Donna Edwards

Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland

Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 6842 and in strong and absolute opposition to the Childers-Souder substitute to the National Capital Security and Safety Act. It's not the place of this Congress to undermine the elected Council of the District of Columbia's ability to regulate firearms within their borders. The mayor and the District's Council have taken the necessary steps to revise their gun laws in accordance with the decision of the United States Supreme Court, and Representative Norton's bill offers them that opportunity. This substitute amendment is a dangerous alternative, the full scope of which we've not even had time to fully understand. Residents of the District of Columbia and my congressional district in neighboring Prince George's and Montgomery Counties in Maryland want a commonsense law enforcement approach when it comes to gun ownership. And if this NRA-sponsored substitute were to pass, it would have a devastating consequence of prohibiting registration for most guns and repealing the ban on semi-automatic weapons. Furthermore, it is outrageous that the Congress of the United States is going to substitute and undermine the laws of my State of Maryland by allowing this substitute amendment to create an exemption to Federal law for the District of Columbia to enter jurisdictions in Maryland and Virginia to purchase guns. Maryland taxpayers are going to be asked to foot the bill in an unfunded mandate to integrate systems, process applications. We're a State. We have a Governor who's elected, we have a general assembly that's elected. We have an Attorney General that's elected. We don't need the Congress of the United States stomping on the foot of Marylanders in order to pass a law that it's trying to impose on the sovereignty of the District of Columbia. And I think it's time for us to just say ``no'' to this substitute amendment on the sovereign rights of Maryland. And I support Congresswoman Norton's bill as a logical next step forward and urge my colleagues to vote ``no'' on the Childers substitute. The safety of all who live, work, and play in the District of Columbia and the surrounding metropolitan area hangs in the balance, and our sovereign State of Maryland is not going to stand for this body substituting its judgment for our State.

Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland. Mr. Chairman, I rise again in strong opposition to this substitute. Why does this body believe it has the right to force Maryland, my State, a sovereign State, to bear the cost and work to register D.C. firearms under this substitute? Our State is already facing significant shortfalls. And the proponents of this substitute are not planning to reimburse Maryland taxpayers--I haven't heard that coming from Mississippi or from Indiana. This matter is properly already under the jurisdiction of local elected officials in the District of Columbia. And I do respect and the people of Maryland respect the right of the people of the District of Columbia and their elected officials to make decisions for themselves and to comply with the courts of this land. So why are the Members of this body unwilling to let the legislature and the courts do their job? Our great and sovereign State of Maryland has regulations in place that work for our citizens. We're not trying to regulate D.C. guns; we're not trying to regulate Virginia guns or Mississippi guns or Indiana guns. That's not our job in Maryland. We respect your sovereignty and you should respect ours by not imposing unfunded mandates on our taxpayers or creating additional burdens for our State troopers whose job it is to process firearm applications. With this substitute, you are demanding that our State troopers double the size of our enforcement units, integrate with D.C. databases, criminal and mental health databases and other databases that currently do not comply with Maryland's system, and all of this within a 7-day period so that we can comply with our own law in our State. For a group of people who often cry foul on States' rights and on unfunded mandates, you sure haven't had a problem at all in offering this substitute to impose exactly those same burdens on the State of Maryland and on Virginia.

Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland

Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share with this body and with the American people the images and accounts that I witnessed on a recent trip to the hurricane ravaged island of Haiti with my colleagues Mr. Kendrick Meek of Florida and Congresswoman Yvette Clarke of New York. The damage is just devastating. From the rice fields that you can see here in these pictures that I took, they are covered with water and mud. It is unlikely that these fields will be ready for planting for a very, very long time. The topsoil has been washed away, replaced by mud and water. As we flew over, we could see the damage of the hurricanes, and we could see animal carcasses in the fields, with people walking through them and the standing water. Haiti is a place that is ripe right now for disease and for further destruction without intervention. I do want to express and to join in the remarks of my colleague Yvette Clarke of New York and express the grave concern and our thoughts and prayers for the people of our own Gulf Coast, who at this moment are in a stage of recovery themselves from the hurricane damage of Hurricane Ike, which started in the Caribbean and made its way and strengthened to hit our own coast. This is the same storm. For the people of Haiti, it was not just one storm; it was four-- first Fay, then Gustav, then Hanna, and now Ike. An area might be able to absorb one storm and may be able to rebuild, but now more than 75 percent of the country has been under water, and the people in remote areas are unable to get from one location to the next location because of the damage to bridges and to roadways. So we can't forget the pain of our southern neighbors in Haiti because these storms have made their way through the Caribbean, and we're only at the beginning of the hurricane season. I'm not sure how much more Haiti can take, but we know that it's time for us to intervene. In addition to the rice fields, we saw firsthand the homes and the foundations washed away--even a place of worship filled with mud and standing water in places. In some areas, the hurricane damage was so devastating that it took away entire roadways and bridges. Eight bridges at least have been destroyed, leaving people stranded and isolated. President Preval very accurately, I think, described the blow to the country's infrastructure, likening it to a blow that would occur at a time of war, where the first thing that happens is that you take out all communications. That's what has happened in Haiti. Communications and linkages from one area of the country to the next area of the country are entirely devastated. We saw people on the roadways, walking from one direction to the other direction, only to meet at a place where the road had been washed away so they couldn't even cross. We saw people bathing in water that contains rotten animal carcasses. We saw basic utilities--water, sewer and the power infrastructure--completely devastated, destroyed. Now, there are early estimates--and we have to remember that they really are only early estimates--that there are, maybe, 600 people dead. Well, we know that those who are doing the estimates can't even reach the most remote areas of the country, and so we know that the devastation will climb over time, and that's why it's really important to intervene now. The people of Haiti are in desperate need of food and shelter, of medical supplies and drinking water. You can see the pictures on the streets where the water is like a river rushing through the towns. There is moving water through the towns in Gonaive, and it's unclear when that water will recede and what will be left once the water has receded. We saw people camped out on the roofs of their homes, looking down at the destruction beneath and at the water in their homes. Yet, in the face of all of this overwhelming devastation, what we also saw were the young men and women of the United States Armed Services. I want to offer a very special salute to the men and women of the USS Kearsarge and to Rear Admiral Joseph Kernan and to Captain Walter Towns, who are leading, really, the most heroic effort. It's so clear to us from all of our meetings and from what we witnessed that were it not for the efforts of the servicemembers on the USS Kearsarge in air-dropping medical supplies, food supplies and drinking water that those regions would not be touched at all. It is incredibly important that the USS Kearsarge remain in its mission off the coast of Port-au- Prince until that mission is done, until we can find replacement food supplies, until we can replace the bridges with temporary bridges so that the Government of Haiti can have access to the communities and so that the nongovernmental organizations can have access to communities. This is extremely important because, unless those temporary bridges are put in place, then almost the entire country will remain inaccessible for services and supplies to be delivered. And we're in that very fragile window in Haiti in which we know that without intervention, disease will begin to set in. And so it's a very important time to begin to gain accessibility so that our medical teams on the USS Kearsarge and other medical teams throughout the U.N. agencies and other missions can get to these remote areas and supply basic needs. And let me say a bit about the efforts of our U.S. mission that right now is playing an amazing and important coordinating role in Haiti with other missions, with the nongovernmental organizations, with the U.N. relief organizations and mission on the ground trying to make certain that there's coordination among all of these folks of goodwill; that we're not duplicating efforts, and that our assessments about what needs to be done next make sense. Now, I've joined in, along with many other Members, in support of an effort by Congresswoman Maxine Waters to try to spur up additional support and resources for the country of Haiti. I think that we're only at the beginning of knowing what the real need is, and so we need to look at this as a first step toward the recovery of Haiti, but not the only step that this country and the international community will need to make. I really strongly applaud the efforts of Ambassador Janet Sanderson, who is doing an amazing job of working with the newly installed prime minister Michelle Pierre-Louis, who's only been on the job 9 days or so, barely has staff, but is on the ground now trying to respond to the needs of these most needy communities. And we need to do all that we can in this country and in the international community to make sure that the government of Haiti has the ability to make decisions for itself about its future and about the important needs for rebuilding infrastructure and support and services for the people of Haiti. And we can be in there providing the kind of guidance that we do on the ground and making sure that the resources are available so that communities don't remain further devastated. Now, I'm concerned because it's very clear to me that if we don't act immediately to increase our assistance, the situation in Haiti will really only worsen and possibly threaten not just internal stability but external security as well. And so we have an opportunity for that not to happen, and that is by encouraging the international community and our own resources to step up efforts in Haiti. But the danger of disease and the impending threats to food security are apparent, and we know that the food supply was already very fragile because of the food crisis earlier in the year, so we have another window, a window of maybe 2 weeks to a month to make sure that these resources come to Haiti in a meaningful way. And I know that in my congressional district in Maryland and throughout the country, people of this country are stepping forward too, offering donations to the American Red Cross and other international relief organizations, and so there needs to be a coordinated effort here in the United States to make sure that, as volunteers, we're providing the kind of resources that Haiti can use and needs in order to rebuild. Mr. Speaker, I join with my congressional colleagues in calling for those additional funds to help bring immediate relief to the people of Haiti, and for us to consider that this one storm impacted an entire region from the Caribbean all the way through the Gulf Coast. And we have to remember that, indeed, it was one storm that wreaked its havoc in this hemisphere, and treat it like that. And as we stand with the people of Texas and Louisiana and the gulf coast, we should stand with the people of Haiti.

Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland

Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, Americans everywhere are paying the high price of 7 years of failed Republican economic policies that have favored the wealthiest few and the big corporations at the expense of middle class families, including in my State of Maryland. Today, 3.4 million more Americans are unemployed than when President Bush took office 7 years ago. This year alone more than 600,000 jobs have been lost. Economists estimate that our economy must create at least 150,000 jobs every month. Well, this administration hasn't done that. The job losses that have occurred on President Bush's watch stand in stark contrast to the millions of jobs created under President Clinton's economy back in the 1990s. Over this same 8-month period in Clinton's second term, the economy created 1.4 million jobs, and we have lost 600,000 jobs under this administration just this year alone. Mr. Speaker, for 6 years straight, Washington Republicans implemented economic policies that favored the interests of Wall Street over the interests of Main Street. It's time for a dramatic change, one that takes us away from the failed Republican policies of the last 8 years and enables us to really tackle the challenges of the 21st century.

Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland

Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, and Mr. Chairman, I am really grateful to be here this evening to speak of my new colleague, Stephanie Tubbs Jones. When I was first elected to Congress just a few weeks ago, one of the first calls that I received was from Stephanie Tubbs Jones. And when I came here to this floor to be sworn in to the United States Congress as the first African-American woman to represent our great State of Maryland, it was Stephanie Tubbs Jones who greeted me and said, ``Hello, girlfriend. I am a first, too.'' And I won't forget that. And she knew, not asking me about my office or how I was planning to settle in, but she said to me, ``You have a man-child.'' And I have said, ``Yes, I do.'' And to me, that was a mark not just of a colleague and of a politician, but it was a mark of a woman. And I understood from her as a mother what it meant to be a mother to a man-child. The next question she asked me was whether I planned to play basketball, because she knew that I had coached my son in basketball. I am not really quite sure how she knew that, but she did. And so she immediately said to me that not only did I have to play basketball, but I also had to learn how to golf. And so I am going to take that as her marching orders as I serve in the United States Congress, and try to serve in her memory, not just as a great woman, as a great politician, and as a great sportswoman. And I had the privilege of admiring Stephanie Tubbs Jones not in the United States Congress but outside and from afar, and the great privilege just prior to coming to serve in this body of speaking at an event with her in the spring. And she lit up the room. And very recently someone in my congressional district asked me, ``Did you know Stephanie Tubbs Jones?'' And however one knows a person, what I could say is one of my favorite words in the English language is ebullient. And Stephanie Tubbs Jones was ebullient. Thank you.

Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland

Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland. Madam Speaker, two people are most responsible in this country for record-high gas prices: President Bush and Vice President Cheney. When the oil barons came to Washington in 2001, the Vice President opened the doors of the White House and held top secret meetings with their executives to draft the administration's energy plan. Then congressional Republicans helped them pass that plan into law in 2005, and now, here we are 3 years later, Big Oil is reaping billions in profits while the American consumer is left squeezed at the pump. And now, President Bush and Republicans in Congress have the audacity to blame this Democratic Congress for record-high gas prices. For shame. Since day one, we've rejected the failed policies of the past, and instead, as Democrats, we're providing real solutions to America's energy crisis. We've repealed subsidies to Big Oil, cracked down on price gouging, and invested in clean and renewable energy. We also forced President Bush to stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and it's time now for the President to release that oil to consumers from the reserve. We're not done. As Democrats, we're going to tie our energy policy to economic development by making green jobs good jobs, especially for vulnerable communities.

Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland

Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland. Mr. Speaker, I rise to lend my voice in recognizing the 60th anniversary of the integration of our Nation's Armed Forces. Having grown up in a military family, my life has been directly impacted and enriched by President Truman's executive order. Though African Americans' history of service and sacrifice did not begin with the integration of the armed services, it's been more validated because of it. From my great grandfather who volunteered as a Freeman to fight on the side of the union in this Nation's Civil War; to my grandfather who served in a segregated Navy during World War II; to my father, who was among those to join the Air Force in 1949, among the first airmen to integrate in the United States Air Force under the executive order; to my brother who just out of high school joined to serve during Vietnam, I've been a witness to the honor, bravery, and sacrifice associated with military service. And regardless of one's race, religion, or ethnicity, President Truman and military leaders at the time understood the importance of the principle ``I am my brother's keeper.'' This principle serves as a foundation on which our armed services are built, and without executive order 9981, equality of treatment and opportunity for all in our armed services, our country would surely have suffered. We must never forget the service of African American soldiers throughout our Nation's history. From the 54th Massachusetts Regiment that stormed the beaches and battlements of Fort Wagner in South Carolina; to the Harlem Hellfighters of the 369th Infantry Regiment, who not once saw a man captured or ground taken; to the famed Tuskegee Airmen, who were among the first African American fighter pilots and the first unit to receive a presidential unit citation for ``outstanding courage,'' these servicemembers, along with countless others, gave their lives to help pave the way for the integration of our Armed Forces. And we can't underestimate what that integration meant, opening the door to increased educational benefits and employment opportunities for all of us and serving really as a blueprint for the private sector to integrate as well. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to say that, like my colleagues, I agree that the service doesn't end with simply giving your blood and your sweat and your tears, but it means having the capacity to rise to the level of flag officers, of commanding officers in our United States Armed Forces. And until all those doors are open, we will not have recognized and realized the opportunity put forth by President Truman on the signing of executive order 9981.

Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland

Ms. EDWARDS of Maryland. Madam Speaker, Leader Boehner, our majority leader and the dean of our delegation of the great State of Maryland, our Senators, Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin, thank you. I'm so glad that you could be here today, and to our entire delegation from Maryland, I am humbled and honored to be here in the people's House. And I want to thank my mother, Mary, and my sisters, Janice, Bonnie and Rhonda, my brother, Michael, and my son, Jared, for being here with me today and being so supportive of me. As I swore to defend and protect the Constitution of the United States, I recall the oath that my brother, John, took when he was just 18 years old, joining the United States Air Force at the height of the Vietnam War. And most especially I thought of my father, John Edwards, who swore the same oath when he joined the United States Air Force as a young man and served in a career of great honor, dignity and service to this country. And what I thought is that I am so proud to be able to take that same oath to serve the people of the Fourth Congressional District and to serve the United States Congress and the people of this country. I'm standing here today on a very historic day, Juneteenth. And as the first African American woman to represent the great State of Maryland here in this Capitol and on the shoulders of all of our forefathers and foremothers who took that journey to freedom, I am so proud and humble to be here with my constituents throughout the Fourth Congressional District, Montgomery and Prince George's Counties, united across race, religion, class, income, heritage and culture and all of the things that are the false lines that divide us. But we're united as a congressional district, and we're as united as we can be as a country. And in some micro way, in our Fourth Congressional District, I think that we're fulfilling the dream of this entire Nation. Last February in Maryland's Fourth District, we sent a strong message that it's time for a change across the Potomac and up to this Hill. And this past Tuesday, they sent another message. They said ``change can't wait until next year.'' And so today I'm an agent of change and an agent of their mandate. And America's profile, though slightly tarnished around the world and with our economy teetering slightly here at home, we can only hope that we don't wait for that change to happen until next January, that my constituents have said to me, we can't wait for change to begin. We can't wait 6 months to do something about foreclosures forcing thousands of Marylanders, thousands of people across this country and in Prince George's and Montgomery Counties away from their homes. And we can't wait 6 months to address skyrocketing costs of gas and groceries while we engage in short-term solutions that abound without focusing on the long-term solutions for alternative energy and things that really will propel us through this 21st century. I just want to say in closing that our brave servicemen and women, many of them like my brother and my father, can't wait for change either. And people do need help now. And so, more than anything else, I want to join with you in making that change happen. I know that this House is filled with an awfully lot of really good-hearted people who represent congressional districts just like mine across the country. And they're asking us to come together. And I want us to answer that call together. And so I'm here with my sleeves rolled up, and I'm ready to work. And I'm ready to get started, just as you are, in serving the people of the Fourth Congressional District and this country. Thank you very much.