Dennis Moore

Mr. MOORE

Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, A.W. Pickel, III, of Lenexa, Kansas, will soon be completing a distinguished tenure as President of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) and the Kansas Association of Mortgage Brokers. NAMB provides invaluable services for the mortgage broker industry which originates two out of three home loans in the country. It is the voice of the mortgage broker industry, with more than 16,000 members in all 50 states. As you know, home ownership is at an all time record rate largely due to the contributions of mortgage brokers; through his involvement in NAMB, A.W. Pickel has been instrumental in shaping housing policy in this country. A.W. Pickel, III, was the founding president of the Kansas Association of Mortgage Brokers and still serves as an active ex- officio member of the Kansas Association of Mortgage Brokers' Board of Directors. In 1999, the Kansas Association named him Broker of the Year. He is president and CEO of Leader Mortgage Company in Lenexa, Kansas, which is in my congressional district. Leader Mortgage Company also has offices in Dallas, Texas; Des Moines; Iowa; Nashville, Tennessee; Topeka, Kansas; and Pittsburg, Kansas. Mr. Speaker, I want to take this opportunity to commend A.W. Pickel for his contributions to his profession and involvement in his community and dedication to his wife Diane and daughters, Lara, Alissa, Jessica, and Rebecca. I join with the residents of the entire Third Congressional District of Kansas in applauding A.W. Pickel, III, for his successful tenure as President of NAMB and in wishing him continued success in all future endeavors.

Mr. MOORE

Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I stood on the House floor on May 20, 2004, and observed a moment of silence to remember the brave men and women who fought and died for our freedom. During this time, images flashed in my mind of the heroic Kansans I visited at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the men and women I spoke with when I traveled to Iraq in January. These images culminated into a feeling of pride, a feeling I know each and every American feels when they think of what America means to them. As a Nation on Memorial Day we honor the men and women who through the history of our country gave their lives in battle to defend the freedom and liberty that makes these American States united. From the Revolutionary War to Operation Iraqi Freedom, we honor these brave souls in unison as one people on this day. The Memorial Day weekend has also come to symbolize a time for family and friends to come together; during this time it becomes abundantly clear who is missing. Please join me in thanking these families for their sacrifice as well. In times of crisis, our Nation looks to the men and women of the armed forces. They have never hesitated in answering their Nation's call, giving of their time, service and in many cases their lives. Our Nation owes them a debt that we can never repay. The dedication and valor displayed by those who served in the armed services deserves the gratitude of the entire Nation. As the number of veterans growing older increases, the responsibility of providing adequate care and compensation to their families will become a higher priority for the Federal Government. After making a sacrifice for our country, our veterans should not have to be concerned that the Veterans Administration will not provide the services or benefits they have earned. As a veteran myself, it saddens me to see how some of our Nation's finest citizens are being treated. We owe it to all of our veterans-- whether they fought on the front lines or served here at home--to keep the promise America made to them. Veterans should not be financially punished in the name of fiscal responsibility. Even in difficult budget times, there is no excuse for cutting already under-funded veterans' programs to pay for tax cuts. I will continue to urge my colleagues in Congress to rethink these cuts. We must work together from both sides of the aisle to ensure that these cuts are restored to honor our nation's commitment to care for its defenders. I will fight to see that Congress makes adequate funding for the Veterans Administration a priority--not an afterthought.

Mr. MOORE

Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to H.R. 3722, which I believe poses a significant threat to the health of all Americans. If H.R. 3722 is enacted, the fear of deportation will inevitably discourage undocumented immigrants from seeking care for potentially communicable diseases. As a result, serious health problems will likely go untreated and unreported with serious negative consequences to the health of entire communities. In addition, numerous hospital and local government organizations have told Congress that the reporting and record keeping requirements included in H.R. 3722 will not only place a serious administrative burden on already overburdened hospitals, but also harm the relationship of trust between health care providers and their patients. This will undermine health care providers' basic and vital mission-- tending the sick and injured. I would like to include in the Record a letter in opposition to H.R. 3722 I received from El Centro, an organization in my district dedicated to family improvement. Like many of my colleagues, I am dedicated to continuing to seek solutions to the challenges we face in our immigration policy. I have supported multiple efforts to strengthen our immigration and border patrol systems. I do not believe, however, that denying emergency health care to those critically in need is consistent with the successful curbing of illegal immigration. El Centro, Inc., Kansas City, KS, May 7, 2004. Congressman Dennis Moore, Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC. Congressman Moore: El Centro, Inc. sincerely hopes that you will oppose Representative Dana Rohrabacher's (R-CA) extreme bill threatening access to emergency health care for undocumented immigrants and, we fear, for many U.S. citizens living in immigrant families and communities. Among its provisions, H.R. 3722, the Undocumented Alien Emergency Medical Assistance Amendments of 2004, would deny hospitals and other health care providers reimbursement for uncompensated emergency care they provide to undocumented immigrants unless they report those immigrants to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). As a practical matter, this would oblige providers to verify the immigration status of all uninsured patients presenting health care emergencies. The information health care providers would be required to transmit to DHS would include their patients' financial data, identity of employer, and biometric information. H.R. 3722 would also narrow the scope of emergency health services available to undocumented persons and make inability to pay medical expenses a basis for removal from the U.S. Employers of undocumented workers whose medical expenses are reimbursed by the federal government would be required to repay the government for those costs. This proposal would jeopardize the health of immigrants and the general public. The threat of separation from their communities and families would deter immigrants and their family members from seeking needed health services, including testing and treatment for communicable diseases. Overburdened emergency health care providers would be forced to verify the immigration status of emergency patients, and report those believed to be undocumented to immigration authorities, in conflict with patient privacy rights and the fundamental principle that they refrain from harming their patients. The bill would impose additional burdens on employers, including small businesses, who already are required to verify the citizenship and immigration status of workers. It also would increase the likelihood of discrimination against persons assumed to ``appear foreign'' because of their race, accent or other prohibited factors. Though Rep. Rohrabacher's intentions may be to contain emergency health cost and the flow of undocumented immigrants via this proposal, this is certainly not the way to do it. In fact, we believe the only possible outcome of the proposal is the creation of a disastrous and costly public health scenario. We ask that you oppose attempts to move this proposal forward. Most sincerely, Melinda K. Lewis, Director of Policy Advocacy and Research.

Mr. MOORE

Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, as we approach the 50th anniversary of the Brown vs. Topeka, Kansas, Board of Education decision, I rise today to note the recent passing of a civil rights pioneer who resided in the Third Congressional District of Kansas. Corinthian Nutter, an African-American teacher whose rejection of degrading conditions in her Kansas school during the 1940s led to an important role in our nation's desegregation struggle, died on February 11th at her home in Shawnee, Kansas, at the age of 97. Nutter was an important witness in a 1949 lawsuit that helped open the courthouse doors for Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the landmark 1954 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court declared segregated schools unconstitutional. A Texas native, she was the only certified teacher at Walker Elementary School in Merriam, Kansas, in the late 1940s. Only black children attended Walker, where eight grades studied outdated textbooks in two classrooms in a run down school lacking indoor plumbing. In 1947, administrators in school district No. 90, which included Merriam, built a new school with the proceeds of a $90,000 bond election. Unlike Walker, the white students-only South Park Elementary School had indoor plumbing, an auditorium and a cafeteria. It also had one teacher and one classroom for each of its eight grades, along with a music teacher and a kindergarten. When the black parents of Walker Elementary School demanded that their children be admitted to the new school, the school district leadership refused, contending that enrollment was based on the attendance areas drawn for each school. A local NAACP chapter then aided the families in filing suit against the school system, while Nutter, who received only a small financial stipend from the NAACP for her work, taught 39 children whose parents withdrew them from Walker for the duration of the trial. In 1949's Webb v. School District 90, the lawsuit filed on behalf of the 39 families, Nutter was the key witness, detailing the many inadequacies of the separate and unequal facility. ``I just told them the truth,'' Nutter said in an interview with the Kansas City Star in 2002. ``The school was dilapidated. We had no modern conveniences, had to go outside to go to the toilet. . . . Schools shouldn't be for color. They should be for the children.'' The NAACP's victory in this case paved the way for the Brown decision five years later. After the Webb decision, Nutter moved to nearby Olathe, Kansas, where she taught and later became principal at Westview Elementary School, despite being the only African-American on the school's staff for decades. After retiring from education in 1972, Nutter received the YWCA of Greater Kansas City's first Racial Justice Award for 2003, was named to the Rosa Parks Wall of Tolerance, and was inducted into the Mid-America Education Hall of Fame at Kansas City, Kansas, Community College. Mr. Speaker, I am placing in the Congressional Record two recent articles concerning Corinthian Nutter: an article from the Kansas City Call regarding her induction into the Mid-America Education Hall of Fame and her obituary from the Kansas City Star. I am pleased to have this opportunity to pay tribute to this important, yet unheralded, resident of the Third Congressional District of Kansas. [From The Call, Oct. 17, 2003] Civil Rights Leader Corinthian Nutter Into Education Hall of Fame (By Alan Hoskins) Corinthian Nutter knew at an early age she didn't want to follow in her mother's footsteps scrubbing floors. But no one could ever foresee the profound effect she would have on the world of education and her deserved induction into the Mid-America Education Hall of Fame at Kansas City, KS, Community College November 1. The third of five children born 96 years ago in Forney, Texas, Mrs. Nutter realized early that she wasn't going to get much of an education--particularly when she was held out of school when the cotton got ripe. Her mother, who scrubbed floors and took in white people's washing, never saw the inside of a school. Her father was the uneducated son of a slave who lived to 102. ``I could see I wasn't going to get much schooling,'' says Mrs. Nutter, who married at age 14 because ``nice girls didn't run away from home.'' When the marriage fell apart two years later, she fled Texas but not before taking a course in beauty school. `` I wanted to get enough education to get me a good enough job to get others to do the things I didn't want to do,'' says Mrs. Nutter. Moving to Kansas City at age 16, she got a job in a beauty shop and set out in pursuit of that education although it wasn't easy. Segregation still prevailed so to earn a high school diploma, Mrs. Nutter would get on a bus in Kansas City, MO, and ride to the end of the bus line on Quindaro in Kansas City, KS, and then walk another mile or two to what then was Western university. She graduated from high school in 1936 and two years later finished Western's junior college program with a Kansas teaching certificate. She began her career teaching in an all-black school with just one other teacher in Shawnee in 1938. After five years, she moved over to Walker Elementary, a run down two-room school for black children in Merriam. In 1948, South Park Elementary school was opened at a cost of $90,000. With an auditorium, cafeteria, separate teachers and classrooms for each grade and indoor plumbing, it looked like a castle compared to Walker, which was without indoor plumbing. South Park's only shortcoming: it was open only to white students. When one of the Walker parents, a domestic worker in the home of a woman named Esther Brown, told Mrs. Brown of the inequalities of the schools, Mrs. Brown became enraged and suggested they sue--which was just what happened after the formation of a local NAACP chapter that helped organize the parents and file suit against the school district. To give even further substance to the suit, 39 of the 41 Walker families took their children out of school and Mrs. Nutter went with them. While the suit crept slowly through the judicial system, Mrs. Nutter continued to teach the children in private homes. The new NAACP branch paid her a small monthly stipend and parents sold cookies on weekends to help but Mrs. Nutter said she would have done it for nothing. ``It was the right thing to do,'' she said. When the suit finally came to trial, she was a key witness in the watershed desegregation case, Webb vs. School District 90. ``I told them the truth,'' she said. ``The school was dilapidated. We had no modern conveniences, had to go outside to go to the toilet. If they were going to build a new school and the parents were paying taxes like everybody else, why couldn't their children go? Schools shouldn't be for a color. They should be for children.'' Triumph was finally achieved in 1949 and would pave the way for other legal challenges including the historical Brown vs. Topeka Board of Education in 1954. Now the home of the Philadelphia Baptist church, Walker Elementary still bears a historical marker that serves as the lone testament to its place in history. After a year and a half earning a Bachelor of Science degree at Emporia State, Mrs. Nutter would return to the classroom but this time as principal in an all-black school in Olathe. When Olathe integrated a few years later, she became principal at the district's newest school, Westview, although for several years she was the only person--staff or children--of color. Returning to the classroom to teach sixth grade and then fifth grade, she retired from teaching at age 65 in 1972. As the only black in the school, she received some resistance from parents but her teaching ethics earned her the love of her students and some of the same parents who originally questioned her later tried to get their children into her class. The list of her former students is as impressive as it is long and often as not, the first person those former students look up when they get back in town is Mrs. Nutter. ``Many of them are grandparents but I still call them kids,'' she says. During her 25 years of teaching, she would continue her education by taking summer classes at Emporia State and earned a Masters degree in 1956. ``I was always working towards something all those years,'' says Mrs. Nutter, who learned that she was only three hours and a dissertation from a Ph.D during Emporia State ceremonies honoring her last year. Despite her advancing age, she's still active in several organizations including the Alpha Kappa Sorority, the Mu chapter of Beta Omega, NAACP and her lifelong church, Paseo Baptist. A proud member of the American Association of University Women, she continues to drive and refuses to walk with a cane because she said she's ``too modest'' to use one. She's received countless awards including the YWCA of Greater Kansas City's first Racial Justice Award for 2003 and is featured prominently in an exhibit at the Johnson County Museum. A widow, her husband of 57 years passed away in 1998. No story on Corinthian Nutter would be complete without that of her arrival in Kansas City at age 16. ``I was so ignorant when I got here,'' she recalls. ``I didn't know anyone so I called the YWCA at 19th and Paseo. They said they didn't keep girls but if I got a taxi and came over, they'd try to find me a room.'' During the next several years until she could get her own apartment, she lived in the home of Willie Mack Washington, his wife and mother. Washington was a drummer in Bennie Moten's famous orchestra and Mrs. Nutter soon became fast friends with Moten and a young player in his orchestra named William (Count) Basie. ``They took me into their family and I got to go to all the dances because I was with them,'' remembers Mrs. Nutter. ``Count Basie was the piano player and we had a ball. Later on, my house became a party house and everyone would come to my house. Everyone had a piano then, it was the first thing I bought. I wished I had a nickel for every time Court Basie played my piano.'' Looking back on her long career, Mrs. Nutter doesn't believe she ever did anything special. ``I appreciate people thinking about me. I always felt you should choose something that's best for you and do it right.'' As for scrubbing those floors like her mother? Never happened. ``I've never scrubbed a floor in my life,'' she proclaims proudly. Open to the public, tickets for the gala dinner and induction festivities Nov. 1 are $55 and can be reserved by calling the Endowment Association at KCKCC (913-288-7632).

Mr. MOORE

Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, we have in this country a $7.1 trillion national debt. We have a projected deficit by the Office of Management and Budget for this year alone of $521 billion. The interest on our national debt, $7.1 trillion, is almost $1 billion a day. We are in a hole, Mr. Speaker, and we are digging the hole deeper and deeper by our lack of fiscal responsibility. American families live by three simple rules: Number one, do not spend more money than they make; number two, pay off their debts; and, number three, invest in basics in the future. The basics for an American family are food, shelter, transportation, health care, education, things that we write checks for, bills that we write checks for, every month. And the same basics for our country, our national defense, some sort of Social Security system, some sort of national highway system to transport goods around this country and keep our economy going. And yet the government, our government and our Congress, has not lived by these rules that American families lived by for many years, and to show for that we have a $7.1 trillion debt. We need to get back to fiscal responsibility. We have an opportunity to do that. We have done it before and we should do it again. I am not playing partisan politics here. I do not blame President Bush for a slowdown and the recession that happened. I do not blame President Bush certainly for September 11. That was only the maniacs that created that horrible problem and killed 3,000 Americans. But we have got to get back to fiscal responsibilities here, and we are not doing it right now. In fact, the Committee on the Budget, and I see the chairman over here, passed a PAYGO rule requiring only that if we are going to have a new spending proposal, we have to abide by the rule that says it has got to be offset or paid for. They did not apply the same rule, though, to tax cuts. The Senate, on a bipartisan basis, did apply the rule to tax cuts and to spending proposals, and I think we need to look at doing the same thing here. And this is a motion to instruct conferees to institute that kind of PAYGO procedure here. If we do that, Mr. Speaker, we have an opportunity as a Nation to return to fiscal responsibility. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Emanuel).

Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I offer a motion to instruct.

Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, to respond to the chairman, the gentleman talks fiscal responsibility, but does not vote it. I am following the rules that are in place right now, and I am proposing that this body change the rules and practice fiscal responsibility and not just talk about it. We have got to get back to that. What the gentleman neglected to mention is we have the highest national debt in our Nation's history. What the gentleman neglected to mention is we have the highest deficit in any one year in our Nation's history. We are mortgaging the future of our children and grandchildren, and it has got to stop. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Thompson).

Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer).

Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm).

Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer).

Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Hill). (Mr. HILL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer).

Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, how much time do I have remaining?

Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Berkley).

Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman can say black is white until his face is blue, but it does not change the facts. You can talk about tax increases here. We are talking about fiscal responsibility and he is not. In fact, what he is doing and his policies would do is put our Nation deeper and deeper and deeper in debt. Again, Mr. Speaker, we have the largest debt, $7.1 trillion in our Nation's history. We have the largest 1-year deficit in our Nation's history, and the policies he is talking about, contrary to what Chairman Greenspan wants, will put our Nation in deeper debt and mortgage the future of our children and grandchildren. I was at a high school last week and I talked to a group of high school students, government students, about this, and I said, Why should you care about a $7.1 trillion debt? A girl raised her hand and she said, Because we are going to have to pay for it. And I said you get an A for today, and you should be angry about what folks in Congress are doing to you and your children and grandchildren because you are putting them in a hole they can never dig their way out of. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, what the gentleman has done is presided over policies that has created the greatest debt in our Nation's history and nothing he says can change that. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm).

Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I would respond to the gentleman simply by saying that we have, on this side, coined a phrase called the debt tax, not the death tax, D-E-A-T-H, but the debt tax, D-E-B-T. And the debt tax is the interest we pay on our national debt and the debt tax is going up just as the deficits are going up and the debt is going up. It is the policies of the gentleman across the aisle that are causing this to happen, and it has got to change. People in this country know in their hearts and they know right in their heads that we cannot give like this forever. We are the strongest Nation on the Earth. We are the freest Nation on the Earth, but we cannot be strong and free and broke, and that is the policy advocated by the gentleman from across the aisle. That is going to happen if we keep going the way we are. Our Nation will end up owing so much money it will be financially unsustainable for our children and grandchildren. I do not want that to happen. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I am going to grant some additional time at the appropriate time to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm).

Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Stenholm).

Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. PAYGO, the PAYGO rule that we are proposing here today, does not stop new tax cuts. All it says is that if we are going to have a new tax cut, we have got to cut spending; and if he talks about discipline, he should practice what he preaches. If he talks about discipline, he should practice what he preaches; and if he wants a new tax cut, he should say here is how we are going to pay for it. If my colleague finds a way to do that, then I am all for the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey), but he is not doing that. He is just talking and not practicing reality here. I voted for the President's tax cut 3 years ago. We were in surplus mode at that time, but now we are in deficit mode. Now we are in deficit mode. We are no longer in surplus mode. Chairman Alan Greenspan of the Federal Reserve Board has testified before the Committee on the Budget and the Committee on Financial Services, on which I serve; and he said consistently, if we are not in a fiscally responsible position when this economy takes off, interest rates could climb rather dramatically, and we should not let that happen. It could be devastating for business, for the real estate industry, for consumer borrowing, and for people in this country. Chairman Greenspan has said over and over, we should have budget enforcement rules, PAYGO rules, that apply not only to new spending but to tax cuts. I understand the gentleman thinks he knows more than Mr. Greenspan, but I do not believe that is true. I do not believe that is true. We are going to have soon an $8 trillion national debt at 4 percent. The interest on that national debt will be $320 billion a year. It is digging us deeper and deeper in this hole. If that interest rate went up to only 5 percent, it would add another $80 billion, another tax increase; and that is what we are talking about here is the debt tax, the interest on our national debt. They will put us, the policy advocated by the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey), deeper and deeper in the hole; and the problem is, they do not want to pay for it now. They want to pass the bill to our children and grandchildren; and our children and grandchildren if they are watching television today and they have heard this debate, they should say, enough, we are not going to take that anymore; it is not fair; it is really not American. We should end this today by saying common sense. If my colleagues want a tax cut, they have a new spending proposal, find a way to pay for it; and if they cannot do that, we will not do it because it is not fiscally responsible. It is not the right thing to do. It is not how American families live, and we are going to start living like American families. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. MOORE

Mr. MOORE. Madam Speaker, subject to rule XXII, clause 7(c), I hereby announce my intention to offer a motion to instruct on S. Con. Res. 95, Concurrent Resolution on the Budget for Fiscal Year 2005. The form of the motion is as follows: I move that the managers on the part of the House at the conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the House amendment to the concurrent resolution S. Con. Res. 95 be instructed to agree to the pay-as-you-go enforcement provisions within the scope of the conference regarding direct spending increases and tax cuts in the House and Senate. In complying with this instruction, such managers shall be instructed to recede to the Senate on the provisions contained in section 408 of the Senate concurrent resolution (relating to the pay-as-you-go point of order regarding all legislation increasing the deficit as a result of direct spending increases and tax cuts).

Mr. MOORE

Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the passing of Mary Ladesic, who was the first woman elected to countywide public office in Wyandotte County, Kansas. Elected as Wyandotte County Treasurer in 1980, Mary Ladesic served in that position until her retirement in 1997. She died at her home on April 17. Born in Kansas City, MO, she lived in Kansas City, KS, for most of her life. As Wyandotte County Treasurer, Mary Ladesic was a nationally recognized, innovative manager, starting a ``tag team'' program for marketing license plates that became a model for other Kansas counties and a successful amnesty program for collecting back taxes. Mary Ladesic also was active in partisan politics at the county and state levels, as a member of the Southside Democratic Club and all Democratic clubs in Wyandotte County, a lifetime member of the Kansas Federation of Women's Democratic Clubs, vice chair of the Wyandotte County Democratic Central Committee, and was awarded the Georgia Neese Gray Award by the Kansas Democratic Party in 1997. As the Party's official description of that award states, it is reserved for presentation to Kansans who have served in elected office at the municipal and/or county level and who have performed outstanding service to their local community in the pursuit of the principles of the Kansas Democratic Party. Such service commends a lengthy and broad participation in public service endeavors to the city, county and state. This award shall be considered the highest honor which can be bestowed by the Kansas Democratic Party to its municipal and county elected officials. Survived by her husband, William, 3 children and 10 grandchildren, Mary also was a member of Stony Point Christian Church and an active supporter of Maur Hill School in Atchison, Kansas. I commend her for a life full of support for her community and service to others, and include in the Record a recent article from the Kansas City Kansan detailing her life and good works. Mary Ladesic will be missed by all who knew her. [From the Kansas City Kansan, Apr. 20, 2004] Mary Ladesic, First Woman Elected to Countywide Office, Dies (By Mary Rupert) The first woman elected to a countywide public office in Wyandotte County, former Treasurer Mary P. Ladesic, died Saturday. Ladesic, 68, held the post of county treasurer for 17 years in Wyandotte County, beginning in 1980 and retiring in 1997. She died at her home in Kansas City, Kan. ``She liked the job of county treasurer because she loved people,'' remembered her husband, William Ladesic. He recalled that as county treasurer, Mary always kept $100 of her own money in a drawer for people who didn't have quite enough money to pay their taxes. She'd give them $20 or $15, and tell them they could come back and repay her later, he recalled. They always did, he said. ``When she left that office, she took the $100 with her,'' he said. ``She trusted the people. She wouldn't say anything bad about anybody. She was just a beautiful person.'' Ladesic said his wife was a good campaigner. ``She treated people all alike, it didn't make any difference,'' Ladesic said. He remembered that she used to tell him that people would sometimes complain to the treasurer about their taxes. ``Any time they complain, I can't say they're wrong, because any time you're taking money away from people, they should be angry,'' he remembered her telling him. Ladesic said Mary was an innovator in her job, starting a ``tag team'' program and an amnesty program for back taxes. She worked to get state laws changed in order to implement the programs, he said. The license tag program raised $3 million in the first six months here, he said, and it won awards and became a model for other counties. She also assisted in training new county treasurers at the state level, he said. Ladesic recalled that Mary did volunteer work with her church at the food kitchen. ``She'd do the work of three people and wouldn't stop,'' he recalled. She also did volunteer work for Maur Hill School in Atchison, Kan., and for local Democratic events, he said. ``Mary was a pioneer in being the first woman elected to public office in Wyandotte County,'' said Don Denney, media relations specialist for the Unified Government. ``She was a dedicated public servant and will never be forgotten for what she accomplished.'' She received the Georgia Neese Gray Award and other national awards. ``She was a diehard Democrat who worked hard for her party,'' Denney said. ``My heart goes out to her husband, Bill, and the rest of the family.'' Ladesic was a member of the Southside Democratic Club, and other Democratic clubs in Wyandotte County, and had served as vice chairwoman of the Wyandotte County Central Committee of the Democratic Party. Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday at Stony Point Christian Church, 149 S. 78th St. Visitation is from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the church.

Mr. MOORE

Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, joined today by Representatives Todd Tiahrt, Jim Ryun and Jerry Moran, I am introducing legislation that would designate the United States Postal Service facility located at 550 Nebraska Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas, as the ``Newell George Post Office Building.'' Newell Adolphus George served as a member of the 86th Congress, from 1959-61, representing the Second District of Kansas, which was redesignated as the Third District following the post-1960 congressional reapportionment. He was a member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1904, he attended Hawthorne Grade School and Wyandotte High School in Kansas City, Kansas, as well as Wentworth Military Academy in Lexington, Missouri, and Park College in Parkville, Missouri. After studying law at the University of Kansas City School of Law, Newell George obtained employment as a Capitol Hill elevator operator through the patronage of Senator George McGill of Kansas and graduated from the George Washington University Law School. He then was an attorney for the Reconstruction Finance Corporation in Washington, D.C., from 1935-1937, a regional counsel for the War Manpower Commission from 1942-43, and a regional attorney for the Bureau of Employment Security and the Federal Security Agency from 1937-52. After the Democratic Party lost control of the Executive Branch, George served as first assistant Wyandotte County Attorney from 1953-58. At that point, he began running for Congress, losing to incumbent Republican Errett Scrivner in 1954 and 1956. In 1958, however, a strong anti-Republican tide ran through the farm and western states, resulting in the defeat of numerous incumbent Senators and Representatives, including the defeat of Representative Scrivner by Newell George. With Republican dominance returned to Kansas in 1960, Representative George was defeated for re-election by Robert Ellsworth of Lawrence, making Newell George the most recent resident of Kansas City to represent Kansas in the U.S. Congress. After his defeat, however, George was the first U.S. Attorney nominated for appointment by the new Kennedy-Johnson Administration. Newell George served as U.S. Attorney for Kansas from 1961-68. After losing another congressional race in 1968 to Representative Larry Winn, Jr., George practiced law privately in Kansas City, Kansas, and died in 1992. Married to the former Jean Hannan of Kansas City, Kansas, Newell George was an intrepid public servant and active, concerned citizen. In addition to his political activities, he was a member of Abdallah Shrine, Scottish Rite; a master of the West Gate Masonic Lodge; president of the Kansas City, Kansas, Hi-12 Club; a member of the Kansas State Hi-12 Association; a member of the Breakfast Optimist Club; a member of the Wyandotte County, Kansas and American Bar Associations, the American Judicature Society, Delta Theta Phi law fraternity, the American Academy of Political And Social Science, the Kansas City, Kansas Chamber of Commerce, the Terrace Club, the Top o' the Morning Club, and the First Presbyterian Church of Kansas City, Kansas. Newell George's other public service included membership on the Kansas Public Disclosure Commission; the Civil Service Commission of Kansas City, Kansas; the Kansas State Government Ethics Commission; and service as a director of the Kansas Multiple Sclerosis Society. Nicknamed ``Punk'' by his friends, George's other activities included managing a string of boxers, after boxing himself at Wentworth Military Academy; bowling; and adding to a collection of old books--mainly Bibles and McGuffey readers--begun by his father. In short, Mr. Speaker, Newell A. George was the kind of community oriented, politically active individual who made things happen on the state and local level in so many American cities during the middle third of the twentieth century. With regard to Kansas and Kansas City, he was one of a small but hardy group of Democratic activists who kept two-party government alive in one of our country's most Republican states. It is fitting, therefore, that the House consider the legislation introduced today by the bipartisan Kansas House delegation that will designate Kansas City, Kansas', civic center post office in memory of U.S. Representative Newell George.