Charlie Rangel

Mr. RANGEL

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, talking about jobs or lack of it, I yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Mrs. Jones), who knows that they do not have the jobs. She is a hardworking member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I do not know why he is so proud of giving these people a break just for 2 years when the Democratic alternative would have made it permanent so they would not have to worry about paying it back in 2 years. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Becerra), a strong, hard-working member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo) from the other side of the aisle. He is just as much a Republican as I am a Democrat. One thing we have in common is that when we have a problem with the WTO we do not think it is a Republican or a Democratic issue, but we think in a bipartisan way we should work toward trying to resolve that. We have done that. It has been a pleasure working with him.

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott), who will explain how in the Congress we find Christmas in mid-June. (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cardin), a hard-working member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. It is abundantly clear that the majority will succeed in passing this bill not because the bill is good but because they have succeeded in reaching out to other people and giving them gifts to be putting on the tree under this Christmas tree bill. In other words, we call it buying votes. But I would ask the seller to beware and the buyer to beware because when some of these gifts are opened, they will find the boxes empty. Our beleaguered tobacco farmers will find that there will be a sign there: We do not have the money we promised, go to Appropriations; we do not have the regulations, go to Commerce; we do not have the jurisdiction, go to Agriculture. They will find that when they take a look at this bill and they are looking for jobs, there is going to be a sign there: Take a flight overseas. That is where the jobs are going to be. So I am suggesting that even though they may be successful in winning this, they are not winning the minds and the hearts of the American people, who know that they have denied the minority an opportunity to say that we have a better idea in order to do these things. Mr. Speaker, I yield 30 seconds to the gentleman from California (Mr. Waxman).

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis), the conscience of the Congress, a member of the Committee on Ways and Means.

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. This is so interesting. The chairman of the committee stands to tell us what this bill is all about, which is labeled the American Jobs Creation Act and, guess what? This is nothing about jobs. He would have us believe that the reason for this legislation is to reform the Tax Code, to bring it up to date. Well, I have heard this type of Republican talk before: we have to pull it out by the roots. That is when we only had thousands of pages in the Tax Code. But in the middle of the night, they bring us now a bill that is 400 pages long, and probably nobody in the House has even seen it yet. Do not call this a tax bill and do not say that you are reforming the system, because the fact is, if you wanted to really fix what this bill was supposed to do, and that is to remove the subsidy, all you do is remove the subsidy, and you do not give a tax cut for $150 billion, but you pick up $50 billion, which is the amount of the subsidy. So you can put lipstick on a pig, but you cannot call it a lady. This is a lousy bill. It has nothing to do with reform. And about this one day that someone is entitled to get their priorities, well, he is 100 percent correct. They sent the word out that every lobbyist in Washington has one day to get his favorite in this bill. It is just unfortunate that the American people did not get their one day to get jobs in this bill. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from California (Mr. Stark), a senior member of the Committee on Ways and Means and ranking member of the Subcommittee on Health. (Mr. STARK asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time. I am suggesting if this bill was as good as some of you are saying that it is, you would not have to come on this side of the aisle and offer promises that you know you cannot fulfill in conference and you know you cannot fulfill because you do not have jurisdiction. There will come a time that we are going to say when you call it a jobs bill, at least it should mean jobs for United States citizens and not jobs for foreigners.

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin), a senior member of Committee on Ways and Means and ranking member on the Subcommittee on Trade. (Mr. LEVIN asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. RANGEL

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I do not really know what the Republicans are so frightened of in this bill that they allegedly are so proud of that they continuously deny the Democrats an opportunity to say, But we got a better idea. The Republican majority has been successful in winning the votes in order to get legislation passed. I do not think they have been successful in allowing the American people to believe that they have been fair, that they have been fair to the minority, or that they have been fair to the working people, or that they have been fair to the manufacturers that work hard every day to try to create jobs. I do not think that they think that they have been fair in terms of having some sense of patriotism or some sense of pride in saying, Made in the USA. Yes, they say this legislation creates jobs, but not jobs for Americans. Jobs for people overseas. Why would they not let the Crane- Rangel bill come out in substitute? It has been rumored because we did not have a substitute, but I am so glad to see that my friend who is the chairman of the Committee on Rules is on the floor, who is always fighting hard to do the right thing, but somehow he is overwhelmed by evil forces that deny him the opportunity to do it. Early last night, the gentleman came to me on this floor to say he wanted to help me to have a substitute. And while we were working with the leadership to have this substitute, he came with heavy heart to share with me that we would not have a substitute. Why, I ask, are Republicans so afraid to allow Democrats to get a chance to vote up or down on an alternative to the lousy bill that they brought to the floor.

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I am telling my colleagues that we were told last night that we would not get a substitute. I am telling my colleagues we did not get one. I am telling my colleagues they have denied us the opportunity to express the fact that we have a bill that would have brought jobs to the United States and not abroad. Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mr. RANGEL. I thank the chairman.

Mr. RANGEL. The last thing you said to me was that we would not get a substitute.

Mr. RANGEL. Well, we did not get it; that is the bottom line.

Mr. RANGEL. I take back the balance of my time.

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, we do not have a substitute, and that is the bottom line. I would think that we should not have to beg and scrape and ask them to give us a chance. Are we asking for a chance to win? No. Do we believe that we have enough sugar and incentives that we can buy votes? No. We do not have that in our bill. We do not turn over the collection of taxes to private sector people. We do not have the ornaments that the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) will tell my colleagues about. All we have got is a fair bill to create jobs in the United States of America. That is all we have got. We do not buy votes. We just try to sell without their profits.

Mr. RANGEL. Only if the gentleman promises to tell me through his remarks in response why the Democrats cannot have a substitute to be able to say that we got a better idea.

Mr. RANGEL. I yield to the gentleman from California.

Mr. RANGEL

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, it is with great pleasure that I rise today to salute Katherine Dunham, a woman who raised herself from her humble origins in East St. Louis through energy, determinism and formidable talent to become a world famous cultural icon and treasure. Having earned her bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees at the University of Chicago with, the help of the prestigious Rosenwald fellowship. She has worked tirelessly her entire adult life helping others. She continues to contribute actively to her community even though just recently celebrated her 95th birthday. Today I recognize Katherine Dunham for her groundbreaking achievements in the performance arts, education and for her contributions as an activist striving for racial equality. Katherine Dunham propelled the civil rights movement and opened doors or opportunity through her personal achievements as she became the first African-American to progress in her many fields of expertise. Katherine Dunham merged her studies in anthropology with Caribbean and Brazilian dance whereby creating a new discipline. She utilized her education to create her many dance, performance art and education centers. In 1931 Dr. Dunham founded Les Ballet Negre, the first black dance company in the United States. In the years that followed, Katherine Dunham revolutionized American dance by incorporating the roots of black dance and ritual, and by transforming these elements into choreography accessible to all through the Katherine Dunham Technique. Les Ballet Negre later became known as the Katherine Dunham Dance Company, which successfully toured over 60 countries in the 1940s. In 1945 Dr. Dunham founded the Dunham School of Dance and Theatre in Manhattan. The Dunham School provided a centralized location for students to immerse themselves in dance technique while also providing education in the humanities, languages, ethics, philosophy, and drama. The school educated and raised countless inner-city youth, youth who would go on and make great change themselves. In 1967 Dr. Dunham established the Performing Arts Training Center in East St. Louis, Missouri, which enrolled high-risk youth into programs in fine, performing and cultural arts. Katherine's outreach to some of the toughest members of the East St. Louis community often put her in harm's way. She put her life on the line constantly by recruiting gang members and known troublemakers. Katherine's goal was to stop the violence in the black community through the arts. She set out to transform their lives, and did so. In 1970, only three years after the founding of Performing Arts Training Center, Dr. Dunham brought more than 40 of her students to the White House to perform for the Conference on Children. Katherine Dunham was also a pioneer with a significant impact on Broadway. She broke new ground by becoming the first African-American director at the New York Metropolitan Opera. Even though Katherine Dunham carried out a significant amount of work in the United States, she was never limited to helping only those within our Nation's borders. Katherine Dunham is also a passionate humanitarian who has lived in Haiti and consistently fought for Haitian rights and a better relationship between the United States and Haiti. Responding to the desperate conditions of Haitian people in 1993, Katherine, at the age of 82, went on a 47-day hunger strike. She ended her hunger strike only when she was convinced, and rightfully so, that she was more valuable to the humanitarian fight, alive than dead. I recognize Dr. Katherine Dunham as one of the most passionate artists educators this country has ever seen. For all these reasons and for receiving countless honors and awards, including more than 10 honorary doctorates, the Presidential Medal of Arts, the French Legion of Honor, and the NAACP's Lifetime Achievement Award, she has received for her work, I stand to salute Katherine Dunham, humanitarian, civil rights activist, and performance artist.

Mr. RANGEL

Mr. RANGEL. Madam Speaker, I challenge my fellow members of Congress, as well as my fellow Americans, to listen closely as we walk our respective paths today. I ask that as we journey back to our offices, and then on to our homes, we keep our ears pricked, attentive to the sounds which often go ignored in the clamor of full days and long nights. If we are truly mindful, vigilant in our perception of the hums, clicks and tones that surround us, some of us might notice that within the very rhythm to which we walk, the harmony which paces us on our diverse journeys, we find slight hints of ``Flying Home,'' traces of ``Stardust,'' and shades of ``Midnight Sun.'' Mr. Speaker, Lionel Hampton is more than a giant of jazz and an impassioned servant of his community; he is a part of the fabric of this nation, a lasting presence in the daily melody of the United States. Lionel Hampton spent his youth in Alabama, Wisconsin, and Chicago listening to the music of Louis Armstrong and dreaming of a future in the budding musical genre called ``jazz.'' After stints on the drums and marimba, Hampton took up the vibraphone and set the benchmark for excellence on that instrument, for which he became known as the ``Vibes President of the United States. Because of the racism that permeated the music business in the 1930s Hampton's performances were limited to a small number of venues, so he partnered with White clarinetist and bandleader Benny Goodman and set about making history, for the first time creating an integrated public face of jazz music. Between 1936 and 1940, Hampton and Goodman created perhaps the greatest swing recordings of all time: ``Moonglow Opus 1/ 2'' and ``Gone With What Wind?'' among the duo's other recordings are the gold standards of the Swing Era, and they helped to elevate Hampton to the status of a jazz superstar. In 1940 Hampton established his own big band, ``Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra,'' and it was from this orchestra that the songs of our time originated. Audiences swayed and lindy-hopped to ``Hamp's Boogie Woogie'' and ``Evil Gal Blues,'' and `Hamp' serenaded the masses while breaking down the color line, becoming the first African American to play in a number of major hotels and music halls. Hampton's orchestra became a training ground for great musicians, graduating legends such as Dexter Gordon, Cat Anderson, Charlie Mingus, Quincy Jones, Dinah Washington, and Aretha Franklin. As much as a presence as Lionel Hampton was in the jazz industry, his work in his community was equally if not more potent. He was a goodwill ambassador for the United States, appointed by President Eisenhower to spread the music of jazz and the message of equality in his many tours to Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and Asia. He also worked tirelessly for his beloved Harlem, founding the Lionel Hampton Development Corporation which built quality low- and middle-income housing in New York City and Newark, New Jersey. One of his projects, the Gladys Hampton Houses, is named for his wife, the illustrious singer Gladys Hampton, who died in 1971 after a 35-year marriage. Hampton served on the New York City Human Rights Commission and was appointed as ``Ambassador of Music'' to the United Nations in 1985. In 1998, he and Lloyd Rucker founded the Lionel and Gladys Hampton Jazz History Education Foundation, an organization that continues in the honorable work of teaching disadvantaged young people about jazz. For his efforts he received both the Kennedy Center Honor and the National Medal of the Arts, and in 1987 the University of Idaho named its School of Music after Hampton. Lionel Hampton played the vibraphone and flashed his million-dollar smile to audiences across the globe almost until the date he succumbed to heart failure, Saturday, August 31, 2002. He was a towering figure of musical greatness and global renown, but he often bent low to help the neediest among us, and for this New York, the African American community, and indeed our entire nation is grateful. Our country's swing is Hampton's swing, our jazz is Hampton's jazz, and thus there is no figure more worthy of honor by this body than Lionel Hampton. Again, I entreat us all to listen closely on our daily journeys; I dare say that as we walk we might, unwittingly, be paced by the lively report of ``Flying Home.''

Mr. RANGEL

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay special homage to a legendary entertainer and an American icon, Mr. Ray Charles, who passed away on June 10, 2004 at the age of 73. Ray Charles Robinson (who later dropped his last name to prevent confusion with boxer ``Sugar'' Ray Robinson) was born September 23, 1930 in Albany, Georgia. Charles was born at the beginning of The Great Depression into a rural southern community, which denied opportunity and tried to kill the dreams of African Americans. Ray Charles was blinded by glaucoma at age 7. After being sent to the St. Augustine school for the Deaf and Blind, he learned to read and write musical compositions in Braille, and mastered playing several instruments including the piano and the saxophone. By the age of 15, Charles was orphaned, and had begun to perform in Black nightclubs. Charles would later draw from the adversity of his early life a special soulfulness, which fueled new music that America had never known: the sultry combination of human problems and transgressions with the hope and inspiration of the spirit. He drew from diverse musical roots and made the music his own. By 1959, Charles would have his first big hit, ``What'd I Say''. He would in an illustrious career win 12 Grammy Awards and a plethora of other musical achievements. Later, he would be called one of the forefathers of Rock n' Roll. The music of Ray Charles was as diverse as his audience. He was able to cross musical genres including jazz, blues, gospel, soul, country, pop and rock and roll. Charles was a musical pioneer and throughout his career gained a large fan base in various racial and ethnic groups. He broke down the rigid walls between black and white music. Charles was an inspiration for the likes of Elvis Presley and The Beatles, who sought to incorporate his soulfulness in their music. Charles would also use his cross-cultural ability to help achieve racial equality. Charles was a friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and was active in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's, performing benefit concerts and giving up his personal resources. During the height of South African apartheid, Charles refused to play for segregated audiences in firm opposition to the legal segregation that was in place in that country. Charles had a string of stirring hits including ``Georgia on my Mind'', ``I Can't Stop Loving You'', and ``America the Beautiful'', which he first performed in 1972 and then later at many occasions of national celebration including the inaugural ball for the late former president, Ronald Regan in 1985. In 1986 he received Kennedy Center Honors for his amazing ability to break down social barriers through his music. Music lovers worldwide will consequently suffer a great void that no other musician will ever be able to fill. Ray Charles was able to inspire millions through his music. Ray Charles has left us the enduring legacy of his genius, his music, and though gone from us physically the music of Ray Charles will live on forever.

Mr. RANGEL

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, the minute of silence observed by Members of the House of Representatives on Thursday, May 20 was an appropriate way of showing our deep respect for the servicemen and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice while fighting for our country in Iraq. The Democratic and Republican leaderships have invited all members to submit written statements, honoring our fallen soldiers, for publication in the Congressional Record. A special section of the Congressional Record, dedicated to Memorial Day statements, will be kept open for submissions until Thursday, June 3. I encourage you to submit such a statement. The fallen soldiers and their families deserve our highest recognition.

Mr. RANGEL

Mr. RANGEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to acknowledge the Tuskegee Airmen, African-American pioneers for their courageous service to our country and lasting legacy of valor and military excellence. I strongly support H. Con. Res. 417 in honoring the Tuskegee Airmen and their contribution in creating an integrated United States Air Force, the world's foremost Air and Space Supremacy Force. The service that the Tuskegee Airmen performed during World War II for our country was extraordinary. In a time of racial turmoil they dedicated their lives and served this country to their fullest capability. They simultaneously defied the odds and limitations set both abroad and at home. These men overcame what were seemingly insurmountable obstacles at the time and are regarded as American military pioneers. The Tuskegee Airmen epitomize the American dream. History shows that blacks had been trying to gain entrance into the Army Air Corps since World War I. By the end of World War II the Tuskegee Airmen had received 95 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 744 Air Medals and Clusters, a Legion of Merit, completed 1,578 missions and 15,553 sorties, and graduated 993 pilots. They had gone from being barred from the Air Corps to being regarded as one of the most successful units in American history. The Tuskegee Airmen were called upon by our country and willingly accepted the challenge. They proved that skill and dedication were the determining factors of success, not race or skin color. The Tuskegee Airmen continue to serve as role models for members of the armed forces throughout the world. Many of their combat records are unmatched today and their sacrifices must never be forgotten. These courageous men embody the spirit of America and are an integral part of our nation's history. It is only appropriate that servicemen of such valor be acknowledged.