Eddie Johnson

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would yield for just a moment. With all we heard from our constituents, and from my experience of knowing what has happened, why is it we cannot be heard here? I understand there is going to be 1 day of hearings to dismantle a program that many thousands of people have paid into the system for them to have available health care at the time at which they retire and are no longer able to work. In 1 day the dismantling will occur. We have had weeks of hearings on Waco, and Ruby Ridge.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. You know, I have done a lot of visiting as well, but I did not find anyone who felt that they were paying too little. Many of them are just barely getting by with the cost of it now because these, many of these people, are persons who worked some years ago, looking out for this day when they would be on a fixed income. They did not make that much money, and so even to say to them about the savings account is a joke because they do not have that money. They barely have enough to pay any co-payment now. So, if it goes up any, it is simply eliminating care for them.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Well, let me tell you it means not being able to buy groceries for a month, or not being able to pay a light bill, or some kind of energy or fuel bill, or doing without prescription medications. They do not have the money, and to get less normally means not having a choice of who their health care providers are, and we are talking about people who have been with the same physician for a number of years, and all of us know that the mental health and the mental state of one has more to do with the healing or as much to do with it as any medication, and, when you simply shift suddenly someone to another provider under the guise of getting cheaper care, then you actually getting much less because all decisions are removed. It is like all of a sudden these people have become just a number to shift away to someone, anybody, that will come by now and then write a prescription, or the gimmick now is not to write a prescription, but to send them to the over-the-counter medications and just double the medicine so they would not have to have pay and they can afford it. It is a game, it is a gimmick, and it is totally unnecessary. If it was absolutely necessary to keep the system going, I think that people would try their best, as they would do anyway, to make it. But it is totally unnecessary because all of us know that this system is not in that kind of trouble. This is being done to the persons they consider powerless so that they can give this tax break to the wealthy. It is not fair to them. If we have been a part of paying into a system that has afforded the research, that afforded the ways to make the health status better and cause people to live longer, is this what they are looking forward to just because they live longer? Is a system who refuses to do what it has promised, the real contract that was made for persons who worked, paid into the system, and now that they need it, and perhaps live past 75; they are saying, ``No more. Take it this way or no way at all.'' It is not fair to them.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Thank you very much. Let me applaud you for being persistent about the right of voters in the various districts. In Texas, black citizens were not allowed to vote in the primary until 1944, and then they bought poll tax, and it was not until the early 1970's that we were allowed to register to vote without paying.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. No.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Well, I think the important thing is for those persons that we represent, we try very hard to be responsive. We answer mail, we visit, we answer questions, and we try to respond and vote to represent that majority.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Indeed, and most of them have not really been that responsive.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. I believe that one thing that I will always be known for is my responsiveness to all people without regard to color or age or gender, and I think my record is clear. As a matter of fact, I have not won with less than 73 percent of the vote. When I ran for the Texas House in 1972, I became the first black woman in the whole area ever elected to public office and I did not get any more opposition the whole time I held that office. When I ran for the Texas Senate, after my first race, I did not get any other opposition. So I must be pleasing a majority. I received 93 percent of the vote in my primary coming to the U.S. Congress. I believe that I am pleasing the majority. But there was one person who indicated that she did not want to live in that district and so she joined with the plaintiffs. I do not have a problem with that person's opinion. I have lived in districts that I did not want to live in. But I think it is called democracy. Democracy in this country is admired the world over. We have attempted to spread it throughout the world and it is a difficult form of government. It is probably the most expensive form, but it is the form that we all prefer. It is a form that we have respected, it is a form that we fought for. In every war, we have been a part of that, defending this Nation. We have been a part of law enforcement. We have been a part of teaching. I do not know a profession that we have not wanted to be, even before we could be, a part of. I believe that this country has promised all of its people one vote per person, and I do not think it eliminates us now. I realize that it did at one time. I believe that these districts are worth standing up for. I think they are worth fighting for, because we fought for freedom and this is all a part of it. It is clear that we have been dealt some negative blows. It is clear that we have all suffered race discrimination. it is clear that we continue to face those barriers. But I believe if we succumb to those barriers, we will be letting a lot of people down. We would be letting this country down because this country's promise is not to have discriminatory practices, and we owe that as a responsibility to all of this Nation's people. We need to get to know each other, because once we do, we will not have the same barriers as before we do. I believe that it has been educational for the persons that I represented to get to know me and for me to get to know them. That is really what makes a real understanding and acceptance. It is unfortunate that we have to go through this first, but can either of the gentlewomen name any institution that has not come through the growing pains? And, yes, this has been long, it has been hard, it has been heartbreaking, it has been disappointing, and it is hard to explain it to your children, it is hard to explain to your grandchildren, but we cannot give up.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. So if you do not win when you run, you can file a lawsuit?

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. It became a problem because he lost? Ms. McKINNEY Well, I doubt very seriously, had he won, that we would be in this situation now.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. It appears that way because that district is 91-percent white and it is constitutional.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. No; it is a matter of record. We had to pay poll tax to vote and, then we had to go through a lot of intimidation. So we were delighted when the Voting Rights Act came in 1965, and for the first time in Texas, for the 1970 census, we were able to have an opportunity to have representation at State level as well as congressional level. The district that I occupy was supposed to come about after the 1970 census. But, indeed, it came 20 years later. The district that I represent is one that is over one metropolitan area, and it is clear that the lines are a little jagged, not quite as jagged as District Six. I do not know the real difference, actually, except that mine is 45 percent black populated, and because of that it was declared unconstitutional. It is interesting.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. I think the thing that troubles me the most about this is that we have heard statements from some that feel that they should not be represented by black people. That is clearly very interesting, since we have been represented by whites all of our history.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. I thank the gentlewoman.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. It is very ironic that gerrymandering never became an issue until they started to include us. Districts were drawn all kinds of ways. I happened to have chaired the State Senate redistricting committee for congressional districts, and all kinds of requests came in. They wanted to include their grandfather's burial site, their grandmother's birthplace, an army site, a certain street, and a little store that they visited in. But when it includes black voters, it becomes illegal.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. I am sorry to say that very, very often, when I have voted for people, I did not get that responsiveness. I did not always get my letters answered. If I asked questions they did not like, I was avoided. That has not happened with me. What about the other gentlewomen?

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the requisite number of words. Mr. Chairman, the Small Business Association and the White House Conference on Small Business, as well as the American Chamber of Commerce, supports this amendment. It is ironic to me that we are opposing open government, when all we have heard this year is the angry feelings out there where people feel they do not have access to their government. I do not believe that this issue has been addressed in the bill. If it had been, we would not be considering this amendment. Small businesses will want access to their government. They are not asking for a handout. They simply want consideration. They do not want to be barred from submitting bids. It seems to me that the least we can do is protect our small business people and protect our taxpaying citizens and allow that their bids be considered. The good-old-boy network has worked for many years, not because it has been supported by the general public, but because they never had an opportunity to get in the door to prove that they can do adequate work. I think that this amendment will do that.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, I would simply close by saying we owe it to our small businesses, we owe it to our general business community, to allow them access to their own government.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. I yield to the gentlewoman from Kansas.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that my name be removed as a cosponsor of H.R. 899.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. It is rather rare that I come to speak on any issue from this well, but listening to this debate, Mr. Chairman, I cannot sit idly by and allow us one more time to start to plan something and tear it down in order to start again. We cannot sacrifice the defense of our Nation. We simply must do things in a way that they must be done in this day. Back when Desert Storm came about, 1,200 planes were sent. If we had the B-2, we could have only sent 32. We would have saved lives. This investment saves dollars because it is the most cost-effective measure of defending our shores the way we have the military organized this day. The other thing, we cannot continue to ask companies to organize to produce and then change and tear down that capability. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the Dellums-Kasich amendment and in support of the B-2.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, today I rise in strong support of continuing the B-2 program. The B-2 bomber protects our sons and daughters and grandsons and granddaughters, the women and men of the military looking out for this Nation. When we send our people to battle, we want to send them with the best equipment we have available and we want to send them in as small a number as possible to save lives. This is what the B-2 will do. The B-2 can replace many of the fighter planes in a very stealth way. It will cost more per individual plane, but when we compare the fact that it can replace 70 some planes on each mission, it is worth it. It is cost effective. Mr. Speaker, at least seven former Secretaries of Defense have noted the B-2 bomber is the most cost-effective means of rapidly projecting force over great distances.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, I support many of the improvements to telecommunications law which are contained in H.R. 1555, and I have worked long and hard to ensure open competition in the telecommunications marketplace. Nevertheless, I found it necessary to oppose H.R. 1555 on final passage. My rationale for opposing the bill stems primarily from my concern for small minority businesses in the industry. Often, a complete deregulation results in the larger, more well-established companies consuming those small businesses that have created a niche for themselves in an industry. H.R. 1555, in its current form, offers little protection for small minority businesses in the telecommunications industry. Minority ownership of telecommunications companies, most notably radio and television station ownership, is threatened by the bill, and out of respect for the minority media industry, I opposed the bill. Mr. Chairman, I hope that as we proceed to conference with the Senate on this legislation, we can focus more closely on the needs of minorities in the ownership of media organizations. Finally, I wish to stress that my vote today was not an objection to the inexorable progress of technology in the telecommunications industry. I realize that this progress is coming, and will be a part of our society in the future. I welcome this new technology, and hope that all Americans can be included in the promise this progress holds.

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas

Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. That is right, Mr. Chairman.

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