Eddie Johnson

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I stand here to praise the actions last week of 50-plus Texas House Democrats, including the representatives from my county, Representative Roberto Alonzo, Yvonne Davis, Terri Hodge, Jesse Jones, Steve Wollens, and from the adjoining county of Tarrant, Lon Burnan, and my classmates of the class of 1972, Senfronia Thompson and Pete Laney. While I have not named the other courageous Democrats, I thank them all for their commitment to justice and integrity. No game playing, no playing both sides, the Texans took a stand. They stood against an unnecessary and unprecedented procedure which was an insult to Texas voters. They stood against the destruction of our current process which protects the voting rights of Texas citizens, and they stood against a special interest legislative agenda which placed politics before issues that are critical to Texas families such as school finance and the State budget and insurance crisis. As I reflect upon the actions of the Texas House Democrats, I am disturbed by the reaction of their Republican counterparts in securing involvement in the Department of Homeland Security and its resources in this political matter. The mission of the Department of Homeland Security is to prevent terrorist attacks within the United States, reduce America's vulnerability to terrorism, and minimize the damage and recover from attacks that do occur. Further, the Department's mandate is to mobilize and focus the resources of the Federal Government to accomplish this mission. For 2003, the Homeland Security budget is $33.5 billion and the administration's fiscal year 2004 request is $36.2 billion at a 7.4 percent increase. The budgetary line items for the agency include improving information analyses and infrastructure protection, preparing for and responding to national emergencies, securing the Nation's borders and transportation systems, improving immigration services, and advancing science and technology. There is no budgetary line item slated for tracking down State legislators who are not terrorists and not a threat to homeland security. Consequently, the Texas Republicans and this administration must answer the following question: Were the citizens of this Nation served well in the use of resources by the Department of Homeland Security in a Texas political matter? I submit that the answer is no. Again, I salute the Texas House Democrats for their courageous and principled action and urge the administration to guarantee that the Department of Homeland Security follows its mandate: namely, securing our homeland from terrorism, not State legislators.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is a small agency charged with some big tasks. Besides investigating transportation accidents, conducting transportation safety studies, and issuing safety recommendations, they are also charged with aiding victim's families in aviation disasters and promoting transportation safety. I believe this legislation will improve the effectiveness of the NTSB and its ability to investigate serious accidents. The tragic plane crash of Senator Wellstone has undoubtedly highlighted the importance of the legislation before us today. I would like to thank Chairman Young and my Ranking Member, Mr. Oberstar, who has poured his heart and soul into this issue, for their diligent work on this legislation.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the 49th Anniversary of Brown vs. Board of Education decision, which declared segregation of public schools illegal. The case was sparked by Linda Brown, a black girl denied admission into a white elementary public school in Topeka, Kansas. The NAACP took up her case, along with similar ones in Kansas, South Carolina, Virginia, and Delaware. All five cases were argued together in December, 1952 by Thurgood Marshall. I am proud to stand here today in honor of one of our country's pioneers in the history of civil rights. Before serving 24 years as the first African-American on the United States Supreme Court, Thurgood Marshall served as legal director of the NAACP. Marshall was once asked for a definition of ``equal'' by Justice Frankfurter. He responded, ``Equal means getting the same thing, at the same time, at the same place.'' As a tribute to Thurgood Marshall and his lifelong plight, the Congressional Black Caucus, Microsoft and the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund recently announced the creation of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund Technology Initiative. This initiative will support technology, training for students at public Historically Black Colleges and Universities. I am grateful to have contributed to the legacy of such a great American. As immediate past chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, I am pleased that the seed planted under my administration has now blossomed into a fruitful initiative. Mr. Speaker, I would also like to thank all of my colleagues for being here today to commemorate this important event, so fundamental to our societal growth. I am here today because I believe that education must be our number one national priority. In my almost thirty years as a legislator, I have fought to ensure that education is at the forefront of the legislative agenda. The President has promised to ``leave no child behind,'' unfortunately, the current administration is not getting the message. The President's budget falls $9.7 billion dollars short of the funding commitment made in No Child Left Behind to K-12 education and $5.3 billion dollars short of level provided in the Senate Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2004. How can we ask educators to meet high standards at the same time we hand them a budget that forces class size increases, cuts in academic programs, and teacher layoffs. Demanding more but paying less does not work. In fact, President Bush proposes a second year of historically low federal investments in educations, with an increase of only 5.6 percent. This is contrast to the average increase of 13 percent over the past seven years. That doesn't even keep pace with inflation. The President's budget also cuts targeted funding for assistance for school dropouts and higher education programs. Other programs barely survive the budget chopping block--resources for teacher training, educational technology, after-school programs, and safe and drug-free schools are frozen; while for the second year in a row he allocates no money for school modernization. It is time we say, ``Enough is enough!'' We cannot afford to loose one more brilliant Black mind because the opportunity for a quality education was not available to him or her. Financial constraints should not hinder our youth from exploring knowledge and expanding their minds. We must make sure that the people we vote into office do not ignore our desire to educate our youth by selecting judicial nominees that rob us of equal access to education, just as it was robbed from us before Brown v. Board of Education. And we must educate the populace on legislation that threatens to take away our hardearned rights, rights that we should have never had to fight for in the first place, rights to receive equal and quality access and opportunity to education. Education is not a luxury item that can be trimmed when more enticing budget items beckon. It is an essential element that should be our highest national priority. Now is the time to increase education spending. Mr. Speaker, I would like to close by asking my colleagues in the House of Representatives to join me in extending my appreciation to the legacy of Justice Thurgood Marshall, the Brown family, and all of the unsung heroes who worked so tirelessly for equality and justice in America's public institutions of learning.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I stand this morning to praise the 51 members of the Texas House of Representatives and, most especially, those from Dallas County. Representative Roberto Alonzo, Representative Yvonne Davis, Representative Terri Hodge, Representative Jesse Jones, Representative Steve Wolens, and our neighbor, Representative Lon Burnam from Tarrant County. I cannot forget my original classmate from the class of 1972 in the Texas House, Representative Senfronia Thompson, and Representative Pete Laney. They stand for courage, commitment, integrity, and principle. They will not be forgotten, because we know that they are the ones who stand by children, their education, and health care. They care about working families and all of our senior citizens. Again, we thank them and we praise them for looking out for regular Texans.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Madam Speaker, I wish to thank my leadership and my distinguished colleagues that I am pleased to join this afternoon to praise the extraordinary individuals who contributed to the debris collection effort following the Space Shuttle Columbia accident. On February 1, 2003, our great Nation was shocked to learn that the Space Shuttle Columbia and its crew of seven heroic astronauts were lost in a tragic accident. And although the explosion of the Space Shuttle Columbia sprinkled debris over much of Southwestern America, a large portion of that debris was scattered over a large portion of my home State of Texas. This resolution honors the personnel from FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA, and the United States Forest Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, and other agencies assisting in the recovery of the Columbia debris. In addition, they were assisted by many, many volunteer citizens giving their time and effort to help in this investigation of national importance. We wish to especially recognize the citizens of east Texas as they offered their wholehearted support, both physical and emotional, to the debris search teams. Their combined efforts resulted in the collection of more than 20,000 pieces of debris, far more than was originally thought possible, providing accident investigators with vital evidence that will assist in determining the cause of the accident. Let it be known that these selfless individuals and their actions are very much appreciated. Their contributions to collection aided in continuation of the investigation and further space exploration. I pledge to do what I can to help our space program recover from this terrible setback so that these important endeavors can flourish in the future. And as a senior member of the Committee on Science, I will work closely with my House colleagues to assist NASA and Harold Gehman, Jr., who leads the special investigation commission. Madam Speaker, I will end by simply saying that the best way to show our appreciation for these heroes is to continue this research and be a visionary for our future, because we know that without vision, people perish.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. If the gentlewoman will continue to yield, there was other language that had been attempted as substitute language. Would the gentleman accept that as an amendment? I have it prepared to submit it.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, will the gentlewoman yield?

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of the amendment that I have for H.R. 766. It has to do with adding under the auspices of the National Science Foundation a citizens advisory committee. There is nothing sinister about my desire to do this. I want to do this because I feel that more and more citizen input is demanded by citizens. This research will be paid for by citizens. And to have someone to sit and listen and get an understanding simply creates a more positive attitude throughout society, I feel, with the research. This is going to be research that people do not understand very well. Even the researchers will not understand it too well until they start to do the research. It could provide revolutionary advances in health care and dramatically increase our life-span. But people need to know this. They need to know that this is not going to be perhaps research on stem cells or whatever, so that the fears can be allayed, the anxieties can be eliminated because of this. This powerful and pervasive technology, while promising great benefits, has its downsides. While I support the bill, I do have that one concern, that the views of the general public who will bear the brunt of the consequences, both good and bad, have no input in the planning and execution of the research program and no input as to asking questions and getting answers as the research goes on. As I indicated, taxpayers are paying for the development of this technology and they have a right to have a voice in this research agenda. My amendment goes to the heart of this problem. It provides for small panels of ordinary citizens to be assembled to examine important societal issues about nanotechnology. Panelists would be selected across the socioeconomic spectrum, ordinary, practical Americans. These citizen panels would hear expert testimony from those doing the research, listen to arguments about the applications and consequences presented by all sides and develop an agenda of major public issues to address. These John Q. Public panels will provide agencies carrying out the nanotechnology R&D program and the broader public of the common ground among the cross-section of Americans on the goals and directions of this R&D program. The bill does provide support for experts to address the societal and ethical concerns of nanotechnology. However, that is the problem when only the experts are involved. These are the same type of experts that did not provide effective guidance on how to address societal and ethical concerns on genetically modified foods, and now we still have a question about whether or not they are safe to eat, human stem cell research and cloning. As a witness pointed out during a hearing on nanotechnology, social and ethical expert panels frequently become captive to the technology they are supposed to be providing oversight on. I believe that there is evidence that expert panels are not by themselves sufficient to address broad public concerns. That is why my amendment explicitly calls for citizen panels. Members may ask, why is this important? Just think about the public backlash and debate on genetically modified organisms, think Frankenfoods, human stem cell research, and cloning to name a few. When the public was asked to accept the results of these technologies and asked simple, commonsensical questions, the research community said trust us, the fatalists said the world would come to an end, and no one really required the science community to sit down with the public and discuss the benefits and possible costs of these technologies. As a result, the full potential of these technologies have not been realized. Citizen panels promise to avoid this logjam by allowing the public's voice to be heard during the development period of the technology, not after it is introduced. Today I ask my colleagues to support this amendment to put in place a proven approach to help increase public understanding of nanotechnology and provide an avenue for ordinary Americans to influence the direction of this R&D initiative.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I have heard a couple of times that the amendment was opposed because the administration did not want it. Could you tell me the objection of the administration? How did they find little old me with this little old amendment to object to it?

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to withdraw the amendment and wait for the details to be worked out.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, this substitute amendment which I am offering now does essentially the same thing except that it is very voluntary; and if that is acceptable to the Chair and to the majority, then I will accept this amendment. So I would move its adoption.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. I yield to the gentleman from New York.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this bill and feel that it is really our next step for scientific discovery, and I want to thank our chairman and ranking member for the open and bipartisan manner in which this committee operates. We do have potential for enormous consequences, and most of the real breakthrough research has come under the leadership of this committee throughout the last 2 or 3 decades. This bill could cause a great deal of brightness for the future in terms of studying the small particles and determining how it might lead us to another breakthrough. I do value the public input, and I will be offering an amendment later, but I feel that the public should have some way to have some involvement. More and more we have more people getting involved in the public debate, asking questions and attempting to clarify what is going on, and often good scientific procedures interrupt it because we have an uninformed public and people who feel they have been left out; and because of that, I feel very strongly that we should have some type of offering for the general public to have input, to listen to the witnesses when there is a hearing, so that they can feel a part of this. This is going to be publicly financed, and we are hoping that this would eliminate some of the suspicion and paranoia that often comes from very honest and interested people simply because they do not know what is going on. I think that it would add a valuable asset to this legislation. I am going to support it whether or not the amendment is adopted, but I do feel that that is the one thing we have left out, that it can be of great value to this legislation and, more importantly, to the process of this research. The area from which I have come will be a leader in some of this research, and I am from a pretty highly educated, involved community that will be asking these questions, and we have a lot of demonstrators that will be marching to find out what is going on. I think we can eliminate much of this with a simple amendment that allows for some type of public input as we move along into this new area of broadening of the activity in this new area of nanotechnology. I thank the leadership of the committee and the Members for working so closely together.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I have a question to ask the chairman of the committee. Since there is objection to the details of this citizens panel, there was a suggestion after much dialogue with the chairman and staff to recommend a more watered-down version of it. I would rather have the watered-down version than to not have a citizens panel because I think it is just going to prevent a great deal of turmoil later. I do not know how long it will take us to convince people that genetically modified foods are safe; but I think that if the education had started right along with the research, we would not be dealing with that problem.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Madam Speaker, it is an honor and privilege to make this statement on behalf of legislation I sponsored honoring a great Texan and American. H.R. 1740 designates a post office located at 1502 East Kiest Boulevard in Dallas, Texas, as the Ceasar A.W. Clark Post Office. H.R. 1740 enjoys the support and co-sponsorship of the entire Texas delegation. Madam Speaker, during his 50 year tenure of the Good Street Baptist Church, Reverend Ceasar A.W. Clark has provided a wealth of services to thousands of Dallas residents. Leading by example is how Rev. Clark became a pillar of the Dallas community. As an early pioneer in the civil rights movement, Rev. Clark was responsible for the first visit to Dallas by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Following that 1958 visit, Rev. Clark continued to work to end segregation in Dallas. I rise to honor Rev. Ceasar Clark, a nationally renown member of the clergy, humanitarian, and respected leader Ebony magazine has twice named one of the fifteen ``Outstanding Black Preachers in America''. Under his leadership at Good Street Baptist Church, the church has progressively grown by establishing two day care centers, a free legal clinic and a federally assisted complex for the elderly. Of particular note in the 1950's, a time when credit was expensive and loansharks took advantage of people, Rev. Clark organized to create a church credit union.Today, the Good Street Baptist Church has more than $1.2 million in assets and serves nearly 1,500 members and their families. Indeed this is an honor for Rev. Clark, who has served as a Vice President of the National Baptist Association of Texas. He has been a source of spiritual inspiration for some of Dallas' oldest African- American families and many of our political and civil leaders. While sharing knowledge with residents and cultivating their humility, he is still dedicated to his congregation and to his daily work at Good Street Baptist. The designation of this post office acknowledges Rev. Clark's outstanding contributions as pastor at Good Street Baptist Church for more than five decades. Born in 1914 in Louisiana, Rev. Clark was subjected to a ``Jim Crow'' south, a time nearly all African-Americans were not allowed an equal opportunity to receive a quality education. Determined to not let adversity remain a barrier, Rev. Clerk studied independently and gained admission into Bishop College. Rev. Clark graduated from there in 1946. Rev. Clark is known throughout the state of Texas as a remarkable pastor and dedicated leader, who views the community as extended family. I can think of no one more deserving of this honor. Madam Speaker, I wish to congratulate Rev. Clark on the designation of this post office and for his many years of service and dedication to the Good Street Baptist Church and citizens of Dallas. His achievements are an inspiration to us all.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of the Obey motion to instruct Conferees. Eighteen months ago terrorists used American aircraft to attack this Nation. As a consequence of those attacks, this Congress decided that aviation security should be paid for by the Federal Government because aviation security is national security. Now is the time for us to re-enforce that commitment by reimbursing the airlines for security fees that they have already paid and by providing unemployment aid to hundreds of thousands of the industry's workers nationwide. Aid to the Airlines in this Supplemental is necessary to stem the tremendous costs of September 11th that are continuing to be imposed on the airlines and their hard-working employees, and the even greater costs and revenue losses that are likely as the war with Iraq continues. No other industry since 9/11 has taken on special ``security'' fees as the airline industry has. With forecasts of 70,000 layoffs occurring due to the war in Iraq, and the likelihood of further airline bankruptcies, it is crucial that we address this emerging crisis in which airline workers have suffered unprecedented job loss and economic uncertainty. Without a strong and vibrant airline network, we will not be able to rebuild this nation so that the men and women in our military who left their jobs in the airline industry have jobs to come home to. To not include funding for the airlines in this bill will do nothing but assure massive layoffs and furloughs. The airlines lost $5 billion in the first Gulf War, and they will likely lose at least $10 to $12 billion in this current war. National security is the responsibility of the entire nation, and as we engage in what will be a lengthy war with Iraq, disproportionate costs should not be imposed on an industry that happened to be the means of a terrorist attack. I urge my colleagues to address the ongoing plight of the aviation industry during this time of war by supporting this motion to instruct.

Mrs. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas

Mrs. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in favor of the Wu amendment. this is a simple, noncontroversial amendment that requires the Secretary of Energy to make a biennial report to Congress on DOE labs' EEO practices. Why is such a requirement needed? This amendment's reporting requirements mirror the April 2002 GAO report's recommendations and I believe it would help safeguard our national security and help maintain America's scientific edge. A Department of Energy internal survey demonstrates the sentiments of many minorities at the department. According to the survey, many minorities feel there are racial problems in this department. In fact 80 percent of African Americans, 62 percent of Hispanic Americans, 26 percent of Caucasians, and 74 percent of Asian Pacific Americans working at DOE labs agreed that there is racial profiling at the labs. Whether these are real or perceived sentiments, it is problematic that such a high percentage of lab employees have concerns about their work environment. Should this trend continue, the labs would cease to be an attractive workplace for American scientists. As a nation, we cannot afford to lose our best asset, our human resources. This report also analyzed pay level, promotions, and management composition by race and gender at three DOE facilities: Lawrence Livermore, Los Alamos, and Sandia National Laboratories. While the GAO did not prove or disprove actual discrimination, it found statistical differences in the way that minorities and women were paid, promoted, or rewarded over a 5-year period from 1995-2000. According to the report, salaries for minorities and women at these DOE facilities lagged behind the salaries for white males. There were also discrepancies in the promotion rate of some minority groups, including a failure to promote any of the 300 Asian-American staff members at the Lawrence Livermore facility during a 2-year period. In addition, white males were found to hold a greater percentage of managerial and professional jobs, 64 percent, than their representation in the work force, about 54 percent. The results of this report painted a disturbing picture of inconsistency in the way minorities and women are treated in certain personnel action in the national laboratories. I have long held the belief that America's work force--at all levels and in all sectors--should reflect the faces of this Nation. This report reveals that we have much work to do to encourage diversity and equality at our Nation's weapons facilities, and I hope that, by taking a closer look at how we are treating women and people of color in the workplace, we have taken a step in the right direction. I am encouraged that DOE has pledged to address the discrepancies raised by this report, and we in Congress will continue to monitor their actions and hold them accountable. That is why this amendment is so important. It is vital that mechanisms be put in place to hold laboratories accountable to their promises to the workplace environment for minorities. The reports provided by this amendment would aid the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs at the U.S. Department of Labor and strengthen its oversight of DOE's hiring and recruitment practices. Without these safeguards, our national labs could become hotbeds that foster an atmosphere of pervasive mistrust and fear. And this is in no one's best interest.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I would like to commend all those who participated in last week's protest of the University of Michigan's admission's policies. Many students from institutions across this great nation traveled to the nation's capitol to have their voices heard on this issue. Thousands of students from Howard University to Harvard University, walked from the Supreme Court to the Lincoln Memorial chanting, ``Saving Affirmative Action.'' Affirmative action ensures that all people have all equal rights. Affirmative action is one of the most effective solutions to diversifying a historically unfair society. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a moment to say ``thank you'' to the countless students, volunteers, and workers who believe in this historically significant effort. It is vital that America's higher education system continue the critical role in preparing our students to be leaders in business, law, medicine, education, and other pursuits that affect public interest. Societal discrimination has adversely affected institutions of higher education since the founding of this country. Affirmative action programs have helped to desegregate America. Racial and societal discrimination is not just limited to higher education. It also exists in voting, housing, employment, and many other sectors of modern day society. Equal rights in higher education must start somewhere. I agree that the University of Michigan's policy is clearly and rightfully designed to attempt to make up for discrepancies that do not afford minorities and the economically deprived access to quality education. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues in the House of Representatives to join me in extending my appreciation to all the students who participated in last week's demonstration in support of equality and justice at America's institutions of higher learning.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, it is a great honor for me to pay tribute to one of Dallas' truly outstanding citizens. As the Dallas Lawyers Auxiliary gathers tomorrow to give John Andrew Martin its 21st Justinian Award for his volunteer work, I would like to take a moment to reflect on the achievements of this exceptional individual. Mr. Martin was born and raised in segregated Birmingham, Alabama. From 1962 to 1964, Mr. Martin was an attorney with the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice where he helped enforce the Voting Rights Act and other civil rights laws. He has a broad legal practice which includes experience in hospital and health care law; administrative law; general business litigation, including appellate work. Mr. Martin's administrative law experience spans more than 20 years, and includes particular experience in utility regulation. He has been involved in major rate cases, certification proceedings, and show cause hearings before the Public Utility Commission. For over 20 years, he has served as general counsel to a tertiary care pediatric hospital and has had involvement in all aspects of its operation, including financing, Medicaid-Medicare issues, physician credentialing, medical malpractice insurance issues, equipment financing, and environmental issues, to name a few. His litigation experience is equally broad and he is certified as a civil trial lawyer. This experience includes securities litigation, general business litigation, and condemnation and eminent domain proceedings and will contests. He appellate practice has occurred before the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and in Texas Appellate Courts. Throughout the years, Mr. Martin has served various civic boards including the YMCA of Metropolitan Dallas and the Children's Medical Center. Mr. Speaker, significantly I want to honor Mr. Martin, for his courageous work in the U.S. vs. Cecil Price et al. The trial that followed was a milestone in the civil rights era. Thirty six years ago, a Justice Department team led by Attorney General John Doar and Mr. Martin prosecuted eighteen Klan conspirators, including the Sheriff and Deputy Sheriff of Philadelphia, Mississippi, for violating the civil rights of the three young civil rights workers: James Chaney, Michael Schwerner, and Andrew Goodman. Despite facing an all-white jury and a segregationist judge, the legal team which Mr. Martin was part of succeeded in winning the first convictions ever recorded in a civil rights case in Mississippi. The film ``Mississippi Burning'' portrayed those outstanding Americans who have dedicated their lives to the defense of our civil rights. Mr. Martin and his colleagues participated in the Civil Rights Movement, understanding that there was a danger to their own lives. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues in the House of Representatives to join me in extending my appreciation to John Andrew Martin for over four decades of service to the people of Dallas, Texas and this nation. Congratulations, Mr. Martin and best wishes for future successes.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, let me express my appreciation for our Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus for organizing this hour tonight. Mr. Speaker, sometimes when I hear the comments about the troops that we all strongly support, we forget that if they survive this war they will be veterans; and it is the veterans that we owe a great deal to for our freedom, but we really have left them behind in this budget. So I rise to express my opposition to the Bush budget, because despite President Bush's pledge to leave no one behind, the budget has proposed leaving out over half of African Americans and Hispanic families; and this really is not compassion with conservatism, conserving resources for a very, very few. Can my colleagues just imagine in less than 2 years, 2.5 million private jobs have been lost since January 20, 2001? The unemployment rate for African Americans has climbed 28 percent from 8.2 percent indicating really how African Americans will be disproportionately impacted by this budget. The employment rates for Hispanics is up by 33 percent. I am from Dallas, Texas, where we have lost many jobs because we are very high tech in our employment. For every job lost in the high-tech field, there are three other jobs lost in low-income jobs because they are hired for cleaning homes, doing the yards, keeping the children; and we have a record number of foreclosures, not of poor people, but working people because they have lost their jobs. This budget does not help because it is cutting adult training programs, the dislocated workers programs and the employment service State grants by $60 million below the 2003 enacted level, while freezing funding for youth employment activities at the 2003 enacted level. That is leaving most of the American people, the workers, the real taxpayers behind. The budget leaves Americans behind on education. Vital programs like Head Start are taking tremendous cuts. Many more children should be enrolled in Head Start because we have said over and over again that education is so important for the future. The proposed budget provides $9.7 billion less than the amount promised in Leave No Child Behind. The Bush budget proposes to cut the maximum Pell grant from $4,050 in 2003 to $4,000 in 2004, when he promised, in my presence, to some college presidents that the Pell grants are key to helping low-income young people to get to college. In fact, more than 45 percent of the African Americans and 40 percent of Hispanic students in 4-year public colleges and universities depend on Pell grants to make college affordable. The budget essentially freezes the funding for the historically black graduate institutions to $53 million, and for Hispanic-serving institutions to $94 million at the 2003 enacted level, at a time when we encourage minority students, with everyone else, to get a better education. They have to get a better education in order to have a job. We are still the last hired and the first fired. So education really is essential, not just for jobs, but also to understand each other and to be able to relate to our diversity now. It leaves our seniors very vulnerable, exhausting the Social Security trust fund over the next 10 years to try to fill in for this deficit that is, I cannot believe that we went from almost over a $1 trillion surplus to over a $1 trillion deficit in less than 3 years. African American and Hispanic seniors are even more likely than others to rely solely on Social Security as their source of income upon retirement. The proposed budget does not even address Medicare increases for seniors, and yet I hear billions and billions being talked about, going out of the country, while we leave the American people at risk. I am not opposed to foreign aid; but I do think homeland security is very, very important, and this is a part of homeland security. The American people want to feel safe, and safety has a lot to do with employment and education, but this budget does not seem to understand that. Our college young people are coming home because parents have lost jobs, and they have to drop out of college, and they get home and find that the house has been foreclosed as well; but the President's budget makes many cuts in public housing, even though these funds are critical to making it possible for 1.7 million low-income families to have homes, and this is not all African Americans and all Hispanic. This is low-income Americans. More than 45 percent of these residents are African American, and nearly 20 percent are Hispanic; and it is growing. So that is according to HUD's multifamily characteristics report. The proposed budget eliminates funding for the HOPE VI program which replaces distressed low-income housing with new strong community housing. That also provides opportunities for homeownership. All of us know that when one invests in a home it brings about pride. It brings about new wealth, and it also brings about a good deal of safety because crime goes down, children are stable in homes. When they are using rental property, some young people, some kids, change schools three times in one school year. They cannot be caught up because every time somebody offers a month of free rent, the parents move to get that one month of free rent; but they are dislocating children, inconveniencing and handicapping our teachers, and disproportionately burdening our school systems because they cannot plan when we have a moving population at all times. So, sadly, in a democratic Nation, we have also witnessed Americans being left behind with a vote. We worked from January 2001 until November last year, 2002, trying to get some kind of election reform so we can be sure of who we elect to office. The proposed budget offers $500 million in funding for election reform, undercutting the Help America Vote Act authorized at the level of $1.5 billion. That is how we distinguish what a democracy is. It is whether someone can speak out for whom they want as their leaders and make sure it is counted. The Help America Vote Act must be fully funded to ensure that every citizen's right to vote is protected. Every citizen, every citizen. In fact, the Civil Rights Commission found that minorities, particularly African Americans, were the Americans most impacted by the loss of voting rights. They were the ones who were not counted well in Florida. If they had been, we might have a better economy, because it sure would not be the President that is over there now. It would have been the President that got elected; and unfortunately, this Bush budget does not address any of these concerns. So homeland security involves a lot of things; but most importantly, it also involves our first responders. Firefighters, police, emergency medical personnel, all are in jeopardy because the Bush budget includes $4 billion less than what is required for them to do their jobs adequately. We are in dismal shape in this country and everyone should be feeling it; and if they have not felt it yet, they will. We cannot afford to leave the Americans and their agenda without adequate security through education, housing, and a means to economically sustain themselves and their families. As lawmakers, we have the responsibility to ensure that all Americans, including minorities, are able to move ahead to achieve the American dream: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We must reject this budget. It is clear that if the President's budget office has given out negative information about this budget, we know that others see it, feel it, and will never forget it.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Green amendment. It is interesting as we sit here and listen to each other that the teaching profession is probably one of the most important professions there is. Not a single person here has gotten here without having some teachers. We do not pay them very much. It is one of the low-paying professions. And yet we do not want them to receive their spouses' Social Security. My Social Security is going to be offset with a pension. I am willing to allow that to go for making sure that the teachers after a long career of teaching can have a retirement, scraping together the pennies so they can live without going on a system that is no longer called welfare because we do not have it.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, just 7 days ago, many Members in this House, including myself, supported the continuation of diplomacy in the Iraqi crisis as an alternative to immediate war. This House and the Senate, however, voted to authorize the use of force last October, and we have now used that force. We will never know what result might have come from having stayed the diplomatic course. We do know now, however, that our Nation is at war. We do know that the sons and daughters of all our many communities are engaged in the dangerous and unpredictable duties that are carried by the Armed Forces in a time of war. Our purpose here today is not to revisit the debate over the policies that lead us to war. My position on a peaceful solution to the Iraqi crises has not diminished. My conviction that untold and unwanted consequences await us in the future has not receded. My heartache over the potential loss of innocent lives, on all sides of this conflict, has not lessened. But, our purpose now is to unite solidly behind our troops and all those who are commanding our Armed Forces. Let no one, least of all Saddam Hussein, doubt that whatever the nature of our democratic debate may have looked like last October, today, or even next week, we are all united in prayer for a swift conclusion to hostilities. We are also united in our support for our soldiers and their families. Congress will not deny our men and women in the field whatever they need to accomplish their mission, including moral support from Capitol Hill. Mr. Speaker, I cannot let this moment pass without honoring one of our constituents from Dallas Metroplex. On Monday, I was informed that our community has suffered a great and tragic loss in the person of John Teal of Dallas, Texas. Staff Sergeant Teal was one of the 6 U.S. Air Force Members whose lives were lost on Sunday evening in the Ghazni area of Afghanistan. The HH-60G Pave Hawk helicopter, from the 41st Rescue Squadron at Moody Air Force Base, crashed Sunday in the Afghan. The two medics and four-person crew were on their way to rescue two Afghan children with serious head injuries. Though this is not the war that is so heavily covered in the media right now, Staff Sergeant Teal and the rest of that helicopter crew were at war protecting innocence and our well- being right here at home. Mr. Teal will always be remembered by his friends, family and loved ones and will surely be honored by the entire constituency of the Dallas/Forth Worth Metroplex community for his bravery and heroism. Our hearts go out to all of the families who have lost a loved one. I also hope and pray for the safe and quick return of our Prisoners of War and all members of U.S. Armed Forces engaged in overseas conflicts. Mr. Speaker, I join with this House and with the people of Dallas/ Forth Worth Metroplex and Americans all across the country in declaring our unequivocal support for the brave young men and women in the Persian Gulf.