, and other free medical services. Unfortunately, only 12 States currently allow RAM to host these free clinics with volunteer medical professionals from all over the country. That is why I introduced H.R. 860, the HEALTHIER Act, so that people nationwide can have access to free healthcare clinics like RAM's. RAM is willing to provide these free healthcare services to several million more people across the Nation if only we will allow them to do so. Mr. Speaker, I commend Stan, Anabel, Jeff, and all the others who work with RAM for their great work, and I urge my colleagues to help to support my bill, the HEALTHIER Act, to help many more people receive free medical care.

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, this is my 29th year in Congress. I have followed the issues since my early teens more than 50 years ago. I have never seen anywhere close to the anger and hatred there is on political issues today. Yesterday, on the ``Chris Plante Show,'' he mentioned a professor, John Griffin, from the Art Institute of Washington. Last month, Professor Griffin posted a link to a Washington Post column, with the professor commenting that all Republican Members of the House ``should be lined up and shot.'' He added, ``That is not hyperbole. Blood is on their hands.'' That was in support of a Washington Post column by Paul Waldman saying the Republican healthcare bill was an ``act of monstrous cruelty'' that should ``stain those who supported it to the end of their days.'' Those who have so much hatred and anger in their hearts and minds seriously need to seek religious or psychiatric help.

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, ObamaCare has created a healthcare crisis for the people in my district. Not long ago, I received this letter from one of my constituents in Knoxville: ``I just read where Humana Insurance Company will not offer health insurance in any of the exchanges in 2018. This puts my wife in a predicament, as there will be no health insurance companies offering health insurance in 2018 in Knoxville at this time. We need help with this mounting issue, as I am sure there are a lot more of us in the same boat. When we first signed up for ACA insurance 3 years ago, her monthly premium was $245. The second year it was $660. This year it is $963 a month. This is absolutely ridiculous for a person on a limited income.'' Many thousands in Tennessee and across the Nation have very similar stories. My constituent was right. It is ridiculous. Now, even this expensive insurance will disappear, and there are a lot of people in the same boat as my constituent and his wife. Because there has been so much publicity about how the Republicans now control both Congress and the White House, it seems a great many people do not realize that we are still totally and completely under ObamaCare. A bill was passed in the House, but a different version is being discussed in the Senate. So Republicans have not yet done anything to change ObamaCare. So if someone is still having trouble getting health insurance or is still paying too much for their insurance, it is still because of ObamaCare. Just today, in the nonpartisan Capitol Hill newspaper, The Hill, is this headline, ``Insurer exits bolster GOP case for ObamaCare repeal.'' Insurance companies are still pulling out right and left all over the country because of ObamaCare. ObamaCare is still imploding all over the country. ObamaCare's allegedly compassionate regulations were supposed to guarantee access to healthcare for the sick. Instead, they have made access worse. Current propaganda seems to be persuading some people that ObamaCare is really protecting the people it claims to be, but Harvard and others are finding otherwise in their studies. They are finding that the ObamaCare regulations literally penalize insurers who offer quality coverage for the sick. This motivates insurers to offer only unattractive plans to people with expensive medical conditions. The insurance company who offers the best plans ends up with the most--and the sickest--enrollees, and so the highest costs. Sadly, this is causing a race to the bottom. The ObamaCare regulations are causing everyone, including people with preexisting conditions, to have low- quality coverage or no insurance options at all. ObamaCare's harmful government regulations have driven every insurer out of the marketplace exchange in 16 counties in the Knoxville region. For 43,000 Tennesseans--unless Blue Cross Blue Shield can come back into the area, which they are considering--there will be no exchange plans available after December. But it is not just in Knoxville. Millions of Americans have only one insurer left in the exchange, if any. ObamaCare's regulations are driving out more and more insurers every day, leaving Americans with less choice and ultimately no choice. Throwing more taxpayer money at this problem won't solve it. This will continue to happen all across this country as long as we have ObamaCare's harmful regulations on the books. Knoxville, Tennessee, is the canary in the ObamaCare coal mine. Mr. Speaker, President Trump says he wants to repeal ObamaCare. He should send his healthcare people to Knoxville, talk and listen to our people, share my constituents' stories, show the American people that ObamaCare's regulations are the cause of our Nation's crisis and are limiting access to healthcare. If President Trump goes before the Nation on national television and explains in understandable detail what is going on with ObamaCare now and how he is trying to fix it, the American people will rally once again to repeal ObamaCare's harmful government regulations. Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record this Wall Street Journal article written by Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute. [From the Wall Street Journal, Feb. 28, 2017] How ObamaCare Punishes the Sick (By Michael Cannon) Republicans are nervous about repealing ObamaCare's supposed ban on discrimination against patients with pre- existing conditions. But a new study by Harvard and the University of Texas-Austin finds those rules penalize high- quality coverage for the sick, reward insurers who slash coverage for the sick, and leave patients unable to obtain adequate insurance. The researchers estimate a patient with multiple sclerosis, for example, might file $61,000 in claims. ObamaCare's rules let MS patients buy coverage for far less, forcing insurers to take a loss on every MS patient. That creates ``an incentive to avoid enrolling people who are in worse health'' by making policies ``unattractive to people with expensive health conditions,'' the Kaiser Family Foundation explains. To mitigate that perverse incentive, ObamaCare lobs all manner of taxpayer subsidies at insurers. Yet the researchers find insurers still receive just $47,000 in revenue per MS patient--a $14,000 loss per patient. Predictably, that triggers a race to the bottom. Each year, whichever insurer offers the best MS coverage attracts the most MS patients and racks up the most losses. Insurers that offer high-quality coverage either leave the market, as many have, or slash their coverage. Let's call those losses what they are: penalties for offering high-quality coverage. The result is lower-quality coverage--for MS, rheumatoid arthritis, infertility and other expensive conditions. The researchers find these patients face higher cost-sharing (even for inexpensive drugs), more prior-authorization requirements, more mandatory substitutions, and often no coverage for the drugs they need, so that consumers ``cannot be adequately insured.'' The study also corroborates reports that these rules are subjecting patients to higher deductibles and cost-sharing across the board, narrow networks that exclude leading cancer centers, inaccurate provider directories, and opaque cost- sharing. A coalition of 150 patient groups complains this government-fostered race to the bottom ``completely undermines the goal of the ACA.'' It doesn't have to be like this. Employer plans offer drug coverage more comprehensive and sustainable than ObamaCare. The pre-2014 individual market made comprehensive coverage even more secure: High-cost patients were less likely to lose coverage than similar enrollees in employer plans. The individual market created innovative products like ``pre- existing conditions insurance'' that--for one-fifth the cost of health insurance--gave the uninsured the right to enroll in coverage at healthy-person premiums if they developed expensive conditions. If anything, Republicans should fear not repealing ObamaCare's pre-existing-conditions rules. The Congressional Budget Office predicts a partial repeal would wipe out the individual market and cause nine million to lose coverage unnecessarily. And contrary to conventional wisdom, the consequences of those rules are wildly unpopular. In a new Cato Institute/YouGov poll, 63% of respondents initially supported ObamaCare's pre-existing-condition rules. That dropped to 31%--with 60% opposition--when they were told of the impact on quality. Republicans can't keep their promise to repeal ObamaCare and improve access for the sick without repealing the ACA's penalties on high-quality coverage.

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, people who are the loudest in proclaiming their tolerance are often the most intolerant people of all. This has been proven in spades this year at the most liberal leftwing college campuses all over this country. Almost all colleges and universities now have programs or offices supposedly promoting diversity. However, this diversity apparently does not apply to conservatives. Probably the least diverse groups in this Nation today are the faculties of our universities. And while almost everyone in higher education will say they are for freedom of speech, conservative students know they can express their views only at the risk of lower grades. In addition, almost no leading conservatives are invited to be college commencements speakers. This year, we have even seen very hateful demonstrations and some violence at universities when conservative speakers have been invited to speak at these supposed bastions of free speech. Some of the young student haters conducting their far-left demonstrations would have fit right in during the book- burning, anti-free speech days in Nazi Germany.

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, the Chaplain mentioned, in his prayer a few minutes ago, D-day. I rise today, Mr. Speaker, to honor the brave Americans who fought the most influential naval battle of World War II: the Battle of Midway. This week marks 75 years since U.S. forces defeated the Japanese Imperial Navy, forever changing the course of history. Victory in this battle allowed the United States and its allies to go on offense for the duration of the war. This was a real turning point in World War II. The Japanese came to the battle from June 4 to June 7, 1942, with the largest armada they had ever assembled and the intention to finally defeat U.S. Naval forces in the Pacific. An American intelligence breakthrough cracked the Japanese fleet codes, allowing us to anticipate and to prepare for this attack. With our mere three carriers to their many carriers, battleships, and cruisers, the odds of victory were not in our favor, a true underdog story. The land-based air supports that Midway Island allowed and our naval officers' uncanny ability to adapt and think on their feet led to our success and kept our country safe from the Axis powers. I was very pleased to work with the late Senator Jesse Helms and the International Midway Memorial Foundation to pass legislation declaring Midway Island a national memorial so that it may be protected and forever serve to honor the American lives lost in the pursuit of victory in this war.

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, many years ago I received an undergraduate degree in journalism, was a reporter on a daily newspaper, and taught journalism for 1 year. In those years, there was a clear separation between the front page and the editorial page. I don't believe I have ever read a more biased, partisan, opinionated paragraph in a ``news'' story than one that was on the front page of yesterday's Washington Post. Philip Rucker does not now deserve the title of journalist but, instead, should be referred to as a Democratic or leftwing hack. He wrote that a traditional President would have reacted carefully ``to the London attacks by instilling calm, being judicious . . . and appealing to the country's better angels.'' Instead, he accused President Trump of reacting ``impulsively . . . stroking panic and fear, being indiscrete with details . . . and capitalizing on it to advocate for one of his more polarizing policies and to advance a personal feud.'' Apparently, Mr. Rucker is so blinded by hatred for the President he cannot see straight and has written one of the most unfair, one-sided articles I have ever read in a ``news'' story in what used to be a newspaper.

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Madam Speaker, in my 29 years in Congress, the issue on which I heard the most from constituents in the shortest time was on the big bank bailouts of several years ago. When that was before us, I received 6,600 emails in one weekend just in my Washington office from Friday, when the office closed, until Monday, when we opened back up. This, of course, was in addition to the many thousands of phone calls, letters, and emails that came in during the week before and the week after. I opposed that big bank bailout, but, of course, extremely big business won again and the Congress voted for the bailout. Three years ago, in 2014, I wrote the following in a newsletter to my 760,000 constituents: ``A few weeks ago, George Mason University released a report saying that `since the financial crisis, U.S. banking assets and deposits have continued to consolidate in a handful of large banks.' The five largest banks now hold 44 percent of U.S. banking assets compared to 23.5 percent in early 2000. Liberals in Congress passed the Dodd-Frank law, which I opposed, supposedly to get back at the banks that caused our most recent financial troubles. The George Mason report also said the Dodd-Frank law is `disproportionately burdensome to small banks' and `creates a market expectation that designated firms are too big to fail.' Columnist Veronique de Rugy wrote that `the number of small banks has dropped dramatically over the years,' and this has been `driven by regulatory burdens that make it hard and expensive for small banks to survive.' I have been told by several east Tennessee bankers that, unfortunately, their fastest-growing departments have been their regulatory compliance sections. The more any business or industry comes under Federal regulation, the more it ends up being dominated by extremely big business.'' Now, to update what I wrote in 2014. According to the Congressional Research Service, 1,744 banks have ceased to exist since the passage of Dodd-Frank. Many of those have been forced to merge with a bigger bank because they simply were not able to keep up with all the rules, regulations, and red tape of Dodd-Frank and the resulting compliance costs. Even worse, 203 small banks have failed--been forced out of business by Big Government--with a resulting huge loss of jobs and lost investment by stockholders. In addition, nationally, 160 credit unions have closed. Either they failed or were forced to consolidate with a bigger credit union. Thus, Dodd-Frank, as most Federal regulatory legislation, ended up helping the big giants and hurting the little guys--the smallest banks and credit unions. In a study by Hester Peirce and Robert Greene, the authors wrote: ``Regulatory compliance can be a particular challenge for small banks with limited compliance expertise. Regulatory expenses absorb a larger percentage of small banks' budgets than of their larger counterparts' budgets. As financial regulation has increased, so has banking concentration. The Dodd-Frank Act, passed in 2010, imposes a new set of regulations that are disproportionately burdensome to small banks. Moreover, by designating the largest financial institutions as `systemically important,' Dodd-Frank creates a market expectation that designated firms are too big to fail and generates funding and other competitive advantages for the largest U.S. banks.'' Liberals, Madam Speaker, often claim that they are for the little guys, and most Federal laws are well intended. But there is a saying to ``beware of the tyranny of good intentions.'' Every industry that is highly federally regulated almost ends up in the hands of a few big giants. Federal regulators should start trying to help out the smallest business instead of always ending up helping extremely big business. That is something that happens in almost every business and industry in this country, and it needs to be reversed.

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, President Eisenhower's most famous speech was his farewell address in which he criticized the military industrial complex. However, 7 years earlier, in April of 1953, he gave a speech, entitled, ``The Chance for Peace,'' with these words: ``Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. . . .'' ``The cost of one modern heavy bomber,'' Eisenhower added, ``is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. . . . We pay for a single fighter with a half-million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. . . .'' Eisenhower concluded: ``This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense . . . it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.'' President Eisenhower loved the military, but he hated war. He would never have gone along with a 16-year war in a place like Afghanistan, especially since it is one mainly done for personal glory for generals and more money for defense contractors.

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I wish today to pay tribute to a longtime friend and one of the finest women I have ever known. Margaret Gaiter recently passed away on May 12, 2017 at the age of 91. I was honored to know Mrs. Gaiter and her late Husband, Felix. They both helped me as a young attorney by giving me the privilege of representing their business. Mrs. Gaiter had always been very kind to me and was a person who treated everyone with love and respect. A 1947 graduate of Knoxville College, Ms. Gaiter worked for the Knoxville Housing Authority in the 1950s and 1960s where she helped families relocate from dilapidated homes and buildings. She also worked for the Knox County Public School System's parent involvement program which she retired from in 1988. A member of Rogers Memorial Baptist Church in Knoxville, she served as minister of music for the church for over three decades. Mrs. Gaiter always lived her life by the Golden Rule. In 2007, Mrs. Gaiter and her late husband Felix were awarded the Knoxville Area Urban League's Whitney M. Young, Jr. Lifetime Award for their work on social justice and civil rights issues. This speaks to the role she played as a leader in her community. In 2007, after the Knoxville News-Sentinel wrote a very nice series of articles about Felix and Margaret Gaiter, I wrote a letter to the paper commending it for doing so. In my letter I stated: ``The Gaiters have touched thousands of lives in kind and positive ways and have set an outstanding example for everyone. This Nation is a better place today because of Felix and Margaret Gaiter.'' My wife Lynn went to visit Mrs. Gaiter a few weeks ago when she found out Margaret might possibly be nearing her death. Lynn and I send our condolences to Mrs. Gaiter's children and many grandchildren and great- grandchildren. Mr. Speaker, Margaret Gaiter was a wonderful wife, mother, and citizen. I call her life and accomplishments to the attention of my Colleagues and others. This Nation would be a much better place if we had more people like her.

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, Mr. C.L. Trammell was a high school teacher and coach in my hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee for over 30 years. When he was a boy, he always wanted to make it big as a baseball player, but had a different destiny instead. He became the father of Bubba Trammell, a star Major League Baseball player for several major league teams.

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to support H. Res. 69, the National DIPG Awareness Resolution, in honor of Julia Barbara Psar--one of my constituents who passed away from Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) on May 17, 2016. DIPG is the deadliest type of pediatric brain tumors. According to the CDC, brain tumors are the leading cause of childhood cancer death, and DIPG is the second most common malignant brain tumor found in children. DIPG has a less than 1 percent survival rate, and most children die within nine months after being diagnosed. This little girl--Julia Barbara Psar--died just before her third birthday. I have always read and heard that the worst thing in the world is to outlive one of your own children, and I have no doubt this is true. I have met with my constituents Mr. and Mrs. Psar, and I do not believe someone can ever have closure after a loss like theirs. Words cannot express how heartbreaking this tragedy is. Our children urgently need us to find a cure for DIPG. Today, I urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 69, establishing May 17th as National DIPG Awareness Day in hopes of curing the deadliest type of pediatric brain tumors.

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, many Tennesseans care about the Three ``F's'' in life: Faith, Family, and Football. One outstanding Tennessean in particular, Coach Ken Sparks, incorporated his love for all three of these into his amazing life. Ken Sparks devoted his life to his alma mater, Carson Newman University, as an inspirational coach for almost 40 years. While his record setting list of wins and accomplishments with his football teams might give someone else a big ego, Coach Sparks always kept the focus on someone else. I had the honor of celebrating his impact on my district, thousands of student athletes, and other coaches just a few months ago at his retirement ceremony. Coach Sparks spoke of success, wins, and achievements, but he did it while giving all the credit to the Lord. He spoke of his gratefulness to God through his amazing life experiences. The life that Ken lived was one that was devoted to building up the success of others while remaining humble through each level of success he achieved himself. He had an amazing ability to connect with players in a way that gave them purpose on and off the field. The love he had for his faith, family, and football were given deeper meaning with the devotion he had to his wife Carol, and their four children and 14 grandchildren. Even though he was diagnosed with cancer five years ago, he continued to work hard to bring glory to God. Although Tennesseans are greatly saddened by his loss, we should reflect on his life and the legacy he left behind. I encourage all my Colleagues and others to celebrate the amazing life of Coach Sparks. I would also like to call attention to the article that appeared in the Knoxville News Sentinel on March 31, 2017, entitled ``Ken Sparks, A Life Well Lived''. news sentinel editorial board, published march 31, 2017 A wave of sadness washed over East Tennessee on Wednesday with the word that Carson-Newman University football icon Ken Sparks had succumbed to cancer. Carson-Newman and Sparks were inseparable, venerable institutions. He had dedicated nearly four decades to shaping young men's lives who played football for the university. That was more important to him than any of the championships, the trophies, the accolades, the numbers. ``I'm grateful to be part of a profession where you can teach about life while you're teaching blocking and tackling,'' Sparks said in 2010 when he was honored with the Robert R. Neyland Trophy. ``The Lord has blessed me. ``I hope that through things like this I can honor the Lord and that it has more meaning than what's on the scoreboard at the end of the field.'' Sparks, 73, a Knoxville native, retired after the 2016 season after courageously battling through his cancer diagnosis in 2012. Polite, warm, always smiling, Sparks coached 37 seasons, recorded 338 wins, made 25 playoff trips, won 21 South Atlantic Conference titles and 5 national titles for the university where he graduated in 1967. He coached in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics and the National Collegiate Athletics Association Division II as well as at several high schools before returning to Carson-Newman in 1980. In addition to the Neyland Trophy, Sparks has been honored with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes Lifetime Achievement Award. Sparks was elected president of the American Football Coaches Association in 2007. In 2002 he received the All-American Football Foundation's Johnny Vaught Lifetime Achievement Award. Sparks earned NAIA coach of the year honors in 1984 and was voted SAC coach of the year 12 times. A forgiving man, he gave troubled players who had lost their way at other institutions a second chance. ``You're going to have influence, whether you like it or not,'' Sparks said last November when he retired. ``Everyone of us is an example of something. We can talk all we want to, but our walk is what tells people who we are. ``The Lord has put us in a position where we've been able to have an audience of players and people that want to know the message. That's what I hope I've been true to, the Lord's message.'' When Sparks announced his retirement, Carson-Newman athletics director Allen Morgan called it a sad day. ``It's a day we honor Ken and the legacy he is leaving for how he has touched young men's lives in a way far greater than wins on a football field. ``He has molded boys to become Christian young men, husbands and community leaders where they too can give back. So today, it's Ken Sparks' day. The entire Carson-Newman community gives thanks for what he has done not only for Carson-Newman but for the greater good of mankind.''

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, defense spending was $348 billion in 2002. Now it is well over $600 billion a year, and this total does not include the military construction budget which has totaled more than $181 billion over the last 10 years, and many billions more in supplemental appropriations. There is presently a request for another $30 billion supplemental appropriations for the military. On top of all this, almost every year for the 29 years I have been here, there has been an end-of-the-year omnibus appropriations bill which always contains even more for the Defense Department. I have always believed that national defense is one the most important, most legitimate functions of the Federal Government. But I am also a fiscal conservative. With our Nation $20 trillion in debt and many trillions more in unfunded future Social Security and pensions liability in the years ahead, we desperately need some fiscal conservatives in the Pentagon. I realize that the easiest thing in the world to do is to spend other people's money; and you can never satisfy any government's appetite for money or land. They always want more. But it is a myth to say or think that the Defense Department is underfunded when defense spending has doubled since 2002. Yet, even though this spending has gone way up, most people around the country seem to believe it has gone way down. We hear some saying the military has been decimated or has undergone drastic cuts. This has been a masterful public relations job, I assume, by the Pentagon, working with defense contractors and think tanks funded by the defense industry. Last year, we spent $177.5 billion for new equipment, tanks, planes, weapons of all sorts. Most of this equipment does not wear out after just 1 year, yet we keep spending similar amounts on new equipment every year. I mentioned that the military construction funds are in a separate bill, not in the regular Defense Department appropriations bill. The $181 billion we have appropriated over the last 10 years in this bill means you probably cannot find any military base in the world without new construction going on, and much more that is only 3 or 4 years old or even newer. We have a $20 trillion national debt. Last week, I read in The Washington Times that the estimate now is that we will be $91 trillion in debt 30 years from now. Obviously, if we allow that much debt, we will be printing so much money that our Social Security and military and civil service pensions will be worth very little. In the biography, ``Bonhoeffer,'' about the famous theologian, by Eric Metaxas, it says that, in 1921, the currency exchange rate was 75 German marks to the dollar. The next year, it was 400 marks to the dollar. Then inflation really took off, and, by early 1923, it was 7,000 to 1. Metaxas wrote: ``The resultant economic turmoil would make the bleak conditions of a few months earlier look like the good old days.'' By August, a dollar was worth 1 million marks. The book says: ``By the end of 1923, things had become impossible. In October, Dietrich wrote that every meal cost 1 billion marks.'' Germany, in the early 1920s, was one of the most educated countries in the world. It is hard to imagine what could happen here in the United States if we continue to spend money we do not have and run trillions more into debt. With the exception of a brief downturn in 1958, President Eisenhower gave the Nation 8 years of peace and prosperity and balanced budgets, and he looks better with the passage of time. He spent most of his career in the military and loved and respected that institution. But in a new book called ``Ike's Bluff,'' by Evan Thomas, is this very interesting observation: ``Eisenhower was, in effect, his own Secretary of Defense.'' When Defense Secretary Neil McElroy warned him that further budget cuts could harm national security, Eisenhower acerbically replied: If you go to any military installation in the world where the American flag is flying and tell the Commander that Ike says he'll give him an extra star for his shoulder if he cuts his budget, there'll be such a rush to cut costs that you'll have to get out of the way.'' He would periodically sigh to Andy Goodpaster, his Chief of Staff, ``God help the Nation when it has a President who doesn't know as much about the military as I do.'' As we all know, Eisenhower made a famous statement in his farewell address warning against the excesses of the military-industrial complex. I think, Mr. Speaker, he would be shocked at how far we have gone down that road against which he warned us.

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, one of the finest men I have ever known, Mr. D.M. Miller, was the subject of a lengthy article in the Knoxville News-Sentinel. The article told of his 48 years in education in my hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee. Mr. Miller touched thousands of lives in good and positive ways during his career as a teacher, coach, principal, administrator, and school board member. This country is in a better place today because of the life and service of D.M. Miller. I include in the Record, the story about Mr. Miller in the Knoxville News-Sentinel from March 2, 2017. [From The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Mar. 2, 2017] (By Rebecca D. Williams) You might say D.M. Miller of Knoxville, 91, a longtime educator and coach, was in school most of his life. ``I remember seeing my first basketball game, at South Harriman School, where my aunt was playing. I was 6 or 7 years old,'' he said. ``I was born in Roane County on Oct. 22, 1925. My parents were Ben and Stella Schubert Miller. My dad had a fourth- grade education and my mom had a fifth,'' he said. By the time he was 10, the family moved to Knoxville and lived in Lonsdale. ``This was during the (Great) Depression, and everybody was poor. My dad was a machinist, a motor mechanic, an electrician and a carpenter. He was without work at times,'' Miller said. When he was a student at Lonsdale Elementary School, Miller remembers the marching band from Rule High School going on ``strike,'' and marching around Lonsdale, to protest the fact that Rule only had 10 grades. The kids wanted 12 grades so they wouldn't have to walk to Knox High School, Miller said. Rule High School had 12 grades by the time Miller got there. He lettered in basketball, track and baseball, and was captain of the football team and vice president of his senior class in 1944. Shortly after graduation, Miller joined the U.S. Navy, during World War II. ``Everybody wanted to join up,'' he said. ``My mom wouldn't let me drop out of high school to go in. I graduated from Rule High School on a Friday and went right in the Navy, a boatswain's mate.'' Miller served on the U.S.S. Gosper, an amphibious invasion and casualty evacuation ship in the Pacific. The ship was part of the Okinawa invasion. ``There were four of us boys from Rule High School over there, and two of them got killed at Okinawa. We thought we were going to invade Japan, but thank goodness (the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb) and the war ended,'' he said. ``Then, they sent us to Corregidor (Philippines), and we picked up 2,700 American, Canadian and British prisoners of war. None of them weighed a hundred pounds. They were skeletons,'' he remembered. After the war, Miller returned to Tennessee and enrolled in Maryville College on the G.I. Bill, where he played football and majored in education. ``All the veterans had come back from the war, and we had a pretty good ball club,'' he said. ``I played on an undefeated team and in the Tangerine Bowl, a forerunner of the Citrus Bowl, in 1946.'' As a senior, he met Viola ``Vi'' Marshall, at a dance. ``I saw her dancing and cut in,'' he said. ``We started going together and got married June 2, 1952.'' In 1950, Miller was hired back at his alma mater, Rule High School, as an assistant coach of several sports and teacher of math, science and health. He eventually became the head football coach of the ``Golden Bears.'' When the drafting teacher died unexpectedly on a Friday, Miller was asked to take over his class. He had only had one class in drafting in high school. ``I studied all weekend to get ready,'' he said. ``I taught on Monday.'' Miller went back to the University of Tennessee at night for a master's degree in administration and became assistant principal of Rule High School for four years, and then principal from 1965 through 1975. It was a time of racial integration of the schools. ``We had on one side of us Lonsdale Homes, and on the other side was College Homes. And in between there was Western Heights, the largest low-income housing project in the area. So we started integrating in 1970. I enrolled 1,625 kids in a school that would hold 1,000. Eight hundred were black. We had the Black Panthers on campus; we had to run them out. It was not easy. I broke up the first fight,'' he said. Discipline back then involved a ``long paddle,'' Miller said. ``Our kids were used to it. Mamas would call me and say, `Handle it.' You have to be fair and firm and consistent. There's no in-between,'' he said. After being principal, Miller was asked to work in the Knoxville City Schools administration building as the administrative assistant to the superintendent. He also served on the control board of the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association for nine years, during which time he helped TSSAA build an office in Hermitage, reclassify schools, and implement Title IX. He was inducted into its Hall of Fame as an administrator in 1994. Miller retired after almost 35 years in the city school system, and was elected to the Knoxville City School Board in 1986. The city and county schools merged in 1987, and Miller was elected to the consolidated board for his second term. ``I'm the only man to have served on both,'' he said. The Millers had three children, a daughter in 1952, and two sons. Even though he was an educator, Miller's daughter could not go to public schools. ``Our daughter, Elizabeth, we call her Libby, was born handicapped. They told us we should put her in an institution. We just couldn't bear to let her go, so we raised her. ``The (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) hadn't come into effect yet. So she never had any education. We couldn't get her in a regular school. Her speech was a problem. We had her at every speech clinic, and we had her to doctor after doctor, but she never went to school,'' he said. Libby Miller is 64 today. She lives with the Millers and attends the Sertoma Center each day for adults with intellectual disabilities. In retirement, Miller has been very active in his church, New Hope Presbyterian. And Miller still keeps in touch with other students from Rule High School, which closed in 1991. In 2015, the Rule Alumni honored Miller with a ``Greatest Among Us'' Award. ``I counted it up one time, and I've been in education about 48 years,'' he said. ``Given my mom and dad's education, it's a miracle.

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia for yielding, and I want to say that, in a short time in the Congress, he has become one of our greatest Members, and I appreciate him leading this effort tonight. It is sad, it is unfortunate that, with any big government program, a small number of individuals or companies find ways to manipulate the system and become wealthy. That is why 6 or 7 of the 10 wealthiest counties in the U.S. are suburban counties to Washington, D.C., and that is wrong. I have read for years about the revolving door at the Pentagon, about the defense contractors hiring all the retired admirals and generals. The same thing has happened with the Food and Drug Administration, that the big drug giants have hired all the former top people at the FDA, and we have a drug price crisis in this country today. There are many parts of it, but we want to talk tonight about one that most don't know about and you almost have to be a pharmacist to really understand what is going on. But I rise tonight, Mr. Speaker, to join my colleagues in exposing, as I say, an almost unknown culprit in our Nation's drug price crisis, pharmacy benefits managers, also known as PBMs. PBMs are essentially middlemen between pharmacies and drug manufacturers, but the legal relationships among PBMs, pharmacies, and drug and insurance companies have become increasingly entangled and complex. For instance, one of the largest pharmacy chains also operates its own PBM, and one of the largest medical insurance companies also operates its own PBM. PBMs are supposed to be helping keep down the costs of drugs by negotiating discounts and helping pharmacies with managing drug plans, as they often claim to do. Despite these PBM promises, though, I have heard from several pharmacy owners in my district who say that many PBMs are, in reality, ripping them off by drastically raising drug costs. PBMs have tricks of the trade that include retroactively charging pharmacies more for drugs that they have already sold and processed. I am also told that PBMs also take too long to update the market value of the drugs on their covered drug lists. But these tricks are just two. PBMs use many more. According to one expert and pharmacy owner in my district, he has seen three primary causes for recent increases in prescription drugs: one, FDA involvement, including requiring ``modern clinical trials'' of old drugs that have worked for decades; two, drug manufacturers needlessly hiking the price of generic drugs; and three, PBMs charging ridiculous prices for drugs and pocketing the profits. According to my constituents, PBMs are the main culprit of the three. This pharmacist recently met with me and shared an eye-opening example. One of his senior customers came in with a prescription for a fairly common drug. The prescription had a real or actual cost of $23.40, but the pharmacist found that the PBM was charging a copay of $250, over 10 times the actual cost of the drug. The pharmacist chose to just absorb the PBM's ridiculous copay, and only charged his customer the actual cost of the drug. Another pharmacist in my district emailed me, describing how PBM practices are accelerating seniors into the Medicare part D coverage gap, or doughnut hole. He said: ``All of these PBMs have these types of unfair compensations . . . This is not fair, and it hurts our seniors.'' Even more pharmacists in my district have also reached out to me, saying that they only get pennies on the dollar for the drugs they sell. PBM actions are forcing pharmacies to deny patients access to critical medications, or to give drugs away for free. The Daily Times in Blount County, in my district, recently ran a story on PBMs called ``Sworn to Secrecy.'' The article cites a pharmacist in Pennsylvania, Eric Pusey, who says that his patients' copays for drugs are often higher than out-of-pocket costs. Why? Because of PBM clawbacks. Mr. Pusey says that if he explains clawbacks to his customers, some get fired up and don't even believe what we are telling them is accurate. Another pharmacist in Houston says: We look at it as theft--another way for the PBMs to steal. Most people don't understand. If their copay is high, then they care. Susan Hayes, a pharmacist in Illinois, says that these PBM clawbacks are like crack cocaine, the PBMs just can't get enough. Some PBMs are facing lawsuits with accusations such as defrauding patients, racketeering, breach of contract, and violating insurance laws. Since 1987, when the first of the three largest PBMs incorporated, drug prices have increased 1,100 percent, Mr. Speaker, and per capita expenditures have jumped by 756 percent. The three largest PBMs make up about 80 percent of the drug market, which includes about 180 million patients. These PBMs often conduct business through mail order practices. They sometimes will automatically fill prescriptions month after month even if the patient no longer needs the medication, resulting in terrible waste. Patients include veterans and Medicare beneficiaries--endangering them, wasting their benefits and taxpayer dollars, and driving up the cost of drugs. As we heard President Trump say in his address last night, we need to look into the artificially high drug prices right away. A good place to start is PBMs. Mr. Speaker, PBMs must be more transparent in their operations so that they can be held to their promises and to the law. I will just close by saying that PBMs must no longer be able to get away with conducting their business with such unethical methods that they are using now. In short, PBMs must be held accountable for their roles in the Nation's drug price crisis. I join in supporting our community pharmacists.

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Charles ``Deedle'' Walker who will be turning 90 years old on March 4, 2017. Deedle Walker was born in East Tennessee in 1927. He helped operate his older brother's gas station when the United States was at war during WWII. He once entered a free throw contest shooting under-handed and managed to finish second after sinking 24 out of 25 free throws. After graduating from Carter High School, he was offered a basketball/football scholarship at the University of Alabama. Unfortunately, he became ill from spinal meningitis and did not go there. However, he was lucky to later attend Carson-Newman College. He hitchhiked to college daily to attend class and starred in basketball and baseball under the tutelage of legendary Coach Frosty Holt. He also signed a minor league contract with the Pittsburgh Pirates. More importantly he met his future wife, Martha Dale Kitts, of Knoxville, Tennessee while at Carson-Newman. While attending a friend's wedding, in which Martha was a bridesmaid, in Washington, D.C., Martha and Deedle became engaged. They were married later that day at the Capitol Hill Baptist Church on August 5, 1950. Martha Walker later taught English and was the librarian at Carter High School where Deedle attended. Deedle enjoyed a 40-year career with the telephone company Southern Bell and its successors, and he was also a longtime basketball referee in the Knoxville area. Deedle is an early riser and a hard-working man. In fact, he still greets anyone who sleeps past 8 a.m. on a Saturday morning with ``Good afternoon.'' Martha and Deedle had five children: Mark, Laura, Christopher (died in infancy), Joel and Don. They now have eight grandchildren and five greatgrandchildren, with another one on the way. I hope everyone will join me on March 4th in wishing Deedle Walker a Happy 90th Birthday.

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, in Scott Berg's biography on Woodrow Wilson, it says that, in World War I, we had one officer for ever 30 enlisted men. President Eisenhower once said we had too many officers when we had one officer for every nine enlisted. Now we have one officer for every 4\1/2\ to 5 enlisted. We are almost overrun with retired admirals and generals. This is very expensive. President Trump wants to greatly expand the numbers in our Armed Forces. If we do, what we need is more enlisted men and women, not more officers. I started in the Army as enlisted and left as a captain, but we simply can't afford as many officers as we have today. We now have 475,000 retired officers drawing military pensions and 1,500,000 enlisted retirees. These two million military retirees, and those near retirement, should be demanding more fiscal conservatism by the Pentagon, or, in the very near future, we will not be able to pay our military pensions with money that will buy very much.

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, approximately 58 percent of the people in this world have to get by on $4 or less a day. This means roughly 4 billion of the 7 billion in the world are living in extreme or very great poverty. If we simply opened our borders, probably several hundred million would come here over the next 2 or 3 years. Our entire infrastructure-- our schools, hospitals, jails, sewers, roads--in fact, our entire economy could not handle a massive, rapid influx like that. The American people are the kindest, most generous people in the world. We have allowed far more immigration than any other country over the last 50 years--many millions. No other country has even come close. But we must enforce our immigration laws. The great majority of the American people want border security. President Trump's immigration order was not a Muslim ban. It did not even apply to 9 of the 10 largest population Muslim countries. The President's efforts are being completely distorted. He is simply trying to do what the people want.

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, Bret Baier of Fox News has a new book called, ``Three Days in January.'' It is primarily about President Eisenhower's warnings against the excesses of the military- industrial complex. Today, we have a military-industrial security complex that is more about money than it is about any realistic threat. I think President Eisenhower would be shocked at how far we have traveled down the road against which he warned us. Our new President has spoken out against the excessive, exorbitant cost of some of our newest military equipment and weapons systems. The only way we will ever bring these costs under control is if we stop the revolving door at the Pentagon, where the defense contractors hire all of the retired admirals and generals. President Eisenhower once said: Heaven help us if we ever have a President who doesn't know as much about the military as he did. We need more leaders who have the guts to say ``no'' to the excessive spending by the military-industrial complex.

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, some people have expressed concern that President-elect Trump will start a trade war if he gets tough on trade. But what they are not admitting, or perhaps it has never occurred to them, is that we have been in a trade war for many years, and we have been losing. China has followed a China-first policy for years to their great benefit, while we have sent millions of good jobs to other countries and several million of our young people now can find jobs only in restaurants. With only 4 percent of the world's population, we buy 21.7 percent of the world's goods. We used to buy about 25 percent, but we have more competition around the world now as most countries are trying to move away from socialism while we seemingly move toward it. But we still have tremendous leverage on trade that we have not used because every country wants desperately into our markets. We need to negotiate trade deals that will create more jobs in this country. We need, Mr. Speaker, to tell foreign leaders that we want to buy things from them, but they need to start buying from us, too. Friendship is a two-way street.

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. I thank the chairman for yielding to me and for his support of this legislation. Mr. Speaker, this is very simple, bipartisan legislation that would require organizers of Presidential libraries to disclose the identities of donors and the amounts they give. It wouldn't limit any donations; it would simply require disclosure. I introduced this legislation several Congresses ago because I felt then and feel now that the public should be made aware of possible conflicts of interest that sitting Presidents can have or may have while raising funds for their libraries. First of all, I thank Ranking Member Cummings for again cosponsoring this very important legislation and making it bipartisan. The legislation is so bipartisan that, after the first time we passed the bill--and it passed 392-3--it was taken over, at my request and with my agreement, by then-Chairman Waxman, who made it his bill. We passed it once again, and we passed it in the last Congress by a simple voice vote, so there is a lot of support for this bill. In the Senate, it was introduced by Mr. Carper and Mr. Coburn, when he was in the Senate. We need to get some more interest over there, and I think we are going to be able to do that in this Congress. Mr. Speaker, we do not know who these donors to the Presidential libraries are or what interests they may have on any pending policy decisions that are to be made. I think that our government needs to operate in the open, not with secrecy. This legislation will apply to all future Presidential libraries and mandate, regardless of party, that the names of the donors and the amounts they contribute be disclosed. I would like to add that this legislation will apply to President Trump's future Presidential library. This will require him to disclose more than any other President has ever had to disclose before. This will be an unprecedented disclosure, and it falls in line with his stated desire to drain the swamp. Any sitting President has a great deal of power. Funds should not be raised for a Presidential library in his honor without some type of public disclosure. I decided to introduce this bill after news reports surrounding a proposed Presidential library exposed that foreign governments from the Middle East were making very large donations. Then, in 2007, The Washington Post reported that President Clinton's Presidential library raised a substantial percentage of the cost of its facility with foreign contributions. However, this is not a partisan issue. I have introduced this and supported this legislation under both Democratic and Republican Presidents. The Presidential Library Donation Reform Act of 2017 would bring clarity to the process of planning and building these Presidential libraries. In 2013, Sunlight Foundation Policy Director Daniel Schuman endorsed an earlier version of this bill during a hearing in front of our House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, where he said it ``would provide valuable information on special interests whose donations put them in close proximity with Presidents.'' Even Richard Cohen, the very liberal columnist for The Washington Post, once said about this bill: ``But surely it would be anything from interesting to illustrative to just plain damning to see what names are on that list and for what amounts.'' Our citizens have the right to know the details of these fundraising activities. This bill has been introduced by the Center for Media and Democracy; the Center for Responsive Politics; the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, often known as CREW; Common Cause; Public Citizen; the Society of Professional Journalists; and many others. USA Today wrote a very favorable editorial about this bill, and it has been mentioned favorably in many publications across the years. I think it is a bill that everybody on both sides of the aisle can support, and I ask my colleagues to support this very bipartisan legislation.

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. Speaker, the best, most effective charity does not come from government agencies, which mainly help those who work for the agencies. The best, kindest charity comes from one individual helping another. I often tell young people to try to pull themselves away from their very addictive screens (computer, iPads, television) and go out and help a live human being. Their lives will mean more if they do. That is why I was so impressed by Bob Hunt's column in the November 25 Knoxville News-Sentinel by the work started by Christine Maentz, and carried on now by her, her husband Scott, and others helping feed Knoxville's homeless. I would like to call this column to the attention of my colleagues and other readers. Drops of Charity Better Than Drought (By Bob Hunt) ``In the first centuries of Christianity, the hungry were fed at a personal sacrifice, the naked were clothed at a personal sacrifice, the homeless were sheltered at a personal sacrifice. And because the poor were fed, clothed and sheltered at a personal sacrifice, the pagans used to say about the Christians `See how they love each other.' ``In our own day the poor are no longer fed, clothed and sheltered at a personal sacrifice, but at the expense of the taxpayers. And because the poor are no longer fed, clothed and sheltered, the pagans say about the Christians `See how they pass the buck.' ''--Feeding the Poor at a Sacrifice, by Peter Maurin (1877-1949) Peter Maurin was a Catholic philosopher in the tradition of Christian personalism. He, along with Dorothy Day, founded the Catholic Worker movement, which today is represented by over 200 houses of hospitality that offer food, clothing and shelter to the poor. Not willing to wait for the government or church to organize official relief efforts, Maurin believed that it was the personal responsibility of Christians to commit themselves to serving those in need by way of personal sacrifice through the corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Maurin pointed to St. Francis of Assisi as the inspiration for Christian personalism. Today, another Francis is inspiring many with his message that the Church is a field hospital for the wounded, and that Christians must leave the confines of the church building and, ``go outside and look for people where they live, where they suffer, and where they hope.'' Christine Maentz saw a need last December. She was concerned that the poor who often gather under the bridge at Broadway and Magnolia would have nothing to eat on Christmas. She convinced her husband, Scott, to make dozens of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with her and take them downtown. They passed them out to the homeless under the bridge while a rainstorm poured down around them. Christine and Scott have been back every month since, now bringing bunches of friends with them along with items of clothing and hygiene packs, in what they call their Bridge Ministry. It's an example of Christian personalism. The Maentz' didn't ask permission from their pastor or the City Council. The money spent in the effort was their own. They saw the need, took personal responsibility and made a personal sacrifice to meet it. Will it solve all the problems of the homeless? No. Will it feed every hungry person in the city? No. But, it's a drop. A journalist once asked Mother Teresa, ``Mother, all that you do here amounts to nothing more than a drop in the bucket. Why do you bother?'' Mother replied, ``It's a drop.'' The question to ask, I think, isn't, ``Why bother?'' The question to ask is, ``Where are all the other drops? Why isn't that bucket full yet? Where's your drop? Where's mine?'' Christine and Scott Maentz, and the others who now join them, offer their drops. They would like to eventually expand the Bridge Ministry to every Saturday. But, that will require more people willing to offer their drops. There are other needs in the city waiting to be filled, waiting for others to offer their drops. The bucket is very large. But, each drop is one more drop toward filling that bucket. Perhaps another rainstorm can be started. It all begins with one person taking personal responsibility and making a personal sacrifice. So, what's your Saturday look like?