Chaka Fattah

Mr. FATTAH

Mr. FATTAH. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. FATTAH. I was aware of that, and he constantly reminded those of us from Philadelphia that it wasn't Penn or some of these other institutions in which he got fortified for his national service role.

Mr. FATTAH

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, let me first thank you and thank the chairman and the ranking member who have done an extraordinary amount of work developing this bill, everything from the nonproliferation work and the security and modernization of our nuclear weapons enterprise, the renewable and nuclear support programs, the energy labs, and their support of the Office of Science at DOE. I know the committee has worked very hard. I rise tonight to offer an amendment which at the conclusion of my remarks I will withdraw, but I wanted to take this opportunity to say a number of things. One is that I have traveled with the chairman and other members of the committee over these many years to many of our national energy labs. And in particular, I have focused on the nuclear weapons enterprise, but I rise today in support of and wanting to thank the chairman and the ranking member for their support for the Energy Efficient Buildings Hub in Philadelphia. The administration had asked for an appropriation. The committee in its work has decided to go well beyond that, and I want to thank the chairman publicly. Even though it is in Philadelphia, I don't rise in a parochial sense. I also thank you for your support for the other labs. The Pittsburgh lab, for instance, is where the work was done that has enabled us to tap the Marcellus Shale. These labs are so vitally important. The science that is done there has increased our country's capacity in terms of energy, and I thank the chairman and the ranking member. Mr. Chairman, at this time I ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.

Mr. FATTAH

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Ponsie B. Hillman, an educator, an advocate, and pioneer in the civil rights and labor movements. Her life was defined by a love for education and driven by the staunch determination to share it. She passed away on June 26, 2008, but her legacy remains vivid. Ms. Hillman was born in Maryland, October 7, 1918. The determination and success that characterized her early education would foreshadow her later success. She battled overwhelming social odds by prioritizing her schooling and pulling ahead of her peers. During Ms. Hillman's senior year, she received the highest grade in the county on the state exam. She supported herself through college on scholarships and summer jobs, graduating from Morgan State College in 1939. Ms. Hillman moved to Philadelphia in 1948. She taught business at Vaux High School for 6 years before taking a post as a mathematics teacher at Roosevelt Junior High. She spent her summers furthering her own education by taking classes at Columbia University, earning a Masters in Mathematics and Education. Never ceasing to take every opportunity to learn, she continued attending classes at Sarah Lawrence College where she was able to offer her children their first view of higher education. She also studied Intergroup Education at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1959, Prince Edward County, VA, had closed its public schools to avoid court ordered integration. Ponsie Hillman arrived in the summer of 1963 to partake in the United Federation of Teacher's effort to establish Freedom Schools. She volunteered as a teacher for those students no longer able to receive an education. She was greeted with hostility from those who did not understand integration and from those who refused to accept change. Using the local church for classroom space, Ms. Hillman was successful in providing quality education to over 600 students that summer. She received an American Federation of Teachers award for her work at the Freedom Schools in Prince Edward County. In addition to her selfless dedication to educating others, Ms. Hillman's contributions to the education community matched her passionate appetite for learning. She became an integral part of the community and consistently fought for teachers' rights, fair wages, and higher quality teaching. She won the NAACP's highest individual award for outstanding achievement as a teacher and was named a lifetime member. Ms. Hillman completed a 5-year term as a delegate to the national convention of the American Federation of Teachers where she served on the executive board, sharing her experience and cultivating ways to combat national education challenges. During her tenure, she organized the Afro-American Heritage Committee, the Asian American Committee, and initiated United Federation of Teachers summer camps. She was noted for her solidarity to the Union and her commitment to serving the community of educators. I am pleased to honor Ponsie B. Hillman for her unceasing efforts and outstanding progress in working to make education equitable and attainable for all students. Her legacy in Prince Edward County and her mark on the national education system will inspire generations to come.

Mr. FATTAH

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Gerlach amendment to H.R. 4435, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 considered en bloc. This amendment recognizes the sacrifice of the Wereth 11, a group of eleven African-American soldiers of the 333rd Field Artillery Battalion of the United States Army who lost their lives in dedicated service to this country during the Battle of the Bulge in Wereth, Belgium. The adoption of this amendment would ensure that history remembers and pays tribute to these men, and I was pleased to work with Mr. Gerlach on this effort.

Mr. FATTAH

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the impact of the work of Dr. D. Walter Cohen. Dr. Cohen's career brought extraordinary accomplishments to both Philadelphia and the global medical community. He set the highest standards in education and forged international partnerships for the promotion of peace. Today, I am pleased to honor Dr. D. Walter Cohen's contributions to education and science. Dr. Cohen was born and raised in Philadelphia. He earned both his undergraduate degree and a D.D.S. from the University of Pennsylvania. After completing a research fellowship in Pathology and Periodontics at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, he returned to Philadelphia to commence a distinguished academic career. In 1951, Dr. Cohen returned to Penn as an associate professor and embarked on a career that would exemplify leadership, dedication, and the highest standard of innovation. During his tenure, he established Penn's Department of Periodontics and served as its first chairman, became a Professor of Periodontics, and ultimately became Dean of Penn Dental Medicine. As Dean, Dr. Cohen is widely credited for revitalizing the school's educational program by establishing a preceptor model of education, introducing new courses, recruiting a new faculty, and establishing a residency. His book describes the innovative program that changed the way Penn educates dental students; ``Educating the dentist of the future: The Pennsylvania Experiment.'' Dr. Cohen's career was ultimately recognized with the 2013 William J. Gies Award from the American Dental Education Association, which honored his superior achievements in dental education. His accomplishments have considerable international impact. In the 1950's, he initiated a fellowship exchange between the U.S. and Israel. After raising $500,000, he was able to bring over 18 full-time faculty members to train at Penn. The program's success paved the way for the creation of The D. Walter Cohen Middle East Center for Dental Education in Israel. The center allowed dentists throughout the Middle East to study at the Hebrew University Hadassah School in Jerusalem. The program strengthened the partnership between the U.S. and Israel while promoting peace and education. Dr. Cohen's exemplary leadership helped to unite 41 U.S. dental schools under the Alliance for Oral Health Across Borders. The Alliance is committed to promoting peace through health education. By crossing borders, health providers build bridges among dental and health professionals around the world. These connections provide education, improve the state of oral health globally, develop leadership and advocacy, and promote collaborative research. His legacy will endure through lasting contributions and through those who have recognized them. He was awarded honorary membership by the British Society of Periodontology, and given the Legion of Merit Award from the French Government. The American Academy of Periodontology offers a grant in his name, the Dr. D. Walter Cohen Teaching Award. It is my privilege to recognize the distinguished career of Dr. Walter Cohen for contributing to peace and education around the world.

Mr. FATTAH

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chair, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. FATTAH. This is an extraordinary and important amendment, and the issue is important not just in Tennessee, but throughout the country. So I also support the amendment, and I urge its adoption. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, to establish justice, the Founders had embraced at the earliest moments the notion that access to our court system was a critically important, indispensable right of citizenship in our country. We had a Republican President, President Nixon, who created the Legal Services Corporation to provide access to our courts, notwithstanding the economic circumstances of Americans. Legal Services operates in each of our States, and we have a responsibility as we consider this bill to think about where the gaps in justice exist. The chairman has been extraordinarily helpful in trying to focus on this question. However, I think that in terms of the numbers as presented, I side more with the author of the amendment inasmuch as that DEA we are funding--and it is critically important in a city like my own and in communities all across our country--but we are funding DEA at $35 million above the request. That is after OMB, after DEA walked through their numbers, looked at the budget, ascertained what was needed. The committee's mark at the moment, the chairman's mark, would provide more than what was requested, whereas, when we look at Legal Services, it is $80 million shy of what was requested. So I think that if we are trying to balance the scales of justice here, the idea that thousands of active service military personnel have relied on Legal Services to protect their homes from foreclosure, to deal with other types of issues, that we have veterans who depend on access to community Legal Services or Legal Services as provided under this program, that the House at this moment should consider the author of the amendment and his point, which is that we should provide an additional--it is less than $20 million--is it $15 million?--for the Legal Services Corporation; and that in terms of the DEA we would still be funding it higher than the requested level, but we would be making sure that not only citizens could have access to the courts, but that Active Duty military and our veterans would have access to lawyers that they otherwise could not afford to protect their legal rights, given the fact that they wear or have worn the uniform to protect our due process rights. I stand in support of this amendment, and I hope that the House would vote in favor of it. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FATTAH. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, this is extraordinarily important, and I want to share that I also am interested in seeing what we can do. Our support of these coastal communities is vitally important. Woods Hole and its work in your great State, and the work of NOAA, have made a vital difference, and I share the chairman's concern on this matter, and we will work together on this issue.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. FATTAH. It is said that you need to be able to hold opposing, competing views all at once, so here we go. First of all, I think that the DEA is one of our extraordinary law enforcement agencies under DOJ. I think the Attorney General has done a great job, and I definitely believe that the administrator of DEA has done a great job rounding up cartel members and doing all kinds of work, interfacing with Interpol in its efforts. So on one level, I disagree with my colleague in his characterization. However, I also agree that the $35 million plus-up over the requested amount is too large, which is why I supported and will support the notion that some percentage of those dollars should go into legal services versus going to an agency that didn't need it or request it, so I don't think we should be plussing it up by $35 million, notwithstanding the fact that I don't agree with the gentleman, in terms of their performance, per se, on a host of issues. Now, I think that the gentleman is really concerned about the underlying question about his home State and States similarly situated, and I agree with him there that the State has made a different decision and that there should not be unnecessary harassment relative thereto, but if we are going to repeal prohibition every 100 years or so--we did alcohol in 1933--maybe we are at the moment where we are going to do something similar on marijuana. It does not mean, however, that we think every illegal narcotic in the world should be available without penalty or punishment for every single person who might desire it. So the country is trying to make some decisions, and we have to kind of parse through this as we work forward. So I rise to say that I don't support the amendment in which we would take this $35 million and put it into what is called deficit reduction. I suggest that the 41,000 veterans who are able to fight off foreclosure and other challenges by using legal services last year, those dollars should go to legal services, so that our veterans can have the legal services that they need in order to interface with our civil court system and to have the rights that they fought for protected. So I think the House will be able to work its will. I hope that we vote against this amendment and that we support the effort to put these dollars into legal services and that we continue to hold high the great courage and sacrifice of our law enforcement agencies as they fight crime here and abroad. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FATTAH. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. FATTAH. I also will work on behalf of the red snapper.

Mr. FATTAH. Will the gentleman yield?

Mr. FATTAH. I also would like to join in in whatever we can do from our side to help in this matter so they can come to a positive resolution.

Mr. FATTAH. Let me thank the gentleman from the great State of New York, and I pledge to him that I would be more than willing to work with him to increase the number of Latino or Hispanic students who pursue STEM education and in support for Hispanic-Serving Institutions through the National Science Foundation. I pledge to work with you on this matter.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, early one morning, I went over and visited the ATF and met with Todd Jones, the administrator, and met a large number of his critical leaders there at the agency. They are doing an extraordinary job under difficult circumstances. The chairman points out that they have had success where they have been able to focus. I would be willing to work with the gentleman on his area of concern to try to get some focus. But to deal with his broader point, it is true that we need to be doing more to make the lives of Americans safer. We have 1,000 marines off the coast of Libya today because we are going to evacuate Americans. We have had eight or so hearings, and we have a new investigation, over the tragic attack that took place that took the lives of our Ambassador and three others in Libya. But we saw a shooting right here in America over the weekend in California, and you won't see a big clamor here for us to have hearings or to do a lot. And we do need to rebalance these issues. We need to be doing more. It is our responsibility to do more to protect the American people not just when they are abroad but here at home. The ATF and these other agencies play a critical role. This amendment, its offset is problematic. I would hope, as the chairman said, that we can work with you on this so that we can try to provide more resources to ATF and not necessarily take it away from this particular activity in terms of what we have to do in terms of a commercial crew. I hope that the gentleman will find a way to work with us on this rather than proceed forward with a vote. He would have my pledge that we would work with him and the chairman as we go forward into conference. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I want the House to take note that we have increased this account already in last night's action, so this would be duplicative. Plus, it would take away funds from the agency that we were just referring to, that is Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. It doesn't make sense for us to take money away from this agency at a time when we need to be providing more resources to it. Therefore, I will stand in opposition to this amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word.