Carolyn Maloney

Mrs. MALONEY of New York

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. I know. There were lots of terrible mistakes that are causing people their health now. And in closing in this final minute, I just want to underscore that we as a Nation must not forget the firefighters, police officers, emergency medical technicians and all the other responders, volunteers and residents who bravely rushed down to save lives even as everyone else was running in the opposite direction. We must not forget the rescue, recovery and cleanup workers who stayed on for months at Ground Zero in service to our country. And we must not forget the residents, area workers and school children who lived, worked and studied through the toxins and have now become sick. Once again, I stand on this floor of Congress and note that this was an attack against our Nation, and we know that the Nation responded. Every State has workers that were affected by the deadly toxins at Ground Zero. Every State had residents who rushed to our State and rushed down to Ground Zero to help. We will never forget them, and we will not stop. Both sides of the aisle, we are committed to making sure that everyone who was exposed to the deadly toxins is treated and everyone who is sick is going to get medical care. That is the least that we can do for these brave men and women. I thank my colleagues and especially Ryan McCormick, who is here with us tonight, for coming. And I thank you for your work not only tonight on this Special Order tonight but throughout your year in Congress. Since 9/11, it has been a priority of yours. And my constituents, the thousands that were affected thank you for your efforts, and I thank you for having this opportunity of joining me in this Special Order.

Mrs. MALONEY of New York

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, today I am reintroducing the bi- partisan Repairing Young Women's Lives Around the World Act, a bill vital to saving the lives of women and their children around the world. This bill funds UNFPA (the United Nations Population Fund) strictly for the prevention, treatment, and repair of obstetric fistula.

Mrs. MALONEY of New York

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1429, the Improving Head Start Act of 2007. Since 1965, the Head Start early childhood education program has provided low-income children with comprehensive child development, educational, health, nutritional, and social activities to ensure that they are ready to enter kindergarten on an equal playing field with other children. H.R. 1429 will expand and improve the successful Head Start program, which research has shown works in raising children's achievement. I want to thank Representatives Kildee, Castle and Chairman Miller for their outstanding leadership on this bipartisan bill, which would allow as many as 10,000 more children to access the benefits Head Start. It improves classroom and teacher quality, raising the qualifications of teachers and increasing funding for teacher and staff salaries and professional development. The bill also includes strong accountability measures to better ensure that Head Start funds are used appropriately and efficiently and that underperforming programs are either replaced or quickly improved. As a former educator, I understand the importance of closing the school-readiness gap and ensuring that all children can start their education on an equal playing field. Today, we have the opportunity to pass a bill that will make great strides toward just that.

Mrs. MALONEY of New York

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of the conference report to H.R. 1591, the ``U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Health and Iraq Accountability Act.'' For far too long this administration, with no oversight from the previous Republican-led Congresses, has committed our precious resources to this war without a sufficient plan to win the peace. It sent our soldiers to war without adequate armor and equipment. It wasted billions of taxpayers' dollars in sole-source contracts and lost suitcases of cash. This war also has severely hampered our readiness should a military operation become necessary somewhere else in the world. Top Army officials have acknowledged that the demands placed on the military mostly because of the war in Iraq have caused critical shortages in the number of available ground troops and equipment. With the President's surge of troops in Iraq, we are at a crisis point. The mismanagement of this war must not continue. The false promises must end. The administration's free pass must be revoked. H.R. 1591 provides critical funding for American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan while establishing a necessary timeline for the redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq. It also directs the president to certify that the Iraqi government is making progress in meeting certain benchmarks. While the timeline is not as strong as the one previously passed by this body, I believe that we are moving in the right direction. The bill includes $2.1 billion more in funding than the president requested for military health care and $1.8 billion more than the President's request for veterans' health care. The Walter Reed scandal showed the potential for far more widespread problems across the military health care system if we do not act now to take better care of our war veterans. More troops are returning home injured than our government predicted or was prepared for, and the system runs the risk of being stretched thin. Taking care of the men and women who have battled with the stars and stripes on their shoulders is more than a feel-good issue, it is a moral issue. When Americans enlist in the Armed Forces, they are assuming the responsibility of defending our country. They do so with the belief that their country will assume the responsibility of taking care of their injuries as attentively and humanely as possible. Today, we are taking steps to ensure that what happened at Walter Reed will not happen anywhere else. I also want to commend the conferees for including $50 million for Ground Zero workers and responders who risked their lives and are now suffering devastating health effects because of their brave service following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mrs. MALONEY of New York

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 249, which would restore the prohibition on commercial sale of wild horses and burros that was in place from 1971 to 2004. I want to thank my colleagues Representative Nick Rahall from West Virginia and Representative Ed Whitfield from Kentucky for their hard work in restoring this ban, which should have never been lifted in the first place. In the 2 years since the prohibition was eliminated, hundreds of wild horses have been slaughtered. This is unacceptable. Wild horses are a fixture in United States history. In the 1800s there were more than 2 million wild horses and burros in this country. Today, there are fewer than 29,000. This bill will protect the small number of wild horses and burros who remain, preserving them as national treasures. Mr. Chairman, this House has time and again expressed the desire of the American people to end the slaughter of innocent, beautiful horses by voting in support of legislation that would ban the slaughter of horses. I urge my colleagues to vote``yes'' on H.R. 249.

Mrs. MALONEY of New York

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, today we observe Equal Pay Day, the day that indicates just how far into each year a woman must work to earn as much as a man earned in the previous year. Women are more highly educated and productive than ever, yet these gains have not yet translated into equal pay across the board. A Government Accountability Office study that John Dingell and I sponsored showed that when occupation, marital status, job tenure, industry and race are accounted for, women still earn eighty cents for every dollar men earn. This wage gap extends across all income levels and occupations, and it's even wider for minority women. There is no excuse for this gap between men and women. Both men and women must feed their families and pay their rent. Let's pass the Paycheck Fairness Act and close the gender wage gap for good.

Mrs. MALONEY of New York

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, as a proud member of the Congressional Caucus on Armenian Issues, and the representative of a large and vibrant community of Armenian Americans, I rise to join my colleagues in the sad commemoration of the Armenian Genocide. Today we declare to people living in every corner of our globe that the Turkish and American governments must finally acknowledge what we have long understood: that the unimaginable horror committed on Turkish soil in the aftermath of World War I was, and is, an act of genocide. The tragic events that began on April 24, 1915, which are well known to all of us, should be part of the history curriculum in every Turkish and American school. On that dark April day, more than 200 of Armenia's religious, political and intellectual leaders were arrested in Constantinople and killed. Ultimately, more than 1.5 million Armenians were systematically murdered at the hands of the Young Turks, and more than 500,000 more were exiled from their native land. On this 92nd anniversary of the beginning of the genocide, I join with the chorus of voices that grows louder with each passing year. We simply will not allow ice planned elimination of an entire people to remain in the shadows of history. The Armenian Genocide must be acknowledged, studied, and never, ever allowed to happen again. Last year I joined with my colleagues in the Caucus in urging PBS not to give a platform to the deniers of the genocide by canceling a planned broadcast of a panel which included two scholars who deny the Armenian Genocide. This panel was to follow the airing of a documentary about the Armenian Genocide. Representative Anthony Weiner and I led a successful effort to convince Channel Thirteen in New York City to pull the plug on these genocide deniers. The parliaments of Canada, France, and Switzerland have all passed resolutions affirming that the Armenian people were indeed subjected to genocide. The United States must do the same. I will not stop fighting until long overdue legislation acknowledging the Armenian Genocide finally passes. I am hopeful that this resolution will make it to the Floor for a vote before the full House of Representatives this Congress. An acknowledgment of the genocide is not our only objective. I remain committed to ensuring that the U.S. government continues to provide direct financial assistance to Armenia. Over the years, this aid has played a critical role in the economic and political advancement of the Armenian people. I have joined with my colleagues in requesting military parity between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the FY08 Foreign Operations Appropriations bill. We also have requested an adequate level of economic assistance for Armenia and assistance to Nagorno-Karabakh. Legislation passed in the 109th Congress and signed into law to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank included important language prohibiting the Bank from funding railroad projects in the South Caucasus region that deliberately exclude Armenia. American tax dollars should not be used to support efforts to isolate Armenia, and these provisions would prevent that by ensuring that U.S. funds are not used to support the construction of a new railway that bypasses Armenia. A railway already exists that connects the nations of Turkey, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, but because it crosses Armenia, an expensive and unnecessary new railway had been proposed. Allowing the exclusion of Armenia from important transportation routes would stymie the emergence of this region as an important East-West trade corridor. It is in our economic and security interests to ensure that the aggression against Armenia comes to an end. On this solemn day, our message is clear: the world remembers the Armenian genocide, and the governments of Turkey and the United States must declare--once and for all--that they do, too.

Mrs. MALONEY of New York

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 289, which expresses the ``sense of the House of Representatives with respect to raising awareness and encouraging prevention of sexual assault in the United States and supporting the goals and ideals of National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. I was the lead Democratic sponsor of the original legislation, introduced by former Representative Mark Green and signed into law in 2003, that designated April as National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month. While we are taking the time today to highlight this important issue, it is important that we remember that preventing sexual assault should be a top priority during each month of the year. We must also remember that violence against women is not just a women's issue, it is a men's issue, too. Every 2\1/2\ minutes, someone in the United States is sexually assaulted. I have long been a champion of increased efforts to prevent violence against women and in 2004, legislation that I first introduced, ``The Debbie Smith Act,'' was signed into law. Through this landmark act, we have the ability to protect our daughters, our sisters, and our friends by putting rapists behind bars through DNA evidence. We know that DNA evidence is better than a fresh set of fingerprints. And we know that it is often better than eyewitness testimony. With ``The Debbie Smith Act,'' the hundreds of thousands of rape kits that were gathering dust across the country are finally being processed. It is vitally important that we support the Violence Against Women Act by fully funding the important programs that will help women escape abusive and dangerous situations and begin new lives that are free from violence and fear. The organizations, shelters, and counseling centers that are on the front lines of this problem need our steadfast commitment that they will have the resources to continue their important work. I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mrs. MALONEY of New York

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I rise today with a heavy heart as I remember my dear friend and colleague, Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald. Juanita passed away April 22nd in her home State of California. She will be remembered as a strong woman and formidable legislator who broke down many barriers by becoming the first African- American woman in history to chair a committee in Congress, the House Administration Committee, and the first African-American woman to serve on the Carson City Council and the first to chair two committees in the California State Assembly. I really got to know Juanita when I co-chaired the Congressional Caucus on Women's Issues and subsequently when she became the co-chair. She was a strong advocate for women's and minority rights and was a strong ally in the effort to combat human trafficking. Juanita came to work with a passion and determination that is rarely found. She represented the 37th Congressional District with dignity and pride, proving to be an effective leader and caring Representative. I especially want to extend my condolences to Congresswoman Millender-McDonald's husband, James, and to her five children and grandchildren. You are in my thoughts and prayers.

Mrs. MALONEY of New York

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to the 23rd Street Association, Inc., of New York City, its President, Sharon L. Ullman, and its honoree Joseph Roberto on the occasion of its annual Distinguished Citizen Award Luncheon. This year, the Association is bestowing its Distinguished Citizen Award upon Mr. Joseph Roberto, Divisional Senior Vice President of North Fork Bank, for his outstanding service to the community. The 23rd Street Association was formed in 1929 by 22 local business leaders to improve environmental conditions and promote economic development in Manhattan. Since that time, the 23rd Street Association and its civic-minded members have devoted themselves to maintaining and improving the quality of life for both businesses and residents of the vital and thriving area of Lower Manhattan between 18th and 28th Streets. Today, the Association plays an active role in the development and growth of the 23rd Street area, including the Gramercy Park and Flatiron neighborhoods and the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village middle-income housing developments. The Association also addresses a broad range of citizen complaints and concerns by working closely with local community boards as well as city, state and federal government agencies. Whether forming a partnership with the New York City Department of Transportation to ameliorate traffic congestion in Lower Manhattan or purchasing and planting hundreds of trees in conjunction with the City Parks Department, the Association's commitment to improving the neighborhoods and communities it serves has been truly remarkable. In recent years, the 23rd Street Association worked to block a plant to substitute a nearby women's shelter with a facility for high-risk men, a proposal forcefully fought by many local businesses and residents. This year, the 23rd Street Association is honoring Mr. Joseph Roberto of North Fork Bank with its Distinguished Citizen Award. A veteran of New York's business community, Joseph Roberto began his career by working in his family business, a chain of retail stores known as Pzaz, from 1979 through 1998. In 1998, Mr. Roberto joined North Fork Bank, where he currently serves as the Divisional Senior Vice President for Manhattan. Overseeing the bank's 45 Manhattan locations, Mr. Roberto has still found time and boundless energy to devote to his community and to countless worthy causes ranging from the American Cancer Society to United Cerebral Palsy to the Special Olympics. The 23rd Street Association's president, Sharon L. Ullman, has compiled an exceptional record of service to the community. She spearheaded the establishment of the new Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership Business Improvement District, working tirelessly for 5 years planning the project, raising the funding needed to bring it to fruition, and inspiring the will and energy to make it such an outstanding success for local businesses and residents alike. She has also dedicated herself to the community by serving as the Warden of Madison Square Park and as a longtime board member of worthwhile organizations like the Associated Blind, Inc. Ms. Ullman was also named one of the top 100 New Yorkers by New York Resident magazine. Madam Speaker, I request that my colleagues join me in paying tribute to the 23rd Street Association, its president, Sharon L. Ullman, and its honoree, Joseph Roberto, for their outstanding service and dedication to the civic life of our nation's greatest metropolis.

Mrs. MALONEY of New York

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, the Bush administration has gotten what they wished for. The Supreme Court has upheld a ban on a medical procedure for women without a health exception, thereby reversing four decades of rulings supporting a woman's right to choose. Women who face serious health consequences have lost their right to the safest procedure available. Politicians have taken the place of doctors. Women have become a pawn in the hands of right-wing conservatives. On my Web site, I keep a listing of all the ways this administration has chipped away at a woman's right to choose, but yesterday they used a sledgehammer. By upholding this ban and disregarding years of precedent, the Roberts court has shown not only its belief that women are second-class citizens, but also its potential to completely overturn Roe. We need to stand up to right-wing, conservative, extremist efforts and protect the basic human rights of women.

Mrs. MALONEY of New York

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Hour Children, a not-for-profit social service agency in Long Island City, New York dedicated to supporting mothers currently or previously incarcerated in prison and to providing a stable and nurturing environment for their children. This month, Hour Children is celebrating its 12th anniversary at its Annual Awards Benefit, where the organization is honoring 3 outstanding individuals: Abigail Disney, Kirk Goodrich and Xiomara Gutierrez. Originally founded in 1995 by Sister Teresa Fitzgerald, CSJ, for children rendered homeless by their mothers' incarceration, Hour Children has grown into a full-service, multifaceted social service provider to countless families in need. Sister Teresa, familiarly know as ``Sister Tesa,'' secured housing at the Roman Catholic Convent of St. Rita's in Long Island City as a home for these children, and joined with 4 other Sisters to become foster parents. They went on to establish parent support programs at New York State's Bedford Hills and Taconic Correctional Institutions, facilitating visit schedules so that female inmates and their children were able to reunite for a few hours on a regular basis. Although nearly one third of prisoners in New York State are reincarcerated, Hour Children's rate of recidivism is less than 10 percent because its clients are afforded ample time to make a successful transition to assuming responsibilities for family and work. Hour Children's unique approach begins by forging relationships with its adult clients while they are still in prison, bringing their children to visit regularly, and providing advocacy and mentoring on parenting, domestic violence, and employment counseling, thus easing their transition to reunification with their children. In forging long- term relationships with its clients built on trust, Hour Children helps them to attain independence and self-sufficiency at a pace suited to their needs. Today, Hour Children is a community of 5 multi-family residences, serving families with children from infancy to 21 years of age. More than 200 ``graduates'' of its housing program have successfully made the transition to independent living, returning for monthly support group meetings and special events. In addition, Hour Children was officially recognized as a work release site, opening a Community Outreach Center and 3 thrift shops. Hour Children's success would not have been possible without the extraordinary contributions of its 3 honorees this year. As Co-Founder and President of the Daphne Foundation, Abigail E. Disney, Ph.D., has devoted herself tirelessly to confronting the causes and consequences of poverty in our Nation's greatest city. She was indispensable in securing and providing the first funding for Hour Children's Early Learning program for children ranging from infants to 3-year-olds. Hour Children is also honoring Kirk Goodrich, Vice President of the Enterprise Social Investment Corporation, one of the Nation's leading providers of community development capital, tax credit equity investments, and development services for affordable housing, mixed- use, and commercial development. His leadership helped secure the financing to enable Hour Children to open a new residence under construction at 35-54 11th Street in Long Island City, where 8 apartment units will be available to Hour Children's client families. In addition, Hour Children is honoring Xiomara Gutierrez with its First Annual Jean Harris Award. A mother, child care worker, and trusted confidante to countless families, Xiomara Harris has touched and inspired the Hour Children community with her compassion and dedication. Madam Speaker, I ask my distinguished colleagues to join me in recognizing the remarkable successes enjoyed by Hour Children in helping countless individuals transcend their circumstances and realize their full potential.

Mrs. MALONEY of New York

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last word. I thank my dear colleague, Mr. Garrett, on the other side of the aisle for your strong support for the TRIA bill and for coming to New York for that very important hearing. It is a challenge that both of our States face, and I congratulate your leadership on that very important measure. But, regrettably, I rise in opposition. I do not see this amendment as straightforward and helping the process. It appears to just complicate it. It sets triggers and hoops that you have to jump through before we can get to a vote. The underlying purpose of this bill is to allow shareholders to have a vote on a link between pay and performance. If a CEO is doing an absolutely fabulous job and coming up with new ideas and creating new industries and employing thousands and thousands of Americans, as a shareholder, I would probably vote a big pay increase. But if that CEO was like New Century, where the CEO recently, I think was in the paper today, this gentleman walked away with a multimillion- dollar bonus and $13 million of profit in stock options while his company went bankrupt, and thousands of their borrowers are facing the loss of their homes. As a shareholder, I would be voting, very strongly, ``no'' on that pay package. To me, the underlying thrust of this is to allow the voice of shareholders in the democracy of their companies and our country and to tie pay to performance. As a shareholder, I would vote for a large pay increase to someone who is doing a good job. But too often we hear about people who are doing a terrible job, bankrupting pensions, running their companies into the ground. With their cronies on the board, and their close friends walking away with these huge packages, it's really not good for the country, it's not good for capitalism, it's not good for business. This proposal also would increase the cost and length of the time for both the firms and the SEC. The SEC is overburdened now, but this puts more burdens on them to collect the data and calculate the 10 percent that is required before they come forward and make the decision. I join my colleagues. This was roundly defeated in the committee earlier, and I believe it should be defeated on the floor. I would like to speak just a little bit about what I am so deeply concerned about, and why I think this is such an important bill. Like many of my colleagues, I am very concerned about the rising economic inequality in this country. Under the Bush administration, it has just gone like that. I don't think it's good for the country or for our future. Despite 5 years of economic expansion, most American families have struggled just to hold their economic ground on President Bush's watch. Strong productivity growth has not translated into higher wages for most American workers. Those who were already well-to-do are those who continue to grow. As this chart shows, and I think it's an important one, the red bar shows only modest gains concentrated in the upper half of the distribution from 2000 to 2006. The divergence between the haves and the have-nots and the Bush economy stands in marked contrast to the second term of the Clinton administration. The blue bars, where real wages and gains were strong up and down the economic ladder for all people, the economy grew, not just for the top, but for all of our citizens. The people experiencing the largest wage gains are executives and highly compensated individuals. While ordinary workers are not really sharing in this economic growth, their paychecks have not really grown after inflation. I want to show the CEO chart, because it goes really to part of this bill. Now, this chart shows the compensation, as the bar on the left shows, in the 1980s, the average CEO made about 50 times as much as the average worker. As the bar on the right shows in 2004, that ratio was seven times greater. The average CEO made about 350 times the pay of the average worker. According to recent studies, that figure has only gone up. The average CEO made 500 times the pay of the average worker in 2006. I say that it's time for shareholders to have a say and that this underlying bill is long overdue. I congratulate Chairman Frank for his effort here. It's measured, it's reasonable, and it will enhance shareholder democracy and rein in the excesses of executive compensation. I would just like to conclude, the main reason I am opposed to your amendment, Mr. Garrett, although I have a great deal of respect for your work and we have agreed in many ways, is, it does not link the pay to performance. That is what we want to get to the shareholders. That is what is good for economic growth for our country.

Mrs. MALONEY of New York

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, American families are leaving billions of dollars on the table each year by not claiming tax credits that help families pay for child care, to send their children to college, save for retirement, or work their way into the middle class. Taxpayers claimed nearly $83 billion in tax credits in 2004. But families missed out on over $10 billion in unclaimed tax credits, according to a new estimate from the Joint Economic Committee. You can find this report on my Web site at maloney.house.gov. The IRS can help close this tax credit gap by reporting on the characteristics of households not taking advantage of these credits. This will help us conduct better outreach to families who are missing out on credits that reward their hard work and help them get ahead.

Mrs. MALONEY of New York

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Con. Res. 71, legislation that I introduced, which commemorates the 85th Anniversary of the American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association. As a co-founder and co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Hellenic Issues, I have had a close working relationship with AHEPA. The Nation's largest and oldest association of American citizens of Greek heritage and Philhellenes, AHEPA was founded on July 26, 1922, in Atlanta, Georgia, by eight visionary Greek immigrants to combat bigotry and discrimination and help Greek immigrants assimilate into American society. Today, its mission is to promote the ancient Greek ideals of education, philanthropy, civic responsibility, and family and individual excellence through community service and volunteerism. Over its history, AHEPA has achieved remarkable accomplishments. It has fostered American patriotism, sheltered the elderly, educated our youth, promoted Hellenic heritage, and advanced rapproachment in the Eastern Mediterranean. Additionally, AHEPA's members exemplify the American Dream. With their strong work ethic, Greek-Americans have risen to become leaders in their respective professions, from government to business to the arts. Currently headed by Supreme President Gus James, II, AHEPA has been a vehicle through which this advancement has occurred in our society. I want to thank Chairman Waxman and Ranking Member Davis for their support of this bill and for moving it through the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. I also want to acknowledge my fellow Caucus Co-Chair, Representative Bilirakis, for joining me in introducing this bill.

Mrs. MALONEY of New York

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, today I am reintroducing a bill to end government subsidies for private clubs that discriminate against women. Ending Tax Breaks for Discrimination Act of 2007 makes it illegal to take income tax deductions for expenses at clubs with ``No Women Allowed'' membership policies. It is wrong for corporations to write-off big expenditures for entertainment, meetings and advertising at clubs that keep women out while they target women consumers' pocketbooks. This bill will put an end to that. With the Masters Golf Tournament coming up this Monday, April 2nd, now is the time to address these discriminatory practices. Right now, conventions and meetings come right off corporate income tax as legitimate business deductions, including those held at private clubs that discriminate. Half the price of a business lunch is deductible. But if you're a woman, you subsidize \1/2\ a guy's lunch with your taxes, even though you can't join the club. The whole point is that members of these clubs get financial gains--either indirectly through career opportunities and board appointments, or directly through tax deductions. Women can't get these same financial gains-- just because they're women. Golf is so ingrained as a part of business success that business schools teach juniors and seniors how to make the most of country club memberships. If you can't play golf, join the ``guys'' after a round, and get the same elite club bonus package from your employer that your male counterparts can, you're clearly missing out. This bill ends deductions for advertising, travel, accommodation and meals associated with these clubs. And it requires discriminatory clubs to print right on their receipts ``not tax deductible''. Let me be clear, I like big business, but women must be equal players. Legitimate tax deductions should continue, but when these deductions support clubs that bar women as equal partners, equal players, equal earners--they are not legitimate. This bill is past due. The time for discrimination is over. I am also reintroducing a resolution, the Fair Play-Equal Access in Membership Resolution, which expresses the sense of the Congress that neither the President, the Vice President, nor any Member of Congress, justice or judge of the United States, or political appointee in the executive branch of the Government should belong to a club that discriminates on the basis of sex or race. It's common sense that our leaders and lawmakers should not belong to clubs that discriminate . . . period.

Mrs. MALONEY of New York

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 1401, the ``Rail and Public Transportation Security Act.'' Since the attacks on 9/11, we have seen the tragic consequences when the vulnerabilities of rail and public transportation systems are exploited, including in London and Madrid. We cannot afford to wait for an attack here in America before we make rail and transit security the priority it needs to be. Tens of billions of dollars have been spent on aviation security since 9/11, yet only $660 million has been devoted to mass transit security. While we all agree that air travel needs to be as safe as possible, we cannot forget about the security of the millions of people who are riding subways, trains, and busses everyday. This bipartisan legislation will help to make our Nation's railways and public transportation systems safer by requiring the Departments of Homeland Security and Transportation to develop a national strategy for the security of these systems after assessing the significant risks associated with them. The bill would authorize $6 billion over the next four years for grant programs and it would require training for rail, transit, and bus employees about prevention, preparation, and response to a terrorist attack. H.R. 1401 increases the number of full-time surface transportation inspectors and it requires the development of regulations for the transportation of sensitive materials including the possibilities of alternative routes. I am especially pleased to note that this bill provides critical whistleblower protections for DHS, DoT, and rail and public transportation employees who report security risks or violations. Just this month the House passed legislation that, among other provisions, extended important whistleblower protections to employees of intelligence agencies and to federal contractors. It is important that we protect those who by blowing the whistle on misconduct or wrongdoing help keep this country safe. Our constituents should feel as safe as possible whether they commute daily on a train or bus or whether they are occasional travelers on public transportation systems. Passage of the bill before us today is an important step in enhancing the security of the Nation's mass transit systems. I urge my colleagues to vote aye.

Mrs. MALONEY of New York

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I rise today with my colleagues Representatives Alcee Hastings, Joe Wilson, and Hoyer, to honor the upcoming 500th anniversary of the coining of the name ``America.'' On April 25, 1507 cartographer Martin Waldseemuller of the research group Gymnasium Vosagense in Saint-Die', France changed the way Europeans perceived the world by first depicting the Western Hemisphere in his 1507 world map. Waldseemuller honored Amerigo Vespucci by labeling this land with the Italian navigator's Christian name. Although explorers like Christopher Columbus already discovered this land, Amerigo Vespucci was the first to realize that it was not India but an entirely new continent. I invite my fellow Americans to join me and the House of Representatives in celebrating the historic 500th anniversary of the coining of this great name. Lastly, I also want to welcome Representative Hastings as a new member of the Americans Abroad Caucus, which I along with Representative Wilson have co-founded.

Mrs. MALONEY of New York

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. First of all, Mr. Chairman, I just want to remind my dear friend on the other side of the aisle that the Bush administration has given this country several records, only they are the wrong kind of records: $9 trillion in debt, the largest debt this country has ever carried; $859 billion trade deficit, the current account deficit, the largest trade deficit in the history of this country. And out of that $9 trillion, each of us in this room and each person across America owes $29,000. That is their portion of the debt that we owe. Once again, we have heard about job creation. As I have said earlier, a third of the jobs created since 2003 were necessary just to make up for earlier job losses. Under President Clinton, the economy created 237,000 jobs per month, and this administration has created well less than 100,000 jobs per month. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Chairman, as Vice Chair of the Joint Economic Committee, I am pleased to speak in the time reserved by the Budget Act for a discussion of economic goals and policies that is traditionally led by members of this committee. Mr. Chairman, we have a responsibility to chart a more sensible course for economic policy than has been pursued over the past 6 years, and this budget starts us down that path. The President says his policies are working to make the economy strong, and that all Americans are benefiting. But evidence of a slowing economy is building, and an anxiety over the state of the economy remains high. The meltdown in the subprime mortgage market is also adding to worries about the overall health of the economy. American families are optimistic by nature, but they are understandably worried about the future, because the economy is weakening, even before many have shared in the gains from the economic growth we have seen so far. Despite 5 years of economic expansion, most American families have struggled just to hold their economic ground on President Bush's watch. Job growth has been modest. Wages are barely keeping pace with inflation. Real incomes have fallen, household debt is rising, employer-provided health insurance coverage is declining, and private pensions are in jeopardy. These are the economic barometers that matter most to America's families. Having a job is the key indicator of economic well-being for the vast majority of Americans. The President likes to talk about these 7.5 million jobs created since August of 2003, but he neglects to mention the fact that more than a third of those jobs were necessary just to replace the ones that were destroyed between 2001 and 2003. Most Americans depend on their earnings to support themselves and their families. But unfortunately, workers' pay has lagged far beyond productivity, and wage growth has been weaker and more unequal than in the late 1990s. Strong productivity growth has translated into higher profits for businesses. Corporate profits are at an all-time high as a share of GDP, but not more take-home pay for the average worker. Focusing on usual weekly earnings of full-time workers, we see only modest gains concentrated in the upper half of the distribution from 2000 to 2006. As we see in this chart, the red bars show the unequal gains during the Bush administration, and the blue bars show the Clinton years when earnings grew for everyone across our country. The divergence between the haves and the have-nots in the Bush administration economy stands in marked contrast to the last 4 or 5 years of the Clinton administration when real wage gains were strong up and down the wage ladder as productivity growth first accelerated. These earnings figures do not reflect bonuses of highly paid executives or capital gains and other nonwage income earned at the very top of the income distribution. This picture likely understates the disparities. The people experiencing the largest income gains are executives and highly compensated individuals, while ordinary American workers are only just beginning to see some gains in their paychecks after inflation. Workers' pay and benefits, the red line, have grown only half as much as productivity; the blue line over the last 6 years. Typically, real compensation of workers, their wages and benefits, tend to track productivity growth as they did in the late 1990s. But that has not happened since the 2001 recession. Productivity growth has been strong, but real inflation- adjusted compensation growth has been weak. The compensation growth we have seen came much more from benefits than from wages, but not because employers suddenly became more generous. Benefit costs have been increasing because health insurance costs are rising and employers have had to make contributions to restore the solvency of their pension plans. Higher benefit costs have squeezed take-home pay, but workers have not been getting more generous benefits in return. Slow job growth and stagnant wages during much of the Bush administration have depressed families' incomes. Median household income in 2005 was nearly $1,300 lower than in 2000, a loss of 2.7 percent during the President's first 5 years in office. Clearly, many American families have a lot of lost ground to make up. Those who are already well-to-do are doing very well in this Bush economy, but the typical American family is struggling to make ends meet in the face of high costs for energy, health care and a college education for their children. College tuition is up 44 percent, health insurance premiums are up 87 percent, and the price of gasoline was only a $1.45 per gallon when the President took office. Somehow, the President's tax cuts were supposed to make up for all of this. But the lion's share of the tax cuts went to the people at the very top, especially the top 1 percent of earners. The legacy of the President's tax cuts has been to run up massive deficits and debt that leave us unprepared to deal with the budget challenges posed by the retirement of the baby boom generation, and that weakens the future standard of living of our children and grandchildren. This administration has presided over a stunning reversal of fortune. The $5.6 trillion, 10-year budget surplus that they inherited turned into a deficit over those same 10 years of at least $2.3 trillion. The administration has incurred the three largest budget deficits on record, including a $413 billion deficit in 2004. The deficit may be retreating, as it usually does in a business cycle recovery, but each year's deficit still stands in marked contrast to the projected surpluses when the President took office. The gross Federal debt is now almost $9 trillion, or more than $29,000 per person. That is how much every man, woman and child in America owes to this debt. This is the fiscal mess that we have to clean up. Thanks to the President's policies, we are now a Nation of debtors, relying on the rest of the world to finance our budget deficits and excessive spending. Our current account deficit, which is the broadest measure of our trade deficit with the rest of the world, rose to a record-smashing $856 billion in 2006, from $791 billion in 2005. This administration keeps giving us records, but they are the wrong kind of records. Record deficits, record debts, and record amounts of money owed by each American citizen. The amount of Federal debt owed by foreigners has more than doubled under President Bush, rising to $2.2 trillion, with Japan and China alone holding $1 trillion of our debt. Recent stock market volatility underscores just how vulnerable the U.S. economy has become to the decisions being made in other countries. When China sneezes, a half a world away, the U.S. economy catches a cold. Our future prosperity depends on increasing our normal saving and making wise investments. It depends on being ready for the retirement of the baby boom generation and the pressure we know that that will put on our budget. The challenge for this Congress is to return to the fiscal discipline that has been squandered by the President and Congress over the past 6 years, and that is what this Democratic budget proposal does. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time, and I move that the Committee do now rise.

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Chairman, the American people voted for change, and this Democratic leadership has given them change, not only in the direction in Iraq but the direction in our budget. I repeat, it is unbelievable. I am mystified that the Republican colleagues on the other side of the aisle are talking fiscal discipline. Let us remember, they are the ones that gave us the largest debt in history, $9 trillion, the largest trade deficit, over $859 billion, and they turned the $5.6 trillion 10-year budget surplus into a $2.3 trillion deficit. That is what they gave this country. Within the first 100 hours of this Congress, the new Democratic leadership instituted pay-as-you-go budgeting requiring that new spending be offset. In other words, we are not spending money we don't have. We are not going to grow that deficit. Adhering to this policy helped turn deficits into surpluses in the 1990s during the Clinton administration but was abandoned by the Bush administration and the Republican-controlled Congress. That is what led us to these huge debts and deficits. Today, Democrats in Congress present a realistic budget plan that adheres to PAYGO principles for controlling the deficit and bringing revenues into line with the amount we need to spend to defend the country and take care of the needs of our citizens. Our budget provides health care for millions of additional uninsured children. We make investments in veterans health care and benefits. We restore critical funding for first responders and State and local law enforcement. In order to spur innovation that will keep America number one in the world, we provide increased funding for the National Science Foundation, increase investments in math and science and education, and make college more affordable for our young people, investing in the future of our country. We also expand renewable energy and energy efficiency to reduce global warming and dependence on foreign oil. Democrats target tax relief to those who need it most. Our plan protects 19 million middle-American families from a tax increase by setting up a reserve fund for a long-term fix for the alternative minimum tax, which is snagging millions more families each year in its widening net. We pay for these tax cuts in part by eliminating tax loopholes and closing the tax gap to make sure that middle-class families don't have to pay the tab for tax cheats. Mr. Chairman, this budget resolution is an important step toward putting our fiscal house back in order and creating greater economic opportunities and prosperity for all American families.

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. First of all, Mr. Chairman, I find it rather ironic that my good friends on the other side of the aisle are lecturing us on fiscal responsibility. After all, let us remember that the $5.6 trillion 10-year budget surplus that Mr. Bush and the Republican majority at that time inherited turned into a deficit over those same 10 years of at least $2.3 trillion. Numbers do not lie, Mr. Chairman. They turned a $5.6 trillion surplus into a $2.3 trillion deficit. And they are preaching fiscal responsibility. The administration has incurred the three largest budget deficits on record, including a $413 billion deficit in 2004. And let's remember that the Bush administration not only lost 3 million manufacturing jobs since they took office, but we now have almost a $9 trillion debt, and that breaks down to all of us in America owing, our own individual share, $29,000. Now, that is what they have given the American people. On top of that they gave us another record, another horrible record. The highest trade deficit in the history of our country, $857 billion. So they give us the record debt, the record trade deficit, and the record budget deficit in the history of this country, and they are talking fiscal responsibility. And then on top of it they turn the surplus into a $2.3 trillion deficit. Believe me, I am so glad that for the future of America we have a Democratic budget before us today. Mr. Chairman, I yield 5 minutes to my colleague from the great State of Washington, Congressman McDermott.

Mrs. MALONEY of New York

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 137, the Animal Fighting Prohibition Enforcement Act of 2007. I want to thank my colleagues Representative Gallegly and Representative Blumenauer for their hard work on this issue. This important legislation will make it illegal to transport an animal across State or international borders for the purpose of fighting, prohibits use of the mail system to promote animal fighting, and criminalizes interstate buying, selling, or transportation of knives or gaffs used for animal fighting. Animal fighting is a deplorable activity with a purely negative impact on society. In cockfights, when two birds fight with blades or gaffs attached to their feet, at least one, and sometimes both of the birds are killed. Dogs who are made to fight often sustain severe injuries such as deep wounds and broken bones. Subsequent to fights, many dogs die of blood loss, exhaustion, or shock. Fighting animals are usually subject to inhumane living conditions intended to make them more aggressive, sometimes denied adequate nutrition, and made to exercise until they are physically exhausted. In addition to the inexcusable harm inflicted on the animals, the fights also have negative effects on humans. Illegal gambling and drug trafficking are often closely tied to animal fighting operations. Also, animals bred to fight are abnormally aggressive, and pose a danger to the communities they live in if they were to get loose. I applaud the passage of this bill, which will end an inhumane practice that is an embarrassment to our country. I am proud that this democratic majority has made animal welfare a priority in the 110th Congress.

Mrs. MALONEY of New York

Mrs. MALONEY of New York. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Con. Res. 99 and S. 1002.