Bob Etheridge

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to defend the honor of my State's senior Senator. Last night on this floor, Republican Members attacked Senator John Edwards over his career as an attorney for ordinary people who have been wronged. The critics could not be more wrong. Growing up in the small town of Robbins, John Edwards learned the values of hard work and standing up for the little guy. He used those values in his profession as an outstanding legal mind to fight for folks who would turn to him as their last chance for justice. In North Carolina, we know well that John Edwards earned a reputation as the people's lawyer. The Raleigh News and Observer called him ``an avenging angel.'' The Charlotte Observer called him a ``powerful advocate for average North Carolinians. And the Wilmington Morning Star said, ``By background and occupation, Mr. Edwards seems inclined to take up for people who work hard and struggle against long odds.'' Others described him as a ``soft-spoken David who has done battle with the Goliaths'' on behalf of the little guy. Mr. Speaker, the Republicans are wrong to attack John Edwards. He has earned an outstanding record for leadership and service for the people of North Carolina. He will make a great Vice President.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Madam Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank my friend from New Jersey. Let me also thank the gentleman for being here and joining us this evening on this evening of special orders to talk about our ticket and for those of us from North Carolina to have a little swelled up pride about having a North Carolinian on the ticket for the first time in actually 140 years. We have to remember that really the person that was on there 140 years ago really was from Tennessee. He just was born in North Carolina. So we have a great deal of pride in John Edwards and the fact that our presidential nominee John Kerry had, as I said earlier, the vision and the wisdom to reach out and touch him and bring him and Elizabeth along. I think they will add a great deal to the ticket, and I thank the gentleman for his comments and leadership. As we said earlier, this thing of elections is really about the future. It is about our hopes, it is about our dreams. It is about responsibility on the part of individuals. But it is also about people who care. The gentleman's point was on target. We are elected, all of us, here in this House and over in the Senate, to represent the people of this country. Every person that has a grievance, within reason, ought to be able to have us to deal with it in some way. If they do not get their shot and only those who have the money and the influence to have people to get things done, then the average person gets left out, and that questions a whole lot of things. We talked earlier about our vice presidential nominee in John Edwards. I like to think of the values that John Edwards learned growing up in Moore County, in North Carolina, and they are the same values that I think I picked up growing up on a farm down in Johnston county. When you grow up in a rural area, you learn you have to depend on your neighbors. I told a group the other day, I remember, today we would not think about going to our neighbor and saying I want to borrow a cup of sugar or a cup of flour or some coffee. But that is the way it was in rural North Carolina when John Edwards was growing up. People would go over and do it, and then return it. Today we hop in the car and go to the store and get it, because you have a few more resources. But I think among those shared values that he picked up and he learned were the value of hard work, love of family, faith in God and in our country, and a dedication to the larger community, where neighbors look out for one another, and everyone has a decent shot at the American dream. John certainly lives his faith every day. He is not the type of person that you see wearing it on his sleeve, where he talks about it. It is a part of him. I know actually even before he was in the Senate, our children, our two older children attend the same church he does in Raleigh, and he is faithfully there with his children every Sunday now that he is in the Senate, and he was before when he was in Raleigh. He is really in touch with the American people, because he never lost touch with where he came from. Even though he grew up in Robbins and went to North Carolina State University and on to the University of North Carolina to get a law degree, he helped earn that money along the way to get his degree. Yes, he has been successful, because he has worked hard. There is nothing wrong with a person working hard and being successful, as long as they are honest in what they do. That is what the American dream is all about. That is what public education is about, getting an opportunity to make it. And whether the issue is working to improve our schools, or bolster economic development to create good jobs, or making healthcare, as you have talked about, a little more affordable for working families and available for those who have been injured, John Edwards always had the family of small town America in mind, because that is where he comes from, where you grow up and the values you learn are the values you carry with you all your life. Just like the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price), when you grow up in a small town, you may move to the big city, but the old adage has been said, you can take the boy out of the country, but you cannot take the country out of him when you bring him to the city. John Edwards is the same way. You have those things, those values you learned, that make all the difference in the world. I once had the occasion to work in a cotton mill for about a year. We did not call them textile mills then, we called them cotton mills. There was a reason for that, because there was a lot of dust and lint in the air and they were hot, they were dusty and they dirty. It was good work, and there were great people that worked there. They were great people. They were God fearing people that cared for their country and helped one another. But it is hard work, it is hot work and it is dirty work. His dad worked there for 36 years, and I can tell you it is hot in the summer because there is very little breeze. I have heard some on the other side question why John frequently mentions his father's work in the textile mill. I think it is an important point to make. I think he makes it because he wants people to understand not only does he care about his parents, but he cares what they taught him. Those are the values that he carries with him today. John Kerry recognized that when he said, ``I want John Edwards to join me,'' and he made that call last week. He understood it. He saw it in him. I think John Edwards is the embodiment of the notion that in America, the son or daughter of a mill worker has just as much right to run for higher office as the son or daughter of a President or a corporate tycoon. I predict to you he has already shown himself to be capable and able, but I think the American people will see over the next several months and learn to love him; a young man who came from Robbins, North Carolina, married his college sweetheart, and has done quite well. He has the tools to be a great vice president. I guess one of the other things I like about John Edwards is he and I share probably only one other thing: He and I were both first in our family to go to college. Madam Speaker, you have a heavy obligation when you do that, because you have an obligation to help others. He has a strong and abiding commitment to helping working families get access to college, because he understands education is the one thing that levels the playing field. It does not make any difference what one's ethnicity or economic situation is, or who one's parents are or where you come from; if you get an educational opportunity, you have a chance to make it. He knows firsthand that a quality college education really is the key to the American dream. I predict to my colleagues that as Vice President, he will fight to promote education, because he does know, as I have already said, it levels the playing field for everyone and gives them that chance for success. Those are the values that have made America great, and those are the values that he brings to this ticket. Those are the values that John Kerry saw in John Edwards when he made that decision. I predict to my colleagues that they will make a great team. They will make a difference in America; and that, as has been said by all of my other colleagues this evening in one way or another, they will give America hope again, because there are those who want to provide fear. They are about optimism and hope and dreams and possibilities and opportunities, so people can feel good not only about America, but our position with our allies and friends around the world, and that every person takes responsibility for themselves as we move forward into the 21st century. Let me now close by thanking my colleagues for joining me this evening. And since I only have a couple of minutes, I want to close with a little poem. I think it says a lot about this ticket of John Kerry and John Edwards. It is written by the person who writes more lines than anyone else. It is anonymous. It is entitled ``The Builder.'' It goes like this. ``I watched them tear a building down, a gang of men in a busy town. With a ho-heave-ho and a lusty yell, they swung a beam and a side wall fell. I asked the foreman, `Are these men skilled, the kind you would hire if you had to build?' He smiled and said, `No, indeed. Common labor is all I need, for I can wreck in a day or 2 what men have taken years to do.' I thought to myself as I went my way, which of those roles have I tried to play. Am I being careful to measure the world by the rule and a square, or have I been content to roam the town, content to do nothing but tear things down?'' Madam Speaker, I predict to my colleagues that John Kerry and John Edwards will be builders. What this country needs is people with a good attitude, with a vision to build, bring people together, and let America be America again.

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Madam Speaker, I thank my friend for his kind comments. And he is absolutely right. Elections are about the future, and this election certainly is about our future and the kind of balance we have. John Kerry had the good sense to reach down and choose a man who really the people had already had a chance to see. And I thought the gentleman's comments were absolutely on target with that because never before have we had a candidate that our Presidential nominee reached down and chose as Vice President that they already had a chance to have a shake-down run at the level this one has. I am also glad the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) has joined us. It is great to have someone comment and join this group tonight. I yield to the gentleman.

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. McIntyre) for his comments. Certainly having come from rural eastern North Carolina, he understands what he is talking about and understands our friend John Edwards. Madam Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn), which really happens to be the State where our Vice Presidential nominee was born. We are just grateful his parents decided to come to North Carolina so he could be reared there and get an education and make his living there. But we are happy to have the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn) with us this evening to share a few comments about our friend John Edwards on our ticket with John Kerry.

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments. He certainly has represented the fourth district and part of the district that I had the privilege of having for a while and part of the district that the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Miller) has. He certainly knows what it takes to be a good legislator, and I appreciate his comments on that. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. McIntyre) for his comments as well. I thank him for joining us this evening.

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Miller) for joining us. When we talk about this ticket, and certainly John and his wife, Elizabeth, my North Carolina neighbors and all of our colleagues in North Carolina, their neighbors, and people from all walks of life are just thrilled to see this ticket, to see John Edwards and Elizabeth really rise to national prominence, because they truly are one of us. Mr. Speaker, I now turn and yield to my colleague, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Price), for his comments on this ticket.

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Madam Speaker, this evening I rise with several of my colleagues and a number from my North Carolina delegation to talk about our favorite son, John Edwards, as well as our ticket. John Edwards is from a little place in Moore County called Robbins, North Carolina. He currently resides in our State capital of Raleigh. I normally do not respond to things some people say on the floor, and I find it a bit of interest earlier that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle knew so much about him, they wanted to quote from the Wall Street Journal. There are a few people in North Carolina who read the Wall Street Journal, but if he really wants to know about John Edwards, I would suggest he read the Raleigh News and Observer, probably the Charlotte Observer or a lot of our weekly papers, and he would find a lot out about John Edwards. If he had been in Raleigh on Saturday, he would have had the opportunity to see about 20,000 people standing in the hot July sun, over 90 degrees for 4 hours, to welcome home John Edwards and Presidential nominee John Kerry and their wives Elizabeth and Teresa to Raleigh, North Carolina. It was a wonderful celebration of the first North Carolinian on the Presidential ticket in modern times. I will have more to say about this in just a moment, but first I want to yield to my colleague, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Miller), for some comments.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise this morning to call on the President to get off the sidelines and support the tobacco buyout once and for all. Mr. Speaker, across the country families are feeling the economic squeeze of higher prices for gasoline, food, and college, record job losses, and an uncertain future. In my State of North Carolina and in other rural areas, tobacco farm families are hurting because of the implosion of the Depression- era quota system. Farmers desperately need a tobacco buyout, which this House has passed, but the President continues to fail to support our farm families. Yesterday the President flew to Raleigh to raise money for his campaign. Although he collected $25,000 per plate in campaign funds, he failed yet again to stand up for our tobacco farmers and support the buyout. Let me state clearly: John Kerry supports the tobacco buyout and rural America. John Edwards supports the tobacco buyout and rural America. Democrats and Republicans alike in this House and the other body are working together to get it done. We need leadership for a change from the President of the United States for our small towns and rural communities.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act. This legislation will help us take great strides in reducing the loss of life and property from windstorms. We in North Carolina know all too well how devastating tropical storms and hurricanes can be. While flooding from hurricanes is often the culprit for the majority of the deaths, the winds generated from these storms range from 74 to 155 miles an hour or more, indiscriminately wreaking havoc to lives and property wherever they strike. The National Windstorm Impact Reduction Act will develop windstorm impact reduction projects that could lead to new designs and construction practices that could mitigate, if not withstand, the force and damage generated by these high windstorms. This is an important piece of legislation, which I encourage all Members to support. I want to congratulate the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moore) for his work and leadership on this issue. Kansas does not have the hurricane problems that my State has, but I know its position in the middle of Tornado Alley makes it a life-and-death issue for the State of Kansas. So I thank the gentleman. As a Member of the House Committee on Science, the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Moore) has been fighting to improve research in wind- related hazards for years. I have been proud to cosponsor and support very similar legislation that he introduced both in this Congress and during the 107th Congress. Very simply, this legislation will save lives in North Carolina, in Kansas and throughout this country. I congratulate my friend and colleague on his success in this effort, and urge my colleagues to vote for H.R. 3980.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate Senator John Kerry for naming North Carolina's John Edwards to the Democratic ticket. As our State's favorite son, Senator John Edwards has done North Carolina proud time and again throughout his career as a people's lawyer, in the Senate, and on the Presidential campaign trail. He will do great things for our Nation. My friend John Edwards is in touch with the heartbeat of America because he has lived the American Dream. Growing up in the small rural town of Robbins, North Carolina, John Edwards learned the values of hard work, a quality education, and helping lift up those around him who suffered hardship. He is a living example of what we call North Carolina values. Mr. Speaker, America needs new leadership at the national level to make our country stronger at home and more respected around the world. America needs new leadership that represents the values, dreams, and aspirations of the middle-class families, those families struggling to make it into the middle class and those families struggling to stay in the middle class. Mr. Speaker, Senator Kerry's choice of John Edwards for a running mate is good news for North Carolina and good news for America.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. On behalf of my North Carolina farm families, I rise today to support H.R. 4520. Since 1997, tobacco quota has been cut by more than 50 percent in tobacco-growing regions. Consequently, farm families have seen their income cut by more than half. Widows and widowers, who use quota rents as their 401(k)s, have likewise seen their income fall. I ask Members, could they survive if their salary had been permanently cut by 50 percent or more? I think we know the answer to that: It would be very difficult. The time for action is running out. We need to jump-start the process of reforming the current program, and we need to do it now. H.R. 4520 accomplishes this by including provisions for a tobacco buyout, and this is not a buyout for the companies, it is for the small farmers and the allotment holders across the tobacco-growing regions. They have finally decided it is time for a change. They have had a hard time getting there, but the consequences they see is if they do not this year, they could face as much as a 30 percent cut this fall because of foreign tobacco flooding into America. This really is about helping people who work every day in the fields of this country making a living. On the underlying bill, I would have preferred the approach of the Crane-Rangel bill, which I cosponsored, but beggars cannot be choosers. I thank the distinguished gentleman from California, chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, for including the buyout provision in his bill. But I caution the gentleman, when it goes to conference with the Senate, remember the advice of the ancient Spartan women who gave this advice to their sons before battle, ``Come back with your shield, or come back on it.'' Mr. Speaker, I would say to the gentleman from California, come back with this buyout or do not come back.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the people of the Second District of North Carolina, I rise to pay my respects to the late Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States of America. My wife, Faye, and I join all North Carolinians and all Americans in expressing our condolences to former First Lady Nancy Reagan and the entire Reagan family. Ronald W. Reagan served two terms in our Nation's highest office after winning overwhelming margins of victory in the Presidential elections of 1980 and 1984. His time in office was marked by renewed pride in America, and he is to be commended for his steadfast devotion to liberalization from the oppression of communism and that vicious rule in nations throughout the world. Regardless of one's position on President Reagan's policies and politics, all Americans remember his warmth of spirit and the respectful manner in which he engaged in public debate. This approach kept acrimony to a healthy minimum even when conflicting views on vitally important issues were debated in this House and in this city. That example stands in marked contrast to the divisiveness and bitter partisanship we have too often witnessed since his Presidency. Finally, Mr. Speaker, all Americans stand in solidarity and salute Nancy Reagan and the whole Reagan family for the dignity and grace that they have displayed through the former President's long and difficult struggle with Alzheimer's disease. Their struggle has been our struggle, for it reminds us of the afflictions millions of Americans face in anonymity every day. The Federal Government must act to ease this needless suffering by increasing research funding and modernizing regulations to allow for potentially lifesaving research using stem cells and other medical techniques. The pain on Mrs. Reagan's face should prod the conscience of this country to end the cruel victimization of stricken patients who require potentially lifesaving research. In conclusion, the passing of President Reagan closes an important chapter in American history. As the leaders of the 20th century pass from the scene, we must endeavor to carry on their legacy of progress at home and American leadership in the world. On behalf of the people of North Carolina, I rise today to say, rest in peace, Mr. President.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman. To all of you, let me thank you. As the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Shimkus) has shared with you, prior to my coming to Washington, I had the distinct privilege of being the State superintendent of schools for the State of North Carolina. I consider that a high privilege because I got to work with wonderful young folks like you every day. And I was seated back there looking at the backs of your heads and said, I really want to see your faces because I have seen you in here from day to day. I want to associate myself with my colleagues' comments. I may repeat some of them, and I will be brief, but I do not want to. The truth is as they have said, and Lord knows how many commencement speeches I have made and groups I have spoken to, you are the future. You will move on the stage very quickly. And you will finish the work. It may be here in this Chamber or in the State legislative chamber or as a doctor, lawyer, preacher, teacher, whatever it may be. You will finish the work that others have started. And always remember that. I think it is good to remember that there are new ideas from time to time, and we have breakthroughs, but the greatest contributions are made by those who are willing to keep their hands on the steady plow, as we say in rural North Carolina, and you plow a straight furrow. In other words, you do the right thing. You were made out of the right stuff, and we are awful proud of you. I only wish that every student in America could have the same experiences that you have had for the last number of weeks you have been here. We would have a lot better country because they would go home with a different understanding of Washington, DC. I started to ask for a show of hands, but I will not do it, of how many of you when you came to Washington, this was the first time you had ever been to Washington. And if that is not true, this would be the first class we have had that that is not true of. For some of you, it may be the very first time you have been away from home for an extended period of time. You have adapted and adjusted to that. All of us can remember when we went away to camp for the first time, and a week is a long time, and you have been gone for a week and you have adapted well. You brought your school books with you. You were not sure how in the world you were going to handle all of that, right? But you did and you did a heck of a job, and we are proud of you. You have already shown that you can achieve before you came and you have added to that knowledge. So let me thank you for coming. I have full confidence in whatever you choose to do you will do well because you have already done well. Let me say to Melissa Eddy, who is from my congressional district, the Second District of North Carolina, we are proud of you. We are glad to have you here this week. And for all of you as you leave this week, including you, Melissa, when you leave here tomorrow and when you head home, you are going to get a little vacation probably. And depending on whether you are going to college or back to high school, it is going to be a short summer because some schools start pretty quick, college and otherwise. This has already been shared with you, but I want to share it with you again, that is, if you have not gotten everyone's mailing addresses and their known numbers and e-mails, get it and keep it. Your paths will cross again, sometime sooner than you think. Stay in touch. There are not many places you will ever go again in your life that you will spend and share the time you have shared one with another, with people all across America from virtually every State and have the opportunity to share ideas, whether you agree or disagree and have the kind of positive discourse and great understanding and learning you have had here. Have a safe trip home. Have a great summer. God bless all of you because you are special, special folks. I wish you all the luck in the world in whatever you choose to do.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 213, I was unavoidably detained and missed voting on H.J. Res. 83. Had I been present, I would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, it is altogether fitting and proper that the U.S. House of Representatives holds this moment of silence on behalf of our fallen warriors in Iraq and Afghanistan. On the last legislative day before America observes Memorial Day, it is appropriate for us to pause from our business to pay our respects to those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in those important and difficult theatres of war. As the Representative of North Carolina's Second Congressional District, I have the honor of serving the military families of the Army's Fort Bragg, Pope Air Force Base, and numerous National Guard and Reserve units. I have observed our troops training for combat, and I have visited soldiers wounded in the battlefield in their recovery at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, DC. Last month, I had the opportunity to travel to Iraq to witness firsthand the daily struggle our soldiers wage in that war-torn country. The work they are doing is vitally important to bring peace and stability in Iraq and allow for the growth of a just and open democracy in a place that has never really known such conditions that we take for granted. Previously, I visited Afghanistan to investigate our progress in taking the war against terrorism into the sanctuary of the terrorists. Our troops are dedicated, professional and motivated by their love of America and the folks back home who pray for their safety and their speedy return. Mr. Speaker, this moment of silence on behalf of our fallen heroes is an important opportunity to state once and for all that the American people and the Congress of the United States strongly support our men and women in the Armed Forces.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call on this administration to take action now to reduce the price of gasoline in this country. Across my district folks are suffering painfully from the skyrocketing fuel costs to record levels. Yet this administration has failed to provide relief. Last month, OPEC cut production of crude oil by 2 million barrels, and the national average price for a gallon of gasoline has risen to more than $2 a gallon. Yet the administration has done nothing to get OPEC to open the spigots back up. North Carolina's economy is hurting. A truck driver approached me at church on Sunday and complained that his business is suffering because of the record high fuel prices. These gas prices will make the administration's record on job growth even worse while the big oil companies laugh all the way to the bank. First quarter profits for Conoco-Phillips went up 44 percent. Exxon- Mobil reported a 125 percent increase. Chevron-Texaco hit a gusher with a 294 percent increase. Mr. Speaker, I call on the White House and the administration to get to work, to get OPEC and the big oil companies to lower gas prices now.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, for the past several years, I have worked with a bipartisan coalition of Members to pass critical tobacco buyout legislation on behalf of American tobacco farmers. Unfortunately, the House Republican leadership has opposed us at every turn. This week, Senator John Kerry announced his support for tobacco buyout legislation. His support stands in stark contrast to comments made last week by President Bush, who dismissed the crisis facing tobacco farm families by saying the current tobacco system does not need to be changed. Since 1997, tobacco farmers have seen their income cut by over half. Thousands of farm families have been forced out of business. The entire economic background of rural southeast America has been crippled, yet the President says nothing needs to be changed. Senator Kerry supports a buyout to revitalize our corner of rural America. A buyout would create tens of thousands of jobs in rural America, which are desperately needed. Time is running out for our tobacco farmers. I call on the Republican leadership in the House and the Congress to follow Senator Kerry's leadership and pass the bipartisan tobacco buyout and restore hope to tobacco country.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to one of North Carolina's leading citizens, Mr. William I. ``Irvin'' Warren of the Harnett County community of Dunn. Tomorrow evening, I will have the honor of presenting to Irvin the Distinguished Service Award from the Occoneecheee Council of the Boy Scouts of America. The award is to be presented in recognition of his ``Exemplary Public Service and Lifelong Fidelity to the Scouting Creed of Service to the Community.'' As a longtime leader of the Occoneechee Council, I can think of no individual more deserving of this award. William I. Warren was born on June 2, 1942 in Sampson County, North Carolina, and like me, worked on his family tobacco farm growing up. He graduated from the Sampson County public schools and East Carolina University where he earned his bachelor's degree in education in 1964. He went on to get his master's degree at North Carolina State University, in my Congressional District, where he taught for 6 years. In 1975, Mr. Warren took his life savings of $14,000 and founded Warren Oil Company, Inc., where he sold motor oils packaged in his name. Mr. Warren is now Chief Operating Officer of Warren Oil, having led the company for 29 years. The company, which formerly was housed in 5,000 feet of rental space, now owns and occupies more than one million square feet of warehouse space, storing more than fifty million gallons of oil. Currently, Warren Oil Company has locations in North Carolina, Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Texas and employs more than four hundred and fifty workers. Throughout the course of his career, Mr. Warren has increased the size of this local business from a small community business to the largest independent oil company in North America. Warren Oil Company, Inc. currently owns twenty U.S. registered trademarks and exports to more than twenty countries worldwide. Throughout his successful career in business, William Warren has served our community in numerous capacities. He has served on the boards of the Betsey Johnson Regional Hospital, Dunn Area Chamber of Commerce, Standard Bank & Trust Company, Harnett County Industrial Development and the New Century Bank. He has been a member of the Masonic Lodge and Shrine Club for more than 30 years and is past Chairman of the Board of Directors for Divine Street United Methodist Church. As a community activist myself for more than thirty years, I know that whenever a good cause needs support, the first thought on folks' minds is, ``Call Irv.'' A proud family man, William I. Warren has two children, Wendy and Bill, five grandchildren, Reed, Colby, Jaimmy Warren, Morgan Spell and Benjamin Spell. The Warren Oil Company is truly a family business. Finally, Mr. Speaker, as the father of an Eagle Scout, it gives me great pleasure to present Boy Scouts of America's Distinguished Service Award to William I. ``Irvin'' Warren. And on behalf of the Congress of the United States and the people of North Carolina, let me offer my friend our heartfelt gratitude.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call on the Bush administration and this Congress to live up to its promise on education. Despite the White House's media event this week, the administration's own budget request for next year would cut $9.4 billion from the President's own No Child Left Behind Act. In the first 3 years under this new law, this administration has shorted America's schools by $27 billion. That is a pretty poor record and a failure of leadership. This week, the White House claimed that the States have billions of dollars of unspent Federal education funds, as if there is a stack of money sitting on some bureaucrat's shelf. As the only former State school chief serving in this Congress, I can tell my colleagues that nothing could be farther from the truth. School officials are struggling to fill countless unmet needs for funding, and this administration's failure to provide our needed education funds is a crushing burden. Democrats have a better way. I have introduced legislation to require full funding for No Child Left Behind. Democrats support school construction and helping local leaders build new schools, relieve overcrowding, reduce class sizes, and improve security. We must make sure every public school works to educate our children to meet the needs of the 21st century. In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, Congress needs to live up to its promises made on education.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate a public servant of the elderly in North Carolina, May Marshbanks, and her recent acceptance of the George L. Maddox Award. This award honors individuals in North Carolina who have excelled in developing and implementing creative programs for older adults. The award symbolizes years of tireless effort on the part of Miss Marshbanks to provide much needed services to the elderly populace of Harnett County. May Marshbanks, who is eighty-six years old, has directed the Harnett County aging program for 32 years since the inception of the Harnett County Council on Aging in 1971. This marked a second career for Ms. Marshbanks, who retired as a principal from the Chapel Hill school system and moved back to Harnett County. She has been a passionate advocate for the aging and elderly ever since. Through her pioneering spirit, Ms. Marshbanks forged a path for the Council to develop into the Harnett County Department on Aging. Today, the Department delivers a number of important programs to the elderly including minor home repair, In-Home Aid, an Elderly Nutrition Program, and the Community Alternatives Program for Disabled Adults. The Department provides legal assistance to seniors. It also offers a transportation program to provide seniors the ability to live independently and to provide them access to medical and social services. As one colleague stated, ``May Marshbanks is the Harnett County Department on Aging. The community sees her and the agency as synonymous.'' May Marshbanks has connected her life with others through noble causes, and her actions have effected hundreds of lives. She has provided needed services for older adults in Harnett County, informed local government officials of the needs of the elderly, and developed public and private cooperative partnerships among existing agencies and programs. I thank May for her service to the citizens of Harnett County. She truly is a compassionate person who makes good things happen.

Mr. ETHERIDGE

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I say with all sincerity to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt), he brings a lot of common sense to this body. Mr. Speaker, I was in business for a number of years before I came to Washington. There is one thing that I learned very quickly. If we drive the debt up, soon enough we will go broke. As some of my folks at home will say, we cannot borrow ourselves rich. And we are trying to do that. And I do not think anyone in this body can believe we can keep running deficits this large. I just ran some numbers on the material the gentleman provided us. Just going out to 2009, in 2004 a family of four spent about $4,380 on average in debt in this country. But by 2009 that will be $6,985 just using the current numbers. That is assuming, Mr. Speaker, that things do not change for the worse. That is using the best numbers I understand for the economy to grow and then no more tax cuts that are proposed in the current budget or revenue losses. That is a 59 percent increase in the debt load on families. Today I was in two schools talking with children about the importance of reading, about their future, about how important it was to do the things right to make a difference, looking into those faces and thinking what a burden we are placing on them. It is a shame because my colleague from Maine is absolutely right. We are using borrowed money from our children to enjoy the good life on a credit card; and we are taking the Social Security trust funds from the seniors who are now waiting for the benefits and using that, and between those two issues, we are living the good life and we are not paying our way. We are not paying our way. And it is wrong any way we cut it. It would be wrong if we were doing it as Democrats, and it is absolutely wrong for our Republican colleagues to stand with a straight face and say we are giving them prosperity. Because I promise this: I was in business when I remember interest rates going through the roof, and I will promise tonight that this kind of policy is going to drive interest rates up again. And all the money that we are borrowing to feed this deficit, a large portion of it is coming from overseas. It startles me and shocks me and baffles me, too. I am not really sure the American people understand that they are going to have the Chinese setting our interest rate at some point because they are buying a lot of this debt and a lot of our trading partners around the world. And ultimately we are going to have to meet that bill. When we look at the amount of debt today without any changes and where it is going to hit, I am not sure our colleagues or the people who might be watching us tonight know what PAYGO is. They do not know what it is. But I tell the Members what they do know. They know that we cannot spend more than we have. And they understand that, as many of the farmers in the gentleman's State and my State who have seen their tobacco allotments cut in half, there is one thing they know tonight: they are not spending as much this year as they spent 5 years ago, and they are not going to spend as much next year because they are going to have to cut their spending back to meet their revenues. What our colleagues tell us is that we can have it all. We can have it all. We cannot have it all. If we do, our children are going to be the poorer for it. And this budget, if it comes back without a plan to balance on both ends, on revenues as well as expenditures, we are doing an injustice to ourselves but a greater injustice to our children. And those children, I looked in their faces today. That is why they tell us we cannot build schools. We do not have the money. And yet we say to these children they are the ones we are going to depend on to build a bright future we want to see in the 21st century. I thank the gentleman for bringing this to our attention tonight and for sharing with this body and with the people around this country, because they need to understand that this plan is headed for a train wreck. It may not be this year, it may not be next year, but it is coming. We cannot keep piling on debt and not paying the bills, and that is really what is happening. And it is amazing to me that this administration in this short period of time will increase the debt at this level and this Congress has added to it. And the majority knows they have done it. They just do not want to stand up and meet their obligations. Because higher interest rates will eat away all the benefits that middle income and others have had. We may have lower interest rates today, but we let them add two points or three points, and that will happen. It may not be this month, it may not be this year, but I guarantee it will come in the next several years. I thank the gentleman.

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Did he not also promise during the campaign when he came in office to protect Social Security and not invade it?

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, I have just a question, if I may, on clarification as we get ready to wind down, because I want to make sure I understand what the gentleman said earlier. Did I understand the gentleman to say that President Bush inherited a projected $6.6 trillion surplus?

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Whether that was accurate or not, I am not going to get into that.

Mr. ETHERIDGE. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?