Anthony Weiner

Mr. WEINER

Mr. WEINER. I rise today in support of the recently introduced Medical Device Safety Act of 2008. This much-needed legislation would restore an injured consumer's ability to hold negligent medical device manufacturers accountable for product-related deaths and injuries. The Medical Device Safety Act addresses the problems created by the Supreme Court's February 20, 2008, decision in Riegel v. Medtronic. This decision stripped away essential consumer rights by supplying device manufacturers with total immunity from liability. It's difficult to see the reasoning behind this special treatment for device manufacturers when you consider what happened to Bridget Robb. In May 2005, Ms. Robb was diagnosed with nonischemic, viral cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure. To prevent her from dying from a fatal arrhythmia, she had a Medtronic cardiac defibrillator and pacemaker implanted in her chest. On December 31, 2007, a wire in Ms. Robb's defibrillator broke, causing the device to send a strong electric current to her heart. Ms. Robb suffered 31 electric shocks in 13 minutes in front of her 6-year-old daughter. Medtronic knew about this defect, but issued only a voluntary recall. Since this frightening experience, Ms. Robb has undergone two surgeries to replace her defibrillator and goes to doctor's appointments almost weekly for follow-up appointments and testing. Prior to the Supreme Court's decision in Riegel, the FDA and State courts protected consumers, like Ms. Robb, together. Since Riegel, consumers only have the FDA to protect them; and the FDA has insufficient resources to do so effectively. The Medical Device Safety Act ensures that consumers like Bridget Robb will be able to seek legal recourse for their injuries and reiterates Congressional intent that State laws must work hand in hand with Federal regulations to protect consumers. For these reasons, I urge support for Congressman Pallone and Congressman Waxman's bill, H.R. 6381. I look forward to working towards passage of this legislation and restoring these, critical, basic consumer protections.

Mr. WEINER

Mr. WEINER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring to the attention of the House a problem that exists, frankly, in all 50 States and is having a dramatic impact not only on individual States but having an impact tragically on our national security--the problem that tobacco excise taxes, which are levied State by State, have had the unwitting result of having a great incentive for people to smuggle tobacco over State lines. This is happening because of a weakness in the Federal law that makes it a misdemeanor to do so. Let me explain to you exactly what happens. In a State like New York, for example, the New York State excise tax for each pack of cigarettes is $2.75. New York City adds another $1.50 to that tax. So the base tax on cigarettes in New York is the combination of $2.75 in the State, $1.50 in the city. If you go to, say, North Carolina or another State that has a lower tax, there's an enormous amount of incentive for someone to buy the tobacco in a State like North Carolina, sell it in New York on the black market, or sell it on the Internet and wind up saving a great deal of money on that float between the two tax rates. Now this is illegal under the Jenkins Act. However, it's hardly ever enforced, and when you ask folks at the ATF why it's not enforced, they say quite simply, because the Jenkins Act is too weak. It only makes it a misdemeanor to do these things. What has become clear in recent months, though, and in recent years, according to the Government Accountability Office, according to the FBI, is that not only are people trying to make a couple of bucks doing this, but terrorist organizations have been funded. According to a GAO investigation, what has happened is that tobacco is being bought in North Carolina where the tax is only five cents a pack and being resold in Michigan where the tax is 75 cents a pack. They're taking that extra 50 cents which, when you consider cases and cases, truckloads and truckloads, and where do the profits go? $1.5 million was shipped overseas to Lebanon to fund Hezbollah. This is just one example. FBI Director Robert Mueller, when he testified about this problem before the Senate, said the following: ``Terrorists now increasingly have to rely on criminal organizations to travel from country to country for false identifications, for smuggling, being smuggled in or out of a country. They have to rely on other criminal organizations for money laundering. We have had a number of cases where Hezbollah, for instance, has utilized cigarette smuggling to generate revenues to support Hezbollah.'' In this GAO report that revealed this information, both DOJ-- Department of Justice--and ATF suggested that if violations of the Jenkins Act were felonies instead of misdemeanors, U.S. Attorneys' Offices might be less reluctant to prosecute. Well, I'm standing here to recommend that we do just that. We in the Crime Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee recently had a hearing on my legislation which would do just that. It would raise the stakes on the Jenkins Act, and it would do something else. It would say that no longer can you transfer tobacco through the mail. In order for this selling to be done in a truly efficient way, you don't pack up a truck and drive it across lines; you get an Internet Web site and you offer to transport it over State lines using the mail service. Now you can't use FedEx, you can't use UPS, and you can't use DHL. Why? Well, because they have all signed a compact, essentially a consent order saying they refuse to carry it. The only way to mail tobacco is through the United States Postal Service. So an additional thing the legislation would do would make that illegal. This is a serious problem. As the tax goes up, as the difference between the State taxes goes up, it's no longer nickels and dimes, it's millions of dollars, millions of dollars that's going to black market tobacco that's funding nefarious activities and funding terrorism, and we should stop it.

Mr. WEINER

Mr. WEINER. Mr. Speaker, the time has come for the United States Senate to free the COPS program. We here in this body, by an overwhelming bipartisan majority, voted to reauthorize the single greatest legislative weapon frankly ever passed by Congress to help reduce crime. It reauthorized the highly successful COPS program, authorizing the hiring of another 50,000 new cops, authorizing hiring of special terrorism cops for cities like New York that have cops that specialize simply in combating terrorism. Now, that same bill is held hostage in the Senate, frankly, by my Republican colleagues. The time has come for us to realize that if there has been one program that has been democratic, with a small D, meaning it's had beneficial effects all throughout the country, it's been the COPS program. Whether it's a small sheriff's department or a large police department like New York City, the program has been a success. We should keep on pushing. There are a lot of things we disagree on, but frankly, this should be one that unifies us. This will give us a chance to modernize this program, get some money into the pipeline in States and localities so that they can go ahead and hire more police officers and continue the successes we have had reducing crime.

Mr. WEINER

Mr. WEINER. Madam Speaker, several months ago, the Kingsbridge Heights Rehabilitation Center in the West Bronx unilaterally decided to stop making payments to the health care fund for its employees. Before some of my colleagues ``tisk tisk, well that's just the free market at work''--as the Daily News and their award-winning columnist, Errol Louis, pointed out--this center has made $5.2 million in profits last year and its CAO, Helen Sieger, made $700,000 in salary--all of it paid for by Medicaid funds, our tax dollars. Audrey Smith-Campbell and 220 of her colleagues decided they weren't going to take it; they were going to go on strike. Audrey Smith- Campbell was not a union activist or an ideologue. She was for 30 years a certified nurse assistant, caring for our parents and our grandparents, giving them dignity in their most vulnerable moments. She knew she wasn't ever going to get paid what she was worth but she wanted to be paid at least enough to live on. Audrey Smith-Campbell is dead. She died after having a severe asthma attack because she couldn't afford to pay for her medication when she was on strike. She should be honored for the way she lived--and we should all be ashamed for the reasons she died.

Mr. WEINER

Mr. WEINER. My colleagues, several months ago the Kingsbridge Heights Rehabilitation Center in the West Bronx unilaterally decided to stop making payments to the health care fund for its employees. Before some of my colleagues tsk-tsk, ``Well, that's just the free market at work,'' as the Daily News and their award-winning columnist, Errol Lewis, pointed out, this center has made $5.2 million in profits last year, and its CEO, Helen Sieger, made $700,000 in her salary, all of it paid for by Medicaid funds, our tax dollars. Well, Audrey Smith Campbell and 220 of her colleagues decided they weren't going to take it, they were going to go on strike. Audrey Smith Campbell was not a union activist or an ideologue, she was, for 30 years, a certified nurse assistant caring for her parents and her grandparents, giving them dignity in their most vulnerable moments. She knew she wasn't ever going to get paid what she's worth, but she wanted to be paid at least enough to live on. Well, Audrey Smith Campbell is dead. She died after having a severe asthma attack because she couldn't afford to pay for her medication when she was on strike. She should be honored for the way she lived, and we should all be ashamed for the reason she died.

Mr. WEINER

Mr. WEINER. Madam Speaker, I rise to discuss the need for additional affordable housing across the nation. Financial planners suggest that families devote 30 percent of their income to paying for housing costs. But for many families across the country such a rule of thumb sounds more like a pipe dream. According to the 2006 American Community Survey, twenty-five percent of renters across the nation spend more than 50 percent of their income on rent. Nationwide, there are 9 million extremely low-income households but only 6 million units renting at affordable prices, leaving a shortage of 3 million affordable housing units. In my hometown of New York City, 28 percent of renters are paying more than half of their income for rent. Keeping the Starrett City development in Brooklyn affordable is critical. Starrett City is the Nation's largest government-subsidized rental housing complex. It was designed in the 1970s as a subsidized, middle-class co-operative under New York State's Mitchell-Lama program. It is home to 12,000 residents in nearly 6,000 housing units. Most of the residents of Starrett City live on annual gross incomes of about $20,000 to $40,000 and the average subsidized rent is $200-$400. I, along with my colleague from New York, Representative Edolphus Towns, requested that the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity hold a field hearing in New York City following an attempt to sell Starrett City that jeopardized the complex's affordability. The hearing was held in July 2007 and investigated the impact of affordable housing sales on housing costs in New York City. Mr. Towns' legislation before the House today will allow owners and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to convert the current subsidy contracts that are in place at Starrett City into a new, 20- year Section 8 contract. This will ensure that a new owner can secure the long-term financing necessary to keep Starrett City affordable and its tenants in their homes. Without this legislation, Starrett City's owners would likely opt out of their Section 8 contract and convert Starrett City to market-rate housing, further contributing to the lack of affordable housing in New York City. I thank my colleague, Mr. Towns and support his legislation.

Mr. WEINER

Mr. WEINER. Mr. Chairman, the House has under consideration the bill H.R. 2830, the Coast Guard Reauthorization Act of 2007. Mr. Chairman, I want to highlight an amendment that I offered which has been included in Chairman Oberstar's amendment before the House. It directs the Environmental Protection Agency to conduct a study of the Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York underground oil spill at Newtown Creek. Newtown Creek is a 3.5 mile-long waterway that flows from the East River and separates the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens. It is the single most polluted waterway in New York City, a legacy left by more than a century of heavy industrial activity. The creek's banks are home to the largest oil spill in the United States, which dates back to the 1950s and is estimated to be 150 percent of the size of the Exxon- Valdez spill. In 1978, a Coast Guard patrol detected petroleum on the surface of Newtown Creek and identified a spill that spreads from the banks of the creek through the Greenpoint neighborhood in Brooklyn. Evaluations at that time identified a spill totaling 17 million gallons attributed to refineries operated along the banks of the creek by the predecessors to ExxonMobil, BP/Amoco and Chevron-Texaco. To date, 9.4 million gallons have been cleaned, primarily conducted by ExxonMobil under a 1990 consent agreement with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation that sets no timetable for completion and includes no meaningful criteria for compliance. Estimates indicate that it will take until at least 2026 to finish the remediation, almost 50 years since we discovered the spill. Today, even though it has been 30 years since the oil spill was detected, the best information on the spill's size are estimates. While we have evidence that the spill is 17-30 million gallons, covering 55 to 70 acres, the full-extent of the spill remains unknown. This information is critical. More than 200 observation wells and 35 recovery wells have been installed since 1978, but until we know the full extent of the problem, we may be wasting time. In 2006, Congress directed the Environmental Protection Agency to revisit the findings of the United States Coast Guard's July 1979 report entitled ``Investigation of Underground Accumulation of Hydrocarbons along Newtown Creek.'' The 2006 study did not collect new data, determine the size or location of the spill, or conclusively assess its impact on public health and safety. It recommended reevaluating the entire plume. Given this, the provision included in Chairman Oberstar's amendment instructs the Environmental Protection Agency to conduct a full-site characterization of the Greenpoint, Brooklyn underground oil spill. This study is to be driven by the collection of new field evidence and will not be limited to the review or co-review of existing or scheduled data collection by private parties or state and municipal entities. This new evidence includes the collection of data from new product, groundwater and soil monitoring wells, as well as from existing groundwater and soil monitoring wells at the Greenpoint Oil Spill site. This site is loosely bound by Newtown Creek on the northeast, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway on the east and south, North Henry Street on the west, and Greenpoint Avenue on the north. Specifically, the full-site characterization is to include: The investigation, collection, and analysis of data on the full extent of the free-product plume, or the portion of the underground petroleum plume that floats on top of the site's groundwater in its refined state or crude state, including any historic remnants currently distinct or fragmented from current spill delineations. The investigation, collection, and analysis of data on the full extent of the dissolved phase of the plume, or the portion of the underground petroleum plume that has dissolved into the groundwater, including the geographic extent and concentrations of groundwater contamination. The investigation, collection, and analysis of data on the full extent of soil contamination, including current and historic smear zones, or the area of soil contamination that may exist within the zone of horizontal and vertical water table fluctuations that have occurred since the time of the petroleum release. The investigation, collection, and analysis of data on the full extent of soil vapor contamination, including vertical and horizontal pathways within the vadose zone, or the area between the land surface and the water table. The evaluation of the entire spill area, covering both the free- product and dissolved plume, using three-phase numerical modeling techniques simulating the movement and interaction of water, oil, and vapor in a geologic medium, and use of such model to make an estimate on the length of time that will be required to recover free product, contaminated groundwater and contaminated soil from the underground plumes. The investigation and collection of data on monthly groundwater levels over a representative area of the free product and dissolved phase contamination areas to establish background water levels. The investigation, collection, and analysis of data on current and historic groundwater pathways in the region. The investigation, collection, and analysis of data on the impact of tidal fluctuations on groundwater levels in the region. The investigation, collection, and analysis of data on seepage of free product and dissolved phase groundwater into Newtown Creek along the full spill area shoreline. Chemical analysis and description of the oil product in the Newtown Creek region in its free product phase, its dissolved phase, and its smeared phase. An investigation of reports of oil in building foundations in the area of Roebling Street and North Eleventh Street in Brooklyn, New York, to determine whether those oil pockets are distinct from the Greenpoint Oil Spill, are historic remnants of the Greenpoint Oil Spill, or remain hydrologically connected to the Greenpoint Oil Spill. A detailed, three-dimensional representation reflecting the latitudinal and longitudinal location of the oil spill in the Newtown Creek region and also the observed and corrected thickness of the spill. A revised estimate of the volume and area of the spill in its three phases: free product, polluted groundwater, and smeared soils, and evaluate the remaining plume volume using corrected product thickness values. There is no geographic limit to the study. Testing is to be performed at potential, historic migration pathways and currently or newly detected product and groundwater contamination areas near the Greenpoint oil spill. The study will begin with areas to the north, south, southeast, and east of the current published spill location. Emphasis is to be placed on the path the spill may have taken when it was subject to hydrologic pressures related to groundwater withdrawals in the early-to-mid part of the 20th Century. As outlined in the amendment, this study is to be completed no later than one year after enactment of this law. I would like to express my thanks to Chairman Oberstar and Chairman Cummings for their willingness to work with me on this project. Furthermore, I would like to commend Mrs. Velazquez, who represents the people of Greenpoint, and has worked closely with me on this initiative. Additionally, I would like to thank the staff of the Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittees on Water Resources and Environment and Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation, particularly Ryan Seiger, John Cullather, Lucinda Lessley, and Ben Webster, who have worked with me to address this critical, but often overlooked, issue. I'd also like to thank Riverkeeper Incorporated, and its chief investigator, Basil Seggos. This organization's dedication and advice on remediating the Newtown Creek oil spill over the last six years has been an invaluable asset. Finally, I'd like to thank Dori Friedberg of my staff for her time, work, and counsel on this issue. Mr. Chairman, I thank the leadership of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for their hard work shepherding through the Coast Guard Reauthorization Act of 2007, and express my strong support for this bill.

Mr. WEINER

Mr. WEINER. Madam Speaker and ladies and gentlemen of the House, our bipartisan efforts to isolate terrorism and terrorists and to find a lasting and secure peace in the Middle East got two setbacks this week from sadly predictable sources. First, the United Nations appointed a human rights inspector by the name of Richard Falk whom my hometown newspaper, the Daily News, correctly called ``the nutty professor'' because of his position, as he goes into this job of overseeing human rights, that the Israelis are like Nazis. This is who they appoint to try to come to a peaceful human rights conclusion in that part of the world. And then, sadly, we had another chapter in how not to be a former President from Jimmy Carter who goes to the Middle East, and rather than trying to pursue peace, embraces Hamas, the organization responsible for hundreds of rockets falling in Israel. It is hard to imagine two institutions or two people that could be more of a setback than these two. The United Nations once again shows that they are unfit for their role of trying to find a moderate and lasting peace in that part of world. And, sadly, Jimmy Carter continues to write a chapter about how not to be a former President.

Mr. WEINER

Mr. WEINER. Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize the extraordinary work of several journalists with the Queens Courier, a weekly newspaper in New York City, who wrote a four-part series on day laborers titled ``Ghost Workers.'' Courier staff writers Peter Davis, Noah Rosenberg, and Christina Santucci, with the help of Damian Ghigliotty and Joe Hirsch, documented for 3 months the histories, labor, challenges, and lives of this invisible population. Their excellent reporting gave us a necessary glimpse into the lives of these hard-working men and women and the hardships they face as day laborers. Through their work these journalists remind us all of the essential role that the local press play in telling the stories often missed in the commotion of cable television and the 24-hour news cycle. The four-part series by the Queens Courier provided readers with an accurate, relevant, and illuminating window into this important but underground workforce. The series showcased their hopes for a brighter future and the obstacles they encounter, including oftentimes dangerous working conditions. The series noted that a 2003 study found that 63 percent of day workers surveyed said that their bosses did not give them protective clothing or equipment and 12 percent said that they had been injured on a job site at least once in the past year. It is the stories that they tell which should remind us all of the ``facts on the ground''--the stories to inform and inspire our policy and legislative work. The stories that journalists like Davis, Rosenberg, Santucci, and their colleagues tell illuminate the very best what journalism can be: informational and inspiring. It can change the world by making seen the invisible, teaching the unknown, and challenging the conventional wisdom. We all should thank The Queens Courier, their editors, and reporters Davis, Rosenberg, Santucci, Ghigliotty, and Hirsch for their incredible work.

Mr. WEINER

Mr. WEINER. Mr. Speaker, it is easy in the era where we look at the big numbers and the headlines in the newspaper to forget about the great acts of heroism that are going on right this very moment in Iraq and elsewhere in our world. I rise to bring to the attention of this body the heroism of Lieutenant Patrick Dowdell. He is serving with the 4th Infantry in Iraq as we speak. That is a division that has lost, unfortunately, over 135 heroic men and women. He is not the only hero in the family. His younger brother, James, recently began service in Ladder Company 174 in East Flatbush. I hope you will join with me and all of his neighbors in Breezy Point in expressing tribute to this family. This family has one other chapter of heroism in its book. Lieutenant Kevin Dowdell, the father of both Patrick and James, was lost on September 11, a firefighter, in the World Trade Center. We join with this entire body and all of this country in commending Rose Ellen, their mother, and the acts of heroism that they are paying both here and in generations in the past. May God bless them, and God bless the United States of America.

Mr. WEINER

Mr. WEINER. I thank the sponsors of this legislation and of the amendment. I think this is an opportunity for us to expand on the notion that many Americans already support, and that is the idea that Americans very much want to be asked to help, they want to be asked to volunteer, they want to be asked to serve. Despite the conventional wisdom about growing apathy in the country, studies have actually shown that almost 30 percent did volunteer work in 2006, up dramatically since 1989, the last time the survey was asked. We found when asked is government, is Washington, is our country asking enough of us, overwhelmingly Americans say no, we are not being asked to do enough. Unlike the period after Pearl Harbor when FDR famously called us all to this national sense of calling, we failed to do it. The bill that we have today hopefully will reverse that to some degree and get more people involved doing more things. One of the things the bill does that is most laudable is expands outreach to let cities, localities, and organizations know the program has grown much more flexible over the course of years. I believe that cities should be thinking about their own version of kind of a city version of AmeriCorps, addressing specific problems, maybe not as general as the AmeriCorps program is, where we have many people going, doing discrete individual things, but create programs that cities say let's try to tackle the problem of child hunger, let's try to tackle the problem of affordability. This type of a program would allow cities to take more control, something that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle support. Not that long ago, I gave a speech in May, where I laid out a proposal in something I called AppleCorps, that New York City would come up with their program to take advantage. The idea would be if you get cities involved, maybe we can get them to put money in on top of what we in the Federal Government are offering to tackle those challenges that they face. One thing is very clear, that when Roosevelt once famously asked, ``Now that we are in this war, we are all in it, all the way. Every single, man, woman, and child is a partner in the most tremendous undertaking of our American history. We must share together the bad news and the good news, the defeats and the victories.'' This bill seeks to do that. Thank you very much for the time.

Mr. WEINER

Mr. WEINER. Madam Speaker, I would like to thank a committed staffer of mine, Michael Marcy. Michael has been with my office for 4 years now. These past years he administered my office and maintained my hyperactive schedule with a clear and precise head and a generous sense of humor. Michael's life- long commitment to public service started with a term in the Clinton White House and continued into Senator Charles Schumer's office. From there he moved into my office--a clear step up from his previous two positions. Michael is returning to his home city of Buffalo, New York with his wife, Jenn, and his son, Sean. My office will not be the same without him--I thank him for his dedication and he will be missed.

Mr. WEINER

Mr. WEINER. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor Tom Terrell, a versatile music journalist, promoter and DJ, who was among the first industry insiders to focus attention on reggae and world music. Tom was a cornerstone of the New York music community for 16 years before returning to his native Washington, DC, where he passed away on November 29, 2007, after a brave battle with prostate cancer. He was 57 years old. Mr. Terrell, who was ubiquitous in Washington music circles in the 1970s and 1980s, seemed to know everyone and to be ahead of every trend. After beginning his journalistic career at Howard University, he worked as a disc jockey at local stations and wrote about music for the Unicorn Times, the Washington City Paper, and other publications. As the house DJ at d.c. space and the 9:30 Club, he introduced audiences to an eclectic selection of records reflecting his interest in soul, jazz, New Wave, reggae, and African music. Mr. Terrell's unique, humorous, insightful, and always honest voice was ubiquitious in places such as Vibe, Essence, JazzTimes, the Village Voice and National Public Radio. Mr. Terrell's journalism was often a spirited blend of autobiography and musicology, leavened with slang, profanity, and the knowledge of every trend in popular music for the past half-century. He wrote about virtually every form of music from Africa and the Americas. Between his DJ work and writing, he promoted concerts for artists as diverse as Cab Calloway, the Art Ensemble of Chicago and Mali's Salif Keita. After moving to New York in 1990, he worked in marketing for Island Records, Gee Street Records, and Verve, wrote for magazines and served as the DJ for jazz giant Ornette Coleman's 70th birthday party. Mr. Terrell was also an accomplished photographer who photographed hundreds of musicians in performance. Back in Washington, one of his final projects was to write liner notes and record video interviews for a six-CD box set of Miles Davis's ``On the Corner'' recordings of the early 1970s. Mr. Terrell was much more than a talented writer and musicologist with a gift for discovering artists and musical developments. He was a radiant, joyful presence, whose enthusiasm and appreciation for life, music, and a good joke will continue to inspire those who were fortunate enough to know him. Above all, his life represented the ideal that music could be a beneficial force in the world, uniting people across racial, social and geographical boundaries. This was his magic. As his sister Bevadine Z. Terrell says, ``He loved bringing new music to people. He loved bringing people together, not just African Americans, but white people, Asian people, African people.'' Mr. Terrell set a great example of community for artists to follow. ``How can I help you?'' was a question Tom was always asking. May his memory serve as a reminder to all of us to keep asking that question.

Mr. WEINER

Mr. WEINER. Madam Speaker, I wish to recognize the incredible work of Debra Brown Steinberg. Ms. Steinberg has been an uncompromising advocate for the families of the victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center. She was quick to action taking an integral role in creating the New York Lawyers for the Public Interest 9/11 Project in early October 2001. She also drafted the New York City Bar Association's comments for the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund which was vital in creating the fund. This fund delivered a total of $7 billion to family members of the victims of the 9/11 attacks. But her work did not end there. For the last 6 years she has continued to care for the families of those who were lost. She has worked tirelessly for the family members of the victims who could not mourn freely--the widows and orphans of the victims who were immigrants on 9/11. Today in New York City there are 9/11 widows and orphans who fear going to the World Trade Center site because they may be identified for deportation. Ms. Steinberg speaks often with these families offering them her legal expertise. She used this expertise to help draft the September 11 Family Humanitarian Relief and Patriotism Act, H.R. 1071. This bill gives Congress the tools to provide legal immigration status to the 9/ 11 victim's family members. It grants permanent resident status to the spouses and children of undocumented immigrants who died on 9/11. To qualify these families must have been beneficiaries of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001. Ms. Steinberg continues to push for its passage by consistently offering her talent and passion to our offices. Her selfless and persistent efforts have given these families, victims of 9/11, comfort and hope that they will be able to soon grieve and live without fear. As I recognize her work today I hope we can honor it by passing the September 11 Family Humanitarian Relief and Patriotism Act.

Mr. WEINER

Mr. WEINER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman. Mr. Speaker, I am waiting for some conservatives to come to the floor, I am waiting for some true intellectually consistent conservative Members of the other party who understand that in their mantra of government staying out of people's private lives, in their mantra of allowing the marketplace to work, allowing people to be judged by their hard work, by their tenacity, by their skill, I am waiting for those people to come to the floor and say that we believe in ENDA. We believe in the idea of not government selecting who's going to win but letting the marketplace do it. We believe in our friends in the private sector, 350 or so Fortune 500 companies that already practice ENDA that we are going to be voting on today. Where are they? Where are those Members of my colleague's party that are shamed by their record on civil rights throughout the years and want to make it right now? Where are the Members of that party who are going to come forward and say, I don't want to explain to my grandkids why I was on the wrong side of another civil rights movement? Where are those Members of that party who claim to be conservative? Speak up now. This is your moment.

Mr. WEINER

Mr. WEINER. Look, I rise without any compunction to offer some level of congratulations to the Red Sox. As the Speaker knows, and you know I'm a Mets fan, so when we played you in 1986, it wasn't that big of a problem. And as bad as our collapse was this year, we have a great deal of empathy for the fans of the Boston Red Sox. And I must admit there are some genuinely likable players on the Red Sox. This guy, Kevin Youkilis, whom you know, Mr. Lynch, his great grandfather was named Weiner. So perhaps way back when, there was some baseball talent in the Weiner family, although none has been displayed recently in the congressional baseball game. And it's no doubt about it that Manny Ramirez from Washington Heights, the New York connection, and Mike Lowell, the MVP, it's hard not to root for that guy. But I have to say I'm a little surprised there isn't language in this resolution in reference to the MVT, the most valuable traitor. I seem to recall reading that Rudolph Giuliani, that vaunted Yankee fan, who for years and years would put the Yankee pin stripes on, and even has World Series rings, I understand, in his collection, stood up and said that he too was pulling for the Boston Red Sox. Now, I think there should be some kind of a----

Mr. WEINER

Mr. WEINER. Mr. Chairman, I want to congratulate my friend, the gentleman from West Virginia, on his legislation that substantially reforms the governance of hardrock mining on public lands. Abandoned mine sites pose serious environmental and safety hazards. Currently, there are more than 80 hardrock abandoned mines or mine- related sites on the EPA's Superfund National Priorities List. Polluters should pay to clean up the pollution they leave behind. I would like to have a colloquy with the gentleman from West Virginia to clarify the use of federally appropriated funds from the Hardrock Reclamation Account under sections 411, 412 and 413 of the bill. Does the gentleman from West Virginia agree that moneys in the Hardrock Reclamation Account shall not be provided in a manner that reduces the financial responsibilities of any party that is responsible or potentially responsible for contamination on any real property?

Mr. WEINER. Does the gentleman also agree that the provision of assistance pursuant to this act or section shall not in any way relieve any part of liability with respect to such contamination, including liability for removal and remediation costs?

Mr. WEINER. I thank the chairman. I urge passage of this bill.

Mr. WEINER

Mr. WEINER. Mr. Speaker and my colleagues, later on this week or perhaps early next week, this House will embark on the latest chapter in our Nation's history of extending the civil rights that all Americans should be entitled to to one other group. We will be considering the Employment Nondiscrimination Act. It is an effort to make sure that people are not discriminated against in their workplace because of their sexual orientation, because of their gender identity. It is something that is intuitive to so many Americans, and, frankly, the overwhelming number of Americans. And it is an example of how sometimes we in this House lead on civil rights issues and sometimes we follow. In this case, it is a little bit of each. Under ENDA, we will be following to a large degree. Hundreds of companies, including virtually all of the Fortune 50 and Fortune 500 companies, already recognized fundamentally that it is good business to judge people by the quality of their work, their intellect, their drive, by what they bring to the business, not what their sexual orientation or gender identity is. Overwhelming numbers of companies, and not just companies that you would describe as being progressive, but companies from all across the political spectrum, financial services groups like American Express and J.P. Morgan and Lehman. You have companies like Clear Channel Communication, Coca-Cola, Nationwide Insurance, Nike, Microsoft. These are all companies that, when they write the contracts for their other workers, it is fundamental to them that there will be no discrimination based on someone's sexual orientation or gender identity. For these companies and for the 90 percent or so of American people that responded to a Gallup poll in 2007, employment nondiscrimination based on gender identity and based on sexual orientation is obvious; it is not even an innovation. But we are going to be leading in some important ways. There are still about 30 percent of people who respond to polls who are members of the lesbian, bisexual and transgender community who say that they experience discrimination at the workplace regularly. Some of them, 25 percent, say they experience it on a regular basis. Why should that be? Is that an American value? Is it an American value to say we should discriminate on someone based on the sense of who they love or how they express it? Of course not. So, for those men and women throughout all 50 States, we will be leading later on this week when we pass the Employment Nondiscrimination Act. But it is very important that we also realize that we are leading on another element to this discussion. There is an active discussion going on in this Chamber and elsewhere whether or not to include gender identity in the same category we include sexual orientation. I say unequivocally the answer is yes. There are people who every day experience discrimination because of their gender identity. Susan Stanton spent 14 years as the Largo, Florida city manager; 14 years, obviously doing a good job, rehired, reappointed. Susan was once Steve Stanton. When he started hormone therapy and planned to become a woman, was fired. Diane Schroer, 25 years of distinguished service in the Army as David. Recorded 450 parachute jumps, received the Defense Superior Service Medal, hand picked to lead a classified national security operation. Retired and was offered a job with a private homeland security consulting firm. The offer was rescinded when Schroer explained he was transgender and wanted to begin the job as a woman. But the question has come up: If we can't include gender identity in this bill, should we do anything at all? Should we take half a loaf. My colleagues, I think the answer is no. I think we cannot toss this element of an important civil rights coalition to the side. We have to make sure, particularly in the context of us doing what is largely symbolic, there is no sense that the Senate is going to act on this, and certainly no sense that the President of the United States and this administration is going to. Maybe what we should say is we are in this together. If we are going to make a symbolic stand, the symbolic stand should be let's pass a one House bill with only part of the protections. Let's let the symbolic message be that we are sticking together, that when we say ``GLBT,'' we mean it. And we should do something else. We should also make it very clear to those watching this discussion that we are not going to negotiate against ourselves. We are not going to say if we toss this element or that element off to the side, maybe we will be able to get what we need. There are some things that are immutable, some civil rights that are immutable. This is one of them. We are going to stick together and pass an inclusive ENDA, or we are going to come back again and do it right.

Mr. WEINER

Mr. WEINER. Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to ponder a hypothetical. Imagine for a moment that a small town in your district, whether you represent a rural or urban district or suburban district you can imagine this hypothetical, but it's an unimaginable concept to many of us in the United States. Imagine if a town in that district was hit by a rocket, just landed out of the sky, launched from a neighboring town, or if you're near the border, launched from a neighboring country. Imagine for a moment how you would react as an elected official in that town, imagine for a moment how you would act as a parent of people in that town, imagine how you would act if you were government from that town. Well, for one small town in the southern part of Israel, it's not something they need to imagine. Let me show you a map of Israel and point to a small town called Sderot. It's right down here near the Negev, right along the border of the Gaza Strip. Sderot is a town of 24,000 people. It is not a wealthy town; it's basically a working class town. Like I said, not very big. But in the last 5 years, not one, not two, but 2,000 rockets have landed on that town, all of them launched from the Gaza Strip. Now, as you ponder what it is that you would do, let me tell you a little bit about the effect it has had to the people of Sderot. Eight people have been killed as these qassam rockets have fallen. What is a qassam rocket? A qassam rocket is a fairly primitive rocket that is made out of basically a plumbing pipe with four stabilizers and filled with about a pound or so of shrapnel, that when it explodes, it blows the shrapnel all around. This is a picture of some of the qassam rockets that have landed in Sderot over the last 5 years. This is what the back of the local police station looks like. They keep them all and they mark it when they land. Now, eight people have been killed by these rockets, three of them children, dozens have been wounded. There have been 155 of these rockets landing in this town just since June, when Hamas was elected as the representative party of the people of the West Bank, and some would argue Gaza as well. You see this small strip of land? That's the Gaza Strip. Lobbed one by one by one into this town of Sderot. Well, as you think about how your citizens might deal, let me tell you a little bit about how the citizens of Sderot have dealt. For one thing, when there is any kind of notice that they get, and they have a rather primitive system of lasers that detect when there is heat out in the desert that seems extraordinary, a notice goes to the local police department and then they send out tzeva adom, tzeva adom, which just means ``code red.'' Then you have about 15 seconds. That's how much time the people of Sderot have to respond. They can do a couple of things. They can run into these concrete shells that have been built all throughout town. The way we might have phone booths in our towns, they have concrete structures that are called life shields. They are supposed to pull over or stop their car where they are and run to a building or wall. It's the only part of Israel where it's illegal to wear your seat belt because you have to be able to run out of your car as quickly as possible to avoid the rocket attacks. And kids, of course, they're taught the old 1950s-era American idea of ``duck and cover,'' except when it comes to the children of Sderot, it would be more aptly described as ``duck and suffer.'' One in three children in that town suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. It is not coincidental or accidental that seven rockets landed in that town on the first day of school this past Sunday. There was a rocket attack today. It is hard to find pictures that truly can express what it is like when a rocket falls on an elementary school; but this is a picture that was taken during a rocket attack last year, children essentially cowering in a corner of their school and holding their heads for their lives. You know, it is easy to describe in dry terms what you're supposed to do when a rocket lands on your town, and thank God many of us will never know what that is like. But imagine what it is like when there are hundreds of them, and now thousands of them over the course of the last couple of years. Now, we here in Washington, we frequently think of things through the lens of what should the government response be. Well, what would your town's government response be if it was attacked by a foreign power day after day after day with rockets? Well, unfortunately for the people of Israel, there isn't a great deal that they can do, particularly since the international community has shown very little concern about the matter. The United Nations, perhaps we can urge them to pass a resolution of condemnation. They've been unwilling to do anything. You might try to figure out what ways you can make your residents more safe. The Israeli Government sent 200 soldiers to this town of 24,000 people to escort their hundreds of kids to school. You might want to try to figure out where they're getting the artillery necessary to be launching these attacks. As you can see here, the border is only with one other country, and that's Egypt. Time and time again there have been found tunnels that lead into the Gaza Strip providing weaponry. You might want to crack down on Egypt to make sure that they stop providing the artillery. But one thing for sure is you would do something. And sooner or later, I think it's fair to say that all of us, if we were put in this circumstance where there was one or even two or three at most rockets falling in our districts, we would demand that something be done. Well, I believe that it is time for those of us in the United States to realize that terrorism falls in all kinds of ways every day that barely gets a notice. When several of these rockets fell in Sderot on the first day of school, you might have missed it in your neighborhood newspaper because it is so commonplace. It should never be, in 2007, commonplace for one nation to lob missiles down on the other. Now, it comes as little surprise that just in the several months that Hamas took over control of the Gaza Strip that there has been an escalation in the number of rockets. But I also think that we need, as a country that is in solidarity with Israel and the many things that they're trying to do, you know, it's not the purpose of this map, but you can see that this is a nation that is surrounded with enemies. On the northern border they face Hezbollah, which declared war across the international border and lobbed weapons upon them in the Lebanese war. You see here they're dealing with problems in the Gaza Strip. Now, I should point out that much of the escalation has happened in the period since Israel withdrew unilaterally from the Gaza Strip. There are no Israeli forces there anymore. Since the Israeli forces left, the rocket attacks have gone up. So what can the Israelis do? Well, I guess they could reoccupy the Gaza Strip, and you can imagine the public condemnation and hue and cry that might occur if that happened. I guess they could try as best they could to track where these rockets are being fired from and try to go in as quickly as possible and counterattack. Well, it's not a very practical thing to do, perhaps they would argue. But one of the things they are considering doing is saying, look, we're going to cut off the power and supply to the Gaza Strip; we're going to make the citizens of Gaza Strip make a choice whether they're going to have terrorists in their midst or not. Well, one thing that we can do, as far away from the front of the Sderot conflict as we are, is we could make it very clear that if we were in the same position, we would not be calling upon ourselves to show great restraint. We would try to figure out how do we solve this problem. And so we, as the United States of America and the State Department, when they call upon Israel, show restraint, show restraint, don't retaliate, maybe that's a reasonable argument after one or two or 10 rockets. Now, I think we have to realize that what Israel is engaged in, what this tiny town is engaged in is playing defense in the war on terrorism every single day without much support and without much help. So I take the floor today with my good friend from Nevada to say that, while we are not being asked to live in a town like Sderot, we should be mindful of the idea that such towns exist in Israel, that it is not just the province of people who live along the Lebanese border that are facing terrorism, it's not just the province of people who drive along the roads even in the inner country of Israel who find themselves being under attack. It's a daily attack on this tiny town. Now, they don't have C-SPAN; I doubt they have C-SPAN in Sderot. But they do listen very carefully when the United States of America, when the Secretary of State, when the President, when elected officials stand up and say, listen, we don't envy the situation that Israel is in, but we understand it. And we understand that retaliation is sometimes a difficult thing to contemplate, but sometimes it's necessary. We know that if we were put in the same position and suddenly the good folks in Canada started lobbing missiles over the New York border, I would be demanding that we respond. If the folks who live in Arizona or Texas started getting attacked with missiles coming over the border, certainly none of us would be saying, show forbearance. If these children were being forced to cower at rocket attacks day after day after day in any town in the United States, we would understand perfectly well that something needed to be done to stem the tide. But there are other things we can do. We can say we are not going to continue to be a supporter of Egypt, as we have, if they continue to allow their nation to be essentially a wide open font for terrorist activities. We are going to understand that, while it was every right, and sometimes I'm criticized for making this image, it's every right of the people of the Palestinian territories to choose to elect Hamas as their leaders, but it is also the right of the international community to say that this is what we expected would happen. We would have an increase in the international terrorism that emerged from the Gaza Strip, and now it has happened. And if we had a terrorist government in Canada, we wouldn't hesitate for a moment to see it as a threat to our security. We can also understand that the people of Sderot's fight is all of our fight. When the United Nations is, resolution after resolution, condemning Israel for its heavy hand in this or its heavy hand in that, when it convenes a conference to talk about the plight of the Palestinians, putting aside the plight of the Israelis, they do a disservice to the basic common sense about who it is that is doing the attacking, who it is that is launching the missiles and who it is that is on the other side. The other thing that we can do is make sure that weapons like this are never armed with high-tech guidance systems. Right now, the administration is putting the final touches on a plan to present to the United States Congress that would sell missile guidance systems, $20 million worth, to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has been one of the foremost advocates for Hamas in the world. They fund them. They support them. They provide them aid and comfort. Imagine for a moment if these missiles weren't being lobbed relatively indiscriminately in the direction of schools, hospitals, shopping centers and synagogues, but imagine if they had laser guidance systems provided to the Saudis and then leaked to them, because that is what happens in that part of the world. Imagine this number of rockets that are hitting people and installations and churches, well, synagogues and not just falling to the Earth. We can stop that sale. We in Congress can stop that sale. And we should do everything we can to do so. Ms. Berkley and I circulated a letter that over 115 Members of Congress signed onto saying this is a bad idea to be selling weapons, high-tech weapons, to the foremost exporter of terrorism in the world. But tonight when we lay down our heads, we should know that not far away, 2,000 miles away in Sderot, children are going to be walking to school, and most likely if tomorrow is like today was, they are going to hear a siren go off. They are going to hear a voice over the loudspeakers saying in Hebrew, ``condition red, condition red'' which meant that they have to go find cover somewhere. Imagine raising your child in that kind of environment. Imagine the outrage that you would feel as a parent or resident of that town. We should never forget that we are not going to be safe just because we don't have rockets falling on us every single day. So long as there are entities in the world that find comfort in being able to do that day in and day out, we all suffer. We admire Israel for what it does. It is probably the last remaining country besides the United States of America that every day is trying to fight terrorism. Our friends in Europe turn it on and turn it off as they might be willing to. Frankly, it is the United States and Israel every day. But as much as we fight and as much as we invest in resources, as much as we honor the men and women of the armed services, 150,000 fighting for us in Iraq and Afghanistan, imagine if every single day we weren't having to go out and fight that fight, but it was landing in our community. That should be the lens that we look at this conflict through. There are complications. It is a nuanced and difficult thing. It is difficult trying to persuade people who are democracies in Lebanon, democracies in the West Bank and Gaza, that they shouldn't be voting for people whose campaign slogan is ``I want to drive Israel into the sea.'' It is discouraging. It is complicated when you have a nation like Jordan for whom many of these people would consider their home country and have them take little responsibility for those people who are in the West Bank, as well as for those people who are in Gaza. It is a difficult, complicated part of the world. But there are some things that are immutable. And I would hope that we would all agree that one of the immutable things is that under no circumstance should any country have to withstand tens and tens, and hundreds, eventually thousands of rocket attacks on its land just because it is a small town and just because most people have never heard of it. My colleague, Congressman Wexler, and I had a long debate about how to pronounce it. He said ``Sderot.'' I said ``Sderot.'' It is unclear. It was written originally in Hebrew. It probably appears in the Bible somewhere. Perhaps we can find an authority on that. These are not the most influential people even in Israel. But it is troubling to me. I think I speak for my colleague, Ms. Berkley, that day in and day out these attacks happen, and none of us even notice any more. Well, the children and the adults and the people of that community notice. They notice. They are traumatized by it. I think it is our obligation as citizens of the world to say that while you can have different viewpoints about where borders should be and you can have different viewpoints about the relative gripes of the Palestinians or the gripes of Hamas or who should prevail, Fatah or Hamas, or whether or not the Egyptians are doing enough, or whether or not the Syrians are doing enough, or whether or not they are all just exporting terrorism in one form or the other, I would hope that we could agree that it is an international abomination that this is allowed to happen. I would be glad to yield to my colleague from Nevada.

Mr. WEINER. Reclaiming my time, I think you have raised the essential question, why is it that people are attacking Sderot? What is the great political fight that is going on that leads people to be launching missiles out of Gaza into Sderot? There was once upon a time a conflict over whether or not Israel should be occupying this territory. They are not. What is it now that the fight is over? What is it, now that Hamas has been elected and there has been this dramatic increase in them, what is the objective of those people who are committing these acts of terrorism? It is no longer a border dispute. The Gaza strip, the Israelis have said okay, it is yours. Take it. Take it and control it, govern it, be responsible for it on your own. It also raises another question. Hamas was elected in the West Bank and Gaza. This notion that they only control the Gaza, the West Bank is under someone else's control, remember now, this is a new government under a democracy, and I largely have agreed with the President when he has said, you know, democracy is a virtue that we should try to encourage throughout the world. Well, while there is a lot of complaints you can make about the people that they chose, this was a pretty free and clear election. No one has accused them of cooking the books or stealing the election. If anything, Fattah was in control of more of the apparatus, they should have won. So now Hamas has been elected and there has been a dramatic increase of attacks. These are the numbers just since June. Every week, 7, 14, 12. This is a week. This is not over the course of a month, this is just over the course of each week how much there has been. And the question has to be, what is now the fight over? What is it that the terrorists, what is it that Hamas, what is it the people here are trying to do? Well, could it be could it be that the people here in Gaza are always going to attack the citizens of Israel. What is then the logical extension our policy? It is fine to say, all right, let's try to figure it out. The Saudis have put forth this plan and said let's return the country to the 1967 borders. Maybe that is the solution. Well, the Lebanese border is no longer under contest. The United Nations decided where the line should be. Israel said you are wrong, but we are going to observe your line. The Palestinians said the Gaza Strip is ours. The Israelis said, well, we don't believe you can secure it and it won't be safe for us to leave, but we are going to leave anyway. So now you have people crossing over from Lebanon and taking prisoners and declaring war. You have the Palestinians electing a terrorist organization and increasing the amount of attacks. What is it they want? This is not, my colleagues, a basic border dispute any more. Now you can only conclude if they are attacking a small town of 22,000 people just because they can, that their objective is going to be under every circumstance, whenever given the opportunity, they are going to attack. Now, I don't say that to drag us into a larger discussion about what the ultimate solution to this challenge is, except to say for many Americans who look at this part of the world and don't see the nuances, they say can't they just work something out there? Just kind of find a border that works for everyone. Well, Sderot is nowhere near the border here. It has never been under Palestinian control, ever.

Mr. WEINER. Unless you believe, which some people may, that all of Israel should be under Arab control. Then you don't believe in this existential sense that Israel should believe at all.

Mr. WEINER. And I think the gentlewoman is right, except in her pronunciation, which was confirmed with the embassy earlier today that there is no T and it is Sderot. But that is another whole conversation, which is why I would never get elected to the Knesset from that district.

Mr. WEINER. And then the question has to be raised, as much good intention as Secretary of State Rice and the administration may have here, having sit-downs and negotiations with Mahmoud Abbas and trying to present him with aid and trying to make his government or the idea that his thoughts or actions would be better for the Palestinian people, does that bring us one inch closer to stopping the attacks on Sderot? Does it do anything to truly enforce the idea that Gaza is under control? And the people voted for them. And by the way, this notion that they just carried, this is not like an electoral college map, they just carried Gaza, they have broad support throughout the West Bank as well.