Alan Lowenthal

Mr. LOWENTHAL

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

Mr. LOWENTHAL

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 5050 would repeal the Act of May 31, 1918, and give the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of the Fort Hall Indian Reservation the exclusive right of first refusal to purchase, at fair market value, any land within the Fort Hall town-site which is offered for sale. By repealing the 1918 Act, more land within the reservation's boundaries would be available to the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes and the Secretary would be prevented from possibly selling land within the designated town-site area. This bill would not affect current landowners and provides the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes only with the right of first refusal for any future transactions involving the lands. Mr. Speaker, I support adoption of H.R. 5050 and urge my colleagues to support this legislation. I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. LOWENTHAL

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2455 would convey approximately 275 acres of Bureau of Land Management-administered land to Elko County, Nevada, at fair market value. The bill requires the land conveyed, the Elko motocross, to be used specifically as a motocross, bicycle, off-highway vehicle, or stock car racing area. If the land is not used for these specific purposes, then it may be used for any other public purposes consistent with the Recreation and Public Purposes Act. The bill would also transfer several thousand acres of BLM- administered land to seven Nevada tribes in trust: the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone Indians, Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe, Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation, Summit Lake Paiute Tribe, Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, and the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe. This bill was amended by subcommittee chairman, the gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young), to address among other things the administration's concerns about sage grouse habitat. I thank my colleagues, Representative Mark Amodei and Representative Don Young, for their efforts to address these concerns. I support the passage of this bill. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LOWENTHAL

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, S. 2040 would resolve border changes to the Fort Hall Reservation after the realignment of the Blackfoot River by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1964. This bill settles boundary disputes for the tribes of the Fort Hall Reservation and directs the Secretary of the Interior to transfer the Indian land to the Blackfoot River Flood Control District Number 7 for use or sale and requires that the non- Indian land be held in trust for the tribes. The bill allows the local flood control district to compensate non- Indian landowners at fair market value. The disposition of the remaining lands, after the sale of the lands, is left to the discretion of the Flood Control District Number 7. Mr. Speaker, I support passage of this bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

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

Mr. LOWENTHAL

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

Mr. LOWENTHAL

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Mr. Speaker, I inadvertently voted on rollcall 509, H.J. Res. 124. I intended to vote ``yes'' on rollcall 509, H.J. Res. 124.

Mr. LOWENTHAL

Mr. LOWENTHAL. All we are asking for is a right to vote. I still remember when the President came, in his State of the Union speech, and it was really just after--in my first year here in the Congress and he was talking about the horrible episode that happened at Sandy Hook and said, ``Give the people the vote. Just give us a vote.'' That is all we are asking our Republican colleagues. Let us vote on raising the minimum wage. That is all. That is the democratic way and ``democratic'' with a small D. That is the American way. Give the people a vote.

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Mr. Speaker, I am concerned about working families, and I will be talking about the minimum wage. I just want to preface that it was an honor to listen to Congressman Rangel really talk about what is probably the most important issue before us in terms of how we as a deliberative body deal with issues of war and peace and where our Nation is going. I, too, hope that we have, as this goes on, a really thoughtful discussion as you have laid out for us tonight. And I hope that we follow up with what the President says later on tonight and that, when we reconvene, we do talk about this in a very, very thoughtful, thoughtful way. But I am also concerned about how working families and individuals are struggling to make a living on our current minimum wage of $7.25. That is why I think Congressman Pocan and my colleagues and I are discussing this issue. It is a key component of raising this minimum wage, of closing the opportunity gap and building an economy that works for our working families. We spend a lot of time in this body talking about building the economy. We spend time discussing tax breaks for large corporations. But really what we should be about is: How do we rebuild the middle class? How do we give people an opportunity to join the middle class? Raising the minimum wage is a critical component. By raising it from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour, we would lift 900,000 Americans out of poverty. Do we raise it into wealth? No. We just take the first step. And this is a minimum step. It would raise it for 28 million people, including more than--in my home State, 2.7 million Californians live below the poverty level, working Californians, we are talking about, live below. Who are they? Seventy percent of them are women. The average age is not as it is often told to us, young people, 18 to 25. We are talking about the average age of a person on minimum wage is 35 years of age. That is a significant year. I think I meant to say 1.3 million Californians in my State. It is going to raise it for 2.7 million, and of those, almost a million and a half are women who would be impacted by an increase. This is a bill we are talking about that is a bill that was put forth by Senator Tom Harkin and Congressman George Miller, and it is going to go have a tremendous impact upon job growth. Sometimes we hear, well, if you raise the minimum wage, we are going to lose jobs. But if we really get through the scare tactics, we will listen to what people who are experts and who have studied the issue have said, that a recent analysis by the Economic Policy Institute has calculated that a higher minimum wage within 3 years creates 85,000 new jobs and it has a boost of almost $22 billion into the economy. So, when we raise the minimum wage, we are talking about protecting families, protecting individuals. We as a Congress have, I think, a responsibility to support those families who are the foundation of our workforce. And now is not time to turn our backs on the people who are raising the next generation. We are talking about working families. We need to help the men, women, and children who provide the foundation for our economy and our country, who are raising the next generation. If we cannot provide an adequate wage for Americans who are living in poverty and working, why are we here? What is our role? Our role, I think, is to listen to those working Americans who are desperately trying to make ends meet, who work two and three jobs, and say: We hear you; it makes economic sense for the Nation; we will support you. And we should not leave this Congress until we take the first step, and that is to raise the minimum wage to at least $10.10 an hour. It is a minimum raise of the minimum wage. So with that, I thank you for providing me this opportunity to speak.

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Yes.

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Absolutely would I sign a discharge petition, one of the most important things that we can do.

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Thank you very, very much.

Mr. LOWENTHAL

Mr. LOWENTHAL. I just also want to thank Representative Kilmer for bringing forth this very important bill. Hopefully, this will be another step towards closure in this very--as Representative Young mentioned, this tremendous injustice that occurred in this Nation. With that, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Washington State (Mr. Kilmer), the sponsor of the legislation.

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 4751 changes the name of Bainbridge Island Japanese American Memorial in Washington State to the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial. The addition of the word ``exclusion'' is significant, as it acknowledges the true purpose of the memorial: to recognize and honor the 276 Japanese Americans living on the island who were relocated and interned after the attack on Pearl Harbor. When Congress adjusted the boundary of the Minidoka National Historic Site to include the site, the name Congress used was the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Memorial. At the request of the Bainbridge Island community and owners of the memorial, H.R. 4751 amends the name to reflect the memorial's official name. I would like to thank Representative Kilmer for sponsoring this bill and working to get it through the committee process. This name change is important for the Bainbridge Island community and the integrity of the memorial. With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. (Mr. LOWENTHAL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. LOWENTHAL

Mr. LOWENTHAL. With that, I yield back the balance of my time also.

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Maine (Mr. Michaud), the sponsor of the legislation.

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Mr. Speaker, the town of Tremont, Maine, was granted a parcel of Federal land to build a school in 1950. The town, which is adjacent to Acadia National Park, no longer needs the parcel for school purposes and would like to be able to consider other uses. H.R. 4527 will remove the restrictions on the parcel, and its passage is a priority for the town and the bill's sponsor, Mr. Michaud of Maine. I would like to thank and congratulate my colleague from Maine for his work on this bill on behalf of his constituents. With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. (Mr. LOWENTHAL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. LOWENTHAL

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Mr. Speaker, again, I want to thank Representative Butterfield from North Carolina for helping us get this across the finish line. We are really going to honor these brave Americans, both slaves and free blacks, who fought for American independence, and I think this is a wonderful bill. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Butterfield), the sponsor of the legislation.

Mr. LOWENTHAL. Mr. Speaker, Washington, D.C., and The National Mall are where we honor our Nation's heroes and commemorate our most significant achievements. An important chapter in our history which has yet to be fully recognized is the contribution and the sacrifice of the over 5,000 slaves and free Black persons who fought to free the Colonies in our Nation's War of Independence. These brave, selfless men must not be forgotten and are certainly deserving of our lasting recognition. That is why in 2003 after years of debate and effort, Congress authorized the National Liberty Memorial. The National Liberty Memorial will serve as an important remembrance. I am very pleased that we are able to consider this bill today. When Congress authorizes the establishment of a memorial in Washington, D.C., it then takes years of planning to select a design and location. Fortunately, for the Liberty Memorial, a site has been selected. One of the last hurdles is approval from Congress, and with the adoption of H.J. Res. 120, that is why and what we are here to do today. Getting this far would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of the bill's sponsor, Representative Butterfield from North Carolina. I would like to thank him and congratulate him for his work and look forward to soon visiting the new National Liberty Memorial. We support this legislation and thank the majority for bringing it up for consideration. With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. LOWENTHAL. I yield myself such time as I may consume. (Mr. LOWENTHAL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)