Chaka Fattah

Mr. FATTAH

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, we have a lot of work in front of us so I will not debate this. I would like to thank the parties on both sides of the aisle for this amendment being agreed to and would ask for its favorable consideration.

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Davis] and the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Clinger] and also the ranking member from the minority party, the gentlewoman from Illinois. We have come to an arrangement whereby I will be withdrawing amendment No. 12. I would like to then move amendment No. 13. That amendment has been agreed to by all sides. Amendment Offered by Mr. Fattah

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word. Mr. Chairman, I think we are right now working on an arrangement under which my amendment would be withdrawn to this section. I ask unanimous consent to take my amendment out of order at a later time.

Mr. FATTAH

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, I think it was Emerson who said, ``If we make our Deal with life for a penny and we get no more, then there's no one to blame except ourselves.`` There was a lot of motion yesterday, but very little action on the issues that affect the heartland of our Nation. I would like to compliment the majority on a day in which they accomplished what they set out to do and ask them to raise their vision slightly now to focus on the real problems of our land. Let us spend 13 hours on how to create jobs in this country, how to provide training and opportunity so Americans can come to work and earn a decent wage. We all started a new job yesterday. There are some Americans, millions of them, who do not have a job to go to. Before we pat ourselves on the back too much, let us look now at the real needs of this Nation, and as those who have been given the tremendous responsibility to help shape the future of this land, let us now dedicate our work and our actions to those issues.

Mr. FATTAH

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, in a day that could have passed being fairly irrelevant to real Americans, this is something that I think we all can be proud of. I would like to congratulate and thank my fellow Pennsylvanian, the gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Goodling], and the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Hamilton], and all of the original cosponsors of this effort in the last session and their hard work on it, symbolism. This is, indeed, something that both the majority and minority Members of the Congress can be proud of.

Mr. FATTAH

Mr. FATTAH. Mr. Speaker, I had not planned to speak today on the first day in the midst of what probably appears to most Americans as partisan gamesmanship. I do, however, think there is something sinister about one particular part of this reform package, and that is on this that has been called a historic day that there are Members of this Congress who are going to cast a vote to deny the U.S. citizens in the District of Columbia and in the territories their voice and their vote on the floor of this House. Being a Congressman from Philadelphia where we see people talk about it being the birthplace of our democracy, I would not want to be silent at a moment like this. I think that it is wrong. I think as we think about the taxpayers here, and the young people in Guam and the other territories who have fought and died for the freedoms of this land, for any of us to feel comfortable with casting a vote to take away their voice on this floor, that is wrong.