Dennis Kucinich

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Madam Chair, it is a very strange Congress. At a time when Wall Street has been bailed out, banks have been bailed out--and banks were bailed out who kicked people out of their homes, now the programs that have been created to help keep people in their homes, these programs are going to be canceled by the majority, which, of course, will cause people to lose their homes to the banks. So the banks in America have people coming and going. And they keep getting more and more money. Madam Chair, millions of Americans are facing or will face foreclosure in the coming months. Their hold on their homes has been endangered by unemployment, or predatory loan terms, or falling house values. We are in the worst crisis facing homeowners in the history of this country. And the facts are well known. No one in the House can feign a lack of knowledge of the misery that has gripped American homeowners and neighborhoods across the country. Yet today, this House takes up a bill to terminate a program intended to assist distressed borrowers. Next week, the House will consider more bills to eliminate two other assistance programs. What message is this Congress sending? If you're a distressed borrower or you have a relative who is in trouble or a neighbor in distress, the message of this House is, tough luck. Worried about losing your house? Tough luck. Government assistance to distressed borrowers should be effective. I can agree with my colleagues on that. I share the belief that some of the programs intended to assist distressed borrowers do not help enough people. But is that an argument to just end the programs? You know that people need help and that the programs aren't effective, and you just say, well, we're going to end the program. How does that help people stay in their homes? It doesn't. I submit that the fundamental problem with these programs, the fundamental problem is that they depended on the voluntary participation of the very banks and servicers that created the housing crisis in the first place. So the programs are set up where you need the banks to participate. Banks don't want to participate, or they slow-walk the applications, and before you know it, people are just left in a desperate strait where their homes are being lost. Now, when the banks were in trouble, taxpayer assistance was rushed forward. I voted against the bailouts. Now that the banks have emerged from a crisis, unfortunately, our friends in the majority are determined to dismantle the few legal efforts that are there to preserve and protect homeowners. We should be reforming these programs, not dismantling them. If the House approves the bill before us today, H.R. 836, Congress will be turning its back on people whose lives have been wrecked by a crisis created by irresponsible banking practices. So I'm urging a ``no'' vote on the bill, Madam Chair. But I also hope that we take a very cold and sober look at what we're doing here. We're really attacking the very victims of this housing crisis, and we're giving comfort to those who created the crisis.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and remembrance of Daniel Kane, who devoted his life to the assistance of others and to improving the well being of the Cleveland community. Daniel was born and raised in Slavic Village, in the very same house his mother had been raised. Through his commitment to serving others, he helped bring about several significant improvements within the community. He founded the Morgana little league, which provided the youth of his community an opportunity to participate in America's pastime, baseball. He also established the first community garden for Slavic Village, which would eventually be named in honor and recognition of his hard work. Daniel's devotion to his community and country was apparent from the early years of his life. He served his country in the Second World War, risking life and limb. After the war he began to work for the Cleveland Division of Police as a patrolman and would eventually work his way up to the rank of detective. He retired from the force in 1978, but could not be separated from his devotion to the community. He continued to serve as an Investigative Counselor for the Cleveland Board of Education. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in remembering the distinguished life of Daniel Kane, whose legacy of community involvement is admirable. I extend my deepest and sincerest condolences to his wife Yolanda and his children, Diane, Donna and Daniel Jr.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Thomas G. Masaryk and in commemoration of the statue that is being dedicated in his honor at the Bohemian National Hall in Cleveland. Thomas Masaryk was both the founder and the first president of the Czechoslovak Republic. The Czechoslovak Republic was established in 1918 in the aftermath of the First World War; Thomas made two visits to Cleveland in his lifetime, one in 1902 and another in 1918 where he spoke at the National Bohemian Hall. The statue is a plaster cast of a similar statue that is located in the Czech Cultural Garden at Rockefeller Park. The statue's curator, Frank L. Jarouch, has been a Cleveland resident all of his life and originally dedicated the statue to the Czech Garden in 1961. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please rise with me today in honor and recognition of the dedication of this statue of Thomas G. Masaryk. It is a benefit to the community that stands in memory of a man who chose to make a difference with his life.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in recognition of the 25th anniversary of the Cleveland Federal Executive Board, and to thank all the federal employees in our community for their individual and collective dedication to the public good. The community of federal employees in Cleveland, Ohio is comprised of more than 25,000 individuals who contribute their talent and expertise daily in an array of roles, including park rangers, administrators, accountants, clerical employees, attorneys, engineers, military personnel, mail carriers, scientists, nurses and physicians. The professional contributions extended daily by federal employees serve as a foundation of support, safety and security throughout the community. Every day, the environment is protected; the mail is delivered; veterans receive medical care; our national park is preserved; immigrants are guided to citizenship; citizens are provided with benefits and programs; and the universe is studied and explored thanks to federal employees in Northeast Ohio. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring the members of the Cleveland Federal Executive Board and the thousands of federal employees who live and work within the Cleveland community. Their dedication to their work continues to preserve, protect and strengthen our entire community.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Today, a bipartisan coalition of Members of Congress have introduced a privileged resolution calling for a vote in this Congress to end the war in Afghanistan. More than 60 percent of the American people want us out of there. This war is already approaching the cost of a half trillion dollars. We have Americans who are losing their jobs; their wages are being knocked down. We have Americans losing their homes, losing their retirement security. They can't send their kids to the colleges they want, and we're spending all this money on a war that is a waste of time, money, blood, and treasure to try to prop up a corrupt regime in Afghanistan. Our occupation over there is fueled in insurgency. It's time for Congress to take its constitutional responsibilities under Article I, section 8. We haven't really done that with respect to Afghanistan. It's time for us to do that. Let's have an up-or-down vote. That's what this resolution is about. I urge all Members of Congress to consider supporting the privileged resolution that ends the war in Afghanistan.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition to H.J. Res. 44, a short-term continuing resolution (CR) for one simple reason. It continues the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Yesterday, nine Afghan children between the ages of nine and fifteen were killed by a NATO strike after being mistaken for insurgents. General Petraeus issued an apology and promised to investigate the killings. According to the New York Times, news of their deaths sparked anti-U.S. protests. They were killed in the Pech Valley, an area of Afghanistan once considered vital to U.S. military strategy, that the U.S. military will soon be withdrawing from after a realization that our presence was destabilizing the area. Our presence in Afghanistan is destabilizing the country as a whole, not just in the Pech Valley. We can no longer ignore such incidents as just a part of the reality of war. It is time to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that have only undermined U.S. national and economic security.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, today in the State of Ohio, the State of Wisconsin and the State of Indiana there are epic struggles underway where those who serve the public, who teach our children, who police our streets, who fight the fires and who perform a myriad of services at a State, county and municipal level, are under attack. Their wages are under attack and their benefits, pensions and working conditions are under attack. And these public workers are being made the scapegoats in all of the budget challenges which States face. They are now blaming the workers. Our whole economy has been turned into a somewhat efficient engine that takes the wealth of the American people and accelerates the wealth to the top. That, after all, is what our tax system is about. That's what Wall Street is about. That's what banking is about. That's what our energy policy is about, taking the wealth of millions and giving it to a few oil companies. If you examine every area of our economy, you'll see that we're at a time in the history of America where the rich truly are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the middle class is getting destroyed. Enter public workers, people who have dedicated their lives to public service, people who are truly public servants in the truest sense of the word, people who were told that if they agreed to public service that they would have certain guarantees. And so they dedicated their lives. Ohio has a new Governor, a person who I served with in this House, and from the moment he has come into office, he and his supporters, have run an agenda that is aimed at vitiating the rights of public workers. This resulted yesterday in the passage by a single vote in the Ohio Senate of S.B. 5, a bill that will strip collective bargaining rights just about across the board from public workers, that would take away public employees' right to strike, that would make the penalty for a strike removal with replacement workers that will open the door to privatization of services. Now, my read of what is going on in Ohio, which is my home State, is this: That by attempting to crush public workers, by telling them you will not have any ability to negotiate your benefits, you will not have any ability to negotiate your working conditions, your health benefits, your pension, these provisions are not subject to discussion; the number of people working with you at any time, not subject to discussion. What has happened is that we have seen accomplished an economic attack on workers which will lead to them working for less, but opening the door to privatization schemes which, Mr. Speaker, works like this: You make public workers the issue. You say that they are paid too much when I have here a matter for the record from the Economic Policy Institute which says that Ohio public sector workers are undercompensated compared to private sector counterparts. But facts, unfortunately, mean little in this debate. But you tell the public that these public workers are overpaid. And this new law, Senate Bill 5, would enable the State of Ohio to do this, you then say we are going to privatize this section of the workforce. We are going to put the work out for bids. We are going to get a private company in here to do it. And oh, we promise it will be done more efficiently. While the taxpayers then go to sleep, they wake up one day and they discover that what has happened is that they have permitted a privatization of their services and they end up inevitably paying more and getting less. The corporations walk away with the profits; the privatized workers get paid less in order to enable the corporations to make more money. So ultimately what Senate Bill 5 in Ohio will do is end up costing the State government even more. There is not going to be any savings when you set the stage for a weakening of workers, when you set the stage for making it illegal for them to strike and then knocking them out with replacement workers and then setting things on a path to privatization. That is what this bill is about. You look in Wisconsin, and I believe it was Paul Krugman and others who pointed out that in Wisconsin, there was a provision in the Wisconsin budget from the Governor of Wisconsin's bill, it says sale or contractual operation of State-owned heating, cooling, and power plants, saying that the department may sell any State-owned heating, cooling, and power plant, or may contract with a private entity in the operation of any such plant, with or without solicitation of bids. So you can have a private contractor just give it away without any bids at all. They are power plants that serve facilities in the State of Wisconsin. These are the kinds of thing that we can expect in Ohio, except in this case we are talking about the privatization of public services. Now, the privatization of public services in a way is well established already, unfortunately. The AFL-CIO Public Employee Department produced a paper which talks about when you get into privatization, the public ends up having really little accountability on the question of public funds. They point out that private business has no business allocating public funds or monitoring the use of public funds. It is a question of fiscal accountability. Look, we know when there are massive amounts of money available that goes from the public sector to the private sector, let's take Iraq or Afghanistan with respect to contracts, billions of dollars disappear, get wasted. It ends up being a racket. Reduce it to a State level, and you have the potential for fraud. You have the weakening of the community's ability to assert collective interests. And as I said, the resulting savings that taxpayers are being told will occur are actually directed to the corporations so they get higher profits. Privatization is inevitably a racket. As a Member of Congress in my home district in Cleveland, the Defense Finance Administration wanted to privatize a number of accounting jobs in Cleveland. Mr. Speaker, I had a 7-year battle with the Defense Finance Administration where we proved that the taxpayers were getting taken for a ride in this privatization plan that was being promoted by our government to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. We reversed the privatization. Privatization is at the core of this battle in Ohio because the assets of the State are worth countless billions of dollars. You can take a workforce that is over 300,000, about 350,000 public workers in Ohio, that would be affected by S.B. 5. There is not a service that can't be privatized, but then the public doesn't have any control over it. They can't call up their elected official and complain about a service that is privatized. They have to call up the corporation. And they end up paying more in taxes. People need to understand that. States have budget difficulties they have to deal with. I've got that. I understand that. States need a revenue-sharing plan from the Federal Government, but the Federal Government doesn't have the money right now. Why doesn't the Federal Government have the money? Well, how about the fact that the Federal Government is spending trillions of dollars on wars, one of which is based on lies, the other one based on a misreading of history. Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize winning economist, in his book with Linda Bilmes, it's called ``The Three Trillion Dollar War,'' has stated that the cost of the work in Iraq will run between 3 and $5 trillion, just to U.S. taxpayers; the cost of the war in Afghanistan is already over half a trillion dollars. The long-term cost of that, since we are still in a period of acceleration of that war, will certainly go into the trillions of dollars. We saw a couple of years ago Wall Street come to this Capitol. Suddenly, the waves parted: $700 billion in loans when Wall Street was flagging. That could have been anticipated that Wall Street would create incredible speculation when Glass-Steagall was effectively repealed when they took down the wall that separated commercial from investment banking. Those who were the cops on the beat kind of walked away while this bubble was building on mortgage-backed securities, hedge funds, speculating, inflating the bubble, it burst, and all Americans got hurt. But all Americans didn't get made whole. Most Americans have experienced a 30 percent drop in the value of their mortgages while Wall Street is enjoying record profits once again, while Wall Street, once again, is experiencing high salaries and high bonuses. Not on Main Street, though. On Main Street, they have 15 million unemployed, 12 million underemployed, 50 million people without health insurance, and 10-12 million people whose homes are or have been in jeopardy. So then you go back to the State level where States are pressed, but States are pressed in part because of the mismanagement of the national economy and because we have a monetary policy that has worked for Wall Street but it certainly hasn't worked for Main Street. So by the time this debate gets down to a State level, those executives who are more inclined towards a corporate point of view are saying, look, easy, we'll just knock out the public unions. But there are serious implications to this type of thinking, because what we are actually doing is setting aside an entire struggle that has been part of America's history that we should all be proud of. The civil rights movement is part of America's history we should be proud of: the civil rights movement which resulted in constitutional changes; which recognized the rights of all citizens as being equal, truly equal; the civil rights movement which accorded women an equal place in our society, of course with the exception of pay; but nevertheless, the potential for an equal role in our society is something we should be proud of. With that civil rights movement, the labor movement moved the pace, and that labor movement was about lifting everyone up, not just those who were members of unions. Unions came about because workers were being crushed; they were working in awful working conditions; they were subjected to forms of slave labor; they were working long hours and were paid very little; they were working under conditions that put their lives in jeopardy. America had a tradition of child labor at one time. All that changed with the laws that were passed in this Chamber. We should be proud of what America has been able to accomplish in lifting up the status of working people in our society so that you could have an 8-hour day, so that you could have a safe workplace--so much so that today we understand that intimately linked to the very nature of our democracy is the right to collective bargaining, which is the very right that is under attack in Ohio and Wisconsin and Indiana and other States across this Union. The right to collective bargaining is being able to assert a First Amendment right of association. It is being able to assert that workers have a sense of agency and to know, in a society where capital can be amassed in tremendous sums, that one individual has the right to be able to assert his or her rights because they have representation, because there is a law that says they have the ability to be able to have an influence on how much they are paid and on what their benefits and their working conditions will be. That's the essence of what it means to be a democracy: that workers have a say and that it's not top-down. This isn't a dictatorship. Yet S.B. 5 sets the stage for a kind of dictatorship, top-down. These are your working conditions. Take it or leave it. These are your benefits. Take it or leave it. Don't ask any questions. Shut up and go to work. When did America buy into that? The minute we buy into that kind of mentality, how does that separate us from what's happening in China? I want people to focus on this for a minute. We passed a trade agreement with China, China Trade, which I voted against, which had no provisions for workers' rights, human rights or environmental quality principles. A month ago, I had some paper workers in my office from Washington State, and they showed me how many jobs in their industry have moved out of Washington and how many plants for their industry have opened up in China. It's amazing to look at a map and see, well, they were here once, and now these same jobs are in China. In China, workers don't have any rights. There is no right to collective bargaining in China. That's not part of the discussion. The government of China is run under a different philosophy. Workers don't have a right to strike in China. There's no right to decent wages or benefits. Oh, yes. It's called Communist China. Excuse me. As part of a democracy, we assert--and have a right to assert--that workers here do have a right to collective bargaining, that they do have a right to join a union, that they do have a right to strike, that they do have a right to decent wages and benefits, that they do have a right to a secure retirement, that they do have a right to a safe workplace, that they do have a right to be able to challenge legally an employer who maintains an unsafe workplace. They have the right to participate in the political process. So many of these rights are under attack at the State level today, and this has an effect not just on public workers but on all workers, because if America begins to take down the hard-earned rights of workers, whether it's in the public sector or the private sector, and if we try to justify it, here is what we can look forward to: We can look forward to lower wages; we can look forward to people having zero health benefits; we can look forward to people having zero pensions; we can look forward to workplaces becoming less safe; and we can look forward to becoming a little bit like our trading partner in China, which, by the way, has about a $200 billion trade advantage with the United States out of a trade deficit that is in excess of $450 billion. So are we exporting our democracy? Are we importing values that are estranged from a democratic society? That's really the question that we have to ask ourselves if we think that what happens in Wisconsin doesn't relate to us or if we think that what happens in Ohio is none of our business. Mr. Speaker, I went to Columbus, Ohio, and stood with thousands of workers. I stood with firemen and policemen and teachers. I stood with people who care for children and seniors. These people are people who have dedicated their whole lives to public service. They have a middle class standard of living because they have that dedication. They are people who are not our enemies. They are our friends. They are our neighbors--and they serve us. Since when are we now faced with looking at those who serve us as being opposed to us? How did our country get that way? Why can't we come to an understanding? We have a collective interest here. Why can't our Governors tell the truth about what's really happening?--which is that States are getting strangled because of policies at a Federal level that are making it much more difficult for States to be able to get any assistance at all. I have not run into any single labor leader who said that they did not want to negotiate the issues that are at hand. I've not run into any labor leader who didn't understand that State budgets are tight and that they want to make sure that States can meet the needs of all the people. But this top-down approach, this political approach to dictating what the conditions are and what the rights are for State workers, sets the stage for an estrangement of people from their own government. So we have to look at the issue of collective bargaining. In the State of Ohio, we have to understand that the fact that they have collective bargaining makes strikes less likely. This law was passed in 1983 in Ohio, and collective bargaining actually provides for the public's health, safety and welfare. This bill, Senate Bill 5, is aimed at eliminating collective bargaining. It would not only prohibit the State from being involved at this point in collective bargaining for the purpose of benefits and working conditions, but it would also prohibit counties, cities, and other local government employers from continuing to negotiate employee benefit plan coverage and also to set community-based standards for public employment. What of home rule? I mean, at a State level, cities that are home rule should be able to make these decisions. This flies in the face of a constitutional right which cities have for home rule. Senate bill 5 is really an attack on quality public service. It represents a destructive undermining of the compact between government and their workers. It changes the whole relationship. And it cannot do anything--cannot do a thing to improve the quality of service. Look at some of the biggest industrial corporations in America. They had their battles with labor, but they also understood that by having a workforce they could work with--the steelworkers work with the steel industry to produce a quality steel product, the autoworkers work with the auto industry to produce a quality car. In aerospace, we have some of the best technology in the world, and the industry works with unions. The whole idea about being able to negotiate for your wages, to be able to negotiate for your benefits is so that you can elevate the condition of your family and yourself. These aren't selfish people; they're people just trying to make a living. They just want to continue to do their work, to have an opportunity to negotiate their pay, to be able to negotiate their benefits--to have benefits--so that then they can go home and put food on the table and maybe be able to send their children to a decent college and maybe be able to put a few dollars aside, maybe be able to save a little bit for their retirement in addition to a pension plan that they have at work. When has that become asking for too much? I think it was Rachel Maddow the other day had something that was a joke on her show where she talked about--I'll paraphrase it: people sit down at a table and you've got a CEO sitting at a table and you've got workers and a tea party member sitting at a table and there's 12 cookies on a plate. The CEO grabs 11 of those cookies and then the worker goes to get that remaining cookie and the CEO says to everybody at the table, Better watch that person, he's trying to take your cookie. This is what's going on in State after State. And this is actually what's happening in our economy, where it's working people who are the target of this attack. And it's not only at a State level. Every worker in America understands the downward pressure on wages unless you're on Wall Street. Every worker in America knows that if they don't have job security they can't plan for anything. There are so many people in America who are a single paycheck away from losing their home, from losing everything they ever worked a lifetime for. And in this economy, where corporations have extraordinary power, where because of our trade agreements they can move out of this country like that, we're going to further weaken the ability of workers to have a voice at a State level, or anyplace at all? Come on, America, wake up. We have to understand the implications of what's happening in Ohio and Wisconsin. We have to understand that our very way of life is at risk here, that if corporations can use their influence to get State leaders to knock down workers' rights, it won't be long before every worker in America is reduced to a form of peonage. People can laugh and say, well, that can't happen. Well, you know what? I want to quote to you from a book by Robert Scheer called ``The Great American Stickup.'' And the subtitle of it, so that you know that I'm not partisan here, Mr. Speaker, the subtitle of it is, ``How Reagan Republicans and Clinton Democrats enriched Wall Street while mugging Main Street.'' I won't get into that too much, but I do want to quote from Mr. Scheer's book. He talks about how two University of California economists, Emmanuel Saez and his colleague, Thomas Piketty, they analyzed U.S. tax data and other supporting statistics, and they concluded that the boom of the Clinton years and afterwards primarily benefited the wealthiest Americans. During Clinton's tenure, from 1993 to 2000, the income of the top 1 percent shot up at an astounding rate of 10.1 percent per year while the income of the other 99 percent of Americans increased only 2.4 percent annually. In 2002 to 2006, the next surge of the boom that Clinton's policies unleashed, the numbers were even more unbalanced. The average annual income for the bottom 99 percent increased by only 1 percent per annum while the top 1 percent saw a gain of 11 percent each year. Further, just as the good times of the Bush years saw almost $3 out of every $4 in increased income go to the wealthiest 1 percent, the GOP cut taxes for the richest brackets. So as I said at the beginning, the whole economy is being converted to an engine that takes the wealth of America and puts it in the hands of a few. How can you maintain a democracy that way? An economic democracy is a precondition of a political democracy. The minute we start attacking what people make, the minute we start putting pressure on people's wages--and keep in mind, it's okay with Wall Street to have 15 million Americans out of work. Why? Because that creates a big labor supply, which does what? Keeps wages down. So instead of having a full-employment economy--which really ought to be what we should expect in a democracy, that everyone who wants to work has a place--we have 15 million workers out of work, 12 million underemployed, but Wall Street keeps making more and more money. We're being told there's a recovery, but it's a jobless recovery. And so in this morass we see an attack on public workers. You have to recognize exactly what's going on here. This is still another attempt to grab more assets from the people and put it into the hands of a few. Just think what can happen in Ohio if the State legislature goes ahead and passes S.B. 5. If the State house passes it, the Governor signs it into law, we will just set the stage for massive privatization which will reduce service, increase its cost, and put money into the hands of private corporations; more wealth going to the top, less ability for workers to defend their interests. And these are people working for us. State workers, city, county workers, they're the government. They are the ones who provide service. I served at a local level, Mr. Speaker. I was a councilman. I served as a mayor. I served at that local government where government is really close to people. It provides an opportunity where people can get on the phone and say, hey, Mr. Councilman, we need somebody who's going to fix this street. Take care of it. Well, there's political accountability. You get enough calls, it's not taken care of, you won't be reelected. But that control that comes from people in the neighborhoods to city hall, when you break unions and you set the stage for privatization of their jobs, you break that, you break the tie. Then it's the government at the top that has to do with the corporations to make sure their workers are doing right by the people. The essence of democracy is accountability. The essence of democracy is that people have the ability to be able to contact their government and be able to change conditions if they don't like it. And also the essence is service. People pay taxes, they should get something in return. And yet the public workers who are being attacked in Ohio and Wisconsin and other places are the focal point of a great debate over whether or not we will continue to have something that we call government of the people. All across this country, Mr. Speaker, there are Governors who are facing budget shortfalls, and they're watching events very carefully in Ohio and Wisconsin to be able to determine how far they're going to go. We're looking at cutbacks in pension benefits, cutbacks in health benefits--some of which the representatives of the workers are actually agreeing on in order to keep the jobs. But we're also looking at this parallel attempt to knock out bargaining rights. What does one have to do with the other? If people don't have the right to collective bargaining, they don't have a right to a sense of agency in dealing with governments, they're just reduced to nothing. Why do we do that to people who serve us? Why should we do that? And why shouldn't we be calling into accounting those public officials who, by and large, will be representing corporate interests or corporate thinking? There are those who think that the interests of corporations and the government are one in the same. Oh no they're not. Government exists to provide service. Corporations exist to make a profit. Fine. But let's make sure we understand there's a difference. Government does not exist to make a profit, but it does provide a service. And when government's resources are starting to be eroded, we have to ask why. I'll give you an idea, Mr. Speaker. We're being told that there's just not enough money anymore. Let's look for a moment at our monetary system itself. When you go to a bank and you take out a loan, the bank will book that as an asset. Banks for years and years have been using a device known as a fractional reserve where they're able to create for every dollar they book as cash that they claim to have. They're able to create another $9 or even $10, maybe more. And that device, known as a fractional reserve, has given our banking system essentially the money to create--the ability to create money out of nothing. Now, there's some people who are okay with that. They say, well, banks have to have this ability; but when banks have that ability, we also know that banks have been prone to being able to make transactions when they got involved, as a bank in Cleveland did on mortgage-backed securities and they began investing heavily, actually investing money they didn't have. When the market collapsed, the bank collapsed. So this device of fractional reserve actually in this economy has ended up helping to fuel speculation. And what about the Fed? The Fed, which this Congress has tried many times--and I've worked with Mr. Paul on this--the Fed has virtually no controls whatsoever, limited accountability. When the Federal Reserve Act was passed in 1913, it really took out of the hands of this Congress the ability to have control over the monetary system. Now, this Constitution of the United States, which I carry with me, article I, section 8, Congress has the ability to coin money. Now, to coin money doesn't mean just to make coins. It actually means to create money, to publish money. That was a foundational principle of the ability of Congress to have a role in the money system. We basically sent that over to the Fed with the 1913 Federal Reserve Act. So the Fed, through another device known as quantitative easing--I want everyone to remember this--quantitative easing. What does it mean? It means the Fed has the ability to create money out of nothing to the tune of trillions of dollars--$4 trillion in this most recent economic crisis. Now, we're told that unless the Fed can do this, our economy would collapse. I think it's time we started to look at these institutions which we've created and ask if this isn't the time for us to take control on behalf of the American people to critically analyze the fractional-reserve system and see if it has any more viability, if it doesn't really expose us to more problems than it ends up creating. I personally think that it's time to challenge the fractional-reserve system to the point of where you let banks loan the money that they actually have on deposit instead of creating money out of nothing, and then if the bank goes down, we have to bail them out. I think it's time for us to take the Fed, which has been out of our reach, and put it under the control of Treasury again. And then if the government needs to invest money, and we do, then we invest the money, then we spend it into circulation. We're told right now we don't have any money. We don't have any money to fix our roads. There's over $2 trillion of infrastructure needs. States don't have any money. That's what we're told. That's why we're told they're having these conflicts with the workers; they're out of money. We don't have any money to fix up our roads. Well, FDR figured out what to do in the New Deal. You just create a WPA. You put millions of people back to work; you rebuild America. We're apparently not going to go in that direction. But why not? We're told we don't have the money. What, we have to borrow it from banks? Who's holding our securities? If we can borrow money from Japan and from China and from the UK, and from the Cayman Islands to manage our economy, well, if we can borrow money to keep wars going, hello, why can't we spend the money into circulation, take back the power--which inherently is in the Constitution--and invest in the creation of jobs again and put those 15 million Americans back to work? Create a revenue sharing program for the States so States aren't faltering any more. Have a national health care system so you don't have to worry about health care being on the bargaining table. Absolutely make Social Security solid so there's never a question about a partial privatization--which is another agenda some people would like to run here. It's not like we don't have within our grasp an ability to change the conditions in which we're operating. But, instead, we have this poverty mentality which rivets us to control by corporate interests who are making money hand over fist, who we're being told all of America's poor except Wall Street. Huh? How did that happen? With our money nonetheless? How did that happen? Why isn't unemployment a problem on Wall Street? Think about this. Why is Wall Street doing better than ever? Why do we hear these dark tales about speculations happening again? Are we getting ready for another pump-and-dump scheme where we'll be back here in a few years having to bail out Wall Street again? Meanwhile, Main Street's infrastructure crumbles; Main Street's workers are hungry for work; Main Street's wages are getting depressed; Main Street's struggling for health care; Main Street's worried about its pension; Main Street's worried about whether they're going to have a home or not. What's happening in Ohio and Wisconsin is relevant because every single economic issue that is facing this Nation today is part of that debate. Why should we accept an economy where people are told they have limited expectations? This is America. We have shown the world the ability to create untold wealth. But if we keep shipping it offshore . . . Why shouldn't people who have an education, who have strived to achieve a middle class standard of living, why shouldn't they expect that their government will stand next to them? It's time for people to understand that we need to take a strong stand in favor of the rights of workers. Now, how do we do that? Let's look at our trade agreements, Mr. Speaker. Every trade agreement needs to be renegotiated. We need to renegotiate NAFTA, and the General Agreement on Tariff and Trade, and China trade, and we need to say that every single trade agreement has the right to collective bargaining. We're going in the wrong direction in the States. Every agreement we have should have the right to collective bargaining, the right to join a union, the right to strike, the right to decent wages and benefits, the right to a safe workplace, the right to be able to sue an employer if they maintain an unsafe workplace, the right to a secure retirement, the right to participate in the political process. If we had those in our trade agreements, if in our trade agreements we had prohibitions on child labor, slave labor, prison labor, if in our trade agreements we had the protection of the air and the water, then these corporations wouldn't be running to China or anywhere in the world in order to have the people of that country subsidize their profits through dirty air, dirty water, low wages, slave labor, child labor. Think about it. That's why we need to go back to the trade agreements. We need to elevate the condition of workers in our society. We need to think in terms of raising people's standard of living. We need to think in terms of helping people save their homes. We need to think in terms of more competition in our economy. We need to think in terms of how do you create wealth in our society, not just how do you create debt. Because right now, Mr. Speaker, our whole economic system is money equals debt. And as long as we're locked into that mentality of money equals debt, then all we're going to have is debt no matter where we look. And our ballooning debt keeps getting larger and larger, and we're told, well, we have to pay off that debt before we can deal with our problems. Baloney. We don't have to do that. What we have to do is to start looking at what can be done to prime the pump of our economy, to get America back to work. We have the resources. And if we have to change the way that we handle our money system, we should do that. The Fed has not been responsive. The private sector isn't creating jobs. They're getting rid of jobs. If the private sector created jobs, then right after we gave hundreds of billions of dollars to Wall Street we should have seen millions of people go back to work. That did not happen. We are in at least a double-dip recession. We have Americans struggling to survive, and they could read the daily reports about how great Wall Street is doing. Let's go back to Ohio and support those workers. Let's support those who teach our children, who police our streets, who put out the fires, who serve our elderly, who take care of our children, the people who perform the services at the myriad of State offices and at county and city offices. Let's respect and honor those who are in public service, as we ourselves would want to be honored for taking the path that we chose in our careers. The people who chose the civil service, the people who chose to do that day-to-day work of being involved in a community, they are no less important than we are as individuals. We're part of the same tissue that makes up a democracy. And so I want to appeal to my colleagues to look at this moment in history, to understand the deep threat which the breaking of collective bargaining represents to our democracy, to understand how urgent it is that we support workers everywhere, that we express our appreciation to them, that we understand that in this House there are many different points of view. We have different points of view about the amount of power we would like concentrated into fewer and fewer hands. But we should have no difference of opinion, there should be total solidarity on protecting those who serve the public and on protecting workers whose basic rights are cardinal principles of a democratic society. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise to remember Linda Romanik. She was a labor leader who was dedicated to her fellow workers, her family, and her community, and a former member of my Congressional Staff. I am saddened to report that Linda passed away recently after a short illness. Linda was born on July 31, 1949, in Cleveland, Ohio. Early in her childhood she moved to Wickliffe, Ohio, and graduated from Wickliffe High School in 1967. Soon afterward, she began her employment with Bailey Controls in Wickliffe. At the time, the workers at Bailey had no labor representation. In 1971, Linda helped form an organizing committee. As a result of her efforts, the workers at Bailey Controls organized Local 1741 of the United Auto Workers (UAW). She served on the Local 1741 committee from 1985 until 1996 and was the committee's Vice President from 1990 through 1993. Linda was also active on the UAW's Community Action Program (CAP) for the Ashtabula-Geauga-Lake region from 1976 until 1981 and was its chair from 1981 through 1988. In 1996, Linda worked tirelessly on my Congressional campaign. When we won the election that year, I asked Linda to join my staff as a caseworker and labor liaison. She served the people of Ohio's 10th Congressional District with enthusiasm and distinction. She helped me set up my District offices and worked closely with constituents who needed personal help and with local labor leaders who needed my attention on many issues. Linda resigned from my staff in 1998 to take on greater challenges in the labor movement. She became the UAW's CAP coordinator in 1998 and International Representative for the UAW's Regions 2 and 2B in 2004. She retired in 2010 after more than 35 years of service with the UAW. She served on the board of the United Labor Agency and was its Recording Secretary. She stayed active with Local 1741 and its successor, Local 70 after the merger of the two locals in 2005. Linda was also a long-time member of the Lake County Democratic Women's Club. Linda was also a caring mother and wife. She spent 30 loving years married to her husband John, for whom she cared dearly. She also raised her two children, John and Andrea, with warmth and kindness and was the proud grandmother of Carter. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in remembering Linda Romanik, an advocate for the public good who served this House with distinction, who made the workplace a better place for workers, and who was dedicated to her community and family.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and recognition of Richard ``Dick'' Goddard, longtime Cleveland-area meteorologist, animal rights advocate, author and cartoonist on the occasion of his fiftieth anniversary in broadcasting and 80th birthday. Born on February 24, 1931, Dick, an Akron, Ohio native, graduated from Green High School. He first entered the field of meteorology as a member of the U.S. Air Force, 6th Weather Squadron, where he served our country during the Korean War. After his return to Ohio, he enrolled at Kent State University, where he graduated in 1960 with a bachelor of arts in drama and broadcasting. He began his career in broadcasting with Cleveland-area station KYW- TV on May 1, 1961. After the station moved to Philadelphia, Dick remained in Cleveland, becoming the chief meteorologist at WJW-TV where he has remained for forty-five years. Dick also became the statistician for the Cleveland Browns, a position he still holds. In these roles, he has become a community leader and local celebrity, hosting public events and founding the area's annual Woollybear Festival. Dick is one of the Cleveland area's most famous and effective advocates for animal welfare. For example, to help an animal shelter find new homes for its indigent dogs, he features several adoptable dogs during every Friday evening newscast. He has single-handedly raised the level of awareness of animal rights and has done Northeast Ohio a great service. Mr. Speaker and Colleagues, please join me in honor and recognition of Dick Goddard for his contributions to the Cleveland area and to our nation. The longevity of his public service in Cleveland shows a strong commitment to the vitality of Northeast Ohio, and his tireless work for animal rights has helped to save or improve the lives of countless needy animals. He has been nothing short of inspirational, and he continues to be a leader and role model in our community.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and remembrance of Mr. Gabor Papp, a man who was devoted to preserving and celebrating Hungarian culture and language. In 1915, Mr. Papp was born in Maramarossziget, Hungary. He earned his law degree at the University of Debrecen before moving to Cleveland after World War II. In 1951, Mr. Papp began working as a draftsman at Lucas Machine Tool Co. and Acme-Cleveland Corp. In 1958, Mr. Papp founded the Hungarian School at St. Emeric Catholic Church, serving as its principal and director for 27 years. The Hungarian school teaches both children and adults about Hungarian language and culture. He also served as an officer at the United Hungarian Fund, where he spearheaded philanthropic efforts for scholarships, disaster recovery, and many other programs. Mr. Papp was also a volunteer at the Senior Ethnic Find of Cleveland. As a result of his dedication to the community he was honored by numerous government officials throughout his life. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honor and remembrance of Mr. Gabor Papp, a true leader. Mr. Papp's devotion to the Hungarian community of Cleveland was admirable and irreplaceable. I extend my sincerest condolences to his wife of 64 years, Katalin; his daughters, Eva, Klara, Gabrielle, and Susan; and his many grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Holy Trinity Baptist Church of Cleveland, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. Known as ``the Church with the Upward Look and the Forward Step,'' this church has served the surrounding community since 1961. The congregation of Holy Trinity Baptist Church had humble beginnings; for the first four years of its existence it was housed at the Old Crown Theater on Cleveland's east side. In 1965, it moved to its current location on East 131st Street. Throughout its history, Holy Trinity has provided numerous services to its members and the surrounding community. The congregation has an active connection with Haiti, where they built a church and have fostered children. Closer to home, they have hosted nutritional, tutoring, and Head Start programs for their community. Holy Trinity Baptist Church was the first church in Cleveland to offer certified classes in Bible Study. Mr. Speaker and Colleagues, please join me in recognition and celebration of Holy Trinity Baptist Church's 50th anniversary. Holy Trinity Baptist Church has been a vibrant part of the Cleveland community for fifty years, and through its service and outreach programs, has touched many lives. I send my congratulations to Reverend Chelton C. Flanagan and Reverend Dr. Henry J. Payden, Sr., along with the 700 members of the church on this joyous occasion.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and remembrance of Mr. Bill Kelley, the former director of the Cleveland Aquarium who was known for his ingenuity and creativity. Bill Kelley was born in 1917 in Elyria, Ohio. From a very early age, he had a deep interest in science, and enjoyed building telescopes and crystal radios. In 1954, after serving as an interpreter for the Army in World War II, he worked to convert a small bathhouse in Gordon Park into Cleveland's first aquarium. Mr. Kelley was well-known for his innovation. He invented special filters and developed an additive that could be added to tap water to make it habitable for salt-water fish. He travelled to Chicago and the Amazon to secure unique specimens for Cleveland's collection. He went on to head aquariums in Niagara Falls and Mystic, Connecticut. A true renaissance man, Mr. Kelley's expertise was far from limited to sea life. He was also a fellow of Great Britain's Gemological Society and was known for developing a method to strengthen fragile opals and for founding Opals, Inc. He also served as associate director of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please rise with me today in honor and remembrance of a passionate and unwavering individual. Mr. Kelley will be remembered for his many contributions to the sciences and for his hard work and dedication. I extend my sincerest condolences to his wife, Lois; his brother, Carl; and his sister, Jean.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in remembrance of Richard Distelhorst, a man who devoted himself to the well being of his community and the nation. Richard was born on August 24th, 1921 to his loving parents Oscar and Esther Distelhorst. He graduated from Burlington High School in 1939. After graduating he met the love of his life, Virginia. The two married in 1944 and celebrated 60 years together before Virginia's death in 2004. As a young man Richard enlisted in the Marine Corps and served as a master sergeant in the South Pacific during World War II. His service and devotion to his local community will be remembered by those who knew him. He was a member of his local Kiwanis Club, a grand knight of the Knights of Columbus and chairman of the local Service Corps of Retired Executives. He also dedicated his time to the Burlington Alliance for Citizen Action. Richard also possessed a passion for politics. He volunteered countless hours for local grass roots political action. He was an active member of the Des Moines County Democrats and was eventually awarded for his service to them by being inducted in the Des Moines county Democrats Hall of Fame in 2006. He worked tirelessly organizing peace rallies, educating the community about pertinent political issues and assisted with the 2004 Kucinich for President Campaign. Additionally, Richard was an active member and senior advisor of the American Monetary Institute (AMI). The director and co-founder of the AMI referred to Richard as one of ``the most knowledgeable Americans regarding the workings of the Federal Reserve system.'' Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please rise with me today in honor and remembrance of a passionate and unwavering individual. Richard will forever be remembered for the hard work and dedication that he committed. I extend my sincerest condolences to his son Daniel and his daughter Rita.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and recognition of the Parma Hospital Acute Rehabilitation Center, a multifaceted medical center that provides the people of Northeast Ohio with comprehensive physical and cognitive rehabilitation of excellent quality. The staff at Parma Hospital Acute Rehabilitation Center consists of nurses, social workers, dietitians, pharmacists, psychologists/ neuropsychologists and physical, occupational and speech therapists. These professionals work together to create individualized treatment plans for each patient they treat. The Center is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation (CARF) and consistently exceeds national averages with outstanding outcomes for patients undergoing joint replacement, total knee replacement and hip fracture repair. The Center has also been recognized for its exceptional work with stroke patients. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, the Parma Hospital Acute Rehabilitation Center is an invaluable resource for patients in Northeast Ohio. Its individualized approach, cooperation with patients' families, and dedication to returning all patients to independent living at the highest possible level of functioning make the Center an excellent source of quality health care for the people of its community.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Chris Coburn to acknowledge his receipt of the Walks of Life Award from the Irish American Archive Society. Chris has been a tremendous asset to the Cleveland community. In fact, the Cleveland Plain Dealer recently hailed Chris as ``a pioneer in tech-based economic development, rugby lover and fifth-generation Clevelander.'' Chris served as the executive director of Cleveland Clinic Innovations, leading a team whose main goal is commercial viability for inventions developed by the scientists and doctors of the Cleveland Clinic. These inventions have the potential to create products that may extend lives and mend genes. His work at the Clinic has boosted economic development and growth for Northeast Ohio. In honor of his Irish roots, he also ensured that 20 percent of Ireland's cardiologists received the world renowned training at the Cleveland Clinic. Other accomplishments of Chris' include being the former Vice President and General Manager of Battelle Memorial Institution and Director of the U.S. Enrichment Corp. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, Chris Coburn is truly a valuable asset to Northeast Ohio. Through various innovations and achievements, he has proven himself to be one of Cleveland's most valuable citizens.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Sister Mary Ann Flannery to acknowledge her receipt of the Walks of Life award from the Irish American Archives Society. Sister Flannery has always been a valuable asset to her community and her devotion to serving others is praiseworthy. Sister Flannery grew up on the East side of Cleveland and graduated from Hoban-Dominican High School. After college she began teaching at Lumen Cordium High School and Notre Dame College. Following her time as a teacher she became an active member in local organizations that focused on social justice issues for the community. She became director of Parma's Jesuit Retreat House, making her the first female director of the oldest retreat center in the nation. In addition to her community involvement, she is also a consistent freelance writer. Her work appears in the Cleveland Plain Dealer and several other publications. Prior to receiving this award, Sister Flannery also received an award from the Siena Heights University Alumni Association for her relentless efforts to improve her community, her successful tenure as a teacher and her concern for social issues around the globe. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring the accomplishments of Sister Flannery. She is a valuable asset to the Cleveland community, and has shown that she possesses a gift for assisting others, no matter what their circumstances.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and recognition of Patricia Anne Gaughan to acknowledge her receipt of the Walks of Life award from the Irish American Archives Society. Patricia's focus on civic duty and national allegiance is admirable. Patricia graduated from Notre Dame Law School in 1978 and soon began her career in law. Initially, she worked as an assistant Cuyahoga County prosecutor. In 1983 she began to handle high profile cases as the first female in the Major Trial Division. In 1986 she secured the position of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas judge, and in 1994, Senator John Glenn nominated her for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. By 2007, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts selected her for appointment to the Judicial Conference Committee on Federal-State Jurisdiction. Within the community, Patricia serves as a Director of Magnificat Catholic High School and the St. John Medical Center Community Board. She is also on the Ursuline College Legal Studies Advisory Board. Patricia is a loving mother who lives with her husband Roger, and her son and daughter in Rocky River, Ohio. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring Patricia Gaughan, who has devoted her life to the rule of law and service to her country. Her life has been marked by accomplishment after accomplishment. It is an honor to recognize her as an invaluable asset to the Cleveland community.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Richard F. Coyne to acknowledge his receipt of the Walks of Life Award from the Irish American Archive Society. Richard is a valuable asset to the Cleveland community. Without him, Cleveland would not have one its most prestigious landmarks: the Great Lakes Science Center. Richard was chosen specifically to spearhead the construction of the Science Center twenty years ago. As a result of his know-how and expertise, the project was completed both on time and under budget. The Great Lakes Science Center is one of the largest interactive science museums in the country. Now retired from management duties at the Science Center, Richard continues to assist and advise other enterprises. He is an active member of the leadership board at the Cleveland Clinic's Glickman Urological and Kidney Institute and has been chairman of the endowment board at St. Ann Catholic Church. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, Cleveland, Ohio is blessed to have such an honorable and hardworking man as a member of its community. His dedication has vastly improved Cleveland and the city will forever be in Richard's debt.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor and recognition of Richard Clark to acknowledge his receipt of the Walks of Life award from the Irish American Archives Society. Richard has been of immense value to the community and his achievements are certainly praiseworthy. Mr. Clark's time spent as the principal of St. Ignatius High School marked an era of vast improvements to the school. Attendance rose annually by 300 students under his leadership. During his twelve years as principal, St. Ignatius reaped the benefits of a new intramural gym, a new 400 seat place of worship and a complete remodeling of its classrooms. After leaving St. Ignatius High School, Richard founded an entirely new high school in Cleveland, Saint Martin de Porres. The mission of this school is ``to transform urban Cleveland one student at a time.'' Richard can be proud of his many accomplishments. Of the 190 students who graduated from St. Martin de Porres, all were accepted into college. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, Cleveland is proud to have such a motivated and good-willed individual giving back to the community. Richard's accomplishments have improved the lives of hundreds of young individuals seeking education and opportunity.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. I would just like to say in response to my friends that my amendment will correct a bipartisan error and, second, that you can't destroy a missile system that doesn't work. I will just conclude by saying that Philip Coyle, a former Assistant Secretary of Defense, has said the national missile defense system has become a theology in the United States, not a technology. We may have faith that it works, but we are taught that we have to justify our faith by good works. They don't have any good works connected to this.

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

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in remembrance of Clarence Dominic Harper and in honor of his commitment to family, community, and country. Clarence spent his entire life devoted to his community. In 1930 he was born in Richfield, Ohio, where he would remain and serve for the rest of his life. He left a profound mark on those with whom he lived. The denizens of Richfield will remember Clarence fondly due to his constant support and devotion to the community. Clarence had a great admiration for the natural beauty of Ohio. In fact, during his life he became a self-taught expert on animals native to Northeast Ohio. Clarence also possessed a strong, vital love for his country. In fact, this Nation will forever be in debt to the years he devoted to serving his Nation during the Korean War. Most importantly, Clarence was a family man. He spent 55 years of his life with his loving wife Helene. He was an active role model for his children, Stacy, Gregory, and Mary, for whom he was always a loving and caring father. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in remembering Clarence Dominic Harper whose legacy of commitment towards community, country and family is an inspiration. I extend my sincere condolences to his wife, his three children and three grandchildren.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of the Cleveland Chapter of the Lithuanian American Community's commemoration of the anniversary of the restoration of Lithuania's independence, and the re- establishment of their independence. On February 16, 1918, the people of Lithuania declared their independence to the world as a distinct country of its own culture and traditions. The state was founded on democratic principles and declared its independence in a peaceful manner. However, Lithuania's freedom was short-lived, as the country and its people were subjected to foreign occupation and conquest by the Nazi Germany regime and the U.S.S.R. during World War II. In 1940, the Soviet Union took control of Lithuania, without the people's consent. This unjust control of a free people lasted for 50 years. On March 11, 1990, upon the fall of the Soviet Union, the people of Lithuania re-established their independence, and once again, became a sovereign, free state. The Lithuanian-American Community's Cleveland Chapter has worked to connect the people of Cleveland of Lithuanian descent and to share their rich and vibrant culture with the community. I offer my best wishes for the upcoming celebration of their heritage and their independence. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in commemorating the independence of Lithuania and, in wishing the country and its people continued freedom and success.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise to recognize William T. Skowronski, the Chief of the Northeast District Office of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. Bill is retiring on February 24 after 39 years with the OEPA. Bill Skowronski graduated from Cleveland State University in 1972 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He became a Registered Professional Engineer and went on to become District Engineer in the Public Wastewater Control Group; a Supervisor in the Industrial Wastewater Pollution Control Group; and the Manager of the Division of Solid and Hazardous Waste Management, before becoming the District Chief in 1987. In his long and distinguished career, Bill Skowronski has served on many boards and committees and has received numerous awards for his service. He is an ex officio member of the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency, Northeast Ohio's Metropolitan Planning Organization; a member of the Greater Cleveland Clean Air Campaign; the Cleveland Harbor Dredge Task Force; the Environmental Health and Safety Technology Advisory Committee of Cuyahoga Community College; and the Advisory Committee for Master of Arts in Environmental Studies at Cleveland State University's Levin College of Urban Affairs, among other boards. He is also a past member of the Greater Cleveland Growth Association's Water/ Environmental Committee; Case Western Reserve University's Advisory Committee for the Regional Priorities Project; the St. Clair Superior Neighborhood Development Association Environmental Justice Committee; and the Earth Day Coalition's Sustainable Cleveland Neighborhood Committee, among others. In 1991 Bill received the OEPA Senior Manager of the Year Award and in 2005 received the OEPA George B. Garrett Professionalism Award. Professional duties aside, Bill is a dedicated sports fan and family man. He plays basketball, soccer, tennis and golf and umpires elementary through high school baseball leagues. He is an avid fan of all Cleveland's professional sports teams and the Ohio State University Buckeyes. In his retirement, Bill looks forward to spending more time with his wife Debra, who recently retired from the North Royalton Board of Education, his three children Keith, Kevin and Kristen, his granddaughter Abigail, and a grandchild on the way. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in wishing Bill Skowronski the best in his much deserved retirement.

Mr. KUCINICH

Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in remembrance of Mercedes Helen Spotts, a loving mother, grandmother, sister and friend. Mrs. Spotts' devotion to public service, and her passionate love for her family and children, has left a lasting impression on countless lives. Born in Cleveland, Ohio to Helen and John Karpinski, Mrs. Spotts graduated from Notre Dame Academy, and earned associates and bachelor's degrees at Notre Dame College. She also earned her master's and law degrees at Cleveland State University. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from her alma mater, Notre Dame College. Mrs. Spotts has the honor of being the first female deputy bailiff at the Cleveland Municipal Court. Throughout her career she also served as an appeals court administrator, the second female President of the Cuyahoga County Bar Association, co-founder of the East Side Catholic Shelter and the founding President of Mental Health Services. Because of her dedication, Mrs. Spotts was the recipient of three awards from the Cuyahoga County Bar Association, including the first ``Day Weiner'' award for public service. In addition to her formal role as deputy bailiff, Mrs. Spotts was known around the community as the organizer of the annual International Folk Festival in Playhouse Square. She was also an active member of the Dimpled Darlings of Ireland, a tap-dance group that performed for nursing homes and hospitals. Mrs. Spotts was named a ``Grand Lady of Pulaski'' by the Polonia Foundation and received its annual Heritage Award. She also received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2005. Mrs. Spotts is survived by her two sons, David and John, her grandson David, and sister, the Honorable Diane Karpinski. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in remembering Mercedes Helen Spotts, whose legacy of professionalism and service to others will not be forgotten.