John Lewis

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, the untimely death of Republican Stephanie Tubbs Jones gives us pause. There was a great writer who once said that the death of one of us diminishes us all. As Stephanie's friends and colleagues in the U.S. Congress, we all feel a little lost and a little less because one of our most fearless champions is gone. Those who are voiceless in America today, who have been left out and left behind, have lost a warrior, a fighter, a crusader who did what she could to defend the dignity of human kind. There was not anything shy about Stephanie. She had the courage, the ability, and the desire to speak up and speak out, to fight for what she believed was right, what was fair and just. As a fellow member of the Ways and Means Committee, she was very concerned about using the tax code to help lift the burdens of the least among us. I always enjoyed it when she made a statement or questioned a witness. She was a brilliant judge and prosecutor, and that helped make her a gifted member of Congress. Stephanie Tubbs Jones will be deeply missed by the Cleveland community, by the people of Ohio, by the citizens of America, by her family, friends, and all of her colleagues in the U.S. Congress. Peace be with you Stephanie, my friend. May God Almighty grant you eternal peace.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I'm pleased to yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon, a member of the Ways and Means Committee, Mr. Blumenauer.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Minnesota, chairman of the Transportation Committee, Mr. Oberstar.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6532) to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to restore the Highway Trust Fund balance.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I'm pleased to yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Kansas (Mrs. Boyda).

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, may I ask unanimous consent to give Members 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks on the bill, H.R. 6532.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I would like to inquire of my friend and colleague, Mr. McCrery, does he have any more speakers.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, first let me thank my colleagues, Chairmen Rangel, Oberstar and DeFazio, for acting on this important issue. Madam Speaker, our roads need repair. Our State and local governments are struggling to make ends meet. Our drivers suffer when highway projects are delayed. This bill is a temporary fix for the estimated $4 billion shortfall in the highway trust fund. This bill should fully fund the highway trust fund through 2009, but we still need a long-term bipartisan solution. I want to be clear, no money, but no money is spent under this bill. That process is left up to the appropriators. This legislation simply amends the Internal Revenue Code provision only. Madam Speaker, transportation is the number one issue for many citizens in my district. Commuters sit in traffic for about 60 hours every year. Early this year, Forbes magazine declared the Atlanta metro area as the worst city for commuters in the country; the worst, Madam Speaker. If we fail to act today, our citizens, our States and our economy will suffer. We must act, and we must act today. We must act now. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote in support of H.R. 6532. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I'm pleased to yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. DeFazio), chairman of the Highways and Transit Subcommittee.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. I yield the gentlelady 1 additional minute.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. This is a good bill. This is a necessary bill. In the face of record budgetary shortfalls and high construction costs, State and local governments are struggling to pay for critical highway projects. I fully support H.R. 6532. I urge all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to vote ``yes'' for this bill.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I yield the gentleman an additional minute.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I continue to I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Education and Labor Committee and the Majority Leader and his staff for their help in bringing this bill to the floor. Today I rise to honor and celebrate the 20th anniversary of the National Black Arts Festival. This wonderful festival is taking place right now in my district--the 5th Congressional District of Georgia. Each year, Atlanta welcomes thousands of visitors, artists, and performers who come from across the country and all over the World to take part in the National Black Arts Festival. The two week festival is an incredible showcase of the arts and cultures of the African Diaspora. The National Black Arts Festival has become a leader in arts- education in Atlanta, and across the country organizing special art events for students, including the African American History Quiz Bowl, professional development courses for teachers, and international trips to experience foreign art first hand. The year-long education programs of the National Black Arts Festival help open the eyes of our young people to sculpture, and painting, to music and writing. It opens windows to the world. We must reach more students, and more teachers, from around the country and around the world. I am proud of what the National Black Arts Festival has accomplished over the last 20 years. The sky is the limit for this wonderful organization, led by its talented Executive Producer Stephanie Hughley. I ask my colleagues to join me today to celebrate the National Black Arts Festival, and the rich artistic history and diversity of the African Diaspora throughout the world. I am so proud to have the National Black Arts Festival in my district and I look forward to its continued success. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, it is an honor for me to help celebrate the Centennial Anniversary of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. For the past 100 years, the ladies of Alpha Kappa Alpha have served as leaders in the United States and throughout the world. Since their founding in 1908, Alpha Kappa Alpha has been one of the most successful historically Black sororities and continues its strong community work today. In particular, I would like to recognize the South Atlantic Region of Alpha Kappa Alpha, which includes undergraduate and graduate chapters from the states of Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. This Region's monumental history includes one of the sorority's original founders, Mrs. Marie Woolfolk Taylor, two former International Presidents, Dr. Mary Shy Scott and Dr. Norma Solomon White and the first honorary member, Mrs. Coretta Scott King. Today through the leadership of Ms. Ella Springs Jones, current regional director, the ladies of Alpha Kappa Alpha continue to leave their mark in the community. Through programs such as B.R.A.T.S (Brilliant, Responsible, Alert, and Talented Scholars) Program, high school students are provided academic, health and economic support to make their dreams viable and support the growth of the African American community. Madam Speaker, I extend my deepest gratitude to the women of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority for their service to our communities, in the United States and across the world, on this historic day.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my good friend Mr. Pomeroy for yielding. Mr. Speaker, people are suffering, people are barely getting by. Some people are using their retirement savings today to pay their credit card bills or to avoid foreclosure on their home. This is a choice people should not have to make. Today, we offer just a little bit of help. Mr. Speaker, after a lifetime of hard work, people need to know that they can retire and their pensions will be there for them. This bill will help thousands of Delta employees who live and work in my district, thousands of pilots and airline workers, whose retirement savings slipped away when the airline went bankrupt. The payments they are receiving through the bankruptcy agreement are not going to make up for that loss. This bill will allow these workers to take their bankruptcy payment and put their money into a retirement account. Pilots and airline workers are asking for this help so they can help put their money back where it belongs, growing into a nest egg for retirement. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Chairman Rangel and the great staff of the Ways and Means Committee and my own staff who worked with me to help pilots and airline workers in this bill today. We must do more to help people earn enough money and save enough money so they can live well when they retire. We must protect the hopes and dreams of America's workers.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, today I am introducing legislation that will help people who have looked around their community and seen a great need. They have answered a call to national service. They are AmeriCorps volunteers. Segal AmeriCorps Education Awards are offered to volunteers after they complete their service so they can pay for an education. The award is $4,725 for a year of full-time service. It is prorated for part- time. Unfortunately it is taxed as regular income. This legislation makes clear that the Segal AmeriCorps Education Awards are not income and should not be subject to income taxes. The AmeriCorps Education Award should be a source of inspiration to serve not a source of fear on tax day. People trying to pay for college cannot afford to be hit by extra taxes on this education benefit, not while they are still in school, and not when they are struggling to make ends meet through working their first job. People cannot afford an unjust tax bill at the same time their student loans are coming due. People cannot afford to receive less financial aid because this award is counted as income and makes student loan applicants appear to have more ability to afford college than they actually do. Now is the time to believe in people again. Now is the time to believe in the power of change. We must find every way to reinforce just how important it is that the American people engage in volunteer service to their country. We must make the future a better future. AmeriCorps volunteers are out there every day, leading the way, getting in the way and making good change. This bill invests in the power of change.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 6307, the Fostering Connections to Success Act of 2008. First, let me thank the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Weller) for their leadership and bipartisanship in crafting this effort to assist children and families in our Nation's child welfare system. Madam Speaker, young people in the child welfare system have done nothing wrong. They are victims of abuse and neglect. H.R. 6307 will provide Federal support for kinship care, increase adoption incentives, and provide assistance for foster youth up to age 21. This bill opens the door by addressing many issues facing children in foster care and those who care for them. I am particularly proud that our Subcommittee Chairman, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) shared the words of my constituent, Mr. Anthony Reeves, a former foster care youth about the importance of making these changes. I am honored to have another outstanding young woman and former foster care youth from Georgia, Ms. Brittany Scott, interning in my congressional office this summer. When you see their passion and determination to commit, work, and act to change the lives of their friends, siblings, and the Nation's way of serving those most in need, you know we must take action. This legislation is good; it is right. But we can do better, and we must do better. Across the country, case workers lack proper training and are overworked and underpaid. Foster children are expelled from the system at 18 with little to no support. Kinship care providers and adoptive parents lack support when caring for foster children. And when programs are in place they are often fragile because of lack of funding. We need to help those on the front lines. One of the major components of Mr. McDermott's broader child welfare reform bill that I support is revising the so-called ``look back'' provision. Using an outdated 1996 Federal standard to determine poverty levels is a major reason that children are denied Title IV-E assistance in Georgia. Currently, only half of the abused and neglected children in foster care across the country are eligible for Title IV-E funding. States continue to lack the funding needed to adequately improve services to youth in the child welfare system. States also face drastic cuts to the social services they provide as a result of the Deficit Reduction Act. These are just some of the many challenges that face our Nation's child welfare systems. We cannot afford to ignore them any longer. We need to look across the board at new and diverse ways to make the process work better. We must come together and do what is right for America's foster care youth. Again, I applaud my Ways and Means colleagues for this strong bipartisan effort. I look forward to continuing to work with them on improving services, support, and assistance for those most in need. I urge all of my colleagues to vote yes on H.R. 6307.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend, the chairman of the Subcommittee on Health, for yielding. Mr. Speaker, like any other great and necessary journey, the journey to improve Medicare must start with a first step. Although we can and must do more, this bill is that first step. I want to just mention the pulmonary rehabilitation benefit and the kidney provision, which I strongly support, and the increase in the community health center cap. Seniors deserve a Medicare program that delivers services, supports doctors, and prevents disease. Take this first step. It is a good step, it is a necessary step. It is the right thing to do. I urge all of my colleagues to support this bill.

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I want to thank Mr. Conyers, the chairman of the full committee, for his leadership and for his dedication to the issue and the cause of civil rights, and for bringing this resolution to the floor. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the courage and conviction of three young men, Andy Goodman, James Chaney and Michael Schwerner. On June 21, 1964, they gave their lives in a struggle for voting rights in America. There was a time, just 44 years ago, when it was almost impossible in the American south for people of color to register and vote. Then, I was 24 years old and the chair of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, better known as SNCC. I traveled around the country encouraging young people to come to Mississippi to get involved with the Freedom Summer. It was the summer of 1964. At that time, the State of Mississippi had a black population of voting age of more than 450,000, but only about 18,000 blacks were registered to vote. It was dangerous, very dangerous, for those of us who believed that everyone should have the right to vote. But in spite of the risks, there were people--young and old, black and white, rich and poor--people like Andy Goodman, James Chaney and Mickey Schwerner, who put aside the comfort of their own lives to make sure that every citizen had free and fair access to the ballot, not only in Mississippi, but throughout America. Mickey Schwerner was a 24-year-old white man from Brooklyn, New York, who was already a participant in the movement. Andy Goodman was also white, a 21-year-old student at Queens College in New York. James Chaney was a 21-year-old African American man from Meridian, Mississippi, who decided to take a stand for justice in his own community, in his own State. On the morning of June 21, 1964, these three young men drove to Longdale, Mississippi to investigate the burning of an African American church. On their way back, they were arrested, at least stopped and detained by the sheriff and taken to jail in Philadelphia, Mississippi. That same evening they were released from the jail by the sheriff and turned over to the Klan. They were beaten, shot and killed. Their burnt blue Ford station wagon was pulled from a creek just 2 days later. I joined in the search for them that night with a very heavy heart. Their bodies were found a few weeks later, about 6 weeks later, on August 4, 1964, buried under a mound of dirt. Madam Speaker, I share this story today so that Members of Congress will realize that the struggle for civil rights has been a long, hard road littered by the battered and broken bodies of countless men and women who paid the ultimate price for a precious right, the right to vote, the right to participate in a democratic process. Andy Goodman, James Chaney and Mickey Schwerner did not die in Europe; they did not die in Asia or in Africa; they did not die in Central America or in the Middle East. They died right here in America, in the American south. I knew these three young men. So, Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to vote for this resolution to pay tribute to these three young men and so many others who died in the struggle for voting rights in America. We must never forget their sacrifices, their suffering, their pain, and their death. As Members of the United States House of Representatives, it is our duty, our mission, our mandate to make sure that these three young men did not die in vain.