Cedric Richmond

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the continued achievements of Mr. Cedric George Givens, a native of my hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana. I have the distinct privilege of congratulating Mr. Givens as he is honored with the title of 98th King of Zulu, an organization that he has proudly served for nearly two decades. Mr. Givens has been a continued leader in Zulu, reigning as Zulu Governor in 2005 and serving as a Board Member from 2008 to 2012. He has also served on and chaired several committees, most recently acting as the Chairman of the Zulu Anniversary Committee. Mr. Givens has been a leader in Zulu due to his love of bettering his community, and it is an example that we should all strive to follow. In addition to his role as an active member and leader of the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club since 1994, Mr. Givens has been a leader in business and in his community. For 17 years, Mr. Givens worked as a Plant Supervisor for Diversified Foods and Seasonings Inc. Currently, he is serving as the Vice-President of Operations of a financial firm, where he manages operations and transportation in over 20 countries. Outside of work, Mr. Givens leads an admirable life in his community, working with social groups like the Big Dawgs and the Go-Getters. His service to his community is an inspiration, and we are deeply grateful to him for his years of commitment. A New Orleans native, Mr. Givens is the youngest child to Robert and Janice Givens. He is a product of the Orleans Parish Public School System, graduating from Alcee Fortier Senior High School in 1985. He also attended college at Southwestern Louisiana University, where he joined the Beta Phi chapter of the Alpha Phi Omega Fraternity. Mr. Givens and his wife, Zulu Queen Monica Veal Givens, have three children--Stacey Thomas, Ryan Williams, and Rayna Brantley. I hold Mr. Givens in the highest regard for his dedication to his family and friends. His commitment to the future of New Orleans brings hope and promise to our city. With the tireless work of people like Mr. Givens, New Orleans will continue to be one of the most empowered and unique cities in the world. I wish to congratulate Mr. Cedric Givens on his coronation on February 8, 2013 as the 98th King of Zulu.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I'm from New Orleans, and we weren't affected by Sandy. But we were great beneficiaries of this body coming together after Katrina and Rita to help us in a time of our greatest need. And it's appalling that this House can't come together when we have so many Americans in need. One of the mottos of our service is ``no man left behind.'' Well, tonight, Mr. Speaker, you are leaving millions of children, fathers, and mothers behind in the cold. And as we took one step closer to financial solvency and averted a national bankruptcy today, we just took one humongous leap towards a moral bankruptcy. This House can't justify to ourselves, to our neighbors, to our pastors and to our priests that the actions we're taking today are right and that they follow in the motto of this great country. Today is a very shameful day; but more than being shameful, the fact that we are not addressing the needs of the Sandy victims is not just shameful. It's sinful.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. I thank the gentlelady from the Virgin Islands for yielding and commend her on her passion as a physician and someone who has taken an oath to preserve life and to make sure that people can live out their years in a meaningful way and die of natural causes. I will just say that I'm from Louisiana, which our motto is we are the sportsman's paradise. We like to fish and we like to hunt. We like to have a fishing pole and we like to have a gun. The difference is that the guns we use and the guns that sportsmen use are rifles, and you don't need high-capacity magazines in order to hunt deer, to hunt dove, to hunt ducks, to hunt rabbit. You just don't do that. I rise tonight in support of my colleagues because, especially in our urban cities, we are losing far too many of our children, our fathers, our mothers, our sisters, and our brothers to gun violence. And every once in a while, we'll have an event that will shake the confidence of our country and make us take a step back and rationally look at our gun laws in this country and say, Wait, we've done far too much. We've expanded the Second Amendment too far. The Founders of the Constitution, when the Second Amendment was crafted, had no idea that we would have AK-47s with clips that can hold 50 rounds. I can just tell you about an incident in La Place, Louisiana, about 6 months ago where a gentleman was denied benefits at an office and decided he was going to his car and he was going to go back inside. One of those Good Samaritans, an older lady, called the police and said there was a man armoring up in his car. State police and our sheriffs responded to it and found the man in his car. When they found him, he had more ammunition in his trunk than State police and our sheriffs put together. He had an AK-47, another rifle, and so much ammunition. But the scary part to that story, and why this Good Samaritan was so key, is when they arrested him, they went to his apartment and he had a suicide note there in his trailer. He had every intention of making sure that he could go in there and kill as many people as he could, even if it meant him dying. When the thugs and the criminals have more guns and more ammunition than our first responders, then we have a problem. In urban cities, when our kids have better access to guns than textbooks, then we're a country that went wrong. We're not talking about every American's basic right to bear arms, because that is sacred, it's in our Constitution, and I believe in it. But when we start talking about assault weapons with high-capacity magazines, we're talking about weapons of mass destruction. If you look at Newtown, if you look at Aurora and you look around our country at the incidents that have happened, these are not incidents where one or two people lose their life. If we tally the number of people in the United States that die because of gun violence, if another country entered our soil and did that to us, we would declare war and we would go out and find those people responsible. But here in the United States, we have taken the Second Amendment to protect things that are just indefensible. I will join with my colleagues, and I will say, when I was in the Louisiana State Legislature, I authored, every year I was there, an assault weapons ban, a bill to close the gun show loopholes, to have a gun registry. I'm not suggesting here today that we do everything I did in the State legislature, because some things went very far, but what I am challenging America to do is to challenge the NRA, the liberals, the gun control lobby, whatever you want to call them. We should all come together in the name of the citizens of the United States that we've lost and have an adult conversation about can we do better, because we can. We don't need clips that allow people to take out a whole neighborhood. We don't need guns that you can shoot through police vests and through the police car door and through their shield and hit their body sold in our sporting good stores in this country. At some point, we have to come together. We can't just come together and pray and mourn. People are tired of mourning, and people are not fed up, but people have given up on prayer. When you see incidents when you have to bury your children--when you drop a child off at school you expect to go there that afternoon and pick them up and talk about what they learned today and do they need help with their homework, you never imagine that you're going to go there and find your child deceased with multiple gunshot wounds because of assault rifles with high-capacity clips. We are the United States of America, always in search of a more perfect Union. We can do better, we have to do better. I will close with my own little paraphrase from a song, and it's to the Members of Congress. We had an incident that shed light on this earlier in our term in which our colleague was a victim of gun violence. We should be careful of what we do, because the life we save may be our own.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the continued achievements of President Peter J. Fos, a native of my hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana. Today, I wish to congratulate President Fos on his appointment as the sixth leader and the first President in the history of the University of New Orleans in January 2012. President Fos is a proud graduate of the University of New Orleans with experience as an administrator and faculty member. President Fos boasts a proven record of conducting research, fundraising, developing collaborative relationships with other academic institutions, and implementing institutional effectiveness and student success programs. President Fos previously spent three years as the Provost and the Executive Vice President of the University of Texas at Tyler where he oversaw five academic colleges, the graduate school, the Robert R. Muntz Library, as well as the Palestine and Longview campuses. President Fos held the Sam A. Lindsey Endowed Chair, which is awarded to a recognized scholar in an academic discipline that is of strategic importance to the university. Prior to that, President Fos served as dean of the College of Health at The University of Southern Mississippi for four years. Before his tenure at Southern Miss, President Fos also held the position of chief science officer at the Mississippi State Department of Health. President Fos has received numerous honors and awards since beginning his academic career. In addition, President Fos has published more than 50 peer-reviewed papers, technical reports, white papers and book chapters in the areas of healthcare decision analysis, environmental health, data mining, neural networks, health services research, and managerial epidemiology. He is an author and has presented more than 50 papers and abstracts at international, national, regional and local conferences. President Fos received his undergraduate degree in biological sciences at the University of New Orleans, a doctor of dental surgery at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, and a master of public health and doctor of philosophy in health care decision analysis at Tulane University. I hold President Fos in the highest regard for his dedication to family, friends, colleagues, and his community. President Fos represents the best of what New Orleans has to offer and is an example of the very best in our educational community. His commitment to the city and its future brings hope and promise to ensuring that New Orleans remains one of the most empowered and unique places in the world. I wish to congratulate President Peter J. Fos and his wife Lori on his recent Investiture as the sixth leader and first President of University of New Orleans.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Thank you to my colleague from Louisiana. We have the great honor and awesome responsibility of representing the coast of Louisiana. Mr. Chairman, the coast of Louisiana, since 1950, has sent to the American Treasury almost $150 billion. Up until 2006, we didn't receive any revenues back from the Federal Government for drilling off of our Outer Continental Shelf. What we do today is ask for the ability to help ourselves, protect our citizens, and make this country safer. At the end of the day, I'd like to remind the Chair that our State has over 40 percent of the Nation's wetland losses. We have 80 percent of wetland loss, we only have 40 percent of the Nation's wetlands. If you look at what we give back to this country, I think that you will see that a $10 million investment would be a very good investment into our country, into our State, if you look at the cost-benefit analysis. Our wetlands produce a third of the Nation's seafood supply and much of our domestic energy. Our coast is the home to the port, the country's largest port system. These ports move the overwhelming majority of our imports and exports in this country. It's not just about the oil and gas production, it's not just about Louisiana's importance in terms of our energy production for this country, but it also makes the residents of Louisiana safer. That coastal land and those barrier islands produce the first defense against hurricanes. We also saw during Hurricane Katrina, the devastation that could be caused. We're just asking this body to approve this amendment, which will help Louisiana protect our citizens, protect America's energy production.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. I thank the gentleman, and I join my colleagues from Louisiana in supporting this critical amendment. What I would add is that we've talked about doubling our exports over the next 4 or 5 years, and this is a critical piece to allow us to do it. What we realize here in America is that we only make up 5 percent of the consumers in the world, and we have to make sure that our manufacturers, that our farmers, and that our citizens can get their goods to the other 95 percent so that we can continue to build a robust economy. This allows us to reduce the cost of our goods around the world because we can now ship more goods to market. It's a step in the right direction. If you look at the fact that only 2 out of our 10 largest seaports are dredged to their authorized depth, it continues to move us in the right direction so that we can now focus on adequately getting to the goal of a depth of 55 feet, which other progressive countries are getting to. We have to stay competitive, we have to continue to invest in this country, and this gives us the best return on our investment. I commend him for bringing the amendment. I support it. I would urge my colleagues to vote for it.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Ms. Luvenia Breaux, a New Orleans resident and a member of the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps during World War II. Today, I wish to publicly pay tribute to Ms. Breaux's service to our country as her family celebrates her life and mourns her passing at the age of 94. Members of the Women's Army Corps were the first women other than nurses to serve within the ranks of the United States Army. Their contributions to the war effort are widely heralded. After completing her service in the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps, Ms. Breaux returned to Louisiana and dedicated her life to serving the children of New Orleans. Described as ``the kind of person who saw a need and was aggressive enough to act on it,'' as the cafeteria manager in the 1950s, Ms. Breaux instituted a free breakfast program for students at Mcdonogh No. 24 Elementary School because she realized that a proper breakfast would increase the students' ability to learn. She also went to the homes of students who were falling behind academically to encourage and support their academic development. Ms. Breaux was a member of the Second Free Mission Baptist Church for 90 years. Family and friends fondly remember her striking hats that she wore to church. Ms. Breaux successfully raised and mentored five children, ten grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. She is also survived by ten grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Her powerful legacy will live on in each of her surviving relatives and will continue to inspire the many members of the community whose lives she touched. I wish to join with Ms. Breaux's family in celebrating her exemplary life.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Thank you for yielding, and thank you, Madam Speaker, for the time. It was once said that a politician worries about the next election, but a statesman worries about the next generation. Don Payne was a statesman. To the Payne family, I offer my sincere condolences and prayers. Thank you for sharing your brother and your father with us. While I do not have as many personal memories as my colleagues of serving with Congressman Payne, I stand here as a beneficiary of his work over his 77 years. I can honestly say but not for Donald Payne, I probably wouldn't be here. I, along with others of my generation and the generations after me, not only in America but all across the world, stand on the shoulders of Congressman Payne. So I have the honor and the pleasure of serving with him, but I also have the obligation on behalf of those generations to say thank you to Congressman Payne for making this world a better place for us. If we can remember anything with his passing, we can rest assured that Donald Payne did what he was purposed to accomplish in his lifetime. So I can say right now without a doubt that Donald Payne earned the right to say exactly what Paul said to Timothy, and that is, ``I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith.'' So, Madam Speaker, this body, this country, and the entire world lost a true gentleman in Donald Payne, and we lost a quintessential statesman.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the continued achievements of Mr. Elroy Anthony James, a native and product of my hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana. Today, I wish to congratulate Mr. James as he is honored with the title of 97th King of Zulu, an organization that he has proudly served for nearly two decades. He has participated on various committees, including the Zulu Ensemble, Picnic, Souvenir Booklet, Public Relations, Anniversary, Budget and Finance and Lundi Gras Committees. Mr. James has been a leader in Zulu due to a love of the tradition, merriment and ceremony of this historic organization. His newest honor is one that will forever remain among his many high accomplishments. In addition his role as an active member and leader of the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club since 1992, Mr. James is a life-member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and a member of the Louisiana State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the Federal Bar Association and the New Orleans and Baton Rouge Bar Associations. Mr. James' honors and achievements are testaments to his value as a brother, a leader, and as an esteemed professional in the many organizations to which he devotes his time. Mr. James also volunteers with the Leona Tate Foundation for Change Inc., where he provides legal advice to individuals who have made the pursuit for social justice their lives' work. Mr. James is the youngest child of Ms. Mary L. James of Kentwood, Louisiana. He is an alumnus of Southern University Agricultural and Mechanical College and the Southern University Law Center, where he received his Juris Doctorate and was associate editor of the Southern University Law Review. He is also an alumnus of Georgetown University Law Center, where he earned a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in Taxation with a Certificate in Employee Benefits. I hold Mr. James in the highest regard for his dedication to family, friends, colleagues, and his community. An inspiration to all whose lives he touches, Mr. James represents the best of what New Orleans has to offer. His commitment to the city and the future of the city brings hope and promise to ensuring that New Orleans remains one of the most empowered and unique places in the world. I wish to congratulate Mr. Elroy James on his coronation on February 17th, 2012 as the 97th King of Zulu.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. I thank the gentlewoman from Florida. I rise today in support of the amendment from my colleague from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise). I'd like to just remind the Chair that it was a little less than 2 years ago that the Deepwater Horizon occurred and we lost 11 Americans. We lost the lives of 11 Americans, and over 200 million gallons of oil were spilled into the Gulf of Mexico. Also, when you look at the damage that occurred, you have to remember that the year of the spill our shrimp supply was down 37 percent, crab was down 39 percent. Every day, when a waitress or a waiter or a bartender went to work, they made less money, business owners were making less money to make ends meet, all because of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. So what we want to make sure with this amendment is that those who suffered actually recoup the benefit of it so that they can protect their coast and make sure that they protect their citizens from future hurricanes--not only their citizens, but protect a big investment of this country. When we talk about our ports, when we talk about the oil and gas industry, I would just remind my colleagues that when Katrina happened, gas prices went up 48 cents around the country. That's because Louisiana was suffering, and we could not produce the oil and gas we normally produce. So this bill allows us to protect the coast, protect America's energy investment, and also make sure that we can save the lives of Louisiana citizens. The last thing that I will add is that we should not let the 200 million gallons of oil and the 11 lives that were lost open up an opportunity for a windfall for the American treasury. We should make sure that these funds go exactly where they should go so that we can help the gulf coast, which is so vital to this country's energy independence and the seafood that we all enjoy. So I would again just say, Mr. Chairman, that I rise in support of the amendment. It's not perfect, it's not the end all, but this is the best way right now to make sure that the sentiment is established that 80 percent of the fines should go to those coastal communities so that they can help their own recovery.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Chairman, what this amendment simply does is it allows those Gulf Coast States to invest their oil and gas into their States in terms of coastal restoration. I would tell you, Mr. Chairman, that Louisiana, since 1950, has contributed over $160 billion to the Federal Treasury; and, in return, Louisiana has received some of the same benefits as other States have received. However, one unique thing that we've received is a tattered coast line. Louisiana loses almost a football field an hour in terms of our wetland laws. What this amendment would do is allow us to take some of those revenues that we receive and invest that back into restoring our coast. I will tell you also, Mr. Chairman, that restoring Louisiana's coast is a very monumental task; and the people of Louisiana, the people of all of the gulf coast communities are willing to step up and take not only their own resources but resources they receive from the Federal Government in terms of any revenues or royalties they will receive and put those back into coastal restoration, making sure that we have wetlands. Because when we talk about the damage that has been done to Louisiana by the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill, that event cost us 11 Louisiana citizens. Katrina, Rita, Gustav, and Ike cost the gulf coast community the lives of almost 1,600 of its citizens. When we talk about our wetlands, that's our first line of defense in preventing the damage of a hurricane. So, while we are willing to sacrifice our coast and those things so that we can have a stable energy sector in this country, we also recognize that we should invest back in it to make sure the citizens are safe. With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Chairman, I would just simply close by thanking the gentleman and by saying that what the amendment does is really allow the gulf coast communities to invest in their own futures while continuing to invest in the energy future of America. Mr. Chair, Louisiana has contributed over $160 Billion to the Federal Government through offshore oil and gas revenues--primarily from oil and gas exploration off of Louisiana's coast. From the 1950s until 2006, Louisiana didn't receive any royalties. We have received funding from the Federal government like other states, but our royalty over those 56 years was a tattered coastline. Louisiana loses 25 square miles of coastal wetlands every year or 1 football field every hour. Our state has 40 percent of the nation's wetlands, but experiences 80 percent of all wetland loss. Part of the reason is nature, but besides blocking off the natural flow of the Mississippi River, oil and gas canals are big culprits. The bill before us creates a revenue sharing scheme for east and west coast states but does not allow the states to use these royalties as matching funds for federal programs. I can tell you that right now, because gulf coast states are receiving a very small amount of money from oil and gas production off their shores, much of the time, the Gulf states use these funds as their required cost share of Corps of Engineers and Department of Interior projects for coastal restoration, hurricane protection, wildlife restoration, and other disaster mitigation projects. My amendment would give states the option to use oil and gas revenues as their state cost share of federal projects for ``coastal wetlands conservation, coastal restoration, hurricane protection, or infrastructure projects directly impacted by coastal wetland losses.'' I think that coastal states like California, Alaska and Virginia which are embarking on offshore energy production will want the flexibility to spend their revenues on projects that strengthen and protect their coastline. Without this amendment, revenues derived from offshore oil, gas and renewable energy could not be used for these critical projects. This amendment would help the coastal states help themselves without tapping into the Federal Treasury. We don't want to be dependent on Federal Fund. We want to invest in our own future while we protect America's energy future. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RICHMOND. I thank the gentleman from Louisiana. Mr. Chairman, I have an understanding different from my good friend and colleague from Massachusetts. He is absolutely right when he says the resources are everyone's. The resources are everyone's. But the sacrifices that you make to get those resources come from those Gulf States. We lost 1,836 lives in Katrina. We lost 11 lives in the BP oil spill. We've lost 328 square miles of marsh. And in this bill, we give royalties to all the other States immediately. What we're asking from Louisiana is that, without a cap, is that in 2023 when we start to give us the 37.5 percent. However, we're willing to cap it at $750 million as opposed to the unlimited amount that all the other States under this bill would do. And then I think in 2006, Congress recognized that the Gulf Coast States were bearing the brunt of our energy production in this country, the lands that we lose. We produce 90 percent of the Nation's offshore oil and gas. So that's a sacrifice that we make for people in Kansas, people in California to be able to turn on their lights in the afternoon or at nighttime. With that, Mr. Chairman, I would urge Members to vote for the amendment.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life and legacy of Daniel Buckner Price and the steadfast faith and goodwill of the Price family. Daniel was brutally murdered at the age of 28 in San Francisco while trying to protect his high school sweetheart and wife, Sarah Abbott Price, from an attacker. A native of my hometown of New Orleans, Louisiana, Daniel was a loving husband, brother, son, and friend. During his short life, in addition to being remembered as a devoted family man, we remember Daniel as a talented artist and gifted athlete. Family, friends, and strangers alike remember Daniel for his infectious spirit and creativity. An inspiration to all whose lives he touched, Daniel had the ability to find beauty in even the simplest pleasures. Daniel's parents, Dr. Steve and Mrs. Catherine Price are great parents and loving members of the New Orleans community. Following his tragic death, his family created the Daniel Price Memorial Fund for Aspiring Artists to give talented fine arts graduates of the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA) an opportunity to pursue higher educational studies in the arts. Instead of giving up on the good in people and becoming jaded, they doubled down on their faith and in the future of New Orleans' best product and our future: our children. The scholarship will enable future generations of young, talented artists like Daniel Price to follow their artistic passion while obtaining a college degree. One criterion for the scholarship is that the applicant must also demonstrate an ongoing commitment to the New Orleans artistic community. This will ensure that the beneficiaries of the scholarship continue to contribute to New Orleans' future in the years ahead. While we continue to grieve the loss of such a precious and innocent life, let us find the strength to be inspired to be kind and generous, and to live our lives with the same vitality and integrity that Daniel Buckner Price lived his life. The Price family represents the best of what New Orleans has to offer. Their dedication to the city and its future brings hope and promise to ensuring that New Orleans remains one of the most beautiful and unique places in the world.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, the unfortunate incidents of today remind me of that song I learned from Sesame Street which is, One of these kids is doing his own thing. The truth of the matter is we need adults today. If you look at the Republican Senators, they stood up and reached a compromise with the Democrats in the Senate. The House Democrats came along. The President came along. There was only one outlier, and that was our House Republicans. Over the holidays, Mr. Speaker, I would ask that you remind and encourage my House Republican colleagues to go see the wizard, go get a brain so we can talk about the intelligence needed to spur this economy. Go get the courage to stand up to the private interests, the Koch brothers, and the lobbyists so that you can do the right thing for the country. And after all, go get a heart so you can help the 2.2 million people that are unemployed have a merry Christmas, so that you can help the 160 million people who will face a tax hike on January 1 and, more than anything, the 48 million seniors who will have less access to health care. Mr. Speaker, I will close with one thing, and it's just a bit of advice: be careful because the unemployment benefits you save may be your own.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I missed rollcall vote number 857. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yes'' on rollcall vote number 857, adoption of the Conference Report on H.R. 2112--the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food & Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Act. Mr. Speaker, the conference report is not perfect. I am pleased that it would avert a government shut-down and that the Federal Government can continue to provide services to the American people. Additionally, I am pleased that the conference report provides over $2 billion for emergency disaster relief. That being said, there are many items contained in the legislation that are troubling. At a time of severe economic challenge in many parts of the country, this bill reduces investments in infrastructure, community policing and federal housing programs. I am hopeful that my colleagues can craft the next slate of appropriations bills with a fundamental understanding that we are experiencing an economic emergency in many parts of the country. I look forward to working with them on the remaining appropriations bills for the current fiscal year and to continuing to work to put our economy back on the right track.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, the Reverend Joseph E. Lowery, an irreplaceable organizer in the American Civil Rights Movement and a leader who marched with Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to overturn discrimination in voting rights and other injustices, celebrates his 90th birthday today. It is only right that I honor this man who made my ascension possible. Just 54 years ago, in a meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, Rev. Lowery helped form the Southern Christian Leadership Conference alongside Dr. King, Rev. Ralph Abernathy, and New Orleans' own Rev. Dr. Simmie Lee Harvey and Rev. Abraham Lincoln ``A. L.'' Davis--among other civil rights leaders. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, known as the SCLC, was largely known for its non-violent protests. It was Rev. Lowery himself who organized the 1965 Selma to Montgomery March that eventually led to the passage of the historic Voting Rights Act. You'll remember that the Voting Rights Act finally guaranteed Black Americans the right to vote--free from intimidation, poll taxes, and other rules and laws designed to disenfranchise us. Rev. Lowery served as the president of the SCLC from 1977-1997 and revitalized it through his outspoken nature and distinct leadership style. Rev. Lowery continues to fight social injustice even today at the young age of 90. For his work, he's received numerous awards including the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor; the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Phoenix Award; the Martin Luther King Center Peace Award; the NAACP Lifetime Achievement Award; and the Fred L. Shuttlesworth Human Rights Award from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. Rev. Lowery has also received several honorary doctorates from colleges and universities including, Dillard University, Morehouse College, Alabama State University, University of Alabama in Huntsville, and Emory University. While delivering the benediction at the 2009 presidential inauguration of President Obama, Rev. Lowery reminded us all ``that in the complex arena of human relationships, we should make choices on the side of love, not hate; on the side of inclusion, not exclusion; and tolerance, not intolerance.'' It is evident that this principle has been a driving force in every area of Rev. Lowery's life for the last 90 years. His unwavering dedication to equality for all people has made this country a better place for people of all races and ethnicities. As we celebrate the life of Rev. Lowery today, we must also pause to remember the legacy of another civil rights leader, Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth. Rev. Shuttlesworth died yesterday at the age of 89 after fighting for racial equality alongside Rev. Lowery for more than 50 years. He was an American hero whose fight for civil rights is emblematic of the perseverance, compassion, and faith that make us American. He was a legend during the movement and time has only cemented his place in history as a champion of equality. He was beaten, threatened, and his family was attacked. Nonetheless, he never wavered from his commitment to American civil rights. My achievements have been possible because I stand on his shoulders, Rev. Lowery's shoulders, and those of other freedom fighters. Dr. King once referred to Rev. Shuttlesworth as ``one of the nation's most courageous freedom fighters.'' It is because of this courage that his legacy will live on for many generations to come. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in wishing Rev. Joseph Lowery a happy and blessed 90th birthday. As Rev. Lowery once wrote of Dr. King, ``To appropriately celebrate . . . we must honor both the man and the movement. To ennoble the man and ignore the movement is to do injustice to both. We must not let the spirit of the movement be overcome with sentimental ceremonies that omit the sacramental nature of the struggle. Ceremonies end with the benediction while sacraments begin with the benediction. Ceremony is like putting a ring on her finger at the wedding. Sacrament is ringing her life with love and joy ever after.''

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Chairman, what this amendment does is increase the funding for our Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement by $5 million. And what it would do is it would allow BOEMRE to quicken the pace of permit approval and, in turn, promote the rate of oil and gas investment in the gulf region. To accomplish this, we will reduce the Rangeland Management Fund by $6 million, which still leaves that fund above its fiscal year 2011 funding level. Let me point out to you why this is the wise thing to do. In response to the Deepwater Horizon explosion and the resulting oil spill last year, in May, the administration issued a temporary moratorium, halting permits of oil and gas production on the Outer Continental Shelf. The moratorium was lifted in October of last year; but since then, the issuance of permits has been slow. President Obama directed BOEMRE to reorganize itself into two independent groups: one that handles revenue from oil and gas leasing, and the other that regulates the oil and gas industry. This is all a change that most of us believe is necessary and wise. However, the speed of permitting activity has not returned to pre- Deepwater Horizon levels. There is a significant and growing backlog of drilling plans pending approval. The number of pending deepwater exploration and development plans has increased by more than 250 percent. This is up from a historical average of 18 plans pending to now nearly 65 pending approval. Also there's a drastic decline in drilling permit approvals. Deepwater exploration and development drilling permit approvals have also declined by approximately 80 percent, down from an average of nearly 160 per year to a pace of only 30 per year. Shallow water exploration and development drilling permits approvals have also dropped by nearly 50 percent from an average of 390 per year to a pace of fewer than 180 a year. Mr. Chairman, I will tell you that there was a recent study that showed that increasing the pace of permitting and, subsequently, the pace and scale of investment in the gulf would create 230,000 domestic jobs in 2012 as well as more than $44 billion in U.S. gross domestic product. I just want to focus on that number for a second, Mr. Chairman, because as we have been here for the 112th Congress, the American people have been demanding that we use the money we have efficiently so that we can invest in the American people and get a return on our investment. So here we are asking the American people for $5 million and are asking our colleagues on the other side of the aisle who earlier this year proposed legislation that was purported to increase drilling and to lower gas prices. Well, now they have the opportunity to take $5 million, invest it in BOEMRE, and have the opportunity to create 230,000 jobs. There are 14.1 million people in this country who are actively seeking employment and cannot find it. Here we have a chance to help 230,000 of them in fiscal year 2012 alone, and we have the ability to increase our gross domestic product by $44 million. Mr. Chairman, I think that's what the American people are demanding. They want us to use our money wisely. That's what this amendment does. And I will just ask my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this. It's a job creation amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Chairman, I demand a recorded vote.

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Chairman, I have an amendment at the desk.

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Chairman, again I rise to talk about what I consider to be wise investments into the future and the stability of this great country. For the last 21 years, the North American Wetlands Conservation Act has created jobs and served as an important investment tool in our Nation's economy and for wetlands in every single State. NAWCA has been responsible for restoring over 26 million acres of wetlands, equivalent to the size of the State of Ohio. Not only did it restore over 26 million acres, it also creates nearly 7,500 jobs annually and hundreds of millions in worker earnings every year. If we look at the fiscal year 2011 appropriations with $37.5 million, it is down from $47.6 million for fiscal year 2010. This bill allocates only $20 million for fiscal year '12, a cut of 47 percent from fiscal year '11 levels and 58 percent from fiscal year '10 levels. Here is the important point, Mr. Chairman: The law requires that each Federal dollar put into the program be matched by $1 in non-Federal funds. Because the competition for these dollars is so great, on average, each Federal dollar is matched 3 to 1. Mr. Chairman, over and over again I keep saying that the American people are looking for us to spend money in this great country, where we get a return on our investment. Now we have another program where, for every dollar we spend on this program, the American people get $3. That's what we should be doing in this time of great economic hardship. I am asking my colleagues on the other side to look at where we're spending money in this bill and put money where we're going to get a good return on our investment, we're going to create jobs, and at the same time we're going to preserve and restore our wetlands. That, Mr. Chairman, I think, is the responsible thing to do, the wise thing to do, and I would encourage all of my colleagues to support it. I would now yield to the gentleman from Illinois.

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Chairman, in closing, I would just say that this is another one of my small attempts to make an awful bill just a little bit better, and I would encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support the amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Madam Speaker, I rise today to thank President Obama and the administration for recognizing how important Louisiana wetlands are not only to Louisiana citizens but also to the country. President Obama put $35.8 million into his budget for coastal restoration projects in Louisiana. Madam Speaker, I also rise today to implore the Republican leadership to right the wrong in zeroing out the money that the President put in for our coastal restoration. The Federal Government has made over $150 billion through offshore oil and gas revenues, primarily from oil and gas exploration off the coast of Louisiana. Louisiana has lost 25 square miles of coastal wetlands every year, or one football field every hour. More than 80 percent of the Nation's offshore oil and gas is produced off Louisiana's coast, and 25 percent of the Nation's foreign and domestic oil comes ashore on Louisiana roads and waterways. The coastal zone also contains the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, which handles 13 percent of the Nation's daily oil imports. Madam Speaker, I would just implore the Republican leadership to do the right thing and restore the money for Louisiana's wetlands.