Jan Schakowsky

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1022) reducing maternal mortality both at home and abroad, as amended.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of House Resolution 1022, which is aimed at reducing maternal mortality, both at home and abroad. As an original cosponsor of this resolution and a member of the Women's Caucus, I am proud to speak out in support of its passage. This week begins an entire week of maternal mortality awareness events. During this week, women from abroad will provide firsthand accounts of horrific maternal health challenges they've faced. Globally, it is estimated that 15 percent of pregnancies and child births involve unpredictable and often life-threatening complications that require emergency care. What makes this statistic so staggering is that nearly all of these situations are preventable. Even more astounding is the fact that the United States ranks a staggering 41st among 171 countries in a United Nations list ranking infant mortality. We can and we must do a better job. The resolution before us affirms our commitment to promoting maternal mortality and child survival, both at home and abroad. It also recognizes that maternal health is fundamental to the well-being of families and societies. I want to thank my colleagues, Congresswoman Lois Capps, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and the rest of the Congressional Women's Caucus for their leadership on this issue, and I urge my colleagues to join me in support of its adoption. I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for his support. It seems that we have something in common. My daughter-in-law passed away from a secondary brain tumor as well, so I appreciate the special meaning that this has for you personally, and for your support for this legislation. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 1124) expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that there should be established a National Brain Tumor Awareness Month, and for other purposes, as amended.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 369) supporting the goals and ideals of National Osteoporosis Awareness and Prevention Month, as amended.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I rise today in support of House Resolution 369, supporting the goals and ideals of National Osteoporosis Awareness and Prevention Month. As a cosponsor of this resolution, I'm proud to offer my support for designating May 2008 as National Osteoporosis Awareness and Prevention Month. Osteoporosis is a disease characterized by low bone mass, structural deterioration of bone, and increased susceptibility to fractures. Osteoporosis is a leading cause of fractures, which is of special concern to the aging as it takes longer for older bones to heal than younger Americans. In 2005 alone, osteoporosis was responsible for an estimated 2 million fractures. While osteoporosis is rightly associated with aging, bone health is a concern for people of all ages. In this spirit, House Resolution 369 urges everyone to observe appropriate activities with regard to osteoporosis and to talk with health care professionals about bone health. I want to thank my colleague, Congresswoman Shelley Berkley, for her leadership in bringing this resolution to the floor today. I urge my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join me in support of its adoption. I reserve the balance of my time.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield such time as she may consume to the sponsor of this resolution and someone who has been a great leader in bringing attention to the disease of osteoporosis, the gentlelady from Nevada, Shelley Berkley.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the support from the other side of the aisle, and I certainly appreciate the leadership of Congresswoman Berkley. I, myself, a while ago was diagnosed with a pre-osteoporosis condition, and it's rewarding to find that if you take the medication and you do weight lifting kind of exercises that you can actually reverse the process. Now my screenings indicate that I no longer have those symptoms, although I continue to take the medication and do the exercises. So people should not see it as totally irreversible or untreatable in any way. But most of all, I think the emphasis on prevention is so very important. I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. I take back my time. We are talking about people who are making over $1 million to pay a small sacrifice for this war where our military families are paying a huge sacrifice. The question really is, though, what are we doing there? What is the mission of our young men and women? Who is the enemy? Who is our ally? What does victory even look like? I am not going to vote for another penny for this tragic war except to bring our troops home or to resolve the humanitarian crisis our government has helped create. I am not voting to give more to the real winners of this war, the Halliburtons and the Blackwaters. And I am disappointed about my amendment to stop funding Blackwater. This company raises the question, is it the policy of the United States to let companies like that get away with murder? We should cut that contract and bring our troops home.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. I thank the Rules chairwoman for yielding to me. Fourteen million dollars in an hour, 24/7, over 5 years, $10 billion per month, 4,000 dead Americans, tens of thousands of wounded warriors, untold sacrifice of military families, innocent civilians in Iraq killed by the hundreds of thousands, and one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. That is the cost of this war. And do you know, the President says that he has sacrificed, too. Yes. He has sacrificed. He has given up golf. And the President has determined to veto the bill when it gets to him because it includes really a patriot tax on people who make over $1 million. They are going to help to pay for things like an expanded GI Bill for our veterans that come back, a GI Bill that will cost about 5 months in Iraq over 10 years, and yet the President has said that he wants to----

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Yes.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, every minute a woman somewhere in the world dies of pregnancy-related causes. This staggering fact is not a failure of science but rather a failure of conscience. The United States possesses the medical knowledge necessary to drastically reduce the number of women killed during pregnancy each year. What we lack is a commitment by our Government to make certain that medical resources are readily available to women throughout the world. The United States can and most do more. To demonstrate just how attainable this goal is, I would like to bring my colleagues' attention to an interesting and inspiring piece published in The Washington Post on Sunday, May 11, that highlights the efforts of two remarkable individuals to address maternal mortality rates in Haiti. Working closely with the Haitian government, Paul Farmer, Ophelia Dahl, and their nonprofit organization Partners in Health, have succeeded in reducing the maternal mortality rate in Haiti to less than half what it was a quarter-century ago. I hope that this piece will not only serve as a reminder of the tremendous opportunity we have to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of pregnant women all over the world. Keeping New Mothers Alive--In Haiti and Rwanda, Reducing Tragedy in Childbirth (By Paul Farmer and Ophelia Dahl) ``Obscene'' is still the word that comes to mind when we think of maternal mortality--and it has been almost 25 years since we first witnessed death in childbirth. In 1983, as students in one of central Haiti's fetid clinics, we prepared to celebrate a birth. Although we'd just met the young woman about to become a mother, her desperate expression as she began to hemorrhage haunts us still. National statistics could have predicted the outcome: A 1985 survey pegged Haitian maternal mortality at 1,400 deaths per 100,000 live births. By comparison, maternal mortality in the United States last year was 14 deaths per 100,000 live births. Worldwide, 500,000 women die in childbirth every year; more than 90 percent live in Africa or Asia, and almost all are poor by any standard. Obscene though it is, death during childbirth isn't the end of the story. In the world's poorest areas, many orphaned children wind up destitute and on the streets within a few years of their mothers' deaths, sometimes resorting to desperate or criminal measures for food, shelter, clothes or school fees. One of the 12 Millennium Development Goals is to reduce maternal mortality 75 percent by the year 2015. But we are moving too slowly to meet this goal, the United Nations says. Today, the maternal mortality rate in Haiti is less than half what it was a quarter-century ago. Across the broad swath of central Haiti where we work, we estimate the number to be well below 100 deaths per 100,000 live births--not good enough but a vast improvement, most of it occurring in the past decade. Change came largely for three reasons. First, our nonprofit organization, Partners in Health, has worked closely with the Haitian Ministry of Health to strengthen public health infrastructure. We have rebuilt, equipped, staffed and stocked hospitals and clinics; trained nurse-midwives and other personnel, including more than a thousand community health workers; linked villages and health centers to district hospitals by modern telecommunications and ambulance service; and established modern surgical services for obstetrical emergencies. Second, we have broken the rule that high-quality health services are a privilege rationed by ability to pay, not a right. The case was made first for affordable medicines. Now it is being made for emergency Caesarean sections--an essential tool to reduce maternal mortality. Faced with evidence that maternal mortality was greater where fees were higher, the district health commissioner for central Haiti announced last August that all prenatal care and emergency obstetrical services would henceforth be available free to all patients. He was later echoed by Haitian President Rene Preval. Third, we have linked prenatal and obstetric care to an all-out effort to improve access to primary health care. The presence of functional, accessible public clinics and hospitals restores faith in the health system, motivates people to seek care before they are critically ill and allows for preventive interventions such as prenatal care and family planning. Consider Rwanda, another country where we work, which is rising rapidly from its ashes scarcely a dozen years after an appalling genocide. Rwandan maternal mortality rates in 1995, the year after the genocide, are unknown. But they are sure to have exceeded the 1,800 deaths per 100,000 live births reported that year in relatively peaceful Malawi. The situation has improved dramatically since then. By helping to train and, importantly, pay community health workers, the Rwandan Ministry of Health is taking steps to link rural villages to health centers with the capacity to make routine labor safe. Rwanda is also seeking to make family planning available to citizens and to increase access to preventive and primary care through basic health insurance. Maternal mortality has dropped from more than 1,000 deaths per 100,000 live births between 1995 and 2000 to less than 600 today--still terrible but well below the average (940) reported for sub-Saharan Africa. At the government's invitation, Partners in Health launched efforts to strengthen AIDS treatment and primary health services in one region of rural Rwanda in 2005. Mindful of the lessons learned during two decades of work in rural Haiti--and of that young Haitian woman whom we watched turn abruptly from the anticipation of new life to a confrontation with death--we have made reducing maternal mortality and improving women's health top priorities. And we have welcomed the opportunity to support Rwanda's commitment to breaking the cycle of poverty and disease by including health care and education (especially for girls) in its vision of the future. It's probably no coincidence that Rwanda also boasts the world's highest percentage of women in parliament.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor America's Second Harvest, which is being presented with this year's Ernest P. Bicknell Disaster Response Excellence Award from the American Red Cross. America's Second Harvest, based in Chicago, is the Nation's largest charitable hunger-relief organization. I have long been an admirer of its work in Illinois, where 8 America's Second Harvest food banks help provide food to 900,000 people who are struggling with rising fuel, health care, and food costs. Nationwide, America's Second Harvest has a network of more than 200 member food banks and food-rescue organizations that serves all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The America's Second Harvest Network secures and distributes more than 2 billion pounds of donated food and grocery products annually. The Network supports approximately 63,000 local charitable agencies operating more than 70,000 programs including food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, afterschool programs, and community kitchens. Each year, the America's Second Harvest Network provides food assistance to more than 25 million low-income hungry people in the United States, including more than 9 million children and nearly 3 million seniors. America's Second Harvest is being been honored by the Red Cross because it continues to be instrumental in improving preparedness and the critical delivery of disaster relief to individuals and communities across the country. America's Second Harvest has partnered with the American Red Cross in disaster response through its leadership with the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster (VOAD) Mass Care Committee. It has also worked to establish standards of care for victims of disaster, utilizing its proven expertise in providing 2 billion pounds of food and grocery products to our Nation's hungry each year. Unfortunately, the news of the devastating cyclone in Myanmar, and the catastrophic earthquakes that stole thousands of lives in China this week, highlight just how critical disaster relief plans are. The Red Cross's Disaster Response Excellence Award is named in honor of Ernest P. Bicknell, who was the Red Cross National Director from 1909 to 1917 after having served as, fittingly, the General Superintendent of the Chicago Bureau of Charities. Today, America's Second Harvest is at the forefront of charitable work, both in Chicago and nationwide. As a proud representative of the City of Chicago, I am honored to recognize their incredible work.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my strong support for H. Res. 1011, which calls on the United States and the international community to develop, fund, and implement a regional strategy which addresses the security and humanitarian crisis in Chad, the Darfur region of the Sudan, and the northern region of the Central African Republic. This timely and important legislation, of which I am proud to be a cosponsor, not only calls on the Governments of Chad and the Central African Republic to fulfill their obligations under international law to protect civilians, but also calls upon the President of the United States to continue humanitarian assistance to refugees and internally displaced persons in the region. Chad has been plagued by intermittent conflict, both internally and with its neighbors, since it gained independence in 1960. The current President of Chad, Idriss Deby, took power after launching a coup across the border in neighboring Darfur, Sudan. He has since faced at least five coup attempts including one just this past February. Violence spurred by the Sudanese Government has also continued to destabilize Chad and the State Department's most recent Country Report on Human Rights Practices that, ``the [Chadian] government's poor human rights record deteriorated further'' this past year. The refugee situation in Chad and the surrounding region continues to worsen. In the past three years, as fighting between the Government and rebels increased and 180,000 Chadians have been displaced, adding to the inflow of 290,000 refugees from the Central African Republic, CAR, and Sudan's Darfur region. The United Nations estimates that Chad is now home to 240,000 refugees from Darfur, 52,000 refugees from the Central African Republic, and more than 180,000 internally displaced people. In February 2008 alone over 12,000 new refugees from Darfur entered the country. We must develop a comprehensive plan to address the refugee crisis as well as the security problems that plague the region. I visited Darfur and have seen the situation on the ground. Now high- tech GPS satellites and mass media allow everyone to bear witness to the tragedies in Chad, Sudan, and the surrounding areas: the burnt holes where villages used to be, the mass migrations of the internally displaced, starving children, and victims of rape. With this knowledge comes a duty to act. As the wars in Chad, Sudan, and Central African Republic become increasingly intertwined, and as the massive displacements continue across the region, the United States and the international community must engage the crisis on a regional level. This resolution recognizes that reality and calls for a comprehensive strategy to protect civilians, facilitate humanitarian operations, contain and reduce violence, and contribute to conditions for sustainable peace and good governance throughout the region with all nations. I thank the sponsor of this resolution, Mr. Wolf, for introducing this important resolution, and I urge all of my colleagues to support it.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the 60th anniversary of the founding of the State of Israel. I am just a few years older than the State of Israel, and I remember, as a little Jewish girl, the pride and joy my family felt that a Jewish state was a reality. My parents expressed tremendous relief that there was now a place in the world safe for Holocaust survivors, and a haven for all Jewish people wherever we may live. We watched with amazement as an arid land turned green as it was transformed into farms and towns. We ourselves planted trees in Israel by buying a tree certificate and gave it to our family friends on every special occasion, so we could participate in making the desert bloom. We all stood a bit taller, and every Passover, the holiday of freedom, was sweeter because Israel wasn't just a longing of our people, but a real country on the map. That pride burns brightly today. Sixty years later, Israel has weathered war and terrorism and remains a strong, thriving democracy-- the only democratic nation in the Middle East and America's closest friend and ally in the region. Israel has become a resource for the United States and the world because of her groundbreaking discoveries in the areas of medicine, energy, clean water, and security technologies. On her 60th anniversary, the vibrant Jewish community in the Chicagoland area is proud of Israel's pioneering leadership and the strong United States-Israel bond, and works hard every day to strengthen and refresh that relationship. I will always support the State of Israel, and I urge all of my colleagues to vote ``aye'' on H. Con. Res 322.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I would like to offer my sincere congratulations to the Loyola University of Chicago team for being chosen as a winner of the EPA's 2008 ``People, Prosperity and the Planet'' Student Design Competition at this year's National Sustainable Design Expo. I am proud to represent Loyola University in Congress, and I am looking forward to sharing the news with my colleagues that students in my district are addressing the significant problems that climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, and rising energy costs present. The importance of energy independence can't be overstated. Your project, ``Innovative Biodiesel Production: A Solution to the Scientific, Technical, and Educational Challenges of Sustainability,'' to convert vegetable oil waste from the cafeteria into fuel that will power campus shuttle buses, is an innovative and creative way to approach it. I believe that this is a model for the entire country to learn from and hopefully adopt. I hope that during your time at the P3 Expo you have had the chance to interact with other students, professional scientists, engineers, and business leaders from around the country. Your work to advance economic growth while reducing environmental impact should be shared. It is for that reason that I was glad to hear that your project has an educational component that will advance P3 concepts to students in the university, in preschool, elementary school, and secondary school, and to the general public. I hope that I will be able to stop in on the Solutions to Environmental Problems course so I can see for myself how to produce and use biodiesel fuel. Again, I salute and congratulate Luke Beasley, Pamela Geddes, Dan Larkin, Shane Lishawa, and Professor Nancy Tuchman, and will look forward to hearing about your work addressing our most pressing problems well into the future.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, only a week after the State Department renewed Blackwater's contract, the Bush administration was at it again giving more praise to Blackwater, the private military contractors. Last Friday, Ambassador Crocker said contractors ``like Blackwater are absolutely essential.'' But was it absolutely essential for Blackwater to gun down 17 innocent Iraqis? Was it absolutely essential for a Blackwater employee to kill a guard to the Vice President of Iraq? Was it absolutely essential for a Blackwater helicopter to drop CS gas on a traffic jam in Baghdad? It has been months, and some in cases years, since these incidents and we still don't have the results of those investigations. Instead, our government has ignored those abuses and renewed Blackwater's contract and then a week later said they are absolutely essential. What kind of country do we live in where it's acceptable for the United States government to praise and reward a company that kills innocent people? The only thing that is absolutely essential is that we end this State Department's dependence on private military contractors now.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 5036, the Emergency Assistance for Secure Elections Act of 2008. I think everyone in the chamber today remembers the frustration and disbelief we all felt in November 2000 as hundreds of volunteers poured into Dade County Florida to oversee the recount of the Presidential election. As the future of our nation swayed in the balance, we all thought to ourselves, Can this actually be happening in America? The answer, unfortunately, was yes. As devastating as that event was, I think we learned two very important lessons. The first is that every vote really does count. Every person who is eligible must get to the polls. The second lesson learned is that our system of elections is broken. Changes must be mandated, improvements must be made. That is why I am proud to rise in support of H.R. 5036. This bill takes real steps to improve the transparency and accuracy of electoral process by minimizing the financial burden placed on local governments to ensure the accuracy of election results. H.R. 5036 fully reimburses jurisdictions that choose to offer paper ballots on Election Day. In the 2006 election cycle, we learned that electronic voting machines are not always reliable, often malfunctioning and creating substantial complications on Election Day. H.R. 5036 also subsidizes manual recounts of elections results if basic minimum requirements are met. We must provide resources to the states to ensure that the elections they conduct are fair and accurate. Both provisions provide absolutely necessary funding to alleviate the significant burden placed on local and county governments when holding elections. This relief is critical to ensure that local government entities can protect the legitimacy of election results without enduring financial hardship. While, I recognize the fact that more must be done, I also believe that this bill is a very good start and I want to commend my good friend and colleague, Rush Holt, for his leadership on this issue. Even a month ago, it appeared that passing this bill was impossible. However, thanks to Representative Holt's tireless efforts to work with members of Congress on both sides of the aisle, that impossibility becomes reality today. America will be a better for place for his efforts on this Issue.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, last Friday, the State Department decided to renew Blackwater's $1.2 billion contract for another year. It has been over 6 months since Blackwater contractors killed 17 innocent Iraqi civilians, 16 months since the Christmas Eve murder in the Green Zone, and 35 months since a Blackwater helicopter dropped CS gas on a traffic jam in Baghdad. Yet there have been no arrests, no charges, no trials, no convictions. Nothing. The Department of Justice, the FBI and State Department have remained completely silent about these investigations. Meanwhile, those contractors are still working side-by-side with our troops in Iraq. But what is even more appalling is that our government has ignored those abuses and renewed Blackwater's contract. If you owned a company, would you rehire someone who has killed dozens of innocent people? The State Department's decision not only puts the lives of innocent Iraqi civilians at risk, but it threatens the safety of our troops and jeopardizes our mission in Iraq. I urge my colleagues to sign on to my bill, H.R. 4102, the SOS, or Stop Outsourcing Security Act, and phase out the use of military security contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to James Yoo, an incredible man who has worked in my district office as a constituent advocate for nearly 7 years, and who, sadly for me, will soon be leaving. I want to first let others of my staff describe what James has meant to them and to the constituents of the ninth Congressional District. Cathy Hurwit, Chief of Staff: When I think of James, I think of someone who has the strongest, most finely-turned moral compass of anyone I know. It is evidenced in terms of his compassion and understanding of the problems facing our constituents--particularly those caught up in a draconian immigration system. In dealing with constituents, he is always calm, professional and dedicated--but in talking about the unfairness of the system and the indignities that so many faced, his moral outrage is evident. His sense of justice led him to law school to learn the skills and get the degree necessary for him to represent them. But it also is evidenced in the way he deals with his colleagues and everyone around him--modest about his own outstanding accomplishments but always willing to praise the efforts of and look out for others. James is a role model--the standard of what a constituent advocate should be. Fun to be around, collegial and thoughtful. Leslie Combs, District Director: James is such an integral, essential and special part of our district office, that it truly is hard to imagine the office and team without him. He makes us all laugh daily with his dry sense of humor and his fascination with Malcolm Jamal Warner (Theo on the Cosby Show). He is an extraordinarily generous and compassionate person, both towards his colleagues and the constituents who he has helped. James has helped over 2,600 constituents since he started working for Representative Schakowsky 7 years ago on July 1, 2001. He has helped reunite families that have been separated due to immigration backlogs. He has helped explain the complicated nuances of the immigration process to hundreds of families and to his fellow constituent advocates. He has made sure that immigration applications are processed quickly and that people get their oath ceremonies and green cards. James is extremely intelligent, thoughtful, and warm, and he will be missed. He is going to be an excellent immigration lawyer. Taina Rodriguez, Constituent Advocate: James ``Malcolm Jamal Warner'' Yoo James is definitely one of a kind. He has an outstanding ability to see the good in a person. He is supportive, caring, kind, honest, strong and hopeful. His views on many issues are a little nutty, but I never said he was perfect. He always tells me the truth, even when I hate to hear it because chances are 9 out of 10 times he's right. He told me once that he hates it when people say ``I can't'', and I find that to be very inspirational. James calls our relationship ``love and hate'' relationship, but I see it more of a big brother, pain in the neck type of relationship. (But in a very good way). Who is going to lecture me about school and my study habits, and who is going to lecture me about how I choose my dates! It's very difficult to see myself coming into the office and not having James around. It's going to be a sad day on April 11, 2008. However, I know that he will go on and accomplish great things. Who knows, he might even get to meet Malcolm Jamal Warner! Kim Muzeroll, Executive Assistant: James is one of the most selfless and thoughtful people I know. He is smart and he is savvy. He works under the radar but he is immensely effective. He doesn't seek the spotlight and he never wants credit for his accomplishments, but he deserves recognition for his commitment to social justice and his tireless work on behalf of the constituents of the 9th Cong. district, Illinois, the nation and in fact the world. Abbey Eusebio: The ninth congressional district has been lucky to have James Yoo as a tireless advocate for almost a decade. He worked with constituents one on one to assist them with immigration matters and provided outreach to different ethnic groups in the district. James was the go-to person for immigration matters and was a constituent advocate that constituents and colleagues could always count on. He set a high standard for his colleagues for substantial and efficient constituent service. He is a great role model and always kept the needs of constituents and the office as a priority. As a friend, James is like our big brother. He is a humble man who is down-to-earth and has a great sense of humor. James was a great asset to Team Schakowsky. We will be very sad to see him go but know that he will continue a career of advocacy as an immigration attorney. Paola Castano, Constituent Advocate: James is very knowledgeable and a great source of information. I am always impressed about the wealth of knowledge that he has on various subjects. James is the type of person you can talk to about just about anything under the sun. And whenever we would discuss subject matter that we weren't exactly sure of, off to internet we went, and it was Wikipedia once again to the rescue! If it weren't for Wikipedia, we would have never learned the names of the 3 Chipettes (Brittany, Eleanor, and Jeanette), the Chipmunk's female counterparts. If we didn't know that, then where would we be? I am most grateful to him for other reasons too. When I started working in this office in December of 2006, it was taking me a bit of time to adjust to all the transitions taking place within the office. However, the most difficult aspect for me, the thing that was holding me back was that I had just come from an unpleasant work experience in my previous law office job, so I wasn't allowing myself to warm up to my new surroundings. However, from the very beginning, it was James who helped me to feel very welcome and tried to make me feel like I was part of the office. I soon came to realize that if he was taking the time and making an effort to make me feel at home here, the least I could do was to try too. And because of these efforts, I have made friends with some truly great people in this office, including James. I also thank James for taking the time to train me on immigration these last few weeks. He has been very patient and understanding with me. Though it was intense, I believed at times that it was all too much at one time, and I felt as if I could never, ever, come close to taking on the role he has had in this office and this community, James reassured me and helped me to believe that I could take on this new role as a CA. Ann Limjoco, Suburban Director: I have had the privilege of working with James for more than 6 years now. Over the last 6 years, I have seen him become a master at immigration casework. He is the immigration guru in our office. James is the one we would all go to with any questions on immigration. He was able to grasp such an understanding of immigration law, more than any other Constituent Advocate I've seen in the last 6 years in this office. It is so fitting that he is leaving this office to become an immigration lawyer. I think the time he has spent in this office has prepared him to do this. I can also call James a good friend. He is the type of person I can rely on at all times. When I moved into my apartment in Glenview, James was right there helping me move boxes into my parents' minivan and unloading them into my new place. We have also spent countless hours going out to dinner or having drinks. I will miss him greatly. Not only will the constituents of the 9th Congressional District be losing a great asset, but we will be losing a great co-worker. However, I know our friendship will continue on and that we will keep in touch. I will miss working with him dearly! Kris Sadur, Constituent Advocate: It's been an honor to know and work with James Yoo. His calm demeanor and steadfast dedication to assisting our constituents is unwavering. He is an excellent and patient teacher, assisting all staff on the intricacies of immigration and always willing to listen to questions regarding a case. I will miss his sweet smile, composed nature and astonishing intelligence. We are losing an extraordinary staff member and thoughtful advocate for constituents in the 9th Congressional District. I join all of my staff in praising James for his remarkable service to our district and to the thousands of people he has helped. I will never be able to thank him enough for his extraordinary work and for the standard of excellence that he set for our office. I am confident that James will continue to make this world a better place and a happier place to be. Though I will miss him in the office, I fully expect that he will never desert Team Schakowsky.

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Madam Speaker, as we mark the fifth anniversary of the ill-planned and ill-executed war in Iraq, I rise to draw thc House's attention to two articles from the Chicago Tribune about the lasting damage done by the conflict. [From the Chicago Tribune, Mar. 16, 2008] By Any Calculus, War's Cost Cruel: Politics, Money, Blood--All Show a Painful Bottom Line (By David Greising) It's a cold calculus, trying to estimate the cost of a war. What is an Iraqi life worth? The life of an American GI? It's no easier estimating the value of removing Saddam Hussein from power than it is calculating the sum cost of lifetime health care for a host of disabled American soldiers. When politicians talk about the war's costs in terms of lives and treasure, they don't necessarily expect someone to actually pull out a spreadsheet and start running the numbers. But that is what has happened with the Iraq war. And as we approach the 5-year anniversary of the initial March 20, 2003, ``shock and awe'' aerial assault on Baghdad, it is worth noting an important shift in the accounting of the conflict's cost. Those who opposed the war are finding that the costs far exceeded anything they would have expected, or might have argued, at the time the conflict started. The most notable and authoritative such argument is put forward by Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, who puts an eye- grabbing, ultimate bottom line on the seemingly endless U.S. commitment to Iraq: at least $3 trillion. That's trillion, with a ``T.'' Those who argued during the run-up to war that armed conflict would be more economical than the cost of containing Hussein have shifted fields. Instead of arguing, as some once did, that America's Iraq adventure might actually turn a profit once the country's vast oil wealth began to flow, they now put forward a more nuanced argument. On a purely fiscal basis, they now acknowledge, the war has been at best a wash. But looked at as a total package--taking into account the benefits of removing a tyrant from power and thrusting Iraq into its post-Hussein period, however bloody and chaotic--they say armed intervention was still the more attractive alternative. A trio of University of Chicago economists sought to estimate the cost of containing Hussein had there been no U.S.-led invasion. Their 2006 paper pegged it at $700 billion over an unspecified period of years. That estimate figures in the extra U.S. military equipment and manpower that would have been needed to keep Hussein within his borders and keep his hands off Kuwait. It includes the cost of weapons inspection programs, of economic boycotts, of oil that would remain in the ground and a rate of premature Iraqi deaths ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 per year, based on Hussein's bloody track record and mismanagement of the country. ``When people talk about the cost of war, as an economist, you have to ask, `In comparison to what?''' said Kevin Murphy, one of the U. of C. economists. Though he faults President Bush for errors in execution, he believes war was the better option. ``I don't hear Joe Stiglitz saying the best world is the world where Saddam stays around as long as possible because it costs too much to make him leave,'' Murphy said. He has a fair point. Stiglitz spends little time contemplating either the economic or moral consequences of allowing Hussein to remain in power. Perhaps that is because Stiglitz cannot take his eyes off the financial and human catastrophe that is unfolding before the nation's eyes. Bringing important new scholarship to the book ``The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Cost of the Iraq Conflict,'' Stiglitz and co-author Linda Bilmes spend little time contemplating what-ifs. Instead they turn a calculating eye to the economic consequences of the American military invasion--and to the vital policy considerations presented by both its financial and human costs. There is the expected, grim accounting that any actuary might calculate. The cost of 4,000 American troops' lives, for example, runs to roughly $28 billion. War outlays have added $1 trillion to the national debt, and could run to $2 trillion over time, the authors calculate. One of the most important calculations is an aspect of the war often ignored by the politicians and pundits who are not quite as handy with a calculator as Stiglitz is: The staggering, long-term toll of veterans' health care, disability benefits and Social Security disability pay. Add them up, and even in a best-case scenario they amount to $371 billion, according to the authors' calculations. Stiglitz expected his calculations would come under criticism, as they have. But he said the larger purpose-- putting some price tag on the war--is important. ``The public ought to have some accounting of the costs,'' he said in an interview. ``Obviously, after Pearl Harbor, you wouldn't sit down and say, `How are we going to respond?''' Stiglitz said. ``But this was a war of choice. We didn't have to go to war. We had a choice of timing, and a choice of whether to go to war at all.'' The debate is not purely among economists, obviously. But even among political scientists who supported the war, Stiglitz's view is starting to take hold. Michael O'Hanlon, a security expert at the Brookings Institution who runs a project that compiles all manner of data on present-day Iraq--from military and civilian deaths to commodity costs to public opinion--said he cannot ignore the negatives: a huge increase in violence in Iraq, the lack of political stability, the inability to find weapons of mass destruction and oil prices at $110 a barrel. O'Hanlon supported the initial American invasion, and he gave carefully delineated backing to the troop surge a year ago. Today, though, ``common sense ultimately pushes me toward the Stiglitz view if I had to look at just the bottom line,'' O'Hanlon said. The question for Americans, ultimately, no longer is whether going to war made sense. Today, as we head toward the presidential election, the question is whether we keep U.S. troops in Iraq or start bringing them back. Based on governmental budget figures, several economists have put the cost of the Iraq war at $12 billion a month. Stiglitz figures the actual cost probably is at least twice that. And putting a final fiscal argument to the test, Stiglitz invokes a tenet of economics that is hammered home at the U. of C. business school itself: The fallacy of the ``sunk cost.'' People throw good money after bad, in hopes of recovering what they first invested, even though every new dollar just perpetuates a lost cause. Five years into the war, Americans must decide whether we are caught up in a sunk-cost fallacy. But in this case, the cost is not counted just in dollars and cents. It is tallied in the impact on American security, and in the cost of American and Iraqi lives.