David Loebsack

Mr. LOEBSACK

Mr. LOEBSACK. Thank you, Mr. Andrews. Madam Speaker, I am proud to be a part of this effort to improve health care in America, and I will support the bill before us because I have heard from countless Iowans about the desperate need to change the current system, and I believe this legislation before us today will provide true and comprehensive reform. However, since coming to Congress, I have told just about everyone I could and everyone who would listen to me that comprehensive reform could not be achieved without addressing geographic disparities in the Medicare payment system. Many other Members agreed, and we formed the Quality Care Coalition, and we brought about that change. There is much needed language in this bill to fix a broken Medicare payment system. By focusing now on the quality of services provided to patients instead of the quantity of services, this provision will provide a significant cost savings to Medicare, and it will benefit patients in Iowa and all across America. In particular, I want to thank my leadership; my chairman on the committee, George Miller; my friend Rob Andrews; Chairman Waxman; and Chairman Rangel for their work on this issue. I urge everyone to vote for this bill before us.

Mr. LOEBSACK

Mr. LOEBSACK. Madam Speaker, today I would like to honor the life of former Iowa Football Coach Forest Evashevski. Coach Evashevski served as the head coach for the Iowa Hawkeyes from 1952-1960 and coached the Hawkeyes to two Rose Bowl victories--the only Rose Bowl victories in the team's history. Using his innovative wing-T offense, Coach Evashevski was able to compile a 52-27-4 record during his 9 years as Iowa's head coach. The team was also selected as the 1959 National Champions by the Football Writers Association of America. After concluding his coaching career in 1960, Coach Evashevski accepted the position of Iowa's Athletic Director. He held this post until 1970. Coach Evashevski's no-nonsense work ethic and innovative play calling garnered him the National College Football Coach of the Year from 1956 through 1958 and again in 1960. He was accepted into the National Football Foundation College Football Hall of Fame in 2000. Forest Evashevski passed away on October 30, 2009. The years of service as the Head Football Coach for the University of Iowa will not be forgotten by the ``Hawkeye Nation.''

Mr. LOEBSACK

Mr. LOEBSACK. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 700) expressing support for designation of the week beginning on November 9, 2009, as National School Psychology Week, as amended.

Mr. LOEBSACK. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous material on H. Res. 700 into the Record.

Mr. LOEBSACK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. I am honored to speak in support of House Resolution 700, which I introduced with my colleague, Representative Ehlers, to designate the week of November 9, 2009, as National School Psychology Week. I want to thank Mr. Ehlers in particular for his work on this resolution and his dedication to the mental health needs of students in America. Mr. Ehlers has been a leader on these issues, and it is always a pleasure to work with him. As a former college teacher and a husband to a former second grade teacher, I have seen firsthand that the educational success of a student is based on many different factors, including their social and emotional health. Many children come to school with concerns for themselves, their family, and their loved ones. These students often face difficult home lives and the challenges they face at home follow them into the classroom, causing attention issues, behavior issues, poor grades and potentially lower educational success. In fact, research shows one in five children and adolescents will experience a significant mental health problem that can interfere with their educational achievement during their school years. The more than 35,000 psychologists in our schools today have one priority--to help students in need. They are trained to identify and address barriers to learning. School psychologists collaborate with teachers, school administrators and families in the classroom and even in the home. School psychologists also work to address potential barriers to learning before they arise by screening and testing for educational and developmental problems. In addition, school psychologists work to ensure students' safety while attending school. They work to properly assess possible threats from students that could do harm to themselves or others. They also sit on school crisis teams that plan, and if called upon, act in the case of a serious crisis. School psychologists are an integral part of the dedicated team of professionals working in our schools every day to ensure that every student in America has an opportunity for academic success and reaching his or her full potential. I am glad that we are recognizing their good work by designating next week as National School Psychology Week. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LOEBSACK. Mr. Speaker, I again want to thank Mr. Ehlers for his work on this resolution and Mrs. Biggert as well for her comments. I thank all the cosponsors for their support and work. I again urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this resolution designating the week of November 9, 2009, as National School Psychology Week. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LOEBSACK. Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Mr. LOEBSACK

Mr. LOEBSACK. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. I rise in strong support of the Small Business Financing and Investment Act and the manager's amendment, and I thank Chairwoman Velazquez and the committee for their excellent work. Small businesses represent 97 percent of Iowa employers and over half of our private sector employment. They are vital to our economic recovery. This bill makes critical changes to increase their ability to expand and create new jobs by extending lending provisions included in the Recovery Act and ensuring applications are simpler. Many Iowa businesses face another burden. In 2008, we experienced the worst natural disaster in our State's history, leaving 85 of 99 total counties disaster areas. Given our experience with this disaster, I am especially pleased with the improvements included to SBA's Disaster Loan program, such as raising disaster loan limits and the ceiling for collateral requirements, and improving repayment terms. Further, the bill creates a grant program to help the most severely affected small businesses and will provide assistance to women and veteran outreach centers, small business development centers, and local chambers of commerce in reaching disaster victims for case management. While these changes will be beneficial for future disaster victims, probes are ongoing with the over $270 million in SBA disaster loans already approved in Iowa. Many are facing a reduction in supplemental assistance grants due to what is considered a duplication of benefits with their SBA loans, even though these are loans that must be repaid, not grants. Additionally, after a reduction in loan principal due to a duplication of benefits, small loans' monthly payment structures are not changed to reflect the decreased balance. These issues have delayed and impeded the recovery efforts taking place in Iowa. I look forward to working further to improve the SBA Disaster Loan program, and I thank the committee for their work to help small businesses. I urge support for the manager's amendment.

Mr. LOEBSACK

Mr. LOEBSACK. I thank the gentleman for yielding. I also would like to thank Congresswoman Berkley for her leadership in introducing this resolution and the supporters on both sides of the aisle. In particular, I want to thank Congressman Wamp for his extremely eloquent testimonial just now. I rise in strong support of House Resolution 790. For decades during the Cold War, hundreds of thousands of Atomic Energy Commission employees, including thousands of workers at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant in my district, labored in hazardous conditions at our Nation's nuclear weapons facilities. In the end, many of these workers sacrificed their health for the security of our Nation, working with beryllium, asbestos, uranium and radiation, without knowing the impacts these materials would later have on their health. But for far too long, their service and sacrifice have not been properly honored. They are truly the unheralded heroes of the Cold War. That will begin to change on October 30th, happily; October 30th marks the first national day of remembrance for our country's nuclear workers. On this day, our country will pause to pay tribute to our Cold War heroes, many of whom have paid a high price for their service. The resolution that we are considering today urges all Americans to recognize the men and women who have served our country selflessly and with great dedication in its nuclear facilities. I have had the distinct honor of meeting some of the Iowans who worked on Line One of the Burlington Atomic Energy Commission plant. These are the workers who assembled, disassembled, modified and tested weapons in Iowa between 1949 and 1975. They are true patriots, and their service was critical to our country's security throughout the uncertain decades of the Cold War. I urge all Americans to reflect upon their work and their sacrifices, and I urge my colleagues to support this critical resolution.

Mr. LOEBSACK

Mr. LOEBSACK. Madam Speaker, in 2008, the State of Iowa experienced the worst natural disaster in our state's history which left 85 of 99 total counties presidentially declared disaster areas. This flooding particularly devastated the City of Cedar Rapids. In addition to having nearly all of their critical government and public facilities damaged, the flooding also severely damaged the city's main public library. The Cedar Rapids Library was an 83,961 square foot facility, owned by the city which also housed city staff. The main Library contained 150,000 volumes in the Adult Collection and 100,000 volumes in the Children's Collections, all of which are currently displaced. After two appeals from the city, FEMA continues to state that the city's library is not eligible for temporary relocation assistance despite the fact that the Stafford Act provides for ``provision of temporary facilities for schools and other essential community services.'' The Stafford Act also includes libraries in the definition of private nonprofit facilities and states that they provide essential services of a governmental nature to the general public. As a former educator myself, I know the critical role libraries play in education. Since the floods of 2008, I have also seen the essential public services they provide to nearly all aspects of severely damaged communities. In fact, FEMA itself directs disaster victims to their local library to use the internet to apply for federal disaster assistance. Public libraries also allow citizens to look for jobs, or seek other support services needed in the aftermath of disasters such as the flooding in Iowa. Libraries have certainly evolved to become more than collections of books and periodicals. In modern-day communities, they are a vital communication hub, providing access to computers and the internet for individuals that may not be able to afford their own, and in a disaster, to those whose own property was damaged or destroyed. Further, the library is a partner with our school systems, providing research materials to students and supporting class instructional programs. Many libraries also become a disaster recovery center for their community, and a point of distribution for meals and supplies needed during a disaster. I urge FEMA to reconsider their internal policies and reexamine how libraries are defined in the Stafford Act in order to assist not only the Cedar Rapids Library, but other libraries that may be damaged and displaced by natural disasters in the future.

Mr. LOEBSACK

Mr. LOEBSACK. Madam Speaker, I would like to recognize and congratulate ACT, Inc., on its 50th anniversary, and 50 years of accomplishments. ACT, originally American College Testing Program, was founded in Iowa's first state capitol in Iowa City, IA, in 1959. The goal was to help all students who wanted to attend college find the best match for their interests and abilities and to help colleges and universities place students into appropriate freshman-level classes. On November 7, 1959 about 75,000 students took the first ACT Assessment; in the high school graduating class of 2009 nearly 1.5 million students--45 percent of all high school graduates in our nation took the ACT. While ACT started with a single focus, the organization now conducts research and offers a broad array of programs and services to help provide solutions to many of the complex education and workforce problems facing our nation and those abroad. ACT, with its educational knowledge, has expanded to help bridge the barriers that remain in accessing the globalized marketplace for millions of individuals around the globe. Through local partnerships in 13 countries ACT is working to improve the educational opportunities for the students and help teach English as a second language. I am honored to represent many of the employees of ACT here in the U.S. House of Representatives. I congratulate them and all of the ACT employees, directors, and members of state organizations on their 50- year history of helping people achieve education and workplace success.

Mr. LOEBSACK

Mr. LOEBSACK. Tomorrow the American Legion will host the second annual Heroes to Hometowns Golf Classic at Andrews Air Force Base. This event will benefit the American Legion Legacy Scholarship Fund, which was established to provide educational support to children who have lost a loved one in Iraq and Afghanistan. This year's golf classic will bring together 80 wounded warriors and veteran business owners in what I'm sure will be a resoundingly successful event. As a member of the Armed Services Committee, I have seen the positive impact that events like this have on our wounded warriors. As a former college professor, I also know the impact that a college education makes in the lives of our children. This golf classic is just one more example of the incredible work that the American Legion does on behalf of our veterans and military families, and I wish all the participants a good day on the courses.

Mr. LOEBSACK

Mr. LOEBSACK. Mr. Speaker, I would like to take a moment to honor Dr. Norman Borlaug, a great Iowan, who passed away on September 12. I want to thank Congressman Boswell for introducing this resolution. Dr. Borlaug was born and raised in Iowa but his work is well-known throughout the world. Most notably, Dr. Borlaug developed wheat varieties that were disease resistant and also adapted to various growing environments with increasing yields. These developments helped feed over a billion impoverished people in Mexico, India, and Pakistan, in addition to Asia, South America, Africa and the Middle East. For this, Dr. Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and has also received the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal. Dr. Borlaug also created the World Food Prize, sometimes called the Nobel Prize for food and agriculture. Dr. Borlaug's life and work allowed millions of the world's hungry to know a better and more secure life.

Mr. LOEBSACK

Mr. LOEBSACK. Madam Speaker, during rollcall vote No. 739 on Conference Report to H.R. 2918, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Mr. LOEBSACK

Mr. LOEBSACK. Mr. Speaker, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. LOEBSACK

Mr. LOEBSACK. Madam Speaker, today I would like to make note of the life of former Congressman James Edward Bromwell. Mr. Bromwell served his country in WWII as an officer after finishing his undergraduate degree at the University of Iowa. Upon honorable discharge from the U.S. Army in 1946, Mr. Bromwell received his MBA from Harvard University and then returned home to receive his JD from the University of Iowa in 1950. Mr. Bromwell served as Assistant Linn County Attorney before being elected as the Representative for the 2nd Congressional District in 1960. As Representative of the 2nd District, Mr. Bromwell sat on the Judiciary Committee and was imperative in contributing and ultimately helping pass the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964. This landmark legislation corrected a serious social injustice within our society. Mr. James Edward Bromwell passed away on July 11, 2009. The service that James Bromwell performed for his country and state will not be forgotten.

Mr. LOEBSACK

Mr. LOEBSACK. Madam Chair, I rise today in strong support of the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act. In particular, I want to thank Chairman Miller and all of my committee colleagues for their great work on this legislation. I am particularly pleased this bill contains legislation I worked on with Chairman Miller, Congressman Kildee and Congressman Chandler to help modernize, renovate, and repair our crumbling public schools with energy efficient and renewable resources. Schools across America in every State are deteriorating. In my State alone, the GAO has found that 79 percent of all schools needed to repair or upgrade their buildings and facilities. Providing schools with funds to help leverage local dollars to modernize their schools in need of repair will also create good-paying local jobs in every State and will help improve the safety and the health of our students. This legislation will provide much needed funds for school facility modernization projects over the next two fiscal years to help ensure our students have world-class, safe, healthy and energy-efficient environments in which to learn. Given the increasingly global nature of our economy and the workplaces our students will be entering, it is more important than ever that we dedicate the resources necessary to ensure children will be able to compete. With the passage of this historic Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, we will indeed be making a historic commitment to the next generation through significantly improved educational opportunities, and I urge my colleagues to vote for this bill.

Mr. LOEBSACK

Mr. LOEBSACK. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to be part of an effort to improve health care in this country. I have heard from countless Iowans about the need to change the current system. I have also heard from Iowans that we need true reform. Just today, the University of Iowa, the Iowa Health Care Collaborative, and the Concord Coalition sent me a letter. They stated, ``We believe that the primary focus for all policymakers should be improving the value in health care.'' I agree. Last week, the Iowa Democratic delegation, along with many others, reached a compromise with leadership that improves the value in health care. I want to thank leadership and their staff for their work. The compromise will provide a significant cost savings, and it will fix a broken Medicare payment system so that we are rewarding quality of care and not quantity. Iowa has been a leader in quality care, and I am glad that Iowa and other high-quality, low-cost regions will be rewarded for doing what is right for patients.

Mr. LOEBSACK

Mr. LOEBSACK. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Maine for yielding and would also like to thank, in particular, Chairman Skelton and Ranking Member McKeon for their leadership in crafting this legislation before us. This year's National Defense Authorization Act takes significant steps forward in supporting our National Guard and Reserve. Earlier this month, Iowa observed the 1-year anniversary of the floods that devastated large parts of my district. The Iowa National Guard played a critical role in the response to those floods, and their heroic work is a testament to the vital function the National Guard plays in domestic disaster response, even as their role in operations abroad increases. Nationwide, more than 700,000 National Guard and Reserve soldiers have been called to duty since September 11, 2001, and as the National Guard continues to transform into an operational reserve, it is essential that they are properly resourced for both their overseas and homeland missions. This bill provides $6.9 billion, $600 million more than the President's request, to address equipment shortfalls in the Reserve components. It also extends health care coverage for the National Guard and Reserve and makes essential investments in National Guard facilities, including the Fairfield, Cedar Rapids, Muscatine, and Middletown facilities in my district. I am very proud also that the NDAA includes an amendment I offered with Ms. Bordallo to improve National Guard readiness by requiring the Secretary of the Army to report to Congress on the creation of a Trainees, Transients, Holdees, and Students Account. At any given time, 13.3 percent of the Army National Guard is nondeployable, and this account would serve as a temporary unit for these soldiers. In so doing, it would end the practice of borrowing soldiers from one unit in order to improve the readiness of others and will improve both morale and overall readiness. I strongly urge support for the rule and for the underlying bill.

Mr. LOEBSACK

Mr. LOEBSACK. Mr. Chairman, I am very happy to have had the opportunity to work on the 21st Century Green High-Performing School Facilities Act with Mr. Chandler, Chairman Miller and, especially, subcommittee Chairman Kildee. Last year, when we considered a similar version of this legislation, I had the great opportunity to include many of the provisions of my Public School Repair and Renovation Act and the GREEN School Improvement Act into the underlying bill, and I am glad that the bill that we introduced this year also contains those provisions. I am especially proud of this bill's focus on the importance of greening schools. Many schools in my district and across the State and, indeed, across the country have already begun to go green. For example, the Cardinal Community School District has a wind-powered classroom that I visited that saves energy and gives students hands-on experience in an emerging industry. The Cedar Rapids Community School District is also making large strides towards more energy-efficient facilities. Kennedy High School, Taft Middle School, Harding Middle School, Jefferson High School, and Washington High School are all looking at geothermal systems. The Elizabeth Tate High School in Iowa City has also taken several important strides towards greening their facilities and have specifically focused on the benefits of natural lighting for their students with disabilities. Other schools in my district that are going green include Evans Middle School, Willowwind School, and Van Allen Elementary School, and I visited almost all of those. These schools all know that even while they struggle to find funding for their projects, their school modernization efforts will lead to increased health, learning ability, and productivity. I truly believe the Federal Government should help provide schools in Iowa and across the country with seed money, and that's what this is, seed money, to leverage local dollars, to modernize, repair, and renovate. I am proud that this legislation does just that, and I urge my colleagues to support it.

Mr. LOEBSACK

Mr. LOEBSACK. Madam Speaker, as mentioned in my one-minute speech regarding Robert Dana, I submit one of his poems. A Short History of the Middle West (By Robert Dana) Under this corn, these beans, these acres of tamed grasses, the prairie still rolls, heave and trough, breaker and green curl, an ocean of dirt tilting and tipping. Its towns toss up on the distance, your distance, like the wink of islands. And the sky is a blue voice you cannot answer for. The forked and burning wildflowers that madden the ditches nod without vocabulary. Your neighbor is out early this morning-the air already humid as raw diamond. Drunk or lonely, he's scattering large scraps of white bread for the birds as if it were winter. He'd give you the sour undershirt off his back-- sweet, bad man. Does he remember rain salting down from that flat, far shore of clouds slowly changing its story?

Mr. LOEBSACK

Mr. LOEBSACK. Mr. Speaker, today I would like to honor a man who has affected the lives of countless Iowans, Mr. Robert Dana. His life and work are shining examples of Iowa's long tradition of excellence in literature. For 40 years, Mr. Dana taught at Cornell College where I was honored to teach and now represent as part of Iowa's Second District. While there, he had a tremendous impact on students, developing young writers' minds and pushing them to new heights. After leaving Cornell, he continued to inspire Iowans serving two terms as our State's Poet Laureate. Mr. Dana has used his signature poems to give an everlasting voice to official Iowa events. With his poetry, R.P. has captured the feeling Iowans have for their towns and land. Thank you, R.P., my former colleague, for your contribution to Cornell College, to Iowa, and to American literature.

Mr. LOEBSACK

Mr. LOEBSACK. Mr. Speaker, as my colleagues all know, Iowa experienced severe flooding last June. From the day we heard the floodwaters were coming, AmeriCorps, VISTA and thousands of volunteers were there. I know firsthand the importance of volunteers, which is why I believe this legislation is so important. I am especially glad that the bill maintained my amendment for the Volunteer Generation Fund, which builds capacity and access for millions of new volunteers and will likely leverage billions of dollars in volunteer services to some of the country's neediest citizens. I especially want to thank Chairman Miller, Subcommittee Chairwoman McCarthy, Ranking Member McKeon, and Subcommittee Ranking Member Platts, and their staffs, for their work on this legislation. I also want to thank in particular Senator Kennedy and his staff for their work with me on the Volunteer Generation Fund. I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Mr. LOEBSACK

Mr. LOEBSACK. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank Chairman Miller, Ranking Member McKeon, Subcommittee Chairwoman McCarthy, and Ranking Member Platts for their bipartisan work on the GIVE Act. I am offering this amendment today to build on this important legislation and increase volunteerism across America. My amendment authorizes grants to nonprofits, including faith-based organizations, and to States to increase the supply of volunteers in this country, and to strengthen volunteer infrastructure organizations nationwide. These grants will help address national and State priorities, especially in areas with the greatest need for this support. I have never seen more clearly the need for volunteers than in Iowa this past year. In June 2008, Iowa was overcome by severe flooding. As my colleagues know, 85 of Iowa's 99 counties were declared Presidential disaster areas. The Second District, which I represent, sustained the greatest damage. Thousands of homes and businesses were destroyed, families were displaced, and the devastation was indescribable. Needless to say, we are still struggling to get back on our feet. In the initial days of the floods, we faced many challenges. Among them was the need to coordinate volunteer efforts. United Way of East Central Iowa; Serve the City, a local ecumenical group; and several major corporations were all involved in various efforts to recruit and deploy volunteers, but there was no centralized location and point of contact. In late June United Way of East Central Iowa formed a partnership with Community Corrections Improvement Association, the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Service, and AmeriCorps. Together they created the East Central Iowa Volunteer Reception Center to organize and coordinate volunteer responses to the disasters. AmeriCorps/VISTA team members, working with the United Way and the Iowa Commission staff, opened the volunteer center within 3 weeks of the flood's crest and began taking calls from both volunteers and those who needed volunteer help. AmeriCorps members have helped coordinate over 800,000 volunteer hours through eight volunteer reception centers. Iowa would not have made the progress it has made in the wake of disasters without volunteers, and Iowa is not alone. Across this country States are faced with growing unmet public needs which can be better addressed by leveraging the work of volunteers. And I might just say, as we speak, we have over 600 student volunteers from universities from all over the country taking time in their spring break to help us continue work in Iowa. This amendment is the missing link in the current set of strategies at the Corporation For National and Community Service to achieve the goal of enabling all Americans to make a contribution through service. A modest but critical Federal investment in a new volunteer generation fund that builds capacity and access for millions of new volunteers can leverage billions of dollars in volunteer services to some of the country's neediest citizens. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, and I will submit an article written by an AmeriCorps intern, Lacy White, who was inspired by the work of all the AmeriCorps members in what they were doing and asked if she could do her part by recording their story. AmeriCorps Fuels Hope Through Disaster Relief (By Lacy White) The summer of 2008 brought tornados and floods that devastated many Iowa towns. In May, an F5 tornado tore through Parkersburg, leveling almost half the town. Homeowners emerged from their basements to find nothing on their lots but piles of rubble and debris. In June, record flooding submerged towns like Oakville and Cedar Rapids. When the waters receded, residents were left with houses full of molding walls and possessions beyond salvaging. Families across the state were in dire need of help, the damage so extensive that any hope of rebuilding their homes-- and their lives--seemed out of reach. Many did not know how or where to begin the enormous task that lie ahead. AmeriCorps quickly stepped in to offer its service-- hundreds of members arrived eager to do whatever necessary to rally and relieve distressed communities. Arriving in Parkersburg less than a week after the tornado, Bill Dillon, a Corporation for National Community Service (CNCS) program director, realized the greatest need was for organization. Dozens of volunteers sat waiting to be deployed, but there was no system for coordinating them. ``We determined the most appropriate use for our team was to set up a Volunteer Reception Center (VRC) to which all groups--internal and traveling through--could report,'' said Dillon. This is also where homeowners could call in and register for assistance. The VRCs established by AmeriCorps teams across the state provided the key element of efficiency to the work being done in each town, benefiting not only AmeriCorps members, but any volunteer who registered at the VRC. They also became a place for residents to socialize with volunteers, to tell their stories or take their minds off their trouble. Perry Onorio, a member of the Washington Conservation Corps AmeriCorps program, served as head of the Oakville VRC. ``I had direct contact with almost everyone in that town,'' he said. ``I talked to them and let them vent or let them know what was going on. I assured them there were people who had come in solely to help them rebuild their lives.'' It was this assurance by Onorio--and countless other AmeriCorps members like him--that helped facilitate one of the program's most important duties: to offer hope to those who could not see past the devastation in front of them, those who saw their belongings lost or destroyed, their futures uncertain. Many thought their homes were beyond repair and there was nothing they could do. But, as Onorio observed in Oakville, their outlook evolved: ``As people started seeing things change in town it became more hopeful. Once a group like AmeriCorps comes in and does a lot of the work for you--rips out your carpet and drywall--it looks much more doable. You can say, 'I can totally fix this up now.' I saw that change in people on a daily basis as homes were gutted out.'' In flooded towns, the work consisted of draining houses of water and mud, throwing out waterlogged furniture and appliances, removing everything down to the studs and power washing inside and out. In Parkersburg, it was removing debris--everything from trees to metal to glass to concrete to piles of lumber--and anything salvageable from inside houses. AmeriCorps members were able to undertake a tremendous amount of manual labor, freeing many residents from the emotional task of gutting their own homes. Their tireless commitment to backbreaking work in sweltering humidity and the enthusiasm with which they met each challenge provided the support residents needed to endure the summer. AmeriCorps members also took something away from the experience of disaster relief. Katie Graham, a member of Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), shared the lesson she learned from her ten week term in Cedar Rapids: ``I learned the importance of living for someone other than yourself, for giving even when you think you have nothing to give, for giving without an expectation of being thanked. And I learned how much community service can tie you to the place where you serve; you sow a part of yourself into whatever community you serve, so returning is a little like coming back home. It's familiar, it's comfortable, it's yours.'' This is a sentiment echoed by many other members who found it difficult to leave when their first term was up, often requesting to extend their service to a second term. In Cedar Rapids, VISTA remains a strong presence as it continues to help the town in its rebuilding process. Across the state, AmeriCorps helped accomplish in weeks what it would have taken individual homeowners and volunteers months to complete. The program's quick and effective response cleared a space for hope to rise up from the muck and debris, and there are those now rebuilding on foundations AmeriCorps helped clear and cleanse. It has left a lasting impression on the towns through proactive and sustainable volunteer coordination systems, thousands of eager helping hands and relentless positivity. It was this selfless desire to alleviate the frustration and vulnerability of those left suddenly in need that put so many Iowa residents on the road to reclaiming their lives in the wake of disaster. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

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