Mike Ross

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, let me begin by saying this is not a partisan issue for me. I was one of 28 Democrats to stand with our President and vote for the largest tax cut in some 20 years. This tax cut does not sunset for 10 years. We all knew that when we voted for it and when we supported it. This is a vote that should happen, in 10 years, and it is a vote that I hope I can cast to repeal the sunset in 10 years. But not now. Not now, unless we can demonstrate without a shadow of a doubt that the money will not come from raiding the Social Security trust fund. America is in a crisis. We are setting up a train wreck for our kids and our grandkids. $5.9 trillion in debt. What does that mean to the American people? $1 billion every single day this country pays, using your tax money in interest. Not principal, but just interest on the national debt. How much is $1 billion? That is 200 brand new elementary schools every single day in America. That is new highways. That is more economic opportunities for our people. And now for next year we are proposing to deficit spend for the first time since 1997 $50 billion, all of this coming from the Social Security trust fund. We all know, everyone agrees that Social Security is broke in 2041. That is assuming that we find a way to pay back the $1 trillion that we have already borrowed from the Social Security trust fund, which we all know there is no provision on how that money gets paid back. Do not repeal the sunset now. Let us make certain that we can save Social Security and Medicare and not dip into it.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arkansas for yielding me time. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to oppose this motion to instruct. This same motion, as a resolution, was voted down by a vote of 238 to 187 simply under a different name. Here we go again. Our farm families need a new farm bill. I am a member of the Committee on Agriculture. I come from a district in south Arkansas where agriculture is a huge part of our economy, and I can tell you that our farmers need a new farm bill. They do not need it today, they do not need it tomorrow, they needed it last year. And this body in this very Chamber approved a good farm bill last year. Now it is stuck in conference, gutted with amendments that will totally destroy farming in America and farming in Arkansas as we know it today. We already have payment limits. And for the gentleman that mentioned we need to go back to the days of the Freedom to Farm bill, that is what we are living under now; and we have fewer farm families today than ever before. It is pretty obvious to me that the majority of those who passed Freedom to Farm simply did not get it; they did not understand farming in rural America. In fact, it should have been renamed, Freedom to Fail, because that is exactly what has happened. We have lost many good farm families because of that so-called Freedom to Farm bill passed back in 1996. It was so horrible, that is why we are here 1 year early trying to pass a new farm bill. We already have payment limits. Our farm families are also small business owners, and they make decisions based on land, crops, equipment, loans, employees, based on the current payment limits, based on the farm bill. To change those rules for them will require many of them to file bankruptcy, laying off 10 or 12 employees. I recently was at the annual Watson Fish Fry in Watson, Arkansas; and a gentleman came up to me, a grown man, with tears in his eyes, as he talked to me about how, just that morning, he had filed bankruptcy and laid off 10 employees, eight of whom had been working for him for over 20 years. Mr. Speaker, we have a farm crisis in America. I recently called another farm family to tell them I was sorry to learn that they were forced to sell; and when I reached the gentleman, guess where he was? He was at another farm family's auction, and that was the morning after the Senate amendment was put on the farm bill reducing payment limits. And guess what? Overnight the price of farm equipment at auctions dropped 35 percent. I was not real good at math, and you do not have to be to understand this: our farm families used to get $8.50 a bushel for rice. Today they are getting $1.50. Cotton, it costs them 60 cents to grow it. If they are getting 30 cents today, they are doing good. Our farmers do not want to be welfare farmers. They do not want to be insurance farmers. They simply need a basic safety net to help them survive when market prices are down and when our government does crazy things like imposing sanctions and embargoes on them. The sanctions and embargoes against Cuba, that happened the year I was born, 40 years ago. Cuba is still getting rice. They are just not getting it from Arkansas farmers; they are not getting it from American farmers. They are getting it from China. They want to buy our rice. They can get it in 4 days as opposed to a month. Our government does have a duty and an obligation and a responsibility to these farm families to assist them when market prices are down, when we are using them as a weapon. We have a strong defense in this country, and we need to make it stronger. We have watched what the military might of this country can do in Afghanistan and around the world. When we want to punish someone, let us help them using our military, but let us stop turning our farm families and their crops into a weapon. The issue of payment limits, let me tell you that if you take a look it and you hear the talk that, well, we need to reduce payment limits so we will quit overproducing, I cannot believe that anyone would think that we are overproducing in a world where people go to bed every single night hungry. People are starving to death. We need fair trade. We need to remove sanctions and embargoes. We need to open up these markets. If we do that, we will not be overproducing; and if we do that, the prices will go back up at the market, and these farm families will not need our help. But as long as we stand in their way of doing what they do best, and that is feed America and feed much of the world, then, yes, they need our help, they need a new farm bill. They do not need this motion to instruct.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I would simply close in support of the bill by saying that this weekend I was driving across my congressional district, as I do every weekend, some 75,000 miles we traveled across those 29 counties over the past 16 months. There is a lot of row crop land not planted because our farm families do not know what to do. They do not know what to do because they are waiting on Chapter 12 bankruptcy protection; they are waiting on a new farm bill, both of which are tied up in conference committees. Our farm families do not need more conference committees. They need Chapter 12 bankruptcy reform, and they need it permanent and they need it today. They need a new farm bill today. When that bill got gutted with amendments in the Senate and went to conference committee, in my district we began to see three-, four-, and five-generation farm families selling out. The price of equipment at those auctions dropped 35 percent overnight after those amendments were attached to the farm bill in the Senate and it was sent to the conference committee. The time for action on bankruptcy reform, the time for action on a new farm bill for our struggling farm families is now. I think it is important to note that this bill sunsets 45 days from today. This is a temporary fix, and our farm families need it; but they need a long-term solution so they can continue to do what they do best, generation after generation after generation, and that is simply feed America and feed the world. I am proud today to stand in support of our farm families. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Phelps).

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. This bill today is important to my congressional district back home in rural Arkansas, and quite frankly, it is important to farm families all across America. Family farmers injured by low commodity prices are being held hostage by the lack of certainty of whether or not Chapter 12 is going to be there for them. Just last week, the House and Senate both voted to make Chapter 12 permanent through bankruptcy reform legislation. Yet that legislation remains in conference committee, and it is an issue that has been going on since 1997, and I do not know that it is going to be resolved anytime soon. I support bankruptcy reform. As a member of the House Committee on Financial Services, I have fought hard to see that bill to the floor. I fought hard to see it passed on the floor of the United States House of Representatives, and I am as frustrated as anyone else that we have been trying to get bankruptcy reform since 1997, and yet it remains in the conference committee with an awful lot of amendments attached to it that have nothing in the world to do with bankruptcy reform, and I am perhaps a little less optimistic than the Chairman that we may see bankruptcy reform come our way soon. I believe the gentleman from Wisconsin raises some very good points about what we need to do for our farm families as it relates to Chapter 12 bankruptcy reform, and I would, in fact, offer to sign on as a Democratic sponsor with him to write a bill that addresses the aspects that are in the overall bankruptcy reform legislation that is stuck in the conference committee. Let us take that, let us extract those ideas that will help our farm families out of that bill that has been around since 1997 in one form, fashion or the other, and let us really try to file a bill tomorrow that will really help, that will really help our farm families in an important way. I think it is also important to note that although we have not had a lot of farm families file Chapter 12 bankruptcy, I think the ability to do that has helped a lot of our farm families be able to negotiate rather than simply file for bankruptcy. I do not think there is any dispute that Chapter 12 has worked well in saving our farm families by protecting the needs of both our financially struggling farm families as well as protecting their creditors. Our farmers cannot afford to continue to be left hanging out in the wind and held hostage by bankruptcy legislation that is stuck in conference committee. I am not opposing the bankruptcy reform bill. I support it. I supported it in the House Committee on Financial Services. I supported it on the floor of the United States House of Representatives. I hope it is enacted and I hope it is enacted soon. I also hope a new farm bill is enacted soon. I am on the House Committee on Agriculture. We wrote and passed that bill last October. It went to the Senate. They put some amendments on it that have really caused a lot of problems for farm families in my district. That, too, is now in conference committee. It seems like these conference committees are really causing a lot of havoc for our farm families, everything from bankruptcy reform to a new farm bill. Our farm families, they need help and they need it now. I think it is important to note that farm families are the backbone of our rural communities, of rural America, and when we lose farm families, it has a devastating impact on the economy of rural America. Unfortunately, our farmers are under increasing financial pressure each year to make ends meet due to low crop prices, added debt simply to get their crops planted and increasing competition from imports from other countries. We have seen that with commodities, with Canadian soft wood lumber. We have even seen it with the dumping of the so-called catfish that are being raised in cages in polluted rivers in Vietnam. When Chapter 12 of the bankruptcy code was first enacted, there was legitimate concern over whether it would work. We now know that it has worked, and there is no reason why our farmers should have to wait to know that this safety net is there for them. Yet it has not been there for them since October 1 of last year. We must move forward in helping our farm families. This measure extends Chapter 12 for 8 months, retroactively starting on October 1 and ending on May 31. While this is only a temporary fix, while the conference committee continues to do what they have done since the mid to late 1990s and, that is, try to work out a bankruptcy reform bill that can pass both the House and Senate and gain the President's signature, it is desperately needed for our farmers, for rural America. It is needed now and that is why this temporary fix is so very, very important. I urge my colleagues not to delay any further, pass the Chapter 12 bankruptcy extension. Please let us pass it today for our farm families, so that they can do what they do best, and that is, feed America and feed much of the world. Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as he may consume to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Sandlin), whose district joins mine in Texarkana.

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I am in the House of Representatives. I am proud to be a conservative, small-town-value kind of Democrat that is standing before the gentleman today, and I am appalled that for some reason a Member of the House has some control over what happens in a Senate conference committee. I have no more control over the Democrats in the Senate than the gentleman from Wisconsin does. Mr. Speaker, I think the American people are sick and tired of the partisan bickering that goes on in the Nation's Capitol. It should not be what makes the Republicans or Democrats look good or bad; it ought to be about doing what is right and providing a strong, effective voice for the people who sent us here to represent them.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1374, to designate a post office in Lake Linden, Michigan, as the Philip E. Ruppe Post Office Building. I am always satisfied when we honor a former colleague. However, we should also be working to protect the Social Security trust fund from being raided. As we debate H.R. 1374, a good bill that will benefit hundreds or maybe thousands of Americans, we should also think about the millions of Americans who currently survive only on a Social Security income, like my 91-year-old grandmother back home in Prescott, Arkansas, who lives from Social Security check to Social Security check. Do they not deserve to live their latter years with dignity? If we continue to pass fiscally irresponsible legislation that raids the Social Security trust fund, when will it be before their benefits are cut? Sometime between 2011 and 2016, we are going to have more people earning Social Security benefits than paying into the Social Security system. Everyone agrees that by 2041, Social Security as we know it today is broke. My grandparents left an America a little bit better than they found for my parents. And my parents left us a little bit better country than they found for us. I think we owe it to our children and our grandchildren to ensure that we live the kind of life and make the kind of decisions, the kind of responsible decisions, sometimes difficult as they may be, but we must do those things to ensure that we leave this country just a little bit better off than we found it for our kids and our grandkids. What about the millions of baby boomers who will soon retire? Again, between 2011 and 2016 we will have more people earning Social Security benefits than those paying into the system. By 2041, Social Security as we know it today is broke. And guess what? That is assuming that the trillion dollars plus that has been borrowed from the Social Security system, with no provision on how it ever gets paid back, is paid back by 2041. It is time that we stop raiding the Social Security trust fund. That is why the first bill I filed as a Member of Congress was a bill to tell the politicians in Washington to keep their hands off the Social Security and Medicare trust fund. I hope that when those retirees who go to the Philip E. Ruppe Post Office expecting to pick up a Social Security check in a few years, I hope they are not left with an empty promise. I hope they have a Social Security check in their post office building just as our seniors do today, a check that many of them live on from paycheck to paycheck. Let us pass this bill, but let us quit raiding the Social Security trust fund

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, adverse medical effects caused by patients misusing or not taking their medicine costs our health care system an estimated $170 billion every year. Tragically, much of this cost results from seniors simply not being able to afford to buy the medicines they need or not knowing how best to take the drugs they have been prescribed. The prescription drug benefit bill that the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Emerson) and I have introduced, the bipartisan MEDS Act, addresses this heavy burden on our Nation's health care system. Our bill includes provisions that cover critical medical management services to monitor and ensure seniors know what medicines they are taking and how to take them properly. Some Members are concerned about the cost of providing a prescription drug benefit. Health insurance companies are in the business of making a profit and even they cover medicine as part of their health insurance plan, because they know it helps people to get well quicker, to live healthier lifestyles, and to live longer. Mr. Speaker, we need to put this issue into perspective and think about the cost of not providing a prescription drug benefit and the cost our overburdened health care system bears when seniors improperly take or simply cannot afford their medicines.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I agree with the gentleman. Let me just tell the gentleman that I am new to Washington. I still believe people can run for public office and get involved for the right reasons and really make a difference in people's lives. After 14 months here, I can tell my colleague that I am sick and tired of all the partisan bickering that goes on in our Nation's Capital. It should not be about what makes the Democrats look good or bad, and it should not be about what makes the Republicans look good or bad. It ought to be about doing right by the people who sent us here to represent them. I can tell the gentleman that America is at war. We are spending $1 billion a day simply paying interest on the national debt. We owe the Social Security trust fund $1.2 trillion; and even if it is paid back, it is broke by 2038. There are a lot of critical issues facing this country and its future. My parents left a better country for me than what they found; and I am committed, I am dedicated, I believe it is a duty and an obligation, to ensure that we are able to leave this country just a little bit better off than we found it for our children and for our grandchildren and for the many, many generations to come. The gentleman mentioned the guarantee certificate. Let me just tell my colleague that unfortunately my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have proposed mailing a bogus Social Security ``guarantee'' certificate. It is kind of like the President's idea of this so-called discount prescription drug card as a Bandaid approach, at best, to providing our seniors with the Medicare coverage they need when it comes to medicine. When we created Medicare, we did not say, here is a discount card, go to your doctor and cut the best deal you can, or here is a discount card, go to the hospital and cut the best deal you can. We truly provided a form of health care. Today's Medicare was designed for yesterday's medical care, and that is why I feel so strongly about the need to quit talking about modernizing Medicare to include medicine for our seniors and get on with getting it done. Mr. Speaker, when we take a look at this Social Security guarantee certificate that the Republicans are proposing, it is not worth the paper it is printed on. Recently, the new Social Security Administration's Commissioner, JoAnn Barnhart, questioned the merits of such a guarantee certificate. In a memo to his Republican colleagues, Majority Leader Armey said that he is pushing the guarantee certificate as political cover for Republicans as we enter an election year. Mr. Speaker, saving Social Security should not be about politics. It is much greater than any of us that serve up here. Saving Social Security for our seniors and for many generations to come is much more important than any of us standing for reelection. The American people, our seniors, they do not want a gimmick. They want a Congress that will be responsible, that will stand up, and that will truly protect Social Security. That is the kind of Congress I want to serve in.

Mr. ROSS. I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone). It is good to join him this evening as we talk about the future and the security of Social Security, something that so many of our seniors rely on as their only source of income as they grow old and try their best to make ends meet. I think we have got a train wreck waiting to happen. To set the stage for what I am about to say, I want to start by mentioning this about the debt, because they are related. A lot of the politicians in Washington these days seem to not want to talk about the debt. The debt in this country is $5.7 trillion. If President Bush's fiscal year 2003 budget is passed, it will grow by some $100 billion. What does that mean for all of us in our daily lives? Some people in this country think we spend too much money on food stamps. That is $2 billion a month. Some people in this country think we spend too much money on foreign aid. That is $1 billion a month. Mr. Speaker, we spend $1 billion every single day in America just paying interest, not principal, just interest on the national debt. What is $1 billion? If I put that in a calculator, I get that little E at the end. What helped me bring it home, I was recently touring a brand new, state-of-the-art elementary school in Monticello, Arkansas. As I walked through that building, I learned that it cost $5 million. And it hit me. We could build 200 brand new, state-of-the-art elementary schools every single day in America just with the interest we are paying on the national debt. Just with the interest we are paying in a few days we could create a program that would truly modernize Medicare to include medicine for our seniors. I have got two, actually three interstates pending in my congressional district. Give me a couple of weeks of that and I could build one of them. Give me a day and a half and I could build the other two. That is having an enormous drain on our finances. I bring that up to set the stage for what I am about to say, because my grandparents left this country much better than they found it for my parents and their generation. My parents have left this country much better than they found it for my generation. I think we have a duty and an obligation as citizens and certainly as Members of the United States House of Representatives to ensure that we leave this country much better than we found it for people like my two children who are back at home tonight with my wife in Prescott, Arkansas. The reason I point that out is because not only is that something that our children are going to inherit if we do not address it and address it soon, but they are also going to inherit a Social Security system that is bankrupt. When Social Security was created, we had one person drawing benefits for every 30 or so paying in. Sometime between 2011 and 2016, depending on whose numbers you want to believe, we are going to have more people earning Social Security benefits than paying into the Social Security system. And everyone agrees that by 2038, Social Security as we know it today will no longer be there. Social Security will be broke by the year 2038. That may seem like a lifetime away, but if each of you will stop for a minute and think back to 1964, I bet every one of you in this room can remember something you did that year. 1964 to 2002, 2002 to 2038, it is the same time frame in terms of the length of time that will go by. 2038 will be here before we know it. And when I say Social Security is broke in 2038, that is assuming that the $1.2 trillion that we have borrowed from the Social Security trust fund, the government has borrowed $1.2 trillion from the Social Security trust fund and it will be broke in 2038 even if the government figures out a way to pay that money back by then. It is still broke in 2038. I know some folks will say, That's how you have to invest Social Security trust fund money, is in the government. I do not argue with that, but I do argue and make this point: I have got a loan at a bank and I think most of you in this room probably owe money. When you go to the bank and sign a loan, normally they want to know how you are going to pay it back. Yet we continue to borrow money, to write IOUs to the Social Security trust fund with no provision, no plans, no idea on how that money is ever going to be paid back. I think that is wrong, and that is why the first bill I filed as a Member of Congress was a bill to tell the politicians in Washington to keep their hands off the Social Security trust fund and to keep their hands off the Medicare trust fund. I believe privatizing Social Security even complicates and makes this train wreck waiting to happen much worse. The idea that you can choose even a small percentage of your Social Security moneys to play with in the stock market simply does not work. Let me tell you why. We would all like to believe, and believe me there are a lot of people in government that want you to believe, that there is a Social Security account set up with your name on it and all the money that you have had withheld and all the moneys that the employer matches are sitting there in a fund with your name on it. But that is not how Social Security works. Our parents have worked and paid into the system, and the money that they have paid in has gone to take care of their parents and grandparents. Now my generation is working and the money that we are paying in to the Social Security trust fund goes to take care of my parents and grandparents. That is why education is so critical to our children's future. We are trying to ensure that our children can get a good, sound education so they too one day can grow up and have a good job and pay into the Social Security trust fund to take care of us when we grow old. And the cycle will continue. If you take even a percentage of that and let those who are paying into the Social Security trust fund play with that money in the stock market, it causes a real problem, because that is not how Social Security works. So that is a major concern. Another major concern is one, what I call a wake-up call that I hope we all receive from Enron. There is a reason that you can make a lot of money. There is a reason you can lose a lot of money when it comes to stock. It is a risky business. I believe that our government should provide incentives to encourage small businesses and businesses of all sizes to provide 401(k)s, simple IRAs, and other saving opportunities, because Social Security was never intended to be your only source of income when you retire. I own a small business along with my wife back home in Prescott, Arkansas, a small town in rural south Arkansas. We have 12 employees. For those 12 employees, we do something that a lot of small businesses either cannot do or refuse to do, and that is provide an alternative retirement plan that hopefully someday will go a long way toward subsidizing their Social Security income. It is a simple IRA. It is created, much like a 401(k), for small businesses. We do have a duty and an obligation in Congress to find ways to encourage businesses of all sizes to provide those kinds of saving opportunities for their employees. But it should be above and beyond and separate from Social Security. This is especially important to me, because my grandmother, I am very fortunate and blessed, she is still living. She is 90, she is blind, she is not in the best of health anymore, but she has lived from Social Security check to Social Security check. My grandfather died when I was 1 year old and my grandmother first learned how to drive a car. She then got her GED, and then she went to nursing school and came back to our hometown and was a nurse for 20- some-odd years, a hospital that did not have a retirement plan, a job which required her to save what little she could and then get by from Social Security check to Social Security check when she finally retired. I understand what that Social Security check means to our seniors. We need to see those checks grow. We need to save Social Security, and for the life of me, I am convinced that any form or fashion of privatizing Social Security, taking Social Security money and putting it in the Enrons of the world, will do nothing but reduce benefits and risk the future of Social Security. When you look at it, coupled with pensions and personal savings accounts, Social Security benefits form the three-legged retirement stool on which many seniors rely. I do strongly support encouraging workers to save and invest more of their income, but to take money out of Social Security through privatization would undermine the security that Social Security was created to provide, especially for women and minorities, that on average earn less and have less to save. Women, African Americans, Hispanics are more likely to lack pension benefits, and also are the least likely to receive interest, dividends or pension income. As a result, these groups have a large stake in the solvency of the Social Security program. Women particularly benefit from Social Security. Because of Social Security's progressive benefit formula, lower-wage workers receive higher dollars in Social Security benefits. Women who earned lower wages and/or had fewer years in the work force, perhaps because they were at home raising a family, receive larger monthly benefit amounts. In addition, due to their often unique working patterns and lower average wages, women typically have lower rates of pension coverage and income than do men. According to the Center on Budget, Policy and Priorities, Social Security replaces 54 percent of the average lifetime earnings for female retirees, compared to only 41 percent of the earnings for male retirees. In addition, privatizing Social Security does not consider disability and survivor benefits, both of which are more often utilized by women and minorities. We must ensure the solvency of Social Security, but we should not undermine the protections or the guaranteed benefit the program provides to all seniors. Similar to the prescription drug debate, Congress and the President must begin to make tough choices and put our energy into enacting real protections for the Social Security system and a quality affordable prescription drug benefit. We need to have an open and an honest debate to find common ground and common sense solutions to really shore up the Social Security system. We should not wait until after the November elections to talk about this issue. We owe it to our seniors and to the working people of America to take on this issue and make sure that Social Security is there for them and their children and, yes, their grandchildren. The American people deserve to know where we stand. I am proud to go on record as standing against privatization of Social Security and fighting to ensure the future solvency of Social Security for my parents, my grandparents, and yours.

Mr. ROSS. Well, I thank the gentleman. I guess the reason that we have gotten to where we are on this discussion about the idea of privatizing Social Security really started last year when President Bush established a 16-member Commission on Social Security. The commission was given the specific task of spelling out how a Social Security privatization plan should be designed and implemented. In December, the commission put forward three different options for partially privatizing Social Security. It did not, however, accomplish the goals of identifying the design and implementation of privatization. In fact, the commission acknowledged that such a profound change in the Nation's retirement system, commonly referred to as Social Security, would eventually cost at least $2 trillion, and that is with a T, at least $2 trillion, though the commission did not suggest how to pay for it. So I think it is important that we do have an open and honest debate that fully discloses the risks associated with privatization, and develop a true retirement security plan for the American people. The American people deserve a national dialogue outside of the election year antics that will begin in the next few months. The time for that dialogue to begin is now. The gentleman from California (Mr. Matsui), the ranking member of the Committee on Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security, I think he said it best when he said, ``The Enron collapse has made it abundantly clear that defined benefit plans such as Social Security have a fundamental role to play in retirement savings. In light of Enron, it is especially critical that we discuss openly the risk, the cost, and benefit cuts inherent in Social Security privatization.'' Mr. Speaker, this is a big issue. What the President proposes with his FY03 budget is, for the first time, I believe since 1997, that we go back to the days of deficit spending. The FY03 budget will put us further in debt by $100 billion; we are already $5.7 trillion in debt, so I guess that means we will be $5.8 trillion in debt, on top of the $1 billion we pay every single day in America, simply paying interest on the national debt; money that could go for education, that could go for highways, that could go for infrastructure that creates economic opportunities for people from all walks of life; money that could go to truly pass my bill, my bipartisan bill that I have filed with the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Emerson), that truly creates a Medicare part D.

Mr. ROSS. That is right, and I thank the gentleman from New Jersey for that. But that is the kind of thing we could be doing with that $1 billion a day that we are paying interest on the national debt. Believe me, when the President is right, I will stand and say he is. I give him an A-plus for this war on terrorism. We all want to know life in America once again the way we did prior to September 11, and I give him an A- plus on that. I have voted with him in the past 14 months on many other issues, but this is an issue where I think he is wrong. Not only does he propose in the FY03 budget that we go $100 billion further into debt, he is asking that we raise the debt limit, not by $100 billion, but by $750 billion, with every single dime of that coming from where? The Social Security trust fund, with no provision, no plan on how in the world we pay it back or someday our kids or grandkids are forced to pay it back.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Madam Speaker, I was pleased to read in Wednesday's New York Times that my Republican colleagues are working on a prescription drug benefit that will encourage the use of generic drugs. In January, the gentlewoman from Missouri (Mrs. Emerson) and I introduced a bipartisan bill in the House that would create a voluntary, but guaranteed, Medicare prescription drug benefit for all seniors. We call it Medicare Part D. Under our plan, seniors would pay an affordable monthly premium, an annual $250 deductible, and a 20 percent co-pay on the cost of their medicine. This 20 percent co-pay will truly promote the use of lower- cost generic drugs and provide real savings for our seniors. Our bill gives seniors the freedom to choose their pharmacy and their medicines. Madam Speaker, the Emerson-Ross bill is a comprehensive, common-sense plan. I urge my colleagues to join us in supporting this bipartisan legislation that will truly modernize Medicare to include medicine for all seniors.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I wish to honor and congratulate a good friend and constituent on a well-deserved recognition for his unique and exemplary commitment to preserving our nation's architectural and cultural heritage. For over 30 years, Parker Westbrook has dedicated himself to promoting the preservation and rehabilitation of countless buildings, parks, museums and monuments throughout the nation. In Arkansas, he is affectionately and aptly known as ``Mr. Preservation.'' An active member of many states and local preservation foundations, commissions, and councils, Parker's efforts can be observed in numerous places throughout the state, perhaps most notably in the historic town of Old Washington, Arkansas, which briefly served as the state capital. Parker spent many years in Washington, D.C. working here on Capitol Hill for several members of Arkansas's congressional delegation. His contributions to historical preservation began in 1968 while he was serving as an aide for the last United States Senator J. William Fulbright. At that time, Parker purchased and restored an old Quaker cottage in Waterford, Virginia, for which he received the Excellence in Restoration award from the Loudon County Chamber of Commerce. His passion for restoration and preservation continued when he returned to Arkansas in the mid 1970s. In the 1980s, he helped create the Historic Preservation Alliance of Arkansas and helped pass an initiative that provides over $3 million per year for preservation in the State of Arkansas. Later, President Clinton appointed him to the National Park System Advisory Board and twice named him to the President's Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Friends and colleagues described Parker as dedicated and committed to ``volunteerism.'' His leadership in preservation serves as an example to all of us at a time when our country faces new challenges that demand greater community involvement and public service. Fittingly, in honor of his decades of work and dedication, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has recently bestowed upon him the prestigious National Preservation Award and declared him a ``National Treasury.'' Parker Westbrook is a ``national treasure,'' a true champion of a noble cause. His accomplishments will undoubtedly be admired and appreciated by this and future generations for many years to come.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a close personal friend and a distinguished Arkansan who last week lost a courageous four and a half year battle with cancer. His name was James H. McKenzie. Jim McKenzie was born in my hometown of Prescott, Arkansas, in 1941. After graduating from Prescott High School, he attended the University of Arkansas and was a member of Arkansas Razorback baseball team and the Student Senate and president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. He then went on to get his law degree from the University of Arkansas School of Law and served two years on active duty as a Captain in the U.S. Army. Upon his discharge from active duty, Jim returned to Prescott to practice law. As an attorney, he quickly earned the respect of the legal community and became a leader in the Arkansas Bar Association, serving in many capacities including president. He fulfilled appointments to several committees of the Arkansas Supreme Court and, in 1998, was named outstanding lawyer by the Arkansas Bar. In our hometown of Prescott, to say that Jim was a respected and notable citizen would be an understatement. He was a pillar in our community. Jim served as president or chairman of the local Chamber of Commerce, the hospital board, and the Kiwanis Club. He was a lifelong, active member of the First United Methodist Church, where he was my Sunday school teacher. He was also a youth sponsor in the church, and he even coached Little League baseball. Jim McKenzie truly exemplified the ideal of a public citizen. Throughout his life, he was a leader who never hesitated to give his time and energy to help others. For me personally, he was a role model growing up and an inspiration throughout my public service. I am grateful for all he did for our family and for his fellow citizens, and I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to call him a friend. His death is an enormous loss not only to those who knew him well, but also to our community and to our state. My heart goes out especially to Jim's wife, Betty, their two daughters, Kris and Miki, and their five grandchildren as they deal with the pain of this difficult loss, and I am keeping all of them in my thoughts and prayers. While Jim may no longer be with us, his legacy and his spirit will always live on in all those whose lives he touched.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. I thank the gentleman from Texas for yielding. When I tell people I am a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, they ask me, what is the Blue Dog Coalition all about? I tell them that we are about being fiscal conservatives. I come from 10 years in the Arkansas State Senate where I helped balance the State budget for 10 years. My wife, Holly, and I own a small business in our hometown of Prescott, Arkansas, a town of 3,400 people. We know what it is like to meet a payroll every Friday. We know what it is like to live within a balanced budget at our small town family business. And I do not think the American people expect anything less of those of us in the United States Congress, those of us that are setting out the vision and the priorities for the future of this great country. That is what the Blue Dogs are all about, being fiscal conservatives. I can tell you something else that I am about and I think the Blue Dogs are about, and, that is, we are sick and tired of all the partisan bickering that goes on in our Nation's capital. It should not be about what makes the Democratic Party look good or bad or what makes the Republican Party look good or bad. It ought to be about doing the right thing by the people who sent us here to represent them. I believe there are extremists in both parties. The Blue Dogs are trying to bring the extreme sides of both parties to the middle to find some commonsense solutions to the problems that face us here in America. The administration requests to raise the debt limit by another $750 billion. Last year, the administration said we would not need to raise the debt limit for at least 7 years. The administration even said that there was a danger in paying down the debt too soon. I have not figured that one out yet. And now the administration in their fiscal year 2003 budget puts us back in deficit spending by $100 billion, by creating $100 billion in new debt, and I believe that is wrong. Raising the debt limit, allowing our government to go further into debt, raids the Social Security trust fund. It simply authorizes the government to write another $750 billion in IOUs to the Social Security trust fund. There are several problems with that. Most of us have loans at banks or credit unions. When we go to the bank or credit union for a loan, normally they want to know how we are going to pay it back, what terms, how long it is going to take, how much the monthly payments are going to be. But not our government. Our government simply writes another IOU, and sticks it in the Social Security trust fund with no provision, absolutely no provision, on how that money will ever be paid back. I think that is wrong. That is why the first bill I filed as a Member of Congress was a bill to tell the politicians in Washington to keep their hands off the Social Security trust fund and, yes, to keep their hands off the Medicare trust fund. Let us talk about the debt, some $5.7 trillion in debt. A lot of people do not want to talk about it. I think we should. We should not only talk about it, we ought to pay that debt down. Why? Because we are the ones that created it. At least the majority of the people in America elected the politicians that created that debt. I think it is wrong to pass it on to our children and our grandchildren. $5.7 trillion this country is in debt tonight. What does that mean for all of us? Some people in this country think we spend too much money on food stamps. That is $2 billion a month. Some people in this country think we spend too much money on foreign aid. That is $1 billion a month. We spend $1 billion every single day in America simply paying interest, not principal, just interest, on the national debt. How much is $1 billion? I put that in my calculator, and I get that little E at the end. But I can tell you what really brought it home for me. I was recently touring a brand new state-of-the-art elementary school in Monticello, Arkansas. As the principal and some teachers took me through that school, they mentioned that it cost $5 million to build. And it hit me. You know, we could build 200 brand new state-of- the-art elementary schools every single day in America simply with the interest we are paying on the national debt. I am not advocating that we do that, although there are some schools that need our help in a very big way; but I think that demonstrates to all of us how much $1 billion a day in interest really is. Give me a couple of days of it, and I can finish I-49 in Arkansas. Give me a week of it, I can build I- 69 across Arkansas. It is time we pay down the debt. And something else, we must pay back the IOUs to the Social Security trust fund. They already total $1 trillion. Let me tell you why that is important to all of us. When Social Security was created, we had 30 people paying in for every one earning benefits. Sometime between 2011 and 2016, depending on whose numbers you want to believe, we are going to have more people earning Social Security benefits than we are going to have paying in to the Social Security trust fund. And everyone agrees that by 2038, Social Security is broke. It is broke in 2038 even if the $1 trillion in IOUs which, I might add, there is no provision on how we are going to pay them back, it is broke in 2038 provided that $1 trillion in IOUs is paid back, even with them being paid back, not counting the new $100 billion that the President and this administration proposes that we take from the Social Security trust fund and go back into the days of deficit spending. Despite all that, if all that some way or the other gets paid back, Social Security is still broke in 2038. I have got a grandmother. My grandfather died when I was a year old. My grandmother is now 91. But when he died, she first learned how to drive a car. Then she got her GED, she moved to Little Rock, which is about 100 miles from where we live; and she went to nursing school. She came back to our hometown, and she worked tirelessly for about 20 years as a nurse at our local hospital. My grandmother did not have the benefit of a big retirement plan. She has lived from Social Security check to Social Security check. I know what it is like for seniors to try and live from Social Security check to Social Security check. That is why I want to see us not increase the debt limit. That is why I want to see the politicians in Washington stop raiding the Social Security trust fund. That is why we need to not honor this request of raising the debt limit. It is time for fiscal responsibility at our Nation's capital.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, today I have the honor to share with you a touching story of dedication to country under extraordinary conditions. I recently had the pleasure of visiting with a constituent who has dedicated her life to education, teaching and helping others, Mrs. Eunice Davis Pettigrew. Mrs. Pettigrew, now in her 80s, is a former small business owner and retired teacher and counselor at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. Over the past several years, she has continued her lifelong quest for academic excellence by researching the life of her grandfather, Isaac Johnson, who grew up as a slave on a southern plantation and later served in one of the first regular army regiments of African-Americans on the American frontier following the Civil War. When I visited with Mrs. Pettigrew, she shared with me a heartfelt narrative she recently completed about her grandfather's journey from slave to soldier. Not only did her grandfather overcome a childhood of slavery, he chose to serve his country even in the face of racial prejudice and inequalities as a member of the U.S. Calvary in a regiment that come to be known as the famous ``Buffalo Soldiers.'' Hearing this story reminded me that we should never forget the challenges our predecessors faced to preserve this great nation. The Civil War ended the nightmare of slavery, but we must all continue to work, together and as individuals, each day to make sure that our country truly is a community of all people. As this month we celebrate Black History, we should take a moment to remind those like Isaac Johnson and the many others who came before us and made this nation strong, free, and prosperous. It is with humbleness and gratitude that I share with you and submit to the Congressional Record Mrs. Pettigrew's narrative about her grandfather, Isaac Johnson, and how he overcame significant challenges to become a true American patriot. Isaac Johnson, A Slave--A Buffalo Soldier This is a narrative of the life Isaac Johnson, the experiences he had as a slave on a North Carolina plantation as well as his experiences as a soldier on the Western Frontier. It is a study of the development and the survival of one Buffalo Soldier in particular, an unusual combination of events such as the impact that slavery had on Isaac Johnson's life, the Emancipation Proclamation and grandpa's role in the Buffalo Soldiers. It is hoped this writing will make known my grandpa's accomplishments during his life time. Purpose My name is Eunice Davis Pettigrew. I am Isaac Johnson's grand-daughter. While consulting many secondary materials on the history of the Buffalo Soldiers, the information detailing Isaac Johnson's life comes directly from me. This writing is to make known the facts as documented by my research in the Pine Bluff-Jefferson County Library, The Arkansas Historical Commission and The National Archives. I also have a collection of pictures, notes and the family Bible that I have kept over a period of about forty years. A pictorial tour will reveal some of the injustices that black solders endured. I have researched in eight states namely: Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas, Alabama and Arkansas. I was about nine (9) years old when my grandmother passed in 1926. My grandpa came to live with us in Pine Bluff Arkansas after my grandmothers' death. Our family eventually moved to Forrest City, Arkansas. During the years that Grandpa lived with my family, he told me many stories of his life as a slave and as a soldier. I was fifteen (15) years of age when my grandpa died on December 7, 1931. Isaac Johnson's Life Sketch My grandpa was born about 1846, a slave in Charlottesville, North Carolina. He was never told his real age. He had only one (1) family member, a sister, who was sold from him at a very early age. Grandpa's mother died during childbirth as well as a twin sister. To understand the bond that Isaac Johnson and his sister shared, I think first we must examine the slave family. The slave family had no standing in law. Marriages among slaves were not legally recognized and masters rarely respected slaves in selling adults or children. The male's sole purpose was to breed in order to maximize the number of offspring. Slave holders would also take sexual advantage of the female slaves, most of the time with the master's wife's knowledge. This created a multitude of biracial babies and an even larger number of human beings to be used for servitude. Slave owners had little or no regard for the emotional needs of slaves. The slave holder, not the parents, decided at what age children began to work in the fields. The slave family could not offer its children shelter or security, rewards or punishments. Despite all of this, my grandpa spoke on many occasions of the close relationship that he and his sister shared. Grandpa worked as a water boy on the plantation while his sister worked as a wet nurse. She nursed all of the slave babies while the slave women worked the fields. She was also responsible for nursing the master's babies. Grandpa told me about his sister making small bags of sugar and butter called sugar ticks that were used to pacify the babies between feedings. The babies were housed in a tee-pee like structure with pallets all around the walls. My grandpa's sister still found time in her busy day to show him love and affection. Isaac Johnson remembered never leaving the plantation, so when the opportunity finally arrived he was excited to say the least. On the journey, he remembered looking outside of the covered wagon and thinking out loud what a big world it was. He noticed his sister sitting with her eyes closed and tears streaming down her face. He could not understand her tears at the time because there was so much excitement in the air. He asked her continuously, what was wrong but got no response. It was not until they reached their destination did grandpa's excitement start to fade away. Confusion began to set in for Grandpa, who was approximately two or three years of age at the time. He observed his sister on the auction block and being held up for public display to be sold. On completion of the bidding, his sister was led away blindfolded never to be seen by Grandpa again. What he observed was a very humiliating and degrading experience for his sister. Grandpa cried when he realized she had been taken away from him. The loss that Grandpa felt from this experience would be incomparable to anything else that he would endure in life. No longer did he have that strong family bond of someone to love him. Grandpa often told me stories of life on the plantation. One incident in particular, a group of slaves had been chained together for a march when a woman went into labor. She was loosed from the chains and left alone to deliver the baby while the others continued on their journey. To ensure the slaves obeyed the rules as set forth by the Slave Codes and the will of the master, whenever someone was found in violation of a rule, all the salves were called to the ``Big House'' to watch the punishment of the slave in question. Grandpa told me that he observed many of these beatings. He described to me a large platform with a square cut out of the center in which slaves were placed face down and beat repeatedly with a whip. Violations of these rules were dealt with in a variety of ways. Mutilation and branding were not unknown. However, most violators were whipped. A slave owner was immune from prosecution for any physical abuse against slaves. This was due largely in part to the fact that slaves could only testify against other slaves accused of a crime. Alabama, as a store clerk. During this time he lived with Emma Clark, a white woman. Emma Clark was the head of her household and had a two-year-old daughter at the time. It is my belief that Grandpa was Emma Clark's slave. Clark's daughter's name was Maretta Clark, so I believe this was Emma Clark's married name and that her maiden name was Johnson. I further believe my grandfather having no slave family's name to take, took his owner's family name. My grandpa entered the Army while living in Montgomery, Alabama. He enlisted on the 6th day of May, 1867. He was a private in Company K, 24th Regiment of Infantry. Grandpa was transferred to Company 38 Infantry. He fought in the war with the Comanche Indians in the territory of the Texas Frontier. Isaac Johnson was shot in the right shoulder by a Comanche Indian, while escorting mail from Fort Harker to Fort Union. The wound was received near Cow Creek, Kansas in the Spring of 1868. He was treated at Fort Selden, New Mexico and at Fort Harker by Surgeon McClindon. My grandpa, Isaac Johnson, was honorably discharged at Fort Selden, New Mexico, on about May 6, 1870, due to the injury he received in the Spring of 1868. Grandpa returned to Montgomery, Alabama and to Emma Clark's household. He worked as a hotel employee until he reenlisted in the Army on June 14, 1878. He served in the Colored Cavalry of Saint Louis, Missouri. Isaac Johnson served in the Army for a period of five years but due to his previous injury, complicated by other medical problems, he was honorably discharged at Fort Stanton, New Mexico. He last served in the Company F-9 Regiment Cavalry. After my grandpa's service in the Army, he lived in several areas including Montgomery, Alabama, Walls, Mississippi, Austin, Mississippi, Plummerville, Arkansas, and Menifee, Arkansas. Grandpa applied for bounty land and this undeveloped land was given to him in the township of Menifee, Arkansas. His family (The Johnsons), his sister-in-law's family (The Williamsons) and the Tally families were among the first settlers of this township. Menifee, Arkansas was my grandpa's home until the death of my grandmother, Sallie Walls Johnson, in 1926. Isaac Johnson lived with my family in Pine Bluff, Arkansas and then Forrest City, Arkansas until his death on December 7, 1931. He was memorialized and buried at his church, Philadelphia Baptist in Menifee, Arkansas. He is buried in the Community Cemetery with some of his descendants.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, educating our young people is arguably as important as any issue we deal with not only in the halls of Congress, but also in our everyday lives as parents and as members of our respective communities. Each day, our children learn important lessons in the classroom that will prepare them for the days and years ahead, and we must make sure that they are given the tools they need to compete in the 21st Century. In addition to work in the classroom, another important aspect of the school experience that can play a valuable role in the academic as well as social development of a young person is athletics, teaching the values of teamwork, leadership, dedication and perseverance. In that spirit, I would like to recognize and congratulate a high school football team in my congressional district that exemplified those qualities, the Warren High School Lumberjacks in Warren, Arkansas, who recently won their school's first AAA Boys High School State Football Championship. The Lumberjacks captured the championship in a thrilling 45-39 victory over the defending state champion, punctuating a perfect 15 and 0 season. The game was highlighted by a gifted performance by a young man named Reid McKinney, who earned honors as the game's most valuable player. McKinney displayed great talent and leadership exemplary of all his teammates on both sides of the ball, throwing three touchdowns and running for three more, including a fumble recovery for a touchdown that sealed the game. Their impressive 26-year-old head coach, Bo Hembree, led and inspired his team to perform at a championship level throughout the season. With each game, these young men demonstrated amazing hard work, dedication, and character. I commend the entire team and the coaching staff both collectively and as individuals for a remarkable season, and I applaud Coach Hembree for instilling in his players the characteristics of leaders and champions that they will be able to draw from for the rest of their lives. These students and their success are a tribute to their parents, their school, and the entire Warren community. Not only the coaches and players, but also the band, cheerleaders, students, teachers, and all those who supported this team can take pride in their role in bringing about this accomplishment. I congratulate Warren High School and the city of Warren as they celebrate this momentous achievement.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I was saddened recently to learn of the death of a respected and admired individual in my congressional district, Mr. Jerrell Norwood, of Malvern, Arkansas, who lost a courageous battle with cancer at age 64. Today, I wish to pay tribute to his life and achievements. Jerrell Norwood spent much of his adult life serving his fellow citizens, and his accomplishments were numerous. For over a decade and a half, Jerrell served as County Fire Coordinator and Director of the Office of Emergency Management for Hot Spring County in Arkansas. He was a long-time volunteer and board member with the local Red Cross. For twenty-one years, he served as the first and only Ouachita Fire Chief, and he spent many years on the Resource Organization Service Excellence (R.O.S.E.) Board, a group dedicated to helping needy citizens. During his career, Jerrell was responsible for building or improving nearly all of the bridges in Hot Spring County, and in 1994, he helped establish a water rescue for users of the nearby Ouachita River. His accolades include being a two-time Volunteer of the Year for Hot Spring County as well as being named Emergency Coordinator of the Year in 2000. Jerrell Norwood was regarded with esteem and appreciation by all those who knew him well. His friends, neighbors and co-workers alike praised not only his ability to quickly assess and tackle an emergency situation, but more importantly his energy, dedication, common sense and genuine compassion for helping others. He was truly a man of integrity who gave himself to his work and his community. While his passing is a tremendous loss to the Malvern community and our state, his life and legacy of public service will be remembered for years to come. I extend my deepest sympathies to his wife, Carolyn, his children, and all his family and friends during this difficult time.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I wish to pay tribute to the life and accomplishments of a constituent and friend, Dr. Sterling Alexander Roaf, Sr. who passed away recently in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. A native of Pine Bluff, Sterling Roaf, Sr. was one of nine children born to Rev. Arthur Roaf and Charlotte Boughton Roaf. After graduating from Southeast Senior High School in 1962, he spent two years working on the Cotton Belt Railroad. In 1966, he graduated with honors from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff. He obtained his medical degree from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1972 and moved to Los Angeles to complete his residency at Martin Luther King Hospital. Following his residency, Sterling returned to Pine Bluff in 1976 where he established the Roaf Clinic with his brother Clinton Roaf, a dentist, and practiced obstetrics-gynecology until his death. In 1998, he was recognized by the Arkansas Times as one of Arkansas' Best Physicians in gynecology, obstetrics, and oncology. According to his brother, Sterling delivered some 600 infants a year. He truly brought into the world an entire generation of children and touched the lives of countless others in the Pine Bluff area, and he will be greatly missed by the thousands of patients and families who were impacted by his caring and dedicated work. Sterling Roaf Sr. was not just a great doctor. He was an active and giving member of his community, a devoted member of the church, and a loving father and grandfather. My heart goes out to his children, his brother and five sisters, and all of his friends and relatives in their loss.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I wish to pay tribute to the life and accomplishments of my friend, Mae Grayson Hamilton, who passed away on October 17, 2001, in Little Rock, Arkansas. A Dumas, Arkansas, native, Mae was a longtime teacher in the public school system in my hometown of Prescott. During the course of her career, she enriched the lives of generations of Prescott school children through her love for her students and dedication to teaching. As an educator, she was an active member of the National Education Association, the Arkansas Education Association, the Literacy Council and the Nevada County Retired Teachers Association. Mae was also a devoted member of the Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Broughton, Arkansas. In the church, she served as a deaconess and a member of the Hospitality Committee, the Outreach Mission and the Women's Missionary Society. In addition, she gave of her time to be Children's Church Coordinator and Chair of the Program Committee. Mae Grayson Hamilton was truly a role model not only to our young people, but to all those who knew her well. Her passing is a great loss to her former students, her church family, and all the people of Nevada County. I am grateful for her lifelong commitment to education and her community, and I was proud to represent her in the United States House of Representatives. My heart goes out to Mae's husband, Johnny Hamilton, Jr., and her two daughters, Michele Hamilton Rhodes and Nicole Hamilton, and my thoughts and prayers are with all her family and friends.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I wish to pay tribute to the life and achievements of a constituent from my congressional district who was not only the father of a close friend, but also a respected citizen of South Arkansas, Joe Williams, Jr., who passed away recently at the age of 66. Joe Williams, Jr. was born in the southern Arkansas town of Sparkman in 1935. At a young age, he joined the Harmony Baptist Church in the nearby community of Pine Grove. After attending Sparkman Training School, Joe spent time as a young adult living in Kansas City, Missouri, and Dallas, Texas, before returning home to Pine Grove, where he became an invaluable member of the community. As a young man, he was first employed by the International Paper Company and then by the Taylor Gin Company as a truck driver and a farmer. He later held jobs with Georgia Pacific Corporation as a jitney driver as well as St. Clair Rubber Company as a press operator before retiring to his beloved country farm in Pine Grove. Joe led an active and productive life, yet he always put his family first. He maintained a strong commitment to the church and took an active role in local politics in Dallas County. When he wasn't working or serving his community, he liked to spend time hunting, fishing, working on and collecting automobiles, gardening, or working with his farm tractor. Joe Williams, Jr. will long be remembered for his dedication to his family, his work, and his community. His passing is a great loss not only to those who knew him well, but to all of South Arkansas. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Elzadie, his sons, Stanley and Stacy, and all his family and friends.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, I wish to pay tribute to the life and achievements of a man who was a respected businessman and civic leader in my congressional district, Mr. John Lee Anthony, who recently passed away at the age of 60. John was an invaluable member of the El Dorado, Arkansas, community. An esteemed and involved business leader, John served as president, chief executive officer and director of Anthony Forest Products Company, one of the region's leading timber producers and manufacturers. While maintaining his many responsibilities with the company, he also took time to serve the people of El Dorado in many capacities. He was a director of Simmons First Bank of El Dorado, a director of the El Dorado Boys and Girls Club, a member of the El Dorado Rotary Club, and a director of Bozeman Park. In addition to his service to Arkansas, John also represented the timber industry in many positions. He served as a director of the American Forest and Paper Association in Washington, D.C., and was a two-time president of the American Institute of Timber Construction in Denver, Colorado. John Lee Anthony will long be remembered for his important contributions to the timber industry as well as his community. His passing is a great loss not only to those who knew him well, but to the people of El Dorado and all of South Arkansas. My thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Pat, his son, Dr. John Lee Anthony, Jr., his daughters, Michele and Andrea, and all his family and friends.

Mr. ROSS

Mr. ROSS. Mr. Speaker, on September 11, 2001, our nation lost thousands of brave and innocent men and women in the unconscionable terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Among those who admirably, but regretfully, gave their lives that day while serving our country at the Pentagon was a gentleman from my district, Operations Specialist 2nd Class Nehamon Lyons IV. I wish to recognize his life and achievements. Officer Lyons was bom and raised in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, where he graduated from Dollarway High School in 1989. After graduating, he moved to Mobile, Alabama, and in 1997 enlisted in the Navy. Although he was first assigned to the USS Gettysburg, Officer Lyons had been attracted to the Pentagon since high school. Through hard work, he eventually received a coveted and prestigious assignment to the center of our nation's military command. During his tenure at the Pentagon, he effectively managed multiple responsibilities, including his most recent position as Chief of Naval Operations. The Navy awarded Officer Lyons multiple accolades throughout his career for his contributions to our country including the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, the Joint Meritorious Unit Commendation, the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, the Good Conduct Medal, and two Navy ``E'' Ribbons. In addition, for his bravery in the face of extreme peril on September 11, 2001, Officer Lyons will posthumously be awarded the Purple Heart of Courage and the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal. Officer Lyons was not only a decorated and distinguished serviceman, but also an honorable member of his community. He served this nation and his fellow citizens with spirit and bravery. All those who knew him will miss his cheerful demeanor and hard-working attitude. His passing is a significant loss not only to his family and friends, but also to our state and our nation. I am grateful for Officer Lyons's service to and love for his country, and I pay tribute to him for his lifetime of accomplishments. My thoughts and prayers are with his mother, Jewel Lyons, and all his family and friends.