Ron Klein

Mr. KLEIN of Florida

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Thank you, Chairwoman Bordallo, for yielding me time and Congressman Faleomavaega for bringing this important legislation to the floor today. Mr. Speaker, coral reefs are among the most diverse, biologically complex, and valuable ecosystems on Earth. In my home State of Florida, we are fortunate to have the third largest barrier reef in the world. Along with their natural beauty, Florida's coral reef systems serve as a critical place for fish habitat and as a potentially lifesaving barrier against hurricanes as well. But it's only on an everyday level that coral reefs probably have the greatest impact on south Florida, serving as an important source of tourism, jobs and revenue. In Broward County alone, coral reefs contribute over $2 billion annually to the local economy. However, coral reefs are in nothing short of a crisis. Because of a variety of threats, scientists estimate that 60 percent of coral reefs may disappear before 2050. That's why I'm very proud to support all of my colleagues' efforts today to bring this legislation forward. H.R. 1205 will make important changes to the Coral Reef Conservation Act of 2000. One will be able to take advantage of the vast resources and expertise at various coral reef conservation institutions across the country, like the National Coral Reef Institute. The National Coral Reef Institute will be hosting the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium next year in Florida, which will bring together scientists from throughout the world, over 3,000 of those scientists, to discuss coral reef issues. Harnessing their experience and knowledge and other institutions' will be a vital component of any Federal coral reef conservation plan. Another important aspect of this legislation we're considering today will be to authorize NOAA to respond to vessel groundings. Since 1994, we've seen 12 large ships run aground on sensitive coral reef areas near Ft. Lauderdale. The last one, occurring almost a year ago, involved a freighter that left a 20-foot swath of destruction along 100 feet of a coral reef. Whatever coral that once lived there is now, unfortunately, gone. Part of the solution to vessel groundings is adopting better prevention strategies, such as closing anchorage sites in shallow waters that are close to coral reefs. And I'm very proud that the Coast Guard and others have worked to achieve this objective. But we also need to respond faster when a vessel does run aground, because the sooner coral reefs can be restored, the better chances for their survival. Expanding NOAA's authority to act will allow NOAA to utilize their experience and resources to both assess the damage and restore the reefs. For these reasons, I urge my colleagues to adopt this legislation. I thank the sponsors on both sides of the aisle, and recommend that we move forward.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Madam Speaker, President Bush rejected the wishes of the American people, 68 Senators, 43 Governors, and 265 Members of this body when he vetoed the children's health bill. The reason that so many Democrats and Republicans support the CHIP Reauthorization Act is that it is consensus legislation that was crafted in a bipartisan fashion. Over the last 10 years, the children's health program has proven to be a popular and successful program, with 6 million children currently receiving quality private health care. It costs less than $3.50 per day to cover a child through the CHIP program. Insuring kids is also cost effective for taxpayers who end up picking up the tab for indigent care in emergency rooms, the most expensive way to care for a child's health. A child is also more likely to succeed in education and life if they have access to health care at an early age, and it certainly benefits our Nation in the long run. Madam Speaker, I would hope more of my Republican colleagues would work together to recognize the success story of CHIP, and would join us today in overriding the President's veto. We need to ensure that more children have access to quality health care.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Madam Speaker, I would have voted on Wednesday, October 3, however I was unavoidably detained, and I would have voted ``yes'' on rollcall No. 934 and ``yes'' on rollcall No. 935.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, when President Bush announced that he was keeping the troop escalation plan in effect until next summer, it was clear that he had no plan for ending the war in Iraq. In fact, the administration admits that they see our troops remaining in Iraq for at least 10 more years. President Bush continues with the status quo in Iraq even though the Iraqi Government is not fulfilling its promise to meet the political benchmarks that were outlined by President Bush himself earlier this year. House Democrats are not going to tolerate another decade of our troops serving as referees in a civil war. And while this Congress cannot force the President to change course in Iraq until some of our Republican colleagues break ranks with the administration, I think that they even see the value in forcing this administration to finally come up with an exit strategy that is strategic in purpose. Today the House will vote on legislation that would require the President and his administration to develop and submit a comprehensive redeployment strategy within the next 60 days. This war cannot go on indefinitely, and this administration needs to begin preparing for the day that we can finally bring our troops home.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise to put the spotlight on an ominous trend in our region. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may have left New York, but he remains close by. From the U.N. General Assembly, Mr. Ahmadinejad flew to Bolivia and then to his friend, Hugo Chavez, in Venezuela. Ahmadinejad, with his hate-filled rhetoric and his funding of global terror, is too close for comfort. I rise to urge our friends in Latin America to refuse the Iranian president's advances and see him for what he is: a bully who disregards international will and who ignores our efforts against terrorism. The 1994 bombing of the Argentine Jewish Community Center shows that the Iranian presence in Latin America has been dangerous in the past. This week, Argentina called on the U.N. General Assembly to urge Iran to more fully cooperate with the investigation so that justice can finally be served for this heinous act of terrorism. Coming from south Florida where I live, when something happens in Latin America, we feel it. My district has many economic and familial ties to Latin America. Our friends in Latin America have been our partners in fighting terrorism, and we look forward to continuing our mutually beneficial partnership with these countries to make our areas safe and more secure.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Costello), the chairman of the subcommittee.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I would first like to start by commending Chairman Oberstar and Subcommittee Chairman Costello for their leadership in crafting this ambitious bill and taking some of the complex and critical challenges facing our aviation system to a successful conclusion. Mr. Chairman, air travel in our country, unfortunately, has deteriorated in many ways to an alarming and unacceptable state over the past couple of years. According to a recent Reuters article in July, it confirmed that the 20 largest airlines are on pace for their worst year ever in delays, cancellations and congestion. Now, outgoing FAA Administrator Marion Blakey has warned that airport delays are likely to become worse, a distressing admonition from one of the country's foremost authorities on air travel. Clearly, there is plenty of blame to go around. An aging infrastructure, outdated technology, unrealistic flight schedules, an overstretched workforce, along with poor weather, computer glitches, and inadequate space in between planes, have all been cited as contributing to the problems with air travel. With so many deficiencies stressing the system, it is no surprise that we have reached this point. It is also no surprise that the American people are frustrated. We have all heard from our constituents, demanding that we do something with the inexcusable treatment they have received during their air travels. I have heard from one constituent who sat on the tarmac for 3 hours before her flight was cancelled and wasn't able to board another flight until the next day. I think we have all heard those examples. Another constituent told me that his flight was canceled; and instead of rebooking, the airline made him fly standby. He had to wait 36 more hours before he finally got back. Still another had her bags missing for over 6 months. Mr. Chairman, this treatment is unacceptable. The American people deserve better, whether they are traveling for business or leisure. They have paid their hard-earned money to fly on a plane, and they deserve to be treated with a certain level of respect. If they are not receiving that from the airlines, they should be able to turn to someone who can put pressure on the airlines to give them the respect they deserve. That is where my amendment comes in. It would require the Department of Transportation to investigate, subject to appropriations, consumer complaints for a broad range of issues, including flight cancellations, overbooking of flights, baggage problems, ticket refund problems, and incorrect or incomplete fare information to help address the growing unrest among air travelers who receive unacceptable consumer service. I have no intention of reinventing the wheel here, however. The Department of Transportation already operates a division that handles airline consumer complaints, with authority to issue warnings, cease and desist orders and fines. However, because of a variety of reasons, including budgetary constraints, the Department has chosen to greatly limit the number of investigations it pursues, focusing mainly on discrimination and disability claims. Other types of claims are simply logged and reported monthly, giving consumers with legitimate grievances no recourse or explanation for their treatment. What I am proposing is a simple expansion of the division so that they have the authority and resources to investigate a wider range of legitimate consumer grievances. I think it is a fair and reasonable response to the overwhelming problems the American people have endured. But if my colleagues are still not convinced, I would ask that they listen to the Department of Transportation's own Inspector General. In a report to Congress on April 20, he recommended that the Department ``take a more active role in airline customer service issues.'' This amendment would turn the Inspector General's recommendation into law. Mr. Chairman, we stand here today prepared to pass a far-reaching and well-thought-out bill that addresses many of the critical infrastructure and technological shortcomings facing the airlines, airports and the FAA, as well as adding several critical safeguards for airline passengers. My amendment would add another layer of protection for customers that is practical and fair. I urge its adoption. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Thank you, Congresswoman Sutton. It's a pleasure to serve with you and the other 54 Members of our class. They call us freshmen. Some people call us freshmen. Some people call us majority makers. But clearly we're new Members, and I think that as new Members we probably have heard through some very active campaigns a very clear message from our communities and, that is, what's going on in Iraq, this is back in November, but continues to today, as your point is, is not working. And it's not working on a number of levels. The way I sort of focus on this is the notion that all this should be about the national security of the American people. This is about what makes us safe in our homes, our communities, our States, our country. And yes, we obviously have interests around the world in other places as well. But first and foremost, what's important to us is at home, that we know our families and that we are protected. The problem as I see it, and I think it has now been confirmed, and I'm on the Foreign Affairs Committee, so I've had the opportunity, as many of the Members of Congress have had, to get the briefings of a number of people, including members of the State Department and others, and we've all had the chance to go over and speak to the Joint Chiefs of Staff over at the Pentagon to get a firsthand question-and-answer about what the assumptions were in the surge and what the assumptions were in adding or subtracting military personnel and how our commitments were affecting the rest of our military and the rest of the commitments that we as Americans have internally. National Guard. I come from Florida. We have hurricane season, and are we at risk in terms of being able to respond, or anywhere in the world where our military is needed. I think it's very clear, and I think most Americans understand this, that al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, the people that perpetrated 9/11, it wasn't Iraq, it was Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. Al Qaeda was not in Iraq at the time of September 11. The bottom line is Osama bin Laden is still operating. Al Qaeda is still operating. And it's not operating in Baghdad. Sure there are cells in places in Iraq, and it's up to our military, and our military understands its responsibilities to root them out. Those are specific engagements and we should find those cells and root them out. But al Qaeda is not limited to Iraq. They're operating in different parts of the world. Afghanistan is at a tipping point, as we understand it. Nobody, no Democrat or Republican, seems to be contesting that issue. Americans understand that the Taliban and al Qaeda are re- emerging in Afghanistan. Yet, our assets, our men, our women, our military hardware and equipment are saddled and stuck in Iraq. That's not to say that there's not a terrible situation in Iraq. It is a terrible situation. But as Americans, we have to put ourselves first and say, what's in the best interest for America? Both here at home, and dealing with Afghanistan, dealing if there's a problem in Pakistan, dealing with Iran, dealing with North Korea. These are the potential hot spots around the world, where there are potential nuclear issues and things like that. My biggest concern all along, and I know I shar this with certainly all Members of our Democratic side, and I know many Republicans. This is not a Democrat-Republican issue. This is an American issue. It's what is the right thing to do. I think it's very clear, based on everything we've seen so far, is that this is not going to get resolved now, 6 months from now, a year from now, 5, 10 years from now, with just a military solution. Senator Lindsay Graham, a Republican from the Carolinas, was before our Foreign Affairs Committee today, and he said he was there. He also specifically said, listen, our generals are generals. He comes from a military background. He did work in the legal corps of our military. He said, but, you know, generals are not always necessarily right. Ask them the tough questions. I know when General Petraeus came before our committee and many of us listened very carefully as to what he had to say, many of us were not quite fully satisfied that the answers were consistent. On the one hand he said, yeah, we're going to draw down. On the other hand he's saying, we need power, we need troops, we need, you know, the power to make sure that everything is there. It didn't all sound consistent to me. But the bottom line is I think we need to be strategic and smart. And redeployment is not a question of getting everybody out immediately. Nobody is suggesting that among our group here today. What we are saying is be smart. Secure the borders. Do some things to make sure this doesn't spill out. Really double and triple our efforts to retrain the military, and there are other ideas not limited to anybody in this room. There are lots of generals out there, retired and active, that are coming up with good suggestions. But repackaging the stay-the-course approach, which is what is going on right now, is not the answer. We need to have a better answer to protect our men and women in the field, and protect America most significantly, at home and abroad.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlemen for the presentation and the support of the resolution, House Resolution 583. I would also like to thank Chairman Lantos, who has a deep and abiding understanding of the circumstances leading up to and what occurred during the Holocaust, and of course Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and my cosponsor, Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart from Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor a true hero, Mr. Nicholas Winton, who saved more than 600 children from their death during the Holocaust. Nine months before the outbreak of World War II, Nicholas Winton, then only 29 years old, a young man, used his business and personal connections, urgently working from the dining room of a hotel room, and found safety for these hundreds of children. Nicholas Winton took the lead in raising the necessary funds to assure transportation for these children. As was said already, he found foster homes and arranged for the necessary permits and documents. But let's understand this is not just an administrative function that we would think of today to place children. This was under threat of death of himself, his family and anybody who assisted. He saved these children's lives, since most of their families and contemporaries remained in Czechoslovakia, and they soon perished. These children grew up to be doctors, nurses, teachers, musicians, artists, writers, pilots, ministers, scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and even a member of the British Parliament. Today they and their children and grandchildren and great grandchildren number over 5,000 human beings, living in the United States, Canada, Australia, the Czech Republic, Britain, Germany and elsewhere. Nicholas Winton, as was already indicated, was given a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II for his services to humanity. Sir Nicholas never sought credit for saving the lives of these children. In fact, his achievement went unrecognized for more than half a century, and until 1988 his family never knew about it. For 50 years they were called ``Winton's children,'' as the survivors called themselves, and did not know who to even thank or to whom they owed their lives. The story only emerged when his wife came across a satchel in the attic and found lists of children and letters from their parents. In 1939, as he scrambled to save hundreds of lives, Nicholas Winton wrote in a letter: ``There is a difference between passive goodness and active goodness, which is, in my opinion, the giving of one's time and energy in the alleviation of pain and suffering. It entails going out, finding and helping those in suffering and danger and not merely in leading an exemplary life in a purely passive way of doing no wrong.'' The life of Sir Nicholas is certainly an example of active goodness. Just as we will never forget the horrors and deaths of the Holocaust, we must also never forget the examples of bravery and heroism that still serve as our role models today. On a personal note, as with many people in this country, much of my grandparents' family was killed in the Holocaust. I think many of us in this country understand and recognize the importance of a man who stood up as bravely as he did, and there were many others who did the same and risked their lives in doing this. I thank the members of Congress today. I urge my colleagues to support this resolution to honor the life and accomplishments of Sir Nicholas Winton, a hero to many and a model for all.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise today to submit a record of how I would have voted on Saturday, August 4, when I was tending to a family commitment, for which the timing was not flexible. Had I voted, I would have voted ``nay'' on rollcall No. 824; ``yes'' on rollcall No. 825; ``yes'' on rollcall No. 826; ``yes'' on rollcall No. 827; ``yes'' on rollcall No. 828; ``yes'' on rollcall No. 829; ``yes'' on rollcall No. 830; ``nay'' on rollcall No. 831; ``yes'' on rollcall No. 832; ``yes'' on rollcall No. 833; ``nay'' on rollcall No. 834; ``yes'' on rollcall No. 835; ``nay'' on rollcall No. 836; ``yes'' on rollcall No. 837; ``nay'' on rollcall No. 838; ``no'' on rollcall No. 839; ``nay'' on rollcall No. 840; ``nay'' on rollcall No. 841; ``nay'' on rollcall No. 842; ``nay'' on rollcall No. 843; ``nay'' on rollcall No. 844; ``nay'' on rollcall No. 845; and ``yes'' on rollcall No. 846.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this rule for the Children's Health and Medicare Protection Act of 2007, CHAMP. I have been a strong supporter of the State Children's Health Insurance Program for many years, as many of our Members have. In Florida, we call it Healthy Kids; and it provides much-needed health care to hundreds of thousands of children who would otherwise not receive it. Democrats, Republicans, business and community leaders support this program because it empowers families to provide health insurance for their children. The CHAMP Act also addresses another important problem with our health care system by providing a critical payment update for the doctors. In south Florida, we are currently facing a severe shortage of qualified physicians, in part because of the way physician payments under Medicare are calculated. I applaud Chairman Dingell and the other drafters of the CHAMP Act for their immediate action to stave off the unreasonable cuts to physician payments. I am concerned, however, with the way the CHAMP Act addresses the overpayments to Medicare Advantage plans. By scaling some payments back to traditional Medicare fee-for-service rates over the course of 4 years, seniors in my district may be at risk for losing some benefits. There may be some risk of losing some benefits, so I believe a more prudent proposal is to soften the impact of these changes to Medicare Advantage, and I look forward to working with the conferees to ensure that our elderly and vulnerable populations are supported by any changes to Medicare. I ask my colleagues to support this rule and bill.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay respect and honor to Private First Class Daniel Agami from Parkland, Florida, who lost his life this past June while serving in Iraq. Private Agami was patrolling in a Humvee with four other soldiers when their vehicle was hit by an IED, an improvised explosive device. Unfortunately, all five of these brave troops were killed. Private Agami was a man of great character, known for his devotion to faith and his country. His presence was so strong and his personality so outgoing that the Army planned to feature Private Agami in an upcoming advertising campaign. Like me, Private Agami was born in Ohio but later moved to Florida. His parents were surprised by his decision to join the military 2 years ago, but noted that he felt a responsibility to his country, and in the words of his mother, Beth Agami, he ``was totally patriotic.'' I, unfortunately, never had the opportunity to meet Private Agami, but after hearing about the way he approached life and his devotion to our country, I feel like I know him. He is a role model to me and to all citizens. To the family of Private Agami, your beloved son made the ultimate sacrifice to serve our country, and those of us in Florida and the Nation are eternally grateful and will never forget his unfathomable service to our country.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Well, it's been a full day for us. I know I'm going to get a good night's sleep tonight. But what I think we should all be proud of as Americans is the fact that we're moving forward. And there are some very positive things that are happening. Obviously, at home people are very concerned about their livelihood, putting up a roof over their head, being able to afford health care, putting their kids into college and pursuing the American Dream. And I think a lot of things that we have discussed in this brief time tonight about improving education and really putting some muscle behind it, not just throwing money at it but changing the policies to make sure that we give teachers the tools and the kids the incentives to be successful, the minimum wage, just giving people a working wage so they can go forward and do well and giving the tax benefits to the businesses that create the jobs. It's a great combination on both sides. You know, the research which I know all of us feel so strongly about and finding the cures, these are things that Americans think about every day when they get up and go to work and think about their parents, their grandparents, their kids. It's about the future of our families and our country. So I'm very excited and I know I'm going to sleep well tonight knowing we got good work done today. And we are going to continue working on this over the next number of weeks and months as we continue to move America forward.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Absolutely. And I'm glad you pointed it out because I know that you personally took a lead on a number of the educational issues. I think all of us as Americans understand the importance of education and so many of the achievement issues that have been brought up in our individual States at the Federal level, there's concern. There's concern that America's not keeping up. We're not achieving. We're not where we need to be and we see some of the other countries of the world, whether it's China or some of the Far East countries that really are moving ahead with their economies, with their job creation. It's not just call centers in Bangalor. It's high tech jobs. And I think there's a big commitment by this Congress this year with Democratic leadership, and I'm glad to see Republicans joining us because this is not a partisan issue. This is the right thing to do. There was a big commitment to invest in children, and it was everything from investing in schools to investing in college scholarships, Pell Grants. For those of you who don't know what Pell Grants are, those are the scholarships that help students go through college and provide access to college. We've worked on the interest rate, reducing the interest rate so that more kids can, again, go to school. There are lots of kids in our country that have disabilities and we have invested in education for children with disabilities. As a matter of fact, we put $509 million additional dollars in. And the last thing I'll mention, because this is something that I know that both my colleagues, Mr. Hodes and Mr. Ellison are very involved in their local communities and that's expanding medical research. This is such an important issue. And whether you believe in stem cell, which I firmly do, or any other type of medical research, we have millions of people in our country, not just seniors, but families with children and adults that have serious medical disease issues. And unfortunately, the last number of years, Federal grants for research have been declining. It's called the NIH, National Institute of Health grants. And they've been declining. Unfortunately, the recommendations from the President have been less and less, and Congress has put less and less in. Yet, there's been a demand for the public to say help us, help us find cures. And I'm so proud about the fact that there's going to be well over a billion dollars of additional research over and above what the President even asked for. And this will allow for an additional 545 competing medical research programs to go forward. And I don't even have to mention the names of the diseases because Americans understand what's going on here. It's not just Alzheimer's; it's so many other things. So, Mr. Ellison, thank you for mentioning that because one of the things that I came to Congress for was to work on education, making sure our children can compete and our adults can compete, and medical research. And I think that this bill, in particular, has so much in it and it's so exciting. I'm looking forward to seeing the President hopefully sign this bill as soon as possible.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. I thank the gentleman. It is good to be here as part of our freshman class, the Majority Makers. It is an honor and privilege, as it always is, to be here in Congress and to talk about some of the things that we have been doing, Madam Speaker, over the last number of weeks that hopefully will really impact people's lives. The thing I think that to me is so important about the minimum wage discussion was the fact that it was a discussion that not only dealt with the average family, the people putting food on the table, but also dealt with the small businesses, because there was concern by some people that our small businesses might be impacted, and there is only so much that a small business can absorb when compared to other businesses, because the bigger businesses probably pay more than minimum wage, but sometimes small businesses pay the minimum wage. The great thing about this package is that it not only provided that increase, and two more increases to follow, which will amount to $4,400 a year when this is fully implemented additional compensation to people. Think about what you can do with $4,400 a year for a person who is earning minimum wage right now. We know that the problem all along has been minimum wage does not put food on the table and a roof over the house or the place that you live. So we are contributing to that. But also, on the small business side there are some tax breaks that went along with it to help the small businesses absorb this, some tax breaks to help small businesses thrive. We are a small-business country by and large. I am from Florida. Most of our businesses are small business. Some are of the definition small businesses being 200 employees or less, but most small businesses are 5 people, 10 people. It really is that corner store that really makes the difference. So we want those small businesses to thrive because they do create jobs. At the same time, we want the people that work in those jobs to be able to care for their families, to be able to put their kids through school, maybe to go to college if that is what they choose; certainly we live in a world economy where we want kids to go to college; pay for health care expenses, and at least move in the right direction. So I am pretty excited that the minimum wage increase has finally been implemented, 10 years of this country lagging behind, and at the same time we are helping our small businesses compete and be successful. I will just turn over to Mr. Hodes to give his thoughts on how this affects people in New Hampshire.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. If I can just throw something in, Mr. Ellison. One of the things that Mr. Hodes is pointing out is that the people that we're talking about are working families. We're not talking about necessarily people that aren't working. We're not only talking about what people in this country may think of as destitute people, poor. There are a lot of those people also that we're trying to, as Americans, give a helping hand which we're always, of course every one of us is committed to doing. But we're talking about a lot of middle-class people. And there's so many issues out there today. And if I can ask you a few questions. If you can elaborate for us some of the things we've been working on housing and some of the foreclosure issues, you know, transportation. These are things that this Congress has been working in this last week on putting together a bill for the first time in about a decade to really take a look at what's happening to working families and what we can do to give them a hand up, not a hand out, but a hand up, and empower them. So if you can just elaborate on some of those, Mr. Ellison.

Mr. KLEIN

Mr. KLEIN. Madam Chairman, during rollcall vote No. 672 on H.R. 3043, I mistakenly recorded my vote as ``aye'' when I should have voted ``no.''

Mr. KLEIN of Florida

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today with great solemnity to mark the 1-year anniversary of the killing of three Israeli soldiers and the kidnapping of two others, Eldad Regev and Udi Goldwasser. On July 12, 2006, Hezbollah terrorists crossed into Israel and attacked two IDF armored jeeps as they were patrolling Israel's northern border. Eldad is 26, born in Kiryat Motzkin. I met Eldad's brother, Benny, in Israel last summer, just weeks after his brother's kidnapping. He begged us to spread the message back to the United States that we must do everything possible to bring the missing soldiers home. Eldad's family and friends pray every day for Eldad's safety and his swift return. They wrote of him: ``One of the qualities that makes Eldad so special is the kindness of his heart, never hesitating to donate and offer aid to anyone in need. He always likes to stay informed and is constantly involved in everything that is happening around him.'' Udi is 31 from Nahariya. I met Udi's mother just a few months ago when she visited Members of Congress on Capitol Hill. She came to raise awareness about the plight of her son and others who were kidnapped. Udi had just married Karnit when he was captured, and his wife had to spend their 1-year anniversary alone, wondering where her husband was and what condition he was in. His family and friends wrote: ``He's a loving, caring person, always ready to offer a helping hand in any situation. He is a man of principles and values, knowledgeable in many varied subjects.'' Unfortunately, Eldad and Udi are not alone among Israel's missing soldiers. Three weeks before their capture, Hamas kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. The Shalit family has also met with many communities across the United States, urging people to remember their son and speak out on his behalf. I rise tonight to make sure that the plight of these soldiers is not forgotten. I rise to honor the sacrifices of these soldiers and their families who wait every day for news of their circumstances. Here in my hand I have a copy of their dogtags. The United Jewish Communities around the country delivered a copy of the dogtags to every Member of Congress to help raise awareness that it has been 1 year since the families have heard from their loved ones. It has been 1 whole year since they have seen their husband, son, and brother. These families have heard not one word from the captors about whether they are alive or okay. I join the families of these soldiers and all freedom-loving Americans in calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Eldad, Udi, and Gilad. America stands with Israel in its refusal to let these soldiers be forgotten. Let their dogtags on the floor of the United States House of Representatives serve as a symbol of unwavering vigilance and support. American families and Israeli families are united in the hope that these families should suffer no longer.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. And Mr. Hodes, I would absolutely agree with you. And I think the proof is in the pudding back home. When I go back home and I speak to folks in town hall meetings in Palm Beach County and Broward County in south Florida where I live, I've heard from Democrats, Republicans and independents. And nobody wears their party on their sleeve, you just hear from them and they explain how they feel. And they feel very strongly that, as former military, there are a lot of senior citizen veterans in my area, they fought so hard for our country and the values and the strength that they have for the belief in the military and the strength that they have for the belief in our country and doing the right thing as we did in World War II and as we've done so many times since then. And they feel that what is going on right now is weakening the military, weakening America, as a standard bearer for truth and strength in the world, and this hurts. This hurts them, as people who fought so hard for our country. I am not 70 years old. I am not 80 years old. But I have so many people that have expressed that to me as they wear their hats, as they wear their uniform, as they come and talk about their own personal experiences. We certainly have that generation. Then we have the generation of parents whose kids may enlist or are already in the military. Some believe that what the military is doing is just right. Some feel very bad and feel like, not that their sons and daughters aren't doing the right thing on behalf of the country, they just feel like the strategy is not what they have made that representation, that commitment about. I also feel like you do, that I am beginning to see, and I know in some of the committee hearings we have had in the House of Representatives we have heard expressions by both Democrats and Republicans. We are starting to hear from Republicans, too, about questions raised and looking for that accountability. The bottom line is this: This is the Iraqis' war. This is the Iraqis' responsibility to take their own country and build it back up. That is their civilian ability, their ability to put the electricity back on, build hospitals and create jobs for themselves and put down the terror and the people that are harassing them in the cities and the explosives going on. They have got to take their own bull by the horns and do something about themselves. We can't do that. They have to do that. So there is this responsibility that they have to stand up to themselves and recognize. We did what we said we were going to do. We took out Saddam Hussein and gave them a fresh opportunity. Saddam Hussein was a tyrant. He was a bad guy. But let's now look to the next level. The next responsibility is for the Iraqi people to stand up for themselves. We can't fight their war for them. We can't fight that for them. We have our own responsibilities. We have to deal with Iran right now. Iran is a serious threat to Israel and our interests around the world, North Korea, obviously, and Afghanistan. These are places where the United States military needs to be able to be strong and exert itself when needed.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Thank you. I appreciate your observing those things that we did, because I think every one of us believes it is the right thing to do. I know, just to share for a moment, the experience that all of us had at Walter Reed Hospital and the experiences that we have all had in visiting our veterans and our folks who have fought for you us so bravely back home. The point you made is that many of these men and women back in Vietnam, back in other wars, would have died based on the injuries they have received. But instead, because of modern science, they are alive today, some of them. But the injuries are so substantial, loss of both legs, loss of arms, loss of major functions that they have, they are going to require a lifetime of care. And every American needs to understand that is a responsibility we have. When we ask our men and women to fight for us, we better be prepared to make sure they have all the necessary cares, and their families get that same level of care. Because it is that support, that when we ask people to fight for the values and strength of our country, that needs to be there. But that is a cost of this war. And the problem, of course, is that if in fact, as we started this conversation tonight, we are not achieving our national security interests, we are not making Americans safer at home or our friends overseas more secure, if we are not accomplishing any of that, and we are going to wait until September now, and unfortunately there may be another 300 or 400 of our brave men and women losing their lives for something that again is not accomplishing those goals, and we are spending another $40 billion or $50 billion, I think a lot of Americans are saying, what could we do with that amount of money? What could we do with those lost lives back here at home, those lost lives, the lost opportunities for the families and men and women fighting for us? I know when I think about Florida where I am from, they already have 139 men and women killed. We have had 1,196 severely injured. These are our neighbors. These are our friends. We had just tragically this past week, a young man, 25 years old, Daniel Agami, who, unfortunately, was killed recently by, of course, an IED. I know that every one of us in this Chamber, and I think out there in the country, they have been through this loss. They understand what that neighbor, that nephew, that son, that daughter, what it means. A lot of Americans haven't been really affected by this war because maybe the numbers are not as significant as they were during Vietnam or during World War II. But it is an American. Every loss of life is an American, and I think we all share that sense of feeling and, of course, that empathy for the families. The question we are raising now, of course, the national commitment we have to fight wars is there. The strength and understanding our military always has to be at the ready. But we should also understand that when we do fight wars, that we need to win, succeed, do whatever is necessary, but, at the same time, be smart about it. Accomplish the goals that we have and recognize that in this dangerous world that we live in today, in this present strategy that President Bush has executed and is unwilling to change to this point in time, we have made ourselves weaker in other theaters, in other places around the world. That is unacceptable to me. It is unacceptable to every person I would imagine who is concerned about the future of our country. We are prepared to change that. I am very happy that Democrats have changed, as you said, Mr. Hodes, the discussion in Washington, taking the discussion back in our streets at home, our main streets back at home up here, finding even Republicans now who I know believe and, of course, they want to do the right thing as well, but just a blind loyalty to the President's policy at this point is not the right thing to do. We need to think, use common sense, figure out the right way to redeploy, protect our men and women over there, do the right thing so the Middle East can be stabilized and we can fight our real battles and deal with Iran and Afghanistan and other places.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. I agree with you, Mr. Altmire. Just the title ``admiral'' speaks of such respect that we have for Representative Sestak. Those of us who did not have the privilege of serving in the military, as you can imagine, there are 435 of us on the floor, we look to each other for advice. We learn from each other. I know I have spoken to you on a number of occasions to get your advice, to be an informed Member of Congress, and I do appreciate that because I think you not only have that lifetime of experience serving in the military, but as a leader, an admiral in the military, you have the high level of understanding of all the issues we are discussing right now. Of course, it is not the end-all, be-all, but it is a tremendous resource for all of us. One of the committees that I serve on is Foreign Affairs, and that committee is responsible for working with the President and the State Department on our foreign policy, whether it is in the Western Hemisphere, Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, or in the Middle East or Russia or China. Our country has been consumed with terrorism since we were attacked on our shores by Osama bin Laden. One of the biggest frustrations we have as Americans, the most powerful nation in the world with the highest level of information and intelligence and reach around the world, the fact that Osama bin Laden is still on the loose is beyond imagination. Every American should demand that that should have been and should continue to be a top priority. I am pointing that out for a reason. That reason is, we took our eye off the ball when we got involved in this in the first place. That has been discussed and we understand that. But that doesn't mean that today we shouldn't still be focusing on where the real threat is. The threat relates to al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden and his henchmen. The threat relates to nuclear weapons. These are the significant challenges of our day. They are challenges as it relates to Russia and loose nuclear weapons. They are challenges as it relates to North Korea and containing North Korea. There was an interesting story that Reuters produced. It talked about the estimated number of nuclear weapons that were likely to have been produced by North Korea during the last 6 years of the Bush administration. This is a rogue country by many discussions, by the United Nations and countries around the world, that has a nuclear weapon, possibly seven nuclear weapons that we know of, all within the last 6 years, which tells us once again that we took our eye off the ball of dealing with the true threats. This is not a question of whether North Korea is going to shoot off an ICBM towards the United States. This is not a stable country and may provide that nuclear weapon to other groups, organizations, countries. That is a threat. That is where our focus should be. Iraq is a different situation. We take a look at Iran and what we know about Iran at this moment. There are an estimated number of centrifuges in Iran, in their main nuclear facility producing reactor-grade uranium. There may be 1,300 of these spread out in Iran. Iran is a threat, in having a nuclear weapon, to Israel and to other countries in the Middle East, and for the same reason, to the United States. This is a serious issue. This is where our foreign policy and military strength and the sharing of intelligence and confidence with other allies around the world, where we have always historically, American Presidents have always led, and we made sure that we had that authority. And it was in our country's best interests. But today we find ourselves in a place because we are mired in Iraq where many countries around the world are not prepared to share that goal of nuclear containment. This is something that we need to focus on. This is another reason why we have to extricate ourselves in a responsible way from a war that is not achieving our national security interests, and refocus our attention on nuclear weapons that may be developed in Iran, and make sure that we are doing the right thing to protect the American people.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. I thank the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Hodes). I appreciate the opportunity to be here tonight as members of our freshman class. We try to get together about once a week to speak to each other and to speak to the Members on the floor here about the importance of what we were elected to do, along with every other Member, Democrat and Republican, in this Chamber. Certainly this last election had a lot to do with the war and the strategy of the war and whether waging the war in the way it was being waged was successful. And of course success, at least in my view and the people that I have spoken to, is what can we do to enhance and protect the American people? All of us, in our homes, our cities, our country, and certainly our friends abroad. At this time, it seems pretty clear, and I think it's been pretty clear to the American people for a long time who have been ahead of the President and ahead of the Congress in their thinking about this, that the national security of our country, of course coming first, is not being enhanced by having our fighting men and women, our brave men and women fighting a war that by and large is the participation of a civil war, a civil war among groups of people that unfortunately have been fighting each other for a long, long time; that by us dropping in our own form of democracy in that region, it just doesn't necessarily work that way. Although we would like to believe as Americans, and we know that we have the best system in the world, it just can't be planted in some other part of the world and just accepted as it is. So the reality is, what can we do? What are the choices? And I have not been one who said immediate withdrawal. There are some in this Chamber that believe in immediate withdrawal, there are some that say we should be there for 10, 20, 30, 50 years, as long as it takes. I think the reality is, there has to be a better way. And I think that we've heard from many of our military experts. When President Bush says, let's listen to the military experts, I agree. But it's not just the military experts that are telling you what you want to hear, it's the military experts that have been our generals, people that have served in that region, continue to serve in that region, and not just as soon replace them if they don't agree with the present administration. There are answers, just like anything else. It doesn't matter if it's health care or energy, there are answers to all these things. People solve problems all day long. Americans are very innovative, energetic people. There are answers to this one as well. They may not be the answers we're looking for that are the ultimate best answers, but there are ways that we can best protect our interests in the Middle East, our support of the State of Israel and other friends in that region, and then most importantly, the people that live in our country. And those may be redeployment, moving our troops out of harm's way and into areas where maybe the borders are secured; or maybe, as we know now, the major mistake was that the entire Iraqi leadership of its armed forces was basically eviscerated, they're gone and moved away. And so the result is you have an Iraqi Army that by and large is leaderless. And they've been trying to make amends on that and trying to deal with that, but they're still way behind their curve. We can probably provide some support in that area. But we do also know at the same time, in terms of our national security interests, if we think about what brought us to this point so far and why we have this threat of terrorism, is because we were attacked on 9/11, nothing to do with Iraq, but Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. That issue has to do with Afghanistan and maybe other areas of Pakistan. That's where our military might, our strength, our troops, our ability to build coalitions around the world, which we've lost along the way here, that's where we can have the most impact. So Mr. Hodes, I would just like to open with those thoughts. I know we're going to have a little bit of discussion on that. But I want the American people to know and I want our Members here in the Chamber to understand, there are choices; there are good choices, there are better choices, and there are choices to move forward. To stand still, to say the surge and all those things, we need to move forward and best protect our troops and best protect Americans.