Carolyn Maloney

Mrs. MALONEY

Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to acknowledge the achievements of Rabbi Arthur Schneier, a tireless public servant, friend to all New Yorkers and one of our Nation's foremost spiritual leaders. On Sunday, March 20, 2005, Rabbi Schneier will celebrate his 75th birthday and 50th year as Rabbi at a dinner benefitting the Rabbi Arthur Schneier Center for International Affairs at Yeshiva University, which was established in 2004 to promote international peace and the exchange of ideas across cultural divides. As a young man, Rabbi Schneier was a resident of Nazi-occupied Bucharest, where he experienced firsthand the depths of mankind's capacity for evil. Throughout his distinguished career, Rabbi Schneier has turned his experience as a Holocaust survivor into an incredible drive to stamp out hatred and intolerance throughout the world. In 1965, Rabbi Schneier founded the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, which works to foster religious freedom and human rights and to end ethnic conflicts. During the long and bloody war in the former Yugoslavia, Rabbi Schneier convened the Religious Summit on the Former Yugoslavia in Switzerland and the Conflict Resolution Conference in Vienna, Austria, mobilizing religious leaders to help end the ethnic violence plaguing leaders to help end the ethnic violence plaguing the region. Additionally, in Sarajevo, Rabbi Schneier met with top government and religious leaders to promote healing and conciliation amond the Serbian Orthodox, Muslim, Catholic and Jewish communities. Rabbi Schneier has also served our Nation in an official capacity as an Alternate U.S. Representative to the U.N. General Assembly. Additionally, as Chairman of the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad, Rabbi Schneier was one of three American religious leaders appointed by President Bill Clinton to initiate a dialogue on religious freedom with Chinese President Jiang Zemin. Recently, Rabbi Schneier was a member of the U.S. delegation to the Stockholm International Forum for the Prevention of Genocide. Rabbi Schneier's accomplishments here at home have been equally impressive. He is the Senior Rabbi of the Park East Synagogue, established in 1890 to serve the Jewish community of the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Centered in the heart of the largest Jewish population outside of Israel, the Synagogue has expanded significantly under Rabbi Schneier's leadership and is an invaluable part of New York City's spiritual and cultural life. Additionally, Rabbi Schneier, recognizing the growing desire among the American Jewish community to provide their children with a strong Jewish education, initiated and led a successful effort to establish a Jewish day school in New York. In 1977, both the Minks Cultural Center and the Park East Day School opened, furthering the Synagogue's ability to meet the Upper East Side's educational and social needs. Mr. Speaker, I request that my colleagues join me in paying tribute to Rabbi Arthur Schneier and wishing him a wonderful 75th birthday celebration. Rabbi Schneier's dedication to tolerance and international peace serves as an inspiration to us all.

Mrs. MALONEY

Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 6 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Hinchey), a member of the committee and a very outstanding colleague.

Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. As a member of the Joint Economic Committee, I am pleased to speak on the economic goals and policies reflected in the budget. When it comes to the economy, this is a record-setting administration. The problem is, the administration is setting records for debt and deficits. We now have the largest debt, the largest budget deficit, and the largest trade deficit in the history of our Nation. Republicans have become the party of debt and deficits. Even worse, the administration continues to repeat the same economic mantras even as experience continues to prove them wrong and more wrong. This administration has turned a surplus projected in January of 2001 to be almost $400 billion by 2004 into a budget deficit of over $400 billion. And, Mr. Chairman, there is no end in sight. The budget deficit for last month set another record as the first time the budget deficit has gone over $100 billion in a single month in the history of our country. The administration has raised the debt limit three times to a record $7.6 trillion, which means $26,000 of debt is owed for every man, woman, and child in America. This week the lead story is our Nation's trade deficit; and to no one's surprise, this deficit is breaking records too. Data released today by the Department of Commerce shows that the trade deficit in 2004 was at an all-time high, nearly $666 billion, 5.7 percent of our GDP. Another unfortunate record. The all-time monthly trade deficit of more than $59 billion was set in November, and the total for January was just barely shy of setting a new record. The administration keeps saying that the ever-weaker dollar will correct our trade deficit for the last several years, and this has proven to be wrong. Our deficits are soaring because it is the policy of this administration to spend money we do not have and to borrow from foreign sources to cover ourselves. Since the administration is content importing money lent by foreign banks to cover the cost of foreign goods, we are increasingly at the mercy of our overseas benefactors. As of January, foreign governments own $1.2 trillion of our public debt, the highest it has ever been. What if one day they decide to stop propping up our spend-and-borrow habit? We had a tiny taste of that recently when South Korea hinted that they would not buy more dollars and the markets trembled. America is the greatest economic engine in the world. We should never build our economic system on a foundation of foreign loans. Any day that foundation could become a house of cards. There is absolutely no evidence in the budget resolution before us in the House or in the policies of this budget that the majority understands or even cares about these risks to our economy. This budget uses smoke and mirrors to give the allusion of cutting the deficit in half, but it leaves out necessary actions such as fixing the alternative minimum tax, which is hurting the middle class more and more and must be dealt with sooner rather than later. This budget is also mean spirited. In order to preserve the Republican tax cuts, the budget cuts programs for Americans who are struggling just to make it in what for them is a very difficult economy. Mr. Chairman, this President continues to have the worst job record since President Hoover and the Great Depression. Even worse, the gains the economy has made benefit the bottom line of large corporations at the expense of ordinary hard-working Americans. The gap between the haves and have-nots is growing, and that should be of great concern to everyone in America. The administration continues to say the economy is recovering, but how good a recovery can it be if ordinary American families can buy less and less with their paychecks? Over the period of job gains since May of 2003, the average hourly earnings of workers in nonfarm industries has actually fallen by .6 percent after inflation. The administration's budget does not even address the biggest and largest budget buster of them all: the President's plan to privatize Social Security. As a new study by the Joint Economic Committee Democratic staff shows, the President's plan for private accounts would create $5 trillion of new debt in the first 20 years, but it would do absolutely nothing to address Social Security's solvency and would do nothing to increase national saving. In fact, it would weaken the solvency of Social Security and probably reduce national saving, exactly the opposite of what is needed. Mr. Chairman, I think the President's plan for Social Security is a perfect example of what is wrong with the economic goals and policies of this administration. It manufactures a false crisis around a real, but manageable, problem and then offers a proposal that makes things worse without even addressing the original problem. As I have seen in my own town meetings, Americans understand that privatization of Social Security is a bad idea. We need honest budgeting and an honest economic policy if we are to foster true economic prosperity to ordinary hard-working Americans. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Chairman, how much time remains?

Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt). (Mr. SPRATT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Watt), the Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 4 minutes to the gentlewoman from the Virgin Islands (Mrs. Christensen).

Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Chairman, I yield 6 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings), the immediate past Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Mrs. MALONEY

Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, last year, using the 9/11 Commission Report as a guide, we passed the National Intelligence Reform Act. In addition to reorganizing our nation's intelligence system, it created a Civil Liberties Board. Unfortunately, this newly created Civil Liberties Board is only a shell of what is needed in order to be effective. Therefore we are introducing ``The Protection of Civil Liberties Act'' to amend the current board. With the exception of making the Board an independent agency, this bill would reinstate the provisions that were taken out in conference. These commonsense provisions give the Board the authority it needs. Specifically the bill: 1. Gives the Board subpoena power. Currently the board needs the permission of the Attorney General to issue a subpoena. Also, the Board lacks access to the private contractors who currently perform many critical intelligence functions. 2. Creates the Board as an independent agency in the executive branch. Currently the board is in the Executive Office of the President. 3. Requires that all 5 members of the Board be confirmed by the Senate. Currently only the Chair and the Vice Chair will be confirmed. 4. Requires that no more than 3 members can be from the same political party. Currently there is no provision that ensures a bipartisan Board. 5. Sets a term for Board members at 6 years. Currently members will serve at the pleasure of the President. 6. Creates the chairman as a full-time member of the Board. This increases the likelihood that the Board will meet regularly. 7. Restores the qualifications of Board members that were originally included in the Senate bill. This would require that members have prior experience with protecting civil liberties, among other things. Currently there are no such requirements. 8. Restores reporting requirements to Congress. One of the main recommendations of the 9/11 Commission was the need for more Congressional Oversight. Restoring the reporting requirement language requiring semiannual reports helps achieve this goal. 9. Requires each executive department or agency with law enforcement or antiterrorism functions should designate a privacy and civil liberties officer. Currently the law only expresses a sense of Congress that a privacy and civil liberties officer be established. This is important legislation and I urge all of my colleagues to support it.

Mrs. MALONEY

Mrs. MALONEY. Yes.

Mrs. MALONEY. I yield to the gentleman from Arizona.

Mrs. MALONEY. I yield to the gentleman from Arizona.

Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Chairman, more than a 150,000 women are currently pregnant in the tsunami-affected areas, including 50,000 anticipated to give birth during the next 3 months. UNFPA is determined to enhance the likelihood of deliveries occurring in safe and clean conditions by providing emergency care, basic supplies, and helping to rebuild health care facilities. They are uniquely qualified to provide these services. In fact, they are and have been on the ground since that tragic day, helping save the lives of women, children, and families. With these funds, UNFPA can provide safe delivery kits, such as the one I have here. It includes basic supplies such as soap, plastic sheeting, razor blades, string and gloves, laundry detergent, dental supplies. These are supplies that are needed to prevent and treat cases of violence against women and youth. They also offer psychological support and counseling and promote access of unaccompanied women to vital services. Each of these areas is a serious problem and will go a long way towards helping save the lives of thousands of women and their children. Disasters put pregnant women at greater-than-normal risk because of the sudden loss of medical support.

Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Chairman, my amendment moves $3 million from the Economic Support Fund, which has over $1 billion available, to the Tsunami Recovery and Reconstruction Fund, which now has over $600 million available. It is not subject to a point of order and is both budget authority and outlay neutral. The reason for this amendment is very simple. It is to help pregnant women impacted by the tsunami. The intent of my amendment is to give $3 million to the U.N. Population Fund to assess tsunami victims in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives for very specific, pressing needs that I am very sure we can all agree are absolutely necessary at this time.

Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Chairman, $3 million.

Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for accepting the amendment, and I would like to note that because of the tsunami most of the midwives lost their lives. Fully 30 percent of them died in the tsunami, and many of those who survived are still dealing with personal trauma. So it is incredibly important that this funding be moved to UNFPA, the U.N. Population Fund, to help the tsunami victims and particularly those who need maternal health care services. Many of my colleagues, including the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey), who has worked so hard on helping women and children, she traveled to the region early this year and was able to witness firsthand the horror along with the gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley) and the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Linda T. Sanchez) and others, and they were able to see the work UNFPA has been doing to help these people. I thank the leadership for accepting the amendment. It is an important one. We appreciate the consideration. My amendment moves $3 million from the Economic Support Fund, which has $1.06 billion available to the Tsunami Recovery and Reconstruction Fund, which now has $656 million available. It is not subject to a point of order and is both budget authority and outlay neutral. The reason for this amendment is very simple: it is to help pregnant women impacted by the tsunami. The intent of my amendment is to give $3 million to the U.N. Population Fund UNFPA, to assist tsunami victims in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives for very specific, pressing needs that I am sure we can all agree are absolutely necessary at this time. More than 150,000 women are currently pregnant in the tsunami-affected areas, including 50,000 anticipated to give birth during the next three months. UNFPA is determined to enhance the likelihood of deliveries occurring in safe and clean conditions by providing emergency care, basic supplies and helping to rebuild health care facilities. They are uniquely qualified to provide these services. In fact, they are and have been on the ground since that tragic day, helping save the lives of women and children. With these funds, UNFPA can provide safe delivery kits: soap, plastic sheeting, razor blades, string and gloves; personal hygiene kits: sanitary napkins, soap, laundry detergent, dental supplies; reestablish maternal health services; prevent and treat cases of violence against women and youth offer psychological support and counseling; and promote access of unaccompanied women to vital services. Each of these areas is a serious problem and will go a long way toward helping save the lives of thousands of women and their children. Disasters put pregnant women at greater than normal risk because of the sudden loss of medical support, compounded in many cases by trauma, malnutrition, disease or exposure to violence. In times of high stress, pregnant women are more prone to miscarriage or to premature labor, both of which require medical care. The infrastructure for helping pregnant women in the tsunami region is severely damaged. 1,650 of the Indonesian Midwife Association's 5,500 members--fully 30 percent--died in the tsunami. Many of those who survived are still dealing with personal trauma and the loss of equipment used to safely deliver babies. About 15 percent of pregnancies under normal conditions require urgent assistance from midwives or doctors to ensure the health and survival of the babies and mothers. Many maternity hospitals, women's health clinics, and other infrastructure for providing health services to women, maternal health assistance, safe delivery, contraceptives, emergency obstetric care, and preventing sexually transmitted diseases have been destroyed by the tsunami. Mr. Chairman, to date, the United States has provided no funding to the U.N. Population Fund to help tsunami victims. The last time the United States contributed resources to UNFPA was $600,000 for similar kinds of emergency assistance in Afghanistan in 2001. We have several colleagues who traveled to the region earlier this year and witnessed the horror of the tragedy. They were able to see the work UNFPA has been doing to help these women. I hope that they will be able to relay their experiences today. It is time to put politics aside. These people have suffered enough. We must do everything we can to help them.

Mrs. MALONEY

Mrs. MALONEY. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Shays) for his leadership on this issue and so many others. I rise in strong support of S. 384 that would extend the Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records Interagency Working Group for 2 years. The 1989 law opened up the government files of Nazi and Japanese war activities. Many, many agencies cooperated and declassified an enormous amount of documents, including the CIA, FBI, NSA, DOD, the Army, and many others. The law resulted in the largest specifically focused declassification effort in American history. It provided important information for historians to better understand World War II and the Cold War. Already, over 100 million documents have been screened and over 8 million have been declassified. The extension will allow time for the remaining documents to be released and studied. The remaining documents are mainly in the CIA. We thank them for their agreed cooperation as we go forward. Madam Speaker, I want to make clear that the original legislation required the disclosure of Nazi war criminal records specifically related to individuals. It should in no way be interpreted as inhibiting the release of other more general records such as policy directives or memoranda. If such records are uncovered during the search of files, the bill requires and necessitates that they become public along with the rest of the documents. The intent of the original legislation was to bring to the light information which may be in the files and archives of the U.S. Government. This may well include information from the postwar period showing a relationship between those agencies and Nazi war criminals. It was not the intent that the exemptions included in the underlying bill be used to shield this type of information from disclosure. We included the exemptions that currently exist in executive order. They should not be revoked simply to protect any agency from embarrassment. It is important that this move forward, and it is important that we pass this extension today as the terms of the Interagency Working Group were set to expire at the end of March 2005. So we are at a critical juncture which this bill addresses. Madam Speaker, I first introduced the Nazi War Crimes Disclosure Act in 1994. It was in response to an article that I read in the New York Times written by Mr. Abe Rosenthal. In the article he described the work of a professor from the University of South Carolina who was trying to obtain information on Kurt Waldheim, a former director of the United Nations. Yet our government would not allow him to have access to any information. The KGB had opened up their files; many governments had opened up their files. It was many years after the war, and I could see no reason why this information should be kept from the public. I introduced the bill, along with former Congressman Steve Horn. At first there was great opposition to the bill from the intelligence community. In 1996, we passed a sense of Congress in support of the bill because nothing passes without the support of the intelligence community. The bill drew the attention of former Congressman Porter Goss, Senator DeWine, and then-Senator Moynihan who worked with me and others to finally pass the bill 7 years ago in 1998. It was signed into law by President Clinton in an Oval Office ceremony that year. In December of 2000, we extended the law for an additional 2 years and expanded it to cover the Japanese crime documents. Then in January of 2004, we extended the term of the Interagency Working Group another year so it would be able to fulfill its charter and produce a comprehensive, historically accurate report on the United States' knowledge of Nazi and Japanese war criminals and their activities. Now because of the bill, the legislation, millions of pages of U.S. intelligence documents are organized and available to the public through the National Archives. As a result of this law, we are beginning to understand the relationship of the U.S. Government to Nazi war criminals in the aftermath of World War II and during the Cold War. While it is a difficult subject to address, finding out about the terrible and ugly aspects of the wartime era will help to shed light and bring us closer to the truth. ``U.S. Intelligence and the Nazis'' is one book that has already resulted from the documents. I know there will be many more in the future. In this book, they talk about the role of intelligence agencies, especially the U.S. of war criminals by U.S. intelligence organizations after the war. We now understand because of these documents that German spymaster General Reinhard Gehlen, who served as Hitler's most senior military intelligence officer on the Eastern Front, was an officer who became a key U.S. intelligence resource after the war. During the postwar period, he ran an extensive network of spies, some with Nazi collaborationist backgrounds, that made them vulnerable to the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. As we can see, the documents provided thus far to the IWG have revealed that there was a closer relationship between the U.S. Government and Nazi war criminals than previously known. It is an important fact that is crucial to the understanding of history. This significant knowledge would not have been possible without the cooperation of so many in this body, and so many agencies. But particularly I cite the dedicated work of the Interagency Working Group, former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman, Tom Baer and Richard Ben-Veniste. They served with great dedication, without compensation and are continuing to serve and have been appointed by two Presidents. Many people worked to bring this bill to the floor, and I want to especially express my gratitude to the gentleman from Virginia (Chairman Tom Davis), who went beyond the call of duty to ensure there was a markup so we could get this to the floor to extend it before the time expired. I appreciate the work of his staff, Mason Aligner and Rob Borden; and I also want to thank the ranking member, the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman), and his staff, Michelle Ash and David McMillan, who are always helpful and supportive, and this time was no exception. I also express my appreciation to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay), the majority leader, and his staff, Brad Loper. They were extremely helpful in making sure we are debating this bill on the floor today and that the Interagency Task Force will be able to continue its work. I would also like to thank the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner) and Robert Tracci on his staff who have been extremely accommodating so we could move this forward. But I would especially like to thank my colleague in the other body, Senator DeWine, and his staff, Peter Levitas, and his former staff member, Louis DePartt, for their tireless and selfless work and for the energy they put forth to ensure that we know as much as we can about our government's past involvement with Nazi war criminals. I would also like to recognize Ben Chevat and Orly Isaacson of my own staff who have shown tremendous persistence and dedication. I also thank former Senator Moynihan. Today, I was supposed to be in Syracuse for a dedication to a research facility that bears his name to continue his work. He worked with me on this bill. Part of his devotion was protecting privacy and combating unnecessary confidentiality of government papers. I really feel being here today helps extend and empower the work that he so brilliantly did in this body. Our work today is extremely important; but it is far surpassed by the persistence that Holocaust survivors, historians, and researchers have shown for their search for the truth. I thank everyone who has worked to make this happen today. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mrs. MALONEY. Madam Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mrs. MALONEY

Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time and for his leadership. I am delighted to join my colleague from Florida (Mr. Foley) on the other side of the aisle in support of this legislation. The bill before the House does the right thing for the disaster victims of Florida and Louisiana, but it does wrong, truly wrong, for the New York victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks. I would like to appeal to my colleague on the other side of the aisle to join me in trying to reverse the unfair taxation on grants to the victims of 9/11, specifically the businesses, as we go forward. When thousands of lower Manhattan small businesses were on the brink of complete failure as a result of September 11 and the terrorist attack against our country, these businesses accepted Federal recovery grants but were then told months later that those grants would be taxed and treated as income. That, in my opinion, wrongful taxation was the straw that broke the back of many small businesses in New York after 9/ 11 and it continues to this day to be a burden on small businesses who were forced to take out loans to pay taxes on disaster recovery grants. Granted it was not a FEMA mitigation grant but it was a disaster recovery grant, so it was in the same feeling or in the same purpose as the legislation before us. What causes me so much concern today, Mr. Speaker, is that we have sought the same treatment, the exact same treatment for 9/11 victims for more than 3 years that the Members are seeking today for victims in their States. Along with the gentleman from New York (Mr. Nadler) and the bipartisan delegation of New York, I have introduced legislation to reverse taxation on the 9/11 aid grants. We have offered amendments to reverse this taxation with the active support of the gentleman from New York (Mr. Rangel), Ways and Means members and others from the New York delegation. We have testified before the Committee on Rules, made numerous speeches before this body, sought hearings for the legislation and held countless events to seek action from House leaders to reverse this wrongful taxation on 9/11 aid grants. We have been trying for more than 3 years to have the small business victims of 9/11 treated fairly, but this body has not found a way as yet to advance that legislation. Again, I am appealing to my colleagues from Florida and Louisiana to help our constituents as they are helping theirs today. Now, today, we are watching a bill sail to the floor for passage, without a hearing, without a markup in committee, without any of the months and years of effort that the New York delegation and business leaders from New York City have put into seeking redress for 9/11 disaster victims that were treated unfairly and wrongly. Let me be absolutely clear that I find no fault with the repeal of wrongful taxation on the recovery grants for Florida and Louisiana victims of disaster. I feel they are entitled. The purpose of disaster relief is to relieve them, to get that money back in the community, to help them restore and be made whole, not to tax it. But I do find fault with the exclusion of 9/11 victims in this bill when we have fought so long and so hard to achieve the exact same fairness for them. If the Federal Government should not collect taxes on aid to hurricane victims, then it should not collect taxes on 9/11 relief grants which is truly the worst disaster that this country has ever suffered. It is an act of war. We are still suffering from that terrible, terrible action against innocent people. I again want to make clear that I am supporting the legislation. I would like to place in the Record a report from the Joint Committee on Taxation where they estimated that approximately $268 million was sent back to Washington in the form of taxes on the relief grants following 9/11. It is unfair to New York and to those who suffered the most from the terrorist attacks against our Nation. I call upon the authors of this legislation and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Foley), whom I know has many friends in New York and has been a strong ally in working with the recovery of New York after 9/11, and I call upon the House leadership and appropriate committee chairmen to do the right thing for the 9/11 victims. I really implore my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to do the right and fair thing for the victims of 9/11 because of the wrongful taxation on their recovery grants and we call upon this body to treat them with the same attention and care that we are rightfully showing to the victims of disasters in other parts of our Nation today. Again, I support this legislation. Again, I appeal to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to give the like, same fair treatment to the sufferers and the victims and the grants for 9/11. Congress of the United States, Joint Committee on Taxation, Washington, DC, June 17, 2003. Hon. Carolyn Maloney, House of Representatives, Washington, DC. Dear Ms. Maloney. This letter is in response to your request of June 9, 2003, for a revenue estimate of a proposal to exclude from gross income certain Federal funds granted as a result of the terrorist events of September 11, 2001. In general, under present law, unless income is received for ``general welfare'' or for compensation for losses that are not otherwise compensated, grants from the Federal government are included in income. To the extent not already excluded under present law by the general welfare doctrine or otherwise, your proposal would exclude from gross income payments of certain Federal funds made as assistance on account of property or business damaged by, and for economic revitalization directly related to, the terrorist attacks on the United States that occurred on September 11, 2001. Assuming that your proposal would be enacted on July 1, 2003, and effective for taxable years ending after September 11, 2001, we estimate that your proposal would have the following effects on Federal fiscal year budget receipts: Fiscal years Millions of dollars 2003................................................................-24 2004...............................................................-135 2005................................................................-61 2006................................................................-30 2007................................................................-11 2008.................................................................-5 2009.................................................................-2 2010.................................................................-- 2011.................................................................-- 2012.................................................................-- 2013.................................................................-- 2003-08............................................................-266 2003-13............................................................-268 I hope this information is helpful to you. If we can be of further assistance in this matter, please let me know. Sincerely, George K. Yin.

Mrs. MALONEY

Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, today I introduce an important piece of legislation that will help rape victims across the country avoid unwanted pregnancy, the Best Help for Rape Victims Act. Recently, the Department of Justice has issued its first-ever medical guidelines for treating sexual-assault victims, the National Protocol for Sexual Assault Medical Forensic Examination. While otherwise a thorough step-by-step medical treatment guide, the Justice Department omitted any mention of the option of Emergency Contraception, ignoring a crucial opportunity to provide vital and time-sensitive healthcare to victims of rape and sexual assault. Of the 300,000 women who are sexually assaulted each year, an estimated 25,000 will become pregnant as a result. If Emergency Contraception was regularly offered to rape victims, its 89 percent success rate could avert up to 22,000 unplanned pregnancies every year--many of which may ultimately be terminated in abortion. The Best Help for Rape Victims Act would address this problem by simply requiring the Department of Justice to include language in the Protocol stating that a victim of sexual assault who is at risk of pregnancy be offered information about Emergency Contraception, and if requested, provide Emergency Contraception to the victim on site. The vast majority of Americans believe we should be doing everything we can to help rape victims recover from sexual attacks, not withholding important health information from them, and certainly not making fathers out of rapists. Unfortunately, since the Justice Department apparently has a different set of values, we must pass the ``Best Help for Rape Victims Act'' to protect the health and rights of victims of sexual assault by ensuring that they receive all available information and the best medical care available.

Mrs. MALONEY

Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to my friend and former colleague Representative Tillie Fowler. Tillie, who was sometimes called the ``Steel Magnolia,'' represented her district in Florida from 1992 until 2000 and was a champion for the issues important to her constituents. As a member of the House Armed Services Committee, she fought to keep military bases in her congressional district. During her tenure on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, she investigated the inadequacies in the country's preparedness for a domestic terrorist attack and was able to identify many of the shortcomings that contributed to our lack of preparedness on September 11, 2001. She also served as vice chairwoman of the House Republican Conference and was the fifth-highest member of the House leadership when she left Congress. In 1997, she served on a congressional task force created to investigate the incidences of sexual harassment and abuse in the U.S. military, an issue on which she and I worked closely together. Two years ago, she was appointed by Secretary Rumsfeld to lead a seven-member panel created by Congress to review sexual misconduct allegations at the U.S. Air Force Academy. The panel's findings detailed much that we already knew including a failure of leadership and command and a lack of support for the victim. I strongly believe that we owe much of the progress we are now making on this issue to the efforts made by Tillie Fowler during the past ten years. Tillie is survived by her husband Buck and her two daughters Tillie and Elizabeth. I join with my colleagues in expressing my deepest condolences. Tillie will certainly be missed.

Mrs. MALONEY

Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, today I join my colleagues, Representatives Weiner, Cummings, Barbara Lee, Gutierrez, George Miller, Woolsey, Lofgren, Gonzales, Sanders, and Linda Sanchez in introducing the Hate Crimes Statistics Improvement Act. The Hate Crimes Statistics Improvement Act will ensure that hate crimes motivated by gender are accounted for by the FBI and local law enforcement agencies. With accurate data, local communities can identify gender-based hate crimes in their area and chart their progress toward eliminating them. Moreover, the inclusion of gender will send a strong message that gender-based hate crimes will not be tolerated. In states with gender-based hate crimes laws, prosecutors typically must present concrete evidence that the criminal act was committed due to gender bias. Obviously, not all crimes against women are gender- based crimes, and prosecutors should have discretion in identifying what constitutes a gender-based hate crime. The process of discussing these differences will improve the understanding of all hate crimes by law enforcement personnel and will improve reporting of these tragic crimes. I urge my colleagues to support this important legislation that will help reduce hate crimes against women.

Mrs. MALONEY

Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing a bill that will help thousands of women, children, and families who have suffered since the horrific tsunami hit Asia on December 26, 2004. This bill, the Women, Children, and Infant Tsunami Victim Relief Act of 2005, authorizes $3 million to the United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, to provide severely needed urgent medical and health care to tsunami victims in Indonesia, the Maldives, and Sri Lanka. UNFPA has made an urgent appeal to donor nations to raise $27.5 million to provide relief to women in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. Due to its extensive experience responding to emergencies, UNFPA was one of the first respondents in the tsunami-affected areas helping women. More than 150,000 women are currently pregnant in the tsunami- affected areas, including 50,000 anticipated to give birth during the next 3 months. UNFPA is determined to enhance the likelihood of deliveries occurring in safe and clean conditions by providing emergency care, basic supplies, and helping to rebuild health care facilities. Disasters put pregnant women at greater than normal risk because of the sudden loss of medical support, compounded in many cases by trauma, malnutrition, disease, or exposure to violence. In times of high stress, pregnant women are more prone to miscarriage or to premature labor, both of which require medical care. UNFPA works to reduce maternal deaths and illnesses by providing prenatal care, delivery assistance, access to emergency obstetric care, and post-natal care. It provides services to avoid malnutrition, which frequently occurs after natural disasters when food supplies are unavailable or uneven. Vitamin and iron deficiencies, especially anemia, can be fatal for pregnant women and their babies. Nursing women require supplemental funding to ensure their health and that of their baby. For example, in Sri Lanka, the UNFPA-supported maternal hospital was being flooded, and staff was able to move all patients but one premature infant to safety and it has set up a temporary facility to provide critical health services. This bill specifies that the funds included can only be used by UNFPA to provide safe delivery kits--soap, plastic sheeting, razor blades, string and gloves--personal hygiene kits--sanitary napkins, soap, laundry detergent, dental supplies--reestablish maternal health services, prevent and treat cases of violence against women and youth, offer psychological support and counseling, and promote access of unaccompanied women to vital services. Each of these issues is a serious problem in the region and will go a long way toward helping save the lives of thousands of women and their children. These people have suffered enough. We must do everything we can to help them. This is why I ask support from my colleagues for the Women, Children, and Infant Tsunami Victim Relief Act of 2005.

Mrs. MALONEY

Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, I'd like to thank my Democratic colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee and the Democratic Women's Caucus for organizing this Special Order on this critical topic. As I have said before the Administration's proposal to cut Social Security in half is bad for every American and is particularly bad for women. Today, 24 million women get Social Security. Because women tend to live longer and earn less than men, they tend to rely more on Social Security for financial security in their old age. Women are 60 percent of all recipients at retirement and 75 percent-- three quarters of recipients over age 85. There remains a real wage gap between women and men in this country and that translates into a real pension gap. According to the Social Security Administration the median earnings of women working full time are only 75 percent of those of men. The wage gap is much bigger when one looks at it over a working lifetime. Over a 15 year span, women only earn 38 percent of what men earn. Social Security reduces the poverty rate among women by about 80 percent and is the only source of income for almost 30 percent of retired unmarried women. For all unmarried women and widows, Social Security makes up over half of their income whereas for unmarried men and couples Social Security only makes up a bit more than a third of their retirement income. In addition, women rely more than men on spousal benefits, survivor benefits, and disability benefits. Over 80 percent of those receiving disability or survivor benefits are women and children. Private accounts would hurt women more because of the huge benefit cuts that they entail and because women have less earnings to put in private accounts than men do. Effectively, private accounts erase the benefits of Social Security in providing financial dignity to older women and would take us back to a time when the majority of widows and orphans lived below the poverty line. The Administration refuses to show us the numbers on how its proposal would cut benefits to retirees. But we know these cuts are built in. The Administration's privatization plan cuts benefits more than 40 percent to future generations. The cuts to spouses, survivors, and recipients of disabled worker benfits would be even deeper. And workers who become disabled or die young would not have worked long enough to build up a private account to help support them or their surviving spouse and children. In the Town Hall meetings that I held during the recess women were particularly concerned over the loss of benefits that the Administration's proposal would entail. They were right to be concerned. Women have more to lose here. But we can fight back. We are making progress. Just today, the distinguished Majority Leader of the other body suggested that the Administration might not be able to get a vote on this this year and might have to drop private accounts from any proposal. This is no time to rest. We must speak out in Special Orders Town Hall meetings and otherwise to make sure Social Security is protected or our mothers for our daughters--and for every American. Thank you again for organizing this Special Order.