Cedric Richmond

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 3490, the ``Strengthening State and Local Cyber Crime Fighting Act''. H.R. 3490 amends the Homeland Security Act of 2002 to authorize the National Computer Forensics Institute, or NCFI, as operated by the U.S. Secret Service to educate and train State, local, tribal, and territorial law enforcement officers, prosecutors, and judges about techniques and procedures related to the investigation and prevention of cyber, electronic, and information security crimes, including threats or acts of terrorism. The training model used at the Institute is based upon the Secret Service's successful cyber investigative strategy, which relies on partnering with and sharing information between academia, private industry and law enforcement to combat the ever-evolving threat of cyber crime. This bipartisan measure, authored by the Chairman of the Committee's Cybersecurity Subcommittee Chairman, the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Ratcliffe, does a couple of important things. First, to ensure that the important work of the NCFI continues, it authorizes this federally funded training center, which has operated in Hoover, Alabama since 2008, in the Homeland Security Act. Second, it seeks to raise the quality of cyber forensic training provided throughout the Department of Homeland Security by directing the NCFI to seek opportunities to coordinate with the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC), including by helping to ensure that such training reflects timely, actionable, and relevant expertise in homeland security information related to cyber and electronic crime and related threats. Lastly, it directs the Secret Service to expand its network of Electronic Crime Task Forces through the addition of task force officers, prosecutors, and judges educated and trained at the Institute, in addition to academia and private sector stakeholders. For these reasons, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to, of course, extend my heartfelt condolences to the victims of terrorism in Paris. But what I also want to do, because I take my membership in this august body seriously, is to make sure that we are not fostering the perception that Black lives don't matter. If we look at the Global Terrorism Index, published by the Institute for Economics and Peace, we would see that Boko Haram has killed 6,644 people last year; 77 percent of them who were private citizens. On the other hand, ISIL has killed 6,073; 44 percent of them were private citizens. I just want to take a moment and highlight over the last 2 months the terrorism that has been going on in Nigeria, Cameroon, and Chad. Just this Wednesday, 15 people were killed at a mobile phone market with a bombing; 34 people were killed with a bombing at a fruit and vegetable market; 4 people were bombed at a mosque; and 3 people were bombed at a mosque on November 9. And in October, more of the same. October 23, 11 people were bombed at a mosque; and October 14, 42 people killed at a mosque. Mr. Speaker, I say this to just highlight the fact that terrorism is plaguing communities all across this world. We should make sure that we, as the United States Congress, highlight all of those communities and express our condolences and seek to create peace all around this country.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the Dallas Texans U-14 on their success in World Youth Cup of 2015. The United States sent 43 teams to compete at this year's Gothia Cup, the world's largest and most international youth football tournament. The Gothia Cup prides itself on its participants' diversity and understands football as a global, unifying force. The Dallas Texans U- 14 team, one of 215 teams competing in the U-14 boy's age group, was the only winner from the United States this year. In the final play off, the Dallas Texans won 3- 0. There were 38 countries represented in the U-14 age bracket. The Dallas Texans won 9 games over the course of 6 days. The boys on the Dallas Texans U-14 team were Logan Brown, Triston Edgington, Evan Hu, Anthony Perea, Seth Weprin, Omar Thompson Jr., Donovan Praslin, Arthur Ramirez, Tristan Robles, Noah Adames, Matthew Santos, Caleb Young, Benedict Lube, Cade York, Jorge Amaya-Gonzalez, Andrew Moore, and Joseph McGee. They are represented by their coach Hassan Nazari. When the Gothia Cup started in 1975, it included 275 teams from 5 nations. In 2015, it attracted 1,754 teams from 74 nations. Overall, the Cup hosted 40,200 players. The Gothia cup has a long, rich history that continues to expand as more countries send young, active players.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Brother Herbert Harold ``Briefcase'' Simpson, exemplary Christian Brother and prominent professional baseball player in the Negro League. Brother Simpson passed away on January 7, 2015, at the age of 94. Brother Simpson was born August 29, 1920 in Algiers, Louisiana. In his early years, Brother Simpson attended New Orleans public city schools where he played semi-pro baseball with the Algiers Giants while still in high school. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the military and served in the United States Army. During World War II, Brother Simpson served in General Patton's Third Army Red Ball Express. He was also the only African-American player on a baseball team that played in the Battle League. After his honorary discharge, Brother Simpson played professional baseball in the Negro League for the next decade. Earning the nickname, ``Briefcase,'' he was selected to play in Hawaii as a member of the all-star team called the All Star Cincinnati Crescents. Brother Simpson displayed great courage and perseverance when he integrated two minor league teams, the Seattle Steelheads and the Albuquerque Dukes. Brother Simpson returned to his hometown where he played semi-pro baseball with the New Orleans Creoles while working for the New Orleans Parish School Board for 20 years and the State of Louisiana for ten years. Brother Simpson later became Deacon of the First Free Mission Baptist Church of Algiers. Brother Simpson's dedication to community extended beyond his Deacon duties. He was a member of Pride of Algiers Lodge #102 Free and Accepted Mason, Prince Hall Affiliation where recently Brother Simpson was honored as the society's oldest member. Mr. Speaker, I celebrate the life and legacy of Brother Herbert Harold Simpson, a soft-spoken man remembered for his faith and humility, and for his dedication to life-long civic and community service. His service and professional athletic achievements contribute significantly to our city's rich history.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the efforts of the National WWII Museum to honor African American veterans of World War II. Most notably, I would like to commend the Museum on its outstanding exhibit, ``Fighting for the Right to Fight: African American Experiences in World War II.'' African Americans played a vital role in securing Allied victory in World War II and their service helped to preserve democratic institutions in the United States and around the world. The contributions of African Americans during wartime spanned all areas of the war effort, from military combat to domestic manufacturing. Unfortunately, the same patriotic citizens who sacrificed and risked their lives in the war effort also faced discrimination in military and civilian life. In many cases, African Americans were denied the very liberties they fought to defend. These experiences led many African American soldiers to a dual mission: to win the war and to secure freedoms at home, a movement that would come to be known as the ``Double Victory'' campaign. The modern Civil Rights Movements would rise from these historic moments during wartime. The award-winning exhibit, which opened on July 4, 2015, is a landmark contribution that displays the foundational work by twentieth century African Americans to seek comprehensive social change. The exhibit will remain at the National World War II Museum until May 2016, when it will begin a two-year tour of museums around the country. The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Veterans Braintrust, supported by President Obama and the First Lady, distinguished the efforts of the National WWII Museum with the 2015 Veterans Braintrust Award. Mr. Speaker, I applaud the National WWII Museum for their leadership and recognition of the tireless contributions from all Americans during times of war. The unwavering dedication of African Americans to protecting America's values of freedom and liberty is an example for all citizens.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise in support of H.R. 3510. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the chairman of the subcommittee, Mr. Ratcliffe. I want to thank the chairman of the full committee, Mr. McCaul, and the ranking member of the full committee, Mr. Thompson, who all signed on and support this legislation. H.R. 3510, the Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity Strategy Act of 2015, will require the Secretary of Homeland Security to develop a comprehensive strategy and implementation plan for carrying out its diverse and complex cyber and information security missions. Today the Department of Homeland Security is not only responsible for working with Federal agencies to protect Federal civilian networks, but also for helping to bolster information security within the private sector, principally through the National Cybersecurity and Communications Integration Center. It also plays a major role in information security research and development, cyber crime investigations, and international engagement with cybersecurity partners. My bill requires DHS to put in place a strategy that includes necessary strategic and operational goals for executing the Secretary's broad responsibilities. In September, the inspector general issued a report highlighting the need for such strategy. The report, entitled ``DHS Can Strengthen Its Cyber Mission Coordination Efforts,'' found that intradepartmental coordination was lacking and recommended that the Department develop a comprehensive cross-departmental strategic implementation plan that defines each component's cyber missions and responsibilities. The Department operates frontline programs that protect this Nation from manmade and natural disasters. With cyber threats increasingly at the forefront today, it is essential that all of the Department's day- to-day programs, policies, and activities are effective and meeting its multi-layered cybersecurity responsibilities. As the lead Federal agency responsible for securing Federal civilian networks and as the vital cyber information-sharing partner to national critical infrastructures, it is crucial that the Department have a comprehensive and achievable strategic plan in place. Mr. Speaker, in recent years, Congress has provided significant resources to the Department to expand its cyber operations and workforce. A lot of money has been spent to respond to cyber events and persistent information security threats. We must make sure our investments in operational plans and research and development are technically achievable and transparent where they can be. Fundamentally, my bill seeks to ensure that the Department takes a measurable, strategic posture that can be a model for others and to help protect our Nation's vulnerable information security networks. I ask for my colleagues' support. I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Paul S. Devrouax, New Orleans native and leading architect in Washington, DC. Mr. Devrouax passed away on March 22, 2010, at the age of 67. Mr. Devrouax was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1942. He studied architecture at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana where he graduated in 1966. Mr. Devrouax was drafted into the United States Army and was promoted to Sergeant in the 6th Armored Cavalry Regiment. He first came to Washington, DC after his unit was deployed in the wake of riots after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. In the decades that followed, Mr. Devrouax returned to the nation's capital and helped rebuild the blighted city. He founded Devrouax + Purnell, an African-American architectural firm. In 1986, Mr. Devrouax designed Frank D. Reeves Municipal Building which initiated the revitalization of the historic U Street neighborhood. Mr. Devrouax was a trailblazer in the architectural field in Washington, DC. The Pepco Headquarters became the first building in downtown Washington designed by an African-American architectural firm. Mr. Devrouax also worked on many of the city's recent landmarks, including the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, the Verizon Center, the Nationals Stadium, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. His passion for his profession and his community spurred him to mentor young architectural students. Mr. Devrouax's legacy will forever be a part of the city and his dedication to community embodies the spirit of New Orleans. Stories like his will inspire generations of Americans to pursue their dreams. Mr. Speaker, I celebrate the life and legacy of Mr. Devrouax, a beloved father, and example to aspiring entrepreneurs everywhere.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise to speak in support of H.R. 3102. Last year we learned that airport employees used their access to the secure areas of airports to bypass screening to smuggle weapons and drugs onto commercial flights. In response, then-Acting Administrator Melvin Carraway requested that TSA's stakeholder advisory committee, the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, take on the challenge of evaluating airport access controls and come up with approaches to address security vulnerabilities. In April, the ASAC issued a thoughtful report with 28 recommendations designated to mitigate threats and risks associated with airport access controls. Congress approved legislation in December 2014 to codify ASAC in law in the hopes that it would result in better aviation security policymaking at TSA. We envisioned a process in which various stakeholders throughout the aviation community were able to come together and address security issues affecting the industry. In this instance, the process worked as envisioned, and TSA is making sure and steady progress towards addressing many of the recommendations. I believe that, by advancing this bill today, we will send a message to TSA and aviation stakeholders that we have a strong interest in raising the bar when it comes to securing our Nation's airports. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I simply reiterate that the committee remains interested in raising the level of security within our Nation's airports. As such, we will continue to track TSA's efforts at bolstering access controls and addressing the ASAC's recommendations. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Willie Mae Seaton, longtime owner of Willie Mae's Scotch House in New Orleans. Ms. Seaton passed away on September 18, 2015, at the age of 99. Ms. Seaton was born in Crystal Springs, Mississippi, and moved to New Orleans during World War II with her husband who worked at the Higgins Shipyard. For several years she drove a taxi, worked at a dry cleaner, and was a licensed beautician. Ms. Seaton's true ambition, however, was to own a bar. In 1957, Ms. Seaton turned her corner beauty shop into Willie Mae's Scotch House where it quickly became a neighborhood favorite. While cooking out of the bar's kitchen, patrons encouraged her to open a restaurant. Famous for its fried chicken, Ms. Seaton ran her business for decades. Ms. Seaton represented everything that is great about New Orleans. She had a wonderful spirit and always greeted everyone who came to visit her restaurant with warmth and love. To this day, Willie Mae's is among the best fried chicken you will ever find. In fact, when President Obama visited New Orleans for the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, we ate at Willie Mae's. Ms. Seaton was named an America's Classic by the James Beard Foundation in May 2005. Later that year, the floods that followed post- Katrina levee failure destroyed Willie Mae's Scotch House and Ms. Seaton's home next door. A testament to her impact on the New Orleans community, waves of volunteers helped to rebuild her neighborhood restaurant. New Orleans will not be the same without her, but her legacy will forever be a part of the city. Her story of turning her small beauty shop into a world-renowned establishment exemplifies the spirit of New Orleans. Stories like hers will show generations of Americans that if we work hard, our dreams can become a reality. Mr. Speaker, I celebrate the life and legacy of Ms. Seaton, a beloved mother, grandmother, and example to African-American entrepreneurs everywhere.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Reverend Joseph C. Profit, Jr., a pastor of Stronger Hope Baptist Church, who passed away on September 4, 2015, at the age of 80. Reverend Profit dedicated fifty years to the Stronger Hope Baptist Church and was a leading civil rights activist in New Orleans. He served as the fifth president of the Ideal Missionary Baptist and Educational Association, Inc. and Regional Vice President of the Louisiana Baptist State Convention. Rev. Profit also participated in the Baptist World Alliance in Stockholm, Sweden, as a delegate. After Hurricane Katrina, Rev. Profit was a leader in rebuilding New Orleans--physically and spiritually. Although he evacuated to San Antonio, Texas, Reverend Profit drove to New Orleans every other weekend to hold service, and finally in 2008, he completely rebuilt The Stronger Hope Baptist Church with the help of his loyal congregation. The Church sits on the corner of South Galvez and First Street, where it has rested since 1937. To honor Reverend Profit, who was a vital asset to the New Orleans community of faith, we acknowledge the importance of faith and culture in resilience. To commemorate Rev. Profit and his irreplaceable legacy, we remember his life-long contribution to the city of New Orleans and we strive to continue his messages of faith, hope, and unity. Mr. Speaker, as a beneficiary of Reverend Profit's courage, dedication and undying faith, I celebrate his life and legacy, because he has made America a more perfect union.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Calvin George Moret, the last surviving Louisiana member of the Tuskegee Airmen, a group of African-American pilots who fought in World War II and were the first African-American pilots in the United States military. Mr. Moret passed away on September 12, 2015, at the age of 90. Mr. Moret entered the military in 1943 and trained as a military pilot at Tuskegee, Alabama, receiving his wings and commission as a Flight Officer on November 20, 1944. His preparation for overseas combat duty continued through the end of the war in Europe and then through the end of the war in the Pacific. He was discharged from military service on January 31, 1946. Following his discharge from military duty he returned to the family printing business, Moret Press. To help the family business Moret needed to look outside of New Orleans for school, because segregation laws prohibited him from studying at Delgado Trade School. He was able to gain admission to the printing department at Southern University in Baton Rouge and completed the course. Mr. Moret's flying experience did not stop upon discharge from the military. In the spring of 1949, he and his brother Adolph, who had learned to fly before the war, formed a flying club. Along with twenty other men, they purchased a 3-place Piper Super Cruiser airplane and hangered it at Lakefront Airport in New Orleans until the summer of 1953, where they introduced members to the miracle of human flight. On June 17, 2008, as a result of Hurricane Katrina and the flooding aftermath that decimated the city, Moret Press was destroyed and the family was separated for months. The business has not operated since the Friday before the hurricane struck. Following the release of ``The Tuskegee Airmen'' movie in 1995, Mr. Moret frequently lectured about his experiences and promoting the proud history of African-American accomplishments in American life. In 2007, Mr. Moret was present when he Tuskegee Airmen received the Congressional Gold Medal in the rotunda of the Capitol. Mr. Moret was a trailblazer, clearing the path for countless men and women of color to enter the military and fight to defend their country. He will be sorely missed by his family, his friends, and all of those who are able to pursue their dreams because of his courage. His memory will serve an inspiration for generations to come. Mr. Speaker, as a beneficiary of Mr. Moret's courage, commitment and sacrifice, I celebrate his life and legacy, because he has made America a more perfect union.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the life of Alice Marie Thompson, a civil rights icon and Freedom Rider, who passed away on August 24, 2015. Alice was born on September 25, 1939, the sixth of eight children, born to Cora Mae Atlas and John Henry Thompson, Sr. and was the granddaughter of Susie Lee and Louis Balfour Atlas, Sr. and Alice Piercey and Norah Thompson. In 1944, Alice and her family moved from Lake Providence to New Orleans' Ninth Ward. Alice attended Lockett, V.C. Jones, McCarthy, and Joseph S. Clark schools and graduated from George Washington Carver High School in 1959. She later attended and graduated from Southern University in New Orleans with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences. Alice worked for many years as a social worker until her retirement in 2002. Between 1959 and 1960, Alice, and her sisters Jean and Shirley, became members of the Youth Council of the New Orleans branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The Thompson Sisters, as they famously became known, soon sought more direct action, and in 1960 joined the New Orleans chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) under the leadership of Rudy Lombard and later Oretha Castle Haley. Alice was active in countless pickets, sit-ins, and sit downs. She integrated a number of high-profile public places in the city, including McCrory's, Woolworths, the Loews Theater, and the City Hall Cafeteria. In 1961, when the Interstate Commerce Commission outlawed segregation on buses, terminals, restrooms, restaurants, Alice's CORE members began testing the ruling throughout the Deep South. Their first test was in New Orleans at the Trailways bus terminal on Tulane Avenue. Alice and her comrades faced violence, intimidation and even imprisonment. In Poplarville, Mississippi, Alice was arrested and charged with breach of peace. She was placed in the same cell that Mack Charles Parker was placed in, taken from, and beaten two years earlier. In McComb, Mississippi, she and her fellow riders were viciously beaten. Alice volunteered for numerous projects during the U.S. Civil Rights Movement such as Mississippi and Louisiana Freedom Summer, and was present at the historic March on Washington on August 28, 1963. Alice was honored for her work by the State of Mississippi, the City of New Orleans, and by Oprah Winfrey during her show commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Riders. In addition to her courageous civil rights advocacy, Alice was active in her community. She was one of the founding members of the Southern Organization for the Unified Leadership (SOUL), a founding member of the Lower Ninth Ward Development Association, an organizer of the New Orleans Health Corporation, and an organizer of the Copeland- Sanchez Center in the Lower Ninth Ward. Alice loved to have a good time. She was always a centerpiece of family gatherings. With her signature beer in hand, she could always be seen recounting hilarious stories of her life and times, especially things that happened while she was in the Civil Rights Movement. She will be sorely missed by her family, her friends, and all of those who benefitted from her life's work--to bring freedom to all Americans. Mr. Speaker, as a beneficiary of the courage, commitment and sacrifice of Alice Thompson, I celebrate her life and legacy, because she made America a more perfect union.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. I thank the gentleman from Louisiana (Mr. Scalise), who represents the neighboring district from me in part of the metropolitan area of New Orleans. Let me just start off by saying something about New Orleans and the people of New Orleans. Now, the people of New Orleans are a very, very resilient people, and it started from the beginning of the history of New Orleans up until today. We started off--you can go back to 1788, when there was a fire in New Orleans that burned 856 of the 1,100 buildings that made up New Orleans. So that was 80 percent of the city burned. Then 6 years later another 212 buildings burned. But the good thing about the people of New Orleans is that we always pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and continue to do the work to rebuild and make a better life. Then you can go to 1853, when we had a yellow fever outbreak and epidemic. In 1853, almost 8,000 people died of yellow fever. And if you look at the time between 1853 and 1905, 41,000 people in the city of New Orleans lost their lives due to yellow fever. But again the city picked itself up, dusted itself off, and worked to make a better New Orleans. Then fast-forward to 1965. That was the year that Hurricane Betsy devastated the city of New Orleans. That was the first storm to rack up a cost of $1 billion in damage. And then, of course, I will talk about Hurricanes Katrina and Rita that hit New Orleans and devastated the entire Gulf Coast, but significantly damaged New Orleans. Let me just say for the record, even after we picked ourselves up and dusted ourselves off and started to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, a few years later then comes the BP oil spill. And again the people of New Orleans--we picked ourselves up, dusted ourselves off, and we started to create a better New Orleans and a better Louisiana. Now, going back to Hurricane Katrina, which my good friend Steve Scalise already talked about, the total loss of life in Hurricane Katrina was over 1,800 people, and 1,577 of those people were from Louisiana. Let me just break down some of the causes of death: 40 percent of the deaths were caused by drowning; 25 percent by injury and trauma; and heart conditions caused another 11 percent. If you remember the devastation and destruction on the TVs that covered it, you will understand the anxiety that the people that were down there suffered. Let me take a second before I go into some of the other statistics to just say many people always say that Hurricane Katrina was the largest natural disaster in the history of the United States. Well, I appreciate the sentiment. But, factually, that is just not correct. Hurricane Katrina was the result of a manmade disaster combined with a natural disaster. The Army Corps of Engineers had great notice that the levees that protected New Orleans and the metropolitan area were not sufficient. When the storm hit, the levees washed away. Then there was something called the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet, which we call MRGO. It was designed by the Corps of Engineers to allow ship traffic to the great Port of New Orleans all the way up to America's heartland. It was designed to be almost 100 yards wide to allow ship traffic. By the time Katrina hit, almost 30, 40 years after it was built, it was not 100 yards wide anymore. It was almost a mile wide in its largest sections. And that water coming out of the Gulf of Mexico caused a lot of the devastation. So I wanted to clear up the fact that this was not a natural disaster. It had a large part to do with mankind having their hand in it and inadequate building by the Corps of Engineers. Before I finish and yield back to Congressman Scalise, let me also say that, when Katrina hit, although the government response was lacking, the American people stood up, recognized the situation, and opened their hearts to the people of Louisiana, the people of Mississippi, and some of the people of Texas. Baton Rouge alone handled 300,000 to 400,000 displaced individuals from the New Orleans area. Houston, Texas, handled right around 250,000 people in terms of bringing them into shelters and other places so that they could be safe and have some housing. Now you still have 111,000 people in Houston that are from the greater New Orleans area. I remember traveling to Houston after the storm and going to the shelters and watching the extraordinary work of Sheila Jackson Lee and Al Green to provide for New Orleans and New Orleans-area evacuees. 100,000 evacuees in Atlanta, in shelters and in homes, with Hank Johnson and the Honorable John Lewis helping. Now Atlanta still is home to 70,000. San Antonio, Texas, held almost 35,000 people at the time of the storm, and now they still hold 15,000 to 18,000. Then that brings me to Birmingham which right after the storm housed 20,000 people, and now they house in between 1,500 to 13,000. So the magnitude of this storm was great. I just want to cover the population decrease. And then the other things with Hurricane Katrina I will cover more in depth with my good friend and colleague from Mississippi, Bennie Thompson, whose district was also impacted. But I will just say the population of New Orleans was 484,000 before Katrina. Right after Katrina it was right around 230,000 people. And that is a decrease of almost half of the city's population. So when you look at that damage and you look at the fact that we lost 134,000 housing units, 70 percent of all occupied housing units of the city, you will understand the magnitude and the depth of the devastation that our district suffered. But once again the people of New Orleans and the people of Louisiana--we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and we start building a better New Orleans and a better future. However, we still have many needs. We still have many things that we need to right that didn't go right during the storm. But, as of now, I just wanted to talk about how resilient the people of New Orleans were during the storm and the outpouring of love from the rest of the country.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I want to just thank my colleagues from Louisiana for also talking about the devastation that we received in hurricanes, both Katrina and Rita, which we call the ``sister hurricanes'' because they were only separated by a couple of days and what damage that Hurricane Katrina caused. Just a few days later, Hurricane Rita came right behind it and exacerbated that damage. Let me just hit on a few of the misperceptions of Katrina. Well, actually, since I have had a little time and I want to make sure that everyone involved has a chance to have time to speak on this, I yield to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Thompson), my good friend, who at the time was chair of the Homeland Security Committee, who made sure that some of the deficiencies in FEMA and some of the other places that caused us undue headaches during the rebuilding, that those headaches were relieved a little bit or eased a little bit because of the hard work of Bennie Thompson, whose State also incurred some damage.

Mr. RICHMOND. I thank the gentleman. Mr. Speaker, let me inquire as to how much time I have remaining.

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, before I get into some of the misconceptions and perceptions that still remain from Katrina, let me just finish where the gentleman from Mississippi left off. In its aftermath and the rescue and recovery, one of the shining stars during Hurricane Katrina was the United States Coast Guard. They did a phenomenal job, both day and night, in rescuing people with helicopters and boats and everything at their disposal. They didn't care if they were tired, and they didn't care if they were hungry. They just did the job that they should have done just like most of our servicemen. They were the shining stars. I mentioned earlier that one of the perceptions that is just inaccurate about Katrina was that it was a natural disaster. It is not just me who will call it a manmade disaster. In 2009, Judge Duval ruled that the Federal Government was liable for the damage related to MRGO because the canal's original purpose was navigation. That decision was affirmed, and then it was overturned by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. However, on May 1, 2015, a Federal claims judge, Susan Braden, ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers is liable for damages resulting from flooding during Katrina again and that the damage caused in both St. Bernard Parish, which is not in my district, and the lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, which is in my district, was that the Army Corps of Engineers was responsible and liable for the damage caused to their homes because the Coast Guard was responsible for the increased storm surge and flooding during Hurricane Katrina and that the Army Corps knew that their failure could have that effect. So Judge Braden has ordered that the Federal Government, more specifically, the Justice Department, enter into settlement negotiations with the attorneys of those residents in both the lower Ninth Ward and St. Bernard Parish. I would just continue to urge the Federal Government to step up to do that because it is the right thing to do. Some of the other things that I just want to spend a quick moment in correcting are that, after the storm, there was violence in the streets and people were shooting at the rescue boats. That was just absolutely untrue. As I tout the success of the Coast Guard, I have to now question and criticize the effort of both the Red Cross and our National Guard. In the days after Katrina, there were Red Cross buses on the side of the highway that lined from New Orleans all the way to Baton Rouge because the buses were scared to go into New Orleans because it was dangerous. The Red Cross and the National Guard had 18-wheelers and military trucks full of water that were designated to go into New Orleans, but they were on the side of the interstate opposite the buses because they thought it was too dangerous to go into New Orleans. Well, Mr. Speaker, I just want to tell you, while the National Guard, the Red Cross, and others were scared to go into New Orleans, I myself, with another council member, Oliver Thomas at the time, was driving a minivan into New Orleans filled with water with no security, no protection, and the only thing we encountered were grateful people who were looking for some help, some water, some food, and some direction as to how and when this recovery would start. What I don't want is people to look at New Orleans and remember back to those days and just believe the misinformation about all of those other things. While I am correcting that, let me also touch on why people didn't leave. Many people have said people just chose not to leave for various reasons, they didn't know better. All of that is absolutely untrue, also. The biggest reason people didn't leave was that the warnings were weak and they were not enough notice. I remember watching the news and watching the mayor of New Orleans say: Well, I am sending my family to Dallas. If I were you, I would evacuate. Well, in moments like this, you need stern warnings and you have to be blunt. I was on the conference calls where FEMA and Red Cross said that they were sending 10,000 body bags. We knew this was the real one. It was the time to show leadership and tell people to leave the city in no uncertain terms. I remember having a conference call with Governor Blanco in which she talked about all of these things, along with the Red Cross and FEMA. By the time that it was my turn to talk, I said, ``Governor, I understand that this is the real deal. However, there are 1,500 people across the street from my house playing Little League. They don't get the benefit of hearing what you just said on this conference call.'' It was later that day and the next morning that people pushed, but it was only a day out from the storm. And then we never talked about the expenses associated with evacuating once or twice in the city, packing your family up, driving to another city, paying for a hotel, feeding your family, and then coming back. When that happens over and over again and they were false alarms, if you don't give them the stern warning when you know it is the real one, you know some people won't leave. The last part of it is we came up with a bad idea of using shelters that were in harm's way. We had thousands of people in the Louisiana Superdome that is located in New Orleans. Well, the Superdome was right in harm's way. One of the other perceptions--and you actually heard it tonight--was that the new New Orleans has a great school system that has turned around education in this urban setting, and the truth of the matter is it is a work in progress at best. The State came in and took over most of our schools, all but maybe five or six of them. Out of those 57 schools that they took over, seven are B schools, no A schools, 20 are C schools, and 24 are D and F schools. We still have some work to do in the area of education. We have made some improvements, but we have kids now that are being bused and staying on the bus almost 2 hours to get to a school in the morning and 2 hours in the evening. That is not a system that we want. Our good schools don't have attendance zones, and it has become a maze in order to apply and to get into our better schools. Those are things that can be fixed if everybody is willing to come to the table and figure out the best way to do it and not look at everyone who has suggestions or criticisms of the school system as being an enemy. Public education: Even if you look at the Brown v. Board of Education decision years ago, 50, 75 years ago, that decision came about because the Justices talked about how an education is important to being a good citizen, thriving, and being a success. Because of that, we should spend more time in working to make sure that the New Orleans public school system is a system that educates all of the kids. Whether you are Black or White, whether you are poor or rich, whether you live in a great neighborhood or whether you live in a bad neighborhood, every kid should have the opportunity to succeed. The other thing that people see a lot now, whether we are hosting a Super Bowl, the Final Four, or the Sugar Bowl, people assume that the city is back because the areas that they cover on TV are the areas that are back. If you look at Canal Street, Bourbon Street, and all of those areas, the Superdome, the New Orleans arena, they are back. However, there are still areas that are not back. You still have areas where homeowners are still struggling to rebuild. You can look at the lower Ninth Ward. You can look at the upper Ninth Ward. You can look at Gentilly. You can look at New Orleans East. Those areas are still fighting to recover. You can look at some of the complaints from homeowners when the Road Home process was set up. They complain that they were fingerprinted and treated like criminals during the application process in the onset of asking for government assistance. Remember, we are talking about homeowners, the most responsible people in a community, being fingerprinted and treated like criminals during the application process. Also, the Federal Government prohibited grants exceeding the value of a property. So Road Home tied its calculation to a home's prestorm value as opposed to the actual cost of rebuilding. So when you look at the 36,000 grant recipient collection letters for alleged overpayments, duplication of insurance proceeds, or failure to comply with the covenants, you see 36,000 people that are being unjustly punished by the Federal Government. I would just say that we said it very early on in the process, that using appraised value was going to harm minority communities because an appraisal is subjective, depending on where you live. So homes in the more affluent areas of New Orleans appraised a lot higher. I can just tell you, doing electrical work when I was small, doing construction work, to rebuild a 1,500-square-foot house, whether it is in Lakeview or whether it is in the lower Ninth Ward, Sheetrock, plywood, screws, and nails are all going to cost the same. Instead of using appraised value, we should have used rebuilding cost. That is just not my opinion. I will tell you that the Federal court ruled that the Road Home's method of calculating grants discriminated against African American homeowners. That was back in 2010. The problem with that ruling was that, in order for the State to stop using prestorm value to calculate Road Home grants, it was only for the future grants. By that time, a majority of the grants had already been given out. So I will just tell you that that $62 million in additional grants helped about 1,500 homeowners. Remember, we had over 100,000 properties that were damaged in the storm. So you can see the abundance of people that did not get assistance. Some of the other remaining issues with Road Home was that we still have people who need money to get back into their homes because they have an unmet need. HUD could have done something very simple to figure out where we are now, and that is to figure out what people received from their insurance company, what people received from FEMA, and what people received from Road Home. You add those up and then you figure out the cost to rebuild. If the rebuilding cost exceeds those, that is the unmet need that we need help from the government because there is money that is still available. I would say we need the Federal Government to actually take some time, investigate, and figure out how we can use the unused money to make people whole that were not made whole in the beginning. Also, let me bring up just one other thing so you can get a full idea of the picture of New Orleans. If you just look at rent, in the 9 years since Katrina, the share of people paying 50 percent of their income for rent is now 37 percent. So what you are really saying is that secure housing cost burdens 50 percent of household income, and that indicates a serious problem in housing affordability. In 2004, just to give you a reference, the share of severely cost- burdened renters in New Orleans was 24 percent. Now it is 37 percent in New Orleans. It is 26 percent nationally. That is a problem and we really need to work on it because, if you can't live in the city, you can't work in the city. This government is better than that. So the other thing I would just say is that people think we are back and we are rebuilt, and that is not the case. The other thing is that people think that we received everything we need to rebuild. I would say that Congress, the government, and the President did a great job in immediately sending down $14 billion to New Orleans and putting it in a fund, which is unheard of in Congress, to take money and just put it in a fund and say: Corps of Engineers, as you rebuild the levee, spend this money, protect New Orleans. They did it, and they did a good job of doing it. We still have outlying areas that need flood control. If you look at the cost of Katrina--and I will give you a few figures--you will see that we still have a gap. You had $150 billion in damages. Most of the Federal spending went for relief, not rebuilding. $120.5 billion in total spending. Emergency relief was 75 billion. Rebuilding funds was 45 billion. So if you look at the Federal funding, private insurance claims, and charitable giving, it still leaves a gap of about $60 billion. When you talk about a gap of $60 billion, I just want you to understand what that means. That means, in every community, every neighborhood, including mine, you will see five houses where people have come back, saved up money, and rebuilt using both insurance, savings, retirement, FEMA, government money. Then you will see a house or two that is not rebuilt at all. Then if you go down to the lower Ninth Ward, you will see one house that is rebuilt. Then you will see six or seven houses that are not rebuilt where the grass is just as high as the trees and it looks like a forest. If you are that one homeowner that took the time to come home and rebuild and you have to pass that every night, it is just not a safe situation. We, as a country, can do better than that. So what I would hope is that, as we continue the process of helping New Orleans and Louisiana recover from Katrina, that we look at the lessons learned and we find the people who still have unmet needs, we find the people that are still not back in their homes who want to be in their homes, and we figure out a way to help them. That is what HUD is for. We still have the money, and in fact, citizens and community groups--and I can think of a bunch of them, A Community Voice, Justice and Beyond--all of those groups have been asking Congress and the inspector general to do an audit and an investigation of how much funds we received, where did they go, what is left, how do we move forward and make sure that everyone who wants to come home has the ability to come home. Now, all of those things and, I think, lessons learned and misperceptions of Katrina, I think we have to take those same things and look at Sandy and all other hurricanes. What I wanted to do before we went home for a break and celebrate the 10th anniversary of Katrina is to let people know that we still have needs; we still have things we have to do to complete the recovery, but also thank Congress for what they did do. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Armand Louis Charbonnet, the Vice President of Charbonnet-Labat-Glapion Funeral Homes, who passed away on July 9, 2015, at the age 84. Mr. Charbonnet was a United States Army veteran, a lifelong Catholic, member of the Vikings Krewe, patriarch of his family, and a leader in the New Orleans community. He directed numerous funerals in New Orleans and surrounding parishes in one of the oldest continuously operating African-American funeral homes in the country. Known for its traditional jazz funerals, horse drawn glass hearses, and the famous saying ``My Soul Goes to Heaven but take my body to Charbonnet,'' Charbonnet-Labat-Glapion Funeral Homes has served Louisiana for more than 132 years. To honor Mr. Charbonnet, who was affectionately known by family and friends as ``Big Daddy,'' today we recognize the fulfillment of his mission. In commemoration of his life and achievements we strive to put the needs of others first as he did for countless families through the painful process of laying a loved one to rest.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I join my colleague and my friend, Majority Whip Steve Scalise, in advocating for and in asking our colleagues to vote today for the Steve Gleason Act. Steve's name is on it, but it is a lot bigger than Steve. If you know Steve and what he stands for, you will understand that this bill and this fight on behalf of him and his family--the fight that they have fought--benefits thousands of people in our society who really need the help. That is why last year I was happy to join in a letter with Mrs. McMorris Rodgers to CMS, asking them to change this policy. It is important to put patients first and to fix this extremely misguided and harmful Medicare regulation that has had a devastating impact on the lives of ALS patients, stroke victims, and other folks who are experiencing significant paralysis. It has really prohibited them from talking to and communicating with their families. I think Steve did a great job of expressing what Steve means to the people of New Orleans. Gleason's actions on the football field and his actions since being diagnosed with ALS really exemplify the resilience that the people of New Orleans have had after being knocked down time and time again from hurricanes and other things. But just as Steve stood up and just as the city of New Orleans stood up to help themselves, government has a responsibility to make the lives of people better and to help them help themselves, and that is what this does. I will give you Steve's words. He said: If we have a purpose in life beyond being a cog in the human machine, mine is to help inspire people. And that is pretty cool. What I would like to say today is that Steve inspired Congress to make the lives of thousands and thousands of people better; and what Steve was able to do was bring out the best of what is in this body, and that is both sides working together to make sure that we do tangible things to improve the lives of the people whom we represent. I am proud to stand here with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and enjoy the benefit of their hard work and a team effort to do this. So I would just encourage my colleagues to vote for the Steve Gleason Act.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, may I inquire from the Chair how much time remains?

Mr. RICHMOND. First I would like to thank Congressman DeSaulnier for bringing this important issue up and highlighting, one, the contribution made by the sailors; two, the challenges they faced during this ordeal; and, three, the remarkable sense of patriotism that each one of them exhibited and their desire to serve our country. Not often do we bring up things that happened 71 years ago, especially things that have not gained a lot of media attention. But the sacrifice of every man and woman in this country, whether Black, White, or otherwise, deserves recognition. So I am honored to be a part of this hour tonight, and I feel really privileged that I get a chance to talk about a few of my constituents' families that really exemplified what is best in America and what is best about the American people. So the first sailor I will start with is Ernest Joseph Gaines. He was a native of New Orleans. He enlisted in the Navy in 1942, when he was only 20 years old. Before enlisting, he worked as a helper, doing sheet metal work in a machine shop. At Port Chicago, he was a winch operator and worked loading the E.A. Bryan, one of the ships that was destroyed in the explosion at the base. At the mutiny trial, Gaines testified that he had ``a lot of trouble'' controlling the winch he was operating. After the explosion, he said he became afraid of loading ammunition because he knew he could not control the winch. And just as a side note here, there was a report of trouble with the brake on the number one winch on the E.A. Bryan before the explosion, but whether it was fixed is not known to us. The next person I would like to talk about is Martin Bordenave from New Orleans. And just think about his eagerness to show his patriotism. Mr. Speaker, he initially volunteered for the Navy in 1942 when he was 16 years old. He wanted to follow in the footsteps of his four older brothers, all of whom had enlisted in the Navy. When they discovered he was underaged, they immediately discharged him, but he immediately reenlisted in 1944 when he was of proper age. In the meantime, Bordenave worked as a painter helping his father who had a job painting houses. The ultimate thing with Bordenave, although his patriotism is remarkable, he was one of the African American soldiers that was injured in the explosion and hospitalized. Of the last two, one of which is Miller Matthews, he was born and raised in New Orleans, had 5 years of elementary education before becoming a shoeshine boy, then a busboy, and then a delivery boy, before finally becoming a longshoreman loading and unloading Mississippi riverboats for 6 years. He enlisted in the Navy in 1943 at the age of 27. Then we have Lloyd McKinney, Mr. Speaker, who was born and raised in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, which is another part of my district, where he completed 1 year of high school and then went on to work as a porter in a hotel and later as a helper in an auto repair shop. He enlisted at the age of 18 in 1942. McKinney, in the explosion, suffered lacerations from flying glass. But imagine this: he declined to be taken to the hospital because he did not want to take up space that other officers would need because they were more seriously injured. So again, Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank my colleague for really bringing up this story, which I am not ashamed to say is a story that was new to me, and I think that every day we learn more and more about our country, about the people who sacrificed to make this country great; and talking about past instances of discrimination and unfair treatment that African Americans went through, especially while serving their country, only makes this country better. It helps us share perspective and gives us the real-life experiences that others went through, which makes this country stronger, which makes this country better, and it breeds understanding and a love that makes us exceptional. With that, Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague again for letting me participate in this Special Order.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey for hosting our hour tonight, Congressman Donald Payne, who, like the old adage, is ``a chip off the old block.'' His father was an outstanding Congressman from the district who did a lot for Africa, did a lot for urban cities. I see that Congressman Payne, although in his second term, has taken up the banner and is following in his father's footsteps quite adequately. Tonight we are talking about the missing Black male. The good news and the bad news is that I found him, and we know where they are. They are incarcerated in prisons, they are in cemeteries, and they are in unemployment lines. We know where they are not. They are not in the homes, and they are not providing leadership and mentoring to our young African American male children. The question tonight, I think, why we are here and why we are talking about it is, if you can't talk about the problem and you can't identify it, then you will never get to a solution. I come from an area and I was raised by parents who always told me that you can achieve anything you want to achieve. They gave me the nurturing and the support and the push up when I needed it, and they gave me the swift kick in the rump when I needed that, also. That is where we are. I had prepared remarks, and I will defer to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Payne) on how he wants to go. But I think there are things that we can learn, and I think there are things that we should focus on when we talk about the schools, the prison pipeline, when we talk about youth summer employment. You know, it is amazing that we never, ever talk about it, but some of the kids in some of our neighborhoods should get the Congressional Gold Medal just for showing up at school every day, because what they go through when they get home from school and all night until it is time to come to school again are conditions that we shouldn't have children living in. The good news is that we can overcome all of that by doing criminal justice reform and providing another chance for kids and for parents who are incarcerated. I had a juvenile court judge a long time ago write an essay and tell me a story about the fact that there are so many parents that are in jail, but the children are doing the time. And we have to make sure that children are not paying for the sins of their parents. That is where society will come in, and that is why I thank the gentleman. And I have more stuff, and it is just you would like to go forward, Mr. Congressman. Well, I think it is worthwhile to probably go into a little bit of my story, which is a little bit different from your story. And I think it is important for kids around the country and some of our colleagues to know it. My mother is from the poorest place in America. She had 15 brothers and sisters. My grandmother was a housekeeper. So the family pulled together to take care of the 15 children. My mother finished high school, and she went to college at Southern University. My father, on the other hand--my grandfather owned a funeral home, owned a farm, and was very well-to-do. My mother went to Southern University, sharing a jacket with her sister. My father went to Southern University with a brand-new deuce-and-a-quarter car because my grandfather didn't want him walking around his college campus with a bad heart. They meet. They get married. They have two boys, and I am the youngest. My father dies when I was 7 years old of a heart attack while I was home. And I don't say that to say I grew up without a father figure and times were hard, because I missed my father and I missed out on the love and the nurturing, but I had a mother who was there every step of the way as a public schoolteacher. Then I had a grandfather and two grandmothers who stepped in to also give me guidance. But one of the biggest factors in me developing into what I am today is the fact that I lived across the street from a public playground that was well funded. So my mother, who was the teacher, and my grandfather and grandmother who lived in Mississippi, and my other grandmother who lived in Lake Providence, the message was the same: Go home from school; do your homework; and then go across the street to the playground so that you could participate in organized sports. That became very, very important because those men that coached me were role models. They didn't know it, and I didn't know it. But I can remember them saying: Cedric, you are too talented. You need to be a little more serious. You need to get focused. They would do the same thing my parents would do, which was give me a push when I needed it and give me a swift kick in the butt when I needed it. And they led me to do and push myself to achieve things that I never thought I could achieve. But we don't have that anymore. We have decimated the funding for after-school programs. We have decimated the funding for recreation in our urban cities. We have decimated the funding for public schools and the athletics and the extracurricular activities that go along with them. I am not sure about your life, Congressman Payne, but those activities expose kids to things they never thought that they would ever, ever realize. Exposure is very, very good when a mind is developing. I don't know if you had those same experiences when you were growing up.

Mr. RICHMOND. Well, Congressman, I would tell you, except that, you know, I won't go into any incident that I have had with law enforcement. Let's just stipulate and agree that there have been many, and each one has made me a better person, some of which were warranted and some of which were unwarranted. I will say we have raised an interesting question. And your last comment, I think, when you described your story with your parents, I think, shows how separate all of these issues are, but then how whole they are at the same time. Because one of the things that many people don't talk about--and I wish our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, we could stop talking at one another and talk to one another--is that the issue of parental lead is so important because, as a bus driver once told our leader, every day she sees a parent coming to put their kid on the bus with tears in their eyes because they know that that child is sick and they should be home with that child, but they absolutely cannot lose a day's pay because they won't be able to feed that kid or pay the rent or pay to keep the lights on at the end of the month. Those are very real circumstances. You have to believe that as America, as the United States of America, as the greatest country on Earth, the exceptional country that we are, we are better than that. We are better than making a parent put that kid on the schoolbus going to school sick because they can't afford to lose a day's work. Let me just give you these statistics in Louisiana, because I don't want people to get the impression that it is just urban or it is just single-parent families. The Jesuit community at Loyola University in Louisiana did a study. One out of three two-parent households in Louisiana is economically insecure. Four out of five single-parent households, that is 80 percent of the single-parent households in Louisiana, are economically insecure. We have to do better than that. Raising the minimum wage raises 14 million people out of poverty the day the President would sign the law. Those things are important. What do those things have to do with the African American male? Well, the young African American male has parents. Too often, it is just a single mother raising that family. And we have to make sure that they have the means and ability to make sure that that kid can eat every day, because you absolutely cannot learn in school if you are hungry or if you have had a night where you are sleeping in a car or you don't have heat and all of those things. I think, as a Congress, we ought to come together and look at those very specific issues.

Mr. RICHMOND. I am glad you brought up the monetary aspect of it because, look, Morehouse College, accounting major, I get numbers, and I get the concern that we have about the budget, the deficit and the national debt. The other thing that I know from my basic accounting classes is that we shouldn't talk about spending as the only criteria for how we judge things. The conversation in D.C. should be about return on investment. Anything that gives us greater than a 1 to 1 return, then we can use whatever is greater than 1 to pay down the debt and the deficit and get us to a more balanced country. Let me give you an exact example. You used Head Start, early childhood education. You get a 9 to 1 return on every dollar that you spend. Now, I am not chairman of Ways and Means; I am not over the Budget Committee; I am not on Appropriations, but in my simple household, when I was young, I knew that $9 was greater than $1, and that if you spend $1 and you could get $9 back, you could do great things with that extra $9, like spend $4 of it on reducing the debt, spend another $5 on other programs that would give kids the opportunity to reach their full development, to also reduce crime, which means not only do you have less people incarcerated, but you have less victims of crime. When we start evaluating the programs that we are talking about, that is what we need to focus on. In Louisiana, when I was in the legislature, we paid around $9,000 a year to our public schools to educate each kid, and we were spending about $45,000 a year to incarcerate a juvenile. Now, in my public school education, that $45,000 is far greater than that $9,000, and it just doesn't make sense. As we talk about the $6 billion that we spend on incarcerating juveniles in this country--any given day, we have 70,000 juveniles that are in jail--$6 billion. We could spend that money in better places to do better things to make the country safer and to help them reach their potential. That is why I am glad that we are having this conversation tonight because it is about not just complaining about the problem, but identifying it and figuring out a way to solve it. I think that both sides could come together to try to solve this problem because, hey, victims of crime are victims of crime, and we should do everything we can to reduce that number. Also, we need to get back to what I thought and still do think makes this country the greatest country on Earth, is the fact that we care and we love our neighbors and we want to see them do well. If we really want to see them do well, then let's invest in those things. Let's put our money where our mouth is, and let's do the things that we know we can do. If anybody is interested in really having that conversation, I know that both of us and the entire Black Caucus, we are willing to engage in that conversation. It is not all about spending money, but it is about spending it where you get a return and helping families be a family unit to nurture and push kids to achieve everything they can and give them that swift kick in the butt when they need it to achieve that also. I just want to thank you, Congressman, for allowing me to participate in this Special Order Hour tonight to talk about an amazing--well, not an amazing problem, but an incredible problem that this country faces and the fact that we have the leadership to help solve that problem. Mr. Speaker, I believe in the adage, ``Education is the only sure way for many children to escape poverty.'' Creating Opportunity for Our Young Men and Boys Invest in our economy and infrastructure, 21st century manufacturing, job training, and raise the minimum wage. More investments in summer jobs, summer recreation, and summer community service. Criminal Justice Reforms to help give our young men a second chance after mistakes made Better training for our police forces on cultural sensitivity and proper respect for our communities. End the school to prison pipeline--pass my bill (see separate section). youth opportunity legislation To help ensure a strong, coordinated effort to give schools the tools they need to be schools instead of ``pipelines to prison,'' and do more to build habits that will lead to success in the future, I have introduced the Student Disciplinary Fairness Act of 2015 and the Youth Summer Jobs and Public Service Act of 2015. Juveniles that have been incarcerated are much more likely to become criminals later in life and much less likely to achieve economic success but providing employment opportunity increases the likelihood of favorable outcomes. All of us who care about building strong, prosperous communities must do everything we can to ensure that involving our youth in the criminal justice system is used as a last resort, not as a routine first response. We must make smart investments in our youth so that they can be present and visible in society and the 21st century economy.

Mr. RICHMOND

Mr. RICHMOND. If the gentleman does not assert the point of order now, then what I will do is just wrap up and ask unanimous consent to withdraw my amendment.

Mr. RICHMOND. I was going to close and use the remaining time and then withdraw the amendment.