Hilda Solis

Ms. SOLIS

Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me. It is an honor to be here tonight to talk about this very important issue, one that hits home directly for me. As a former State Senator in California, back in 1995 I had the dubious distinction of representing a district where it was found that 72 Thai women workers were held hostage, slave labor here in our own country, 72 women. Some had been there for 7 years. Some were not paid overtime. Some were not even paid minimum wage. My whole opinion on this matter is that if we do not have enough support here in our own borders at times, how can we also, with all honesty and integrity, go out and expect other countries that have records that are much more egregious than ours to meet these standards that we want to set, that the American public wants to set? I can tell Members firsthand how difficult it is trying to secure rights for workers now, for immigrant workers in our own country, along the border and in East Los Angeles, and the city of El Monte in the San Gabriel Valley, which I represent, that people are even being paid minimum wage, and they are sometimes not allowed to bargain or join a union. I know in Mexico and other parts of Central America and South America and other parts of the world, people are not allowed to join a union. In fact, they are tortured, they are harassed, they are told why they cannot and that they will be fired and they will lose their jobs and they will go hungry. These are the kinds of things that the public should know.

Ms. SOLIS

Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, that is what most people are saying back home: Why did the Congress vote out a measure that does nothing for our families? Mr. Speaker, I yield to Mrs. Jones.

Ms. SOLIS. I thank the gentlewoman for her remarks. It is very appropriate, given the discussion that we had earlier today on the floor, but also with the vote that we are going to take tomorrow on fast track. The whole irony is that we are going to be charged with building up our defense, and where do we get the steel?

Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I want to thank the gentlewoman from Florida and my colleagues that have come and spoken here tonight. Obviously you can tell that the women of this House, the minority women, are sending a resounding message to the public that the stimulus program that passed out of this House did not go far enough. This is going to be a sad Christmas for many families all over the country, and particularly for those women and children that get no benefit at all. They are not that group of people that got the tax cuts. They are not the group of people that got the tax break, because they did not get enough money to earn to get a tax break. Let us do the right thing. Let us make sure we put money and food on their tables and in their pockets so that they have a wonderful Christmas, something that I think all of us here can get behind. Again, just to reiterate, the numbers here, the totality is still unforeseen. In our districts we have more people getting pink slips every single day, and those people are waiting for us to take action here in the House. I want to thank my colleagues, and I hope that those that are not here tonight, that perhaps are listening to us, will understand the urgency of trying to provide immediate relief to those families, the working families that made America the great country that it has been, and to provide that security, that safety net, for all Americans, regardless of race, color and gender.

Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. SOLIS

Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, hundreds of thousands of people who recently have been laid off from work are reliving the terrorist attacks in the economic aftermath of September 11th. As of today, 638,000 layoffs have already been announced in our country. Fewer than 2 out of 5 employers who have handed out pink slips in the third quarter of this year indicate that they anticipate calling their laid off employees back to work. The nation's unemployment rate soared from 4.9 percent in September to 5.4 percent in October. In Los Angeles County the unemployment rate is 6 percent. In my congressional district, the City of El Monte has an unemployment rate of 7.6 percent and South El Monte has an unemployment rate of 9.3 percent. All of this in time for Christmas--and the cold winter to follow. It is our duty--and responsibility--to help those who are suffering the ripple effects of the worst domestic attack in our country's history. We need to act immediately, because the federal government's assistance is needed now. The resolution that I bring before the House today would encourage the President to answer this immediate need by expanding the Low Income Energy Assistance Program--LIHEAP. The LIHEAP program is a federally funded block grant program that helps ease the energy cost burden of low-income households. The need for this program has been great. Residential heating oil prices were 48 percent higher in 2000 than in 1999. Residential natural gas prices were 44 percent higher in 2000 than in 1999. Higher prices mean an added burden to those who are already struggling to make ends meet. As you can imagine, Mr. Speaker, there are many more people who will need this energy assistance because of our country's recent tragedies. Unfortunately, the more people there are--the less there is to go around. LIHEAP has two pots of money--one which goes to States in the form of a block grant and another that is distributed by the President for emergency use. This resolution will encourage the President to use this emergency fund in our current time of uncertainty to help those who have lost their jobs as a result of the attack on our nation. We must act now to get our country's working families through this horrible time. The other body has already passed a similar resolution. I encourage my colleagues to adopt this resolution and ask the President to use his powers to release LIHEAP funds to those who have lost their jobs in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks and to those that have suffered prolonged unemployment since early this year. This bill is a step in the right direction and could mean the difference between a family's financial ruin and their foundation for the future.

Ms. SOLIS

Ms. SOLIS. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of S. 1573. I am an educated woman. Not only do I hold an undergraduate degree, I also have earned a master's degree. I am a healthy woman. Not only do I receive regular medical care from my physician, I also have access to superb emergency care if needed. I am an independent woman. Not only do I have a challenging career, I also feel secure strolling the streets of this city alone. Such is not the case, however, for the women and girls of Afghanistan. During the days of Taliban rule, these women were denied education. They were denied health care. They were denied basic human freedoms. In these emerging days of post-Taliban rule, it is our duty to ensure that these basic civil liberties are restored. I commend the authors of S. 1573--and its companion legislation H.R. 3330--for their aim of providing education and health care opportunities to the women and children of Afghanistan. I especially applaud the desire to utilize women-led non-governmental organizations to achieve their goals. I urge all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this important piece of legislation.

Ms. SOLIS

Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this rule and to applaud the conferees for their work on the Aviation Security conference report. This conference report will provide the government with the ability to fully protect our citizens from another horrible attack such as the ones that occurred on September 11. I especially want to applaud the successful efforts of the conferees in both Houses to remove the ``Super-citizenship'' clause that was present in the Senate bill. Many of us in Congress and in minority communities throughout the country were very concerned about that provision because it allowed naturalized citizens to be treated differently than natural-born citizens. Had the ``Super-citizenship'' provision been enacted, it would have set the first precedent for further restrictions on a portion of our U.S. citizenry. I and many others are comforted by the fact that the conference took a fair and just stance on this issue. I do have to acknowledge, though, that thousands of Legal Permanent Residents will lose their jobs as a result of this legislation. This is yet another strong argument for worker relief. We cannot purposely take jobs away from hard-working, tax-paying individuals without offering them assistance. I hope my colleagues will join me in efforts to address the needs of screeners who, through no fault of their own, will soon be standing in the unemployment line.

Ms. SOLIS

Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I also read that article. It appeared in one of my local papers, in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. I hope our law enforcement will do the utmost that they can to find out who the individuals are that are spreading this hateful type of literature on the Internet, and other means that they are using to provoke people in the community. It is horrible that goes on. Mr. Speaker, I see young people in my district putting flags on their cars and trunks, but at the same time some of those youths think that taking their frustrations out on a group of people is just senseless, and we have to stop it.

Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support H.R. 1343, the hate crimes bill sponsored by the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey), and I am a cosponsor of the legislation. I am glad that we are beginning that discussion here on the floor tonight. As Members know, this Nation has seen a sharp rise in hate crimes against individuals perceived to be Muslims or of Arab descent. There have been over 1,140 complaints since September 11. That is more than triple the number of all last year. I am not proud of the fact that California has seen one of the largest increases in hate crimes of all of the States this year. Since September 11 in Los Angeles County, the county that I represent, there have been 156 reported incidents of hate crimes against Arabs or Muslims. That includes two homicides. This is a huge increase over last year when there were 12 reported incidents in Los Angeles County. I am alarmed at the senseless acts of cowardice which have included physical assaults, hate mail, public harassment and even death. We hear reports of hate groups throughout the country, particularly in the Midwest, that are calling out for people to become recruits and to join in to harass people who look different from them. I think this is wrong, and I think the gentlewoman's legislation will help move us in a direction that will help inform young people to prevent these heinous crimes. In my own congressional district, I would like to share that, in fact, shortly after the September 11 incident, there was an Egyptian shopkeeper who owned a store in the city of San Gabriel for the last 20 years. People would come and have coffee at his shop. At 3:00 in the afternoon on a Saturday, two young men shot him point-blank. They did not take one dime from the cash register. They thought he was a radical Muslim or something of that nature. Unfortunately, his family is now grieving.

Ms. SOLIS. Yes. Indeed, the FBI is looking at it. They have not declared that it is a hate crime, and I am urging them to continue that investigation. Along with that, there were other incidents reported where young women attending a local community college in my district were assaulted because they were wearing scarves over their heads. They literally had to have gentlemen of their own descent walk them to classrooms. They were doing nothing wrong. They were students going to class. The other things that have come up as well, hate crimes against people who look Muslim and Arab who look like me. I have been asked if I am of Middle Eastern descent in Washington, D.C. In my own district, one Latino gentleman was chased on the freeway and beaten by two individuals who thought he was from the Middle East. I would like our laws to go after individuals who abuse our rights and freedoms.

Ms. SOLIS. We need to educate and teach our young people that diversity is our strength, particularly in places like Southern California where we exchange different languages, different cultures; and we enjoy that strength. We have unifying symbolisms there that people can join. We need to talk about that more forcefully here on the floor as the gentlewoman is doing tonight. I commend the gentlewoman, and on behalf of the people in the 31st Congressional District, I know that they want to see some improvement with respect to hate crimes legislation. One of my cities has had numerous hate crimes against African Americans because there are very few there. That has created a big problem in that city. We need to provide support, financial support, whether it be through our law enforcement efforts to do more sensitivity training and outreach, community policing, but also in the schools and even in our churches and mosques and other centers of religious teaching where people can begin to break down those barriers and really begin to have a thoughtful discussion on what it is to be an American, what that really means.

Ms. SOLIS. I thank the gentlewoman from California for this special order.

Ms. SOLIS

Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of a strong airline security bill that federalizes airline screeners. Airline security is a national issue. Eight weeks have passed since the attacks on the World Trade Center, and we still do not have a sound airline security bill. How much longer do we have to wait? We have heard numerous reports of passengers with knives and guns passing security checkpoints supervised by the companies that Republicans want to keep overseeing our security. These private companies' only interest is profit, not national security. Current baggage screeners are poorly paid, lack at times proper training and suffer from high turnover rates. Federalization means less employee turnover, more experience and better wages. Those who protect our skies should be treated with the respect that their job demands. That respect means higher wages, more training and better qualified individuals. All of these objectives can be achieved by federalization of the airline security. Federalization means universal standards. We need a sound airport security bill that would give the government the responsibility of overseeing safety. In a recent Washington poll, 82 percent of the public support federalizing airport security.

Ms. SOLIS

Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, today's woman has many role models that have paved the path to our success. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony and Eleanor Roosevelt created a momentum for the women's movement that still gains speed today as modern women climb new mountains. One of these modern women is Carole Black, President & CEO of Lifetime Entertainment Services. Ms. Black has demonstrated her commitment to supporting other women by making sure that women are informed. Black's ideas and influence reach more than 83 million homes in our great country and have propelled Lifetime's ratings to set new records. Lifetime's recent successes are rooted in Blacks' commitment to entertain, inform and support women by dramatically increasing the Network's original programming slate and expanding its marketing and public affairs efforts. Carole Black also has greatly expanded Lifetime's advocacy initiatives, using the media to make a positive difference in the lives of women. Issues that have been recognized include the following: the fight against breast cancer; women in the arts; the importance of early childhood education and access to affordable, quality child care; and the fight to instill self-esteem in thousands of women. Carole Black is working with Lifetime Entertainment to recognize the issues that directly affect our lives--and our families. Black's leadership and vision have led to her recognition as one of ``America's 100 Most Important Women'' by Ladies' Home Journal Magazine and one of ``New York's 100 Most Influential Women in Business'' by Crain's New York Business Magazine. The Hollywood Reporter has named her repeatedly as one of the ``Top Women in Entertainment.'' Most recently, Ms. Black was honored at the Women in Cable & Telecommunications Gala for her incredible contributions. Most recently, Black was named one of Fortune Magazine's Top 50 Women in Business. In June 2000, Black was honored to participate with national and world leaders, such as United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, and Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, in Beijing Plus 5: Women 2000, the historic international conference to promote women's rights. In November 2000, Black served as one of 15 United States delegates to ``The 2nd Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) Conference on Women Entrepreneurs'' in Paris, France. As a television industry leader, Black champions diversity not only through Lifetime's on-air programming and countless public affairs initiatives but also through involvement with several industry organizations for which she serves on the Board of Directors, including The Walter Kaitz Foundation, Cable Positive and the T. Howard Foundation. For her dedication to this important issue, Black earned the YWCA Racial Justice Award in April 2000, the National Hispanic Media Coalition Impact Award in February 2001 and the Imagen Foundation Inspiration Award in June 2001. Carole Black also is dedicated to using her knowledge to educate the future leaders of America. Black serves on the Harvard University John F. Kennedy School of Government Women's Leadership Board and is a Trustee of the American Women in Radio & Television, New York Women in Communications, New York Women in Film, Women in Cable & Telecommunications and the Women's Sports Foundation. Carole Black is a great role model for our young women to follow. She is an inspiration and an educator, a tough executive and a visionary. But most importantly, she is a woman and a friend to each person who is touched by her work. As a role model to many, Ms. Black keeps the momentum of the women's movement rolling and would have made our foremothers proud. I ask my colleagues to join me in commending this dedicated public servant.

Ms. SOLIS

Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today also in support of the motion to instruct. And, specifically, I would like to voice my strong support for this section that would strike an egregious immigration provision in the Senate version of the bill. In essence, the category that would be created would require that anybody hired as a baggage screener to be a U.S. citizen and then wait 5 years to be able to be approved as one of those screeners. I think this sets a double standard. We do not currently do that for Members of Congress or Senators. Why should we create a double standard there? I do not believe that the other Chamber intentionally meant to segregate one class of citizens over the other; and if this immigration provision is included in the aviation security conference report, it would be a terrible precedent; and I view it as unconstitutional. I would request that we remove that provision and that we vote for this motion to instruct.

Ms. SOLIS

Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of a fair rule that will allow the people's representatives to consider federalizing the screeners in our Nation's airports. We cannot shortchange the public by continuing to contract out low-wage jobs and less-trained personnel. We need to federalize our airport security. We do not contract out our security for people who work for the INS or the military. Why then would we contract out for airline security? We have learned the hard way that an airplane can hit anywhere. Federalization means less employee turnover, more experience and accountability. According to GAO, in 1999, turnover averaged 126 percent among screeners at 19 airports. No wonder, since the average pay that they receive is anywhere between $6 and $6.75 an hour. The Republican bill would eliminate the salary cap that we have placed on executive pay. These people earn hundreds of thousands of dollars. Why in the world would we eliminate the cap instead of providing support for those who are on the frontline, those screeners? Since screening personnel check more than 2 million pieces of luggage and go through and see millions of people a day, we should upgrade their salaries and their skills.

Ms. SOLIS

Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to mark an important yet often overlooked month in our nation's landscape National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Each year, nearly 2 million women are victims of domestic violence. In fact, in the time that it takes me to complete this speech, eight women will have suffered some form of mental, physical or sexual abuse. The problem of domestic violence is one that I have fought for many years. In my district--the 31th district of California--domestic violence is a widespread phenomenon. When I first took office as state legislator in 1992, there were more shelters in my district for abused animals than there were for abused women. But through the vigilant work and determination of our law enforcement agencies and the community, we've worked to reverse that trend. Today, we have a number of excellent shelters and non-profit organizations designed to help battered families rebuild their lives. As pleased as I am that the shelters exist, though, I am still disappointed. Yes, every person who is the victim of domestic violence deserves as much help as possible to escape their current situation and find a better, more loving environment. But no one deserves to be placed in such a horrendous situation to begin with. We as a nation have made remarkable strides in domestic violence legislation. We prosecute criminals. We assist victims with finding transitional housing. We help train battered housewives to reenter the workforce. These are all admirable actions. But we can and must do more. We must work harder to ferret out the root cause of domestic violence. We know that children of batterers are more likely to become batterers themselves. We must work to ensure that these children have the necessary counseling to combat any such violent urges. We know that immigrant women who are battered are much less likely to leave their abusers because they fear being deported. We must eliminate immigration barriers that prevent these women from getting help. And we know that nearly one million women each year are victims of stalking. We must strengthen anti-stalking laws to protect women before violence enters the picture. I ask my colleagues to join me in this commitment to eradicating domestic violence in our great nation, not only with our words but also with our deeds.

Ms. SOLIS

Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I would just like to say that a few weeks ago, many of us here were supporting legislation to bail out the airline industry, with the hope that we would be able to help those workers that were laid off or displaced. None of that happened. Now we have an opportunity to do something and our colleagues on the other side of the aisle are not looking at truly what was intended here by an agreement that was made by our leaders, to provide support to dislocated workers, people who lost their jobs. I went home to my district this week and met with workers who were just laid off in the hotel and restaurant industry. Many of them are not eligible to receive unemployment insurance, will not even be able to pay for COBRA or anything, because they are out, out of sight, out of mind, in terms of Members here wanting to see how they can help families, working families, not only in California and Los Angeles, but across the country. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to look, look deep into our hearts to see who exactly is going to benefit from the Republican stimulus package. The Republican stimulus package goes to 70 percent of the upper income individuals and corporations in this country. What about the vast number of people who voted for you and myself into office?

Ms. SOLIS

Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur).

Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks.

Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, when the Islamic fundamentalist group, the Taliban, seized control of Afghanistan in 1996, it launched the Nation into a pit of oppressiveness and inequality. In the blink of an eye, the millions of women and girls who live in this desert nation in Central Asia were relegated to second class citizenship. The basic human rights that we in the free world take for granted were suddenly stripped away from these people. Prior to the civil war there that propelled the Taliban to power, women in Afghanistan and especially the capital of Kabul were highly educated and employed. Women in Kabul represented 70 percent of school teachers, 50 percent of the civilian government workers and they also were members of parliament, and 40 percent of them were represented as doctors and physicians. And at Kabul University, females comprised half of the student body and 60 percent of the faculty. In fact, the Afghani Constitution, which was ratified in 1964, had an equal rights provision for women contained within it. But today in Afghanistan, girls are no longer allowed to attend school. They are punished. Women are no longer allowed to work, forcing many to resort to begging or even prostitution to survive. Females are not permitted to leave their home unless accompanied by a male relative. And when they do leave, they are forced to be covered in a shroud which is known as a burqa. Mr. Speaker, I have with me this evening a sample of what the women in Afghanistan have to wear, this burqa that covers their body. If we look closely, we will see that there is a section here about 3 inches wide that is kind of a filtered material that allows these women to see through this shroud. She must wear this every time she leaves the home and goes out in public. And if it is 100 degrees or 110 outside, she must wear this and have her body fully covered. If she does not, then she is faced with perhaps a public beating and even in some cases with death. This garment is hot, as you can tell. It is restrictive, and it is difficult to see. In fact, some of the women who have to wear this burqa cannot see, or do not have any peripheral vision; and countless women and girls have been known to have had traffic accidents in their cities because they simply cannot see where they are going. In fact, the Taliban regime is so wary of women that it has ordered that publicly-visible windows where these women live be painted black so that no man can see inside of those homes. Women who dare to defy these edicts imposed by the Taliban are subjected to brutal beatings, public floggings, or even death. For example, a woman who defied the Taliban orders by running a home school for girls was killed in front of her friends and family. A woman caught trying to flee Afghanistan with a man not related to her was stoned to death for adultery. An elderly woman was brutally beaten with a metal cable until her leg was broken because her ankle was accidentally showing underneath this burqa. But it is doubtful this woman ever had the chance to see a doctor or a physician, because male doctors are not allowed to treat women and women doctors are not allowed to practice their profession. The most heart wrenching part of this story, though, is that millions of children, young girls, are growing up in a hostile environment. Here I have, Mr. Speaker, some artwork created by little girls growing up in Afghanistan. And even though we cannot read the writing, because this is a foreign language to me, it depicts what they are suffering, what they have seen with their own eyes. Basically, in this picture here, what we see are young girls, one woman in the background with the shroud, the other two holding and grasping their hands and looking at a fellow colleague who has been slain in front of a school house. Near the school house is a Taliban soldier carrying a rifle. These are the kinds of things that these youngsters are having to go through every single day of their lives, since 1996. Here, on this side, we see a picture depicting three women covered in their shrouds, almost held by chains up against a tower that looks like an area where praying goes on. These are some of the vicious kinds of things that these women are seeing and feeling, actual real-life incidents that are occurring in Afghanistan. Despite these repeated condemnations of the Taliban actions by the international community, little has changed in Afghanistan; and millions of women and children, innocent people, caught in the crossfire of the Taliban's artillery have fled to the outskirts of Afghanistan to refugee caverns in Pakistan, where disease and starvation run rampant. Despite the fact that we have air-dropped more than 100,000 food rations in Afghanistan, international relief organizations are repeatedly warning us that these military food drops fall too short of fulfilling the need. Part of the problem is that we are not sending enough food. And although the administration has pledged $320 million in humanitarian relief efforts to Afghanistan, the United Nations estimates that it will take $584 million to see Afghanistan through the long cold winter. We need more help from the international community to ensure that these innocent Afghani citizens do not starve to death. Every effort has to be made to provide these people with adequate resources to survive this upcoming harsh winter, but part of the problem is that the food that we have dropped is not reaching these people. Many of these ready-to-eat meals are not being collected by the Afghani people, and in some cases are not easily located. Other times it is because the people fear retaliation for accepting the U.S. aid. Finally, some of the meals are falling into the hands of the Taliban forces that we are working so hard to fight against. It is important for us to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan, but aid alone cannot be the sole means of action. It is up to the United States and the Members of this body to speak for the class of women who are too oppressed to speak for themselves. We must work with the women of Afghanistan to form a more representative government, one that recognizes their accomplishments and allows them to participate in the process of democracy. We must be vigilant in our attempts to force the Taliban government to alter its treatment of women and girls and begin to correct these transgressions. Only by bringing these offenses to light can we hope to combat them. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender-McDonald), who is also co-chair of the Women's Caucus. (Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD asked and was given permission to revise and extend her remarks.)

Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, in closing I just want to reiterate the importance of our discussion here tonight. Let us not forget the shroud, the burqa, that may veil and provide coverage in a foreign land that we do not know, but let us remember here as women, as Members of the House of Representatives, and our male colleagues, that we shall not go unheard; that our voices will be heard throughout the country and throughout the world; and that we are not just pleading for those woman who are suffering, those children in Afghanistan, but throughout the Middle East. There are many women who are treated very differently in other parts of the Middle Eastern countries. They do not have to wear this shroud. They walk in honor, they walk in dignity. They have education, they have jobs. We want that for women of Afghanistan, and we will not stop until our voices are heard. I want to thank the Women's Caucus and the Members that shared the dais with me this evening, and for the artwork that was provided for us tonight, so that Members might see what young girls in Afghanistan are seeing through their eyes.

Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender-McDonald).

Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).