Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I am going to wait on that little celebration until our good friend from Florida joins us and we can do the happy dance together on the Heat's amazing victory last night, and I am sure the Speaker enjoyed that fantastic victory last night as well. So we will regale you with the success of the Heat when the gentleman from Florida joins us.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. So that way we can get back to talking about what Americans' priorities are here; making sure their kids can afford college, making sure when they are sick they can go to the doctor, but right now they can't because 46 million Americans don't have health insurance; making sure that gas prices aren't over $3 a gallon, with record profits going to the oil industry, and this Congress, led by the Republicans, passing legislation twice last summer with every single Republican voting yes and them holding the vote open at least 40 minutes to make sure that they could twist enough arms to give away subsidies to an oil industry that is already making more money than they know what to do with. I mean, if you were watching Meet the Press on Sunday and you saw the three CEOs of the oil industry just completely not getting that they need to be part of this solution, and no one in this Congress, that is leading this Congress, except for us, who are making every attempt, no one asking the oil industry to step up and invest their revenue from their profits into alternative energy resources. It is just absolutely unbelievable.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Sure. What former House Speaker, leader of the Republican revolution on this Republican Congress said, he cited a series of blunders. You referred to our Republican colleagues' incompetence a minute ago, Mr. Delahunt. Well, former Speaker Gingrich ``cited a series of blunders under Republican rule from failures in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina,'' which we have been talking about this evening, ``to mismanagement of the war in Iraq. He . . . said the government has squandered billions of dollars in Iraq.'' And our good friend Mr. Tanner, whom you just talked about, and the audit he wants to accomplish once we are in the majority, he analogized that legislation to a mechanic looking under the hood because that is really what is necessary here. I think I would want to make sure I had some Purell with me after we looked under the hood when the Republicans are put aside and maybe have a mask just so that I wouldn't become infected by some of the mismanagement and gross incompetence that has clearly occurred here under Republican rule. I mean, a deficit of more than $8 trillion, a debt that is more in the time that President Bush has been in office than all previous 42 Presidents combined, a war in Iraq that has created a cesspool in a country that was in bad shape to start with, but that literally the situation that they are in now in Iraq with the terrorism on the rise that exists there was created by this President and the Republicans' war.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Delahunt, you are absolutely right. The contrast here is that when it comes to actually improving the economy and beginning to go in a new direction, the Republicans have no plan at all. More of the same. More deficits, more tax cuts for the wealthiest among us, more people who are going to go uninsured, more of the same; as opposed to the Democrats' new direction for America, Mr. Ryan, that you have on the easel next to you. And I think it would be useful to take, Mr. Speaker, the Members through what the Democrats' plan is if we take the majority back of this institution and the things that we would implement if we were able to actually implement an agenda.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. And, Mr. Ryan, don't forget. We have a plan that would allow small businesses to pool their resources and pool their risk that, if we were allowed to implement it, and if we were in the majority in this institution, we would pass legislation that would do that without totally eliminating the benefits that are part of these health insurance packages. In the Republicans' legislation that they crammed through the Congress with a rubber-stamp vote that they typically do, their solution was to pass bare-bones insurance legislation that basically provides coverage for almost nothing. And you would basically dumb down any insurance policy. Some people might say, well, some insurance is better than none. But when you have the second leading cause of death for women in this country, being breast cancer, and in most States mammograms are a mandated insurance benefit, their plan would allow the elimination of that required coverage. If you implement it and their plan became law, we would ensure that fewer women would be able to get mammograms, and the incidences of breast cancer would go up.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. We are paying for funerals for people who didn't die as a result of the hurricane.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. What plan have you heard of from the other side of the aisle, from our good friends on the other side? Where is their economic plan? Where is their plan to fix it? What bills have they passed that reduce the deficit, that help Americans struggling to pay for gas, that help them pay for higher education? I mean, is it all you are on your own? It is all about you, and we are from the Government, and we are not here to help. We have a plan. We have a new direction for America which is laid out right there. I hear a lot of the Republicans on the other side of the aisle accusing us of not having a plan. We have got one. Where is theirs? Because if we keep going in this direction, we are headed for more deficit and more of our citizens twisting in the wind.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Delahunt, let me just tell you. When my husband and I got married, we got married in 1991. And I was 24 and my husband was 26. Within several months of getting married, we were able to buy our first home. We both had health insurance. We were not worried about how to put gas in our car, and neither one of us had college tuition debt. Fast forward to 15 years later, because I just celebrated my 15th wedding anniversary, and someone starting out just like we did can't afford a house in the community that I live in and represent. Literally they are driving their car around and have to pay more than $50 every single time. We couldn't have afforded that on the incomes that we made. We could back in 1991, but not, back in 1991 we could afford gas prices because they were in the $1 range, a little over a dollar. How are they supposed to do it? It is unfathomable.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Of course.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. If the gentleman from Ohio would yield, because the contrast to what is going on in the cesspool that has been created by the Republican leadership in Iraq is that if we were in the majority in this Congress, we would implement the real security agenda. We would focus on making sure that there was a plan in Iraq so that we can train the Iraqi troops to take care of the business at hand in Iraq on their own and begin to phase out our involvement there. Yet there is no plan to do that. There is no timetable. There isn't anything coming from this President that would say when a percentage of Iraqi troops are prepared, that we are going to pull out X percentage of Americans troops. We have to make sure we start focusing on the terrorism here at home. What happens instead, in the debate we had the other day, where it should have been a debate, like you said, it was not a debate, but in the basic filibuster, single-subject filibuster in which we were afforded no opportunity to present or talk about our alternative, instead you had bobblehead after bobblehead on the other side of the aisle just come up to the podium and shake their head up and down and say exactly what the administration wanted them to say. Then they put their votes up on the board and did exactly what was expected of them, vote to rubber-stamp the exact same stay-the-course policy that Americans clearly have indicated they do not want to continue. I don't know what hometown these people are going home to.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. But this is the 30-something Working Group, Mr. Delahunt. We identify, we are not, well, some of us are not, that far from having been through exactly the situation.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Look at this. To illustrate what you are talking about here, you have got interest rates that are bad enough in terms of interest people have to pay in order to get on top of their college loans. But college tuition itself has gone up. This is under the President, since President Bush has taken office. College tuition itself has gone up 40 percent. Then you take a look at gas prices which have gone up 47 percent. You take a look at health care costs, gone up 55 percent. This is the reality for Americans today. But median household income has dropped by 4 percent. I mean, dropped. So how are Americans supposed to make up this difference? What are they supposed to do when it comes to the income that they are bringing in and the everyday costs that are a part of their life? This is, like, for a mom who has got a bunch of kids, and she is trying to figure out how many of them she is going to be able to actually feed, which one do you let go? Which one is not important? Higher education? Putting gas in your car? How are you going to get to work? How are you going to get to the grocery store? How are you going to help your family day to day? How about health care? What happens, we all know, because everyone's heard the story. I have constituents who don't even think about this stuff every day who can tell me, you know, most of the people that they know who don't have health insurance have to wait `til they are so sick that they have to take their family member or themselves to the emergency room so that they can get primary health care. I mean, which one do you eliminate? Which one is not important if your income is plummeting? Now, let's take a couple of other things that have happened under the Bush administration. You have got the typical family paying $1,200 more a year for health insurance. You have housing that is the least affordable that it has been in 14 years. I mean, just to give you an example, in the community that I live in, I represent south Florida, the average price of a house in the two counties that I represent is over $300,000. That is not affordable. I mean, that just puts home ownership completely out of bounds for, never mind the average person, even somebody making a decent living.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Exxon-Mobil invested $10 million, and made $30 billion; $10 million in alternative energy last year. That is what they talked about on Meet the Press on Sunday. I mean, give me a break. Where is the commitment? Where are the priorities?

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Yet the rank and file Republicans and the Republican leadership continue to try to profess that they are the party of fiscal responsibility. It is hilarious. It really is. In the legislature in Florida, we used to talk about statements like that not being able to pass the straight-face test. It doesn't pass the straight-face test. How do they say it without smirking? How do they say it without crossing their fingers and putting their fingers behind their back? We should check behind the backs of all of the Members when they are speaking on the floor here about how fiscally responsible they are because I am sure they are all like this. They can't cross themselves enough. It is really over the top. I was taught to tell the truth by my parents. I'm incredulous how some of these Members get away with claiming fiscal responsibility.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. We don't. We have an $8 trillion deficit.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. You are absolutely right, and a little more reality to translate what we are talking about here into everyday economics, if you look at the 2006 tax reconciliation bill and compare it to benefit by income for the benefit that was given or the equivalent of the benefit to the amount of income that an American taxpayer brings in, for example under the 2006 tax cut legislation that passed out of this House overwhelmingly with Republican votes, an average American taxpayer that makes between $10,000 and $20,000 a year would get back enough to buy a Slurpee. But if you make between $40,000 and $50,000, you will get from the 2006 Republican tax cut bill about as much money to buy a gallon of gas. Now, if we are talking real benefits here, the real benefits and who got the most out of the Republican tax cut bill this year, the reality is if you made more than $1 million, you get the equivalent of a Hummer. I don't know, if I am talking to the folks in my district, and I know the folks in Youngstown, Ohio, and the people on the Cape and in the Boston area, they probably are not that interested in getting enough money back to buy a Slurpee. Something tells me, and at least when I go home, and I have a district that includes a lot of areas that have people of means, and I can tell you when I go to community events and bring my kids to the soccer game and drive my kids around in our minivan, the people in the wealthiest parts of my district are coming up and saying keep the money because the needs we have in America are overwhelming. They are saying, you know what, I don't need the Slurpee, I can buy my own Hummer. If you are making more than a million dollars, you can buy your own Hummer.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. $400 million.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. You are absolutely right. No apology necessary. It is really important that we have this time on the floor, and that is why we appreciate Leader Pelosi giving us this opportunity to make some substantive arguments that actually demonstrate how we are going in the wrong direction and also to lay out the Democrats' plan for taking us in a new one. What has really boggled my mind since I arrived in the Congress, at the beginning of last year, is that our friends on the other side of the aisle seem to have no qualms about just ceding their decisionmaking authority here to the executive branch. Why show up for work? Why run for Congress? This is not an easy job. This is a job that requires a lot of responsibility, it requires thoughtful decisionmaking, it requires time away from our family and all of which, at least each of us on our side, and I know many of our Republican colleagues feel this way, that this is an awesome responsibility that we are given when we are elected to the United States Congress. The Founding Fathers did not separate the United States Government into three branches in order for the Congress to just be a rubber stamp of the executive. They feared tyranny. They feared an executive that was too strong, and they wanted to make sure that there was a system of checks and balances, so that when questions that come from the executive come before the Congress, that we aren't just a rubber stamp, that we aren't here just to say, yes, Mr. President, absolutely, can I get your hat, can I hold your coat, Mr. President. Our role here is to ask questions, to exercise oversight, to put forth initiatives and to actually represent our constituents, like you said, in the people's House. That is why I was very surprised, but pleasantly, to see the former leader of this Chamber under the Republican revolution, Mr. Gingrich, the former House Speaker, when he cited in the Knight Ridder newspapers, third-party validator that we like to bring out on this House floor, so that that way people understand it is not just what Kendrick Meek says or Debbie Wasserman Schultz or Tim Ryan or Bill Delahunt. Mr. Gingrich cited a series of blunders under the Republican rule from failures in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to the mismanagement of the war in Iraq. He said the government has squandered billions of dollars in Iraq. You know, we just had 10 hours of debate yesterday, which if you listen to our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, according to them, what President Bush is doing, everything is wonderful. Everything is coming up roses. Now, I think we could all acknowledge in this entire Chamber that we are, although I certainly am never pleased about any one individual's demise, because, obviously, we value life, but there were not too many Americans shedding tears about Mr. al Zarqawi's demise and the American contribution to it. The world, such as when we removed Saddam Hussein, is a more peaceful place without him being in it. But you cannot, based on one individual's demise, in the cesspool that has been created by this President's policies in Iraq, you cannot say, now, you know, everything is great, this is the beginning of the end, this is the turning point. Listening to our colleagues on the other side of the aisle. In the last 10 hours, one would think that this bombing of the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq was the be-all and end-all, and that is the thing that Americans were looking for to end this. Nothing could be further from the truth. That is why 42 people were killed in Iraq today, 42. I mean, it is not like much has changed on the ground in that country. Our real security agenda that would take this country in a new direction, if we were able to win the majority back in November, Americans would see the direction that Democrats would take this country. We would make a commitment to our troops. We would make sure that we had a real commitment to our troops, that we changed the military into a 21st-century one of military strength, and we would honor them. We would rebuild a state-of-the-art military by making the needed investments in equipment and manpower so that we can make sure we can handle the diverse needs and the diverse activity that we have going on across the globe. What happened to Afghanistan, Mr. Meek? I mean, when we first were attacked after 9/11, and we went into Afghanistan, and the Americans were united in that effort, we actually removed the Taliban. We were able to bring that country into the 21st century, restoring quality for women, and making sure that we had a democracy, democratic seedlings planted there. Now, you fast forward to 2006, because we virtually pulled out of Afghanistan, save for about 17,000 troops that are still left on the ground. Now you have the rise of the Taliban again. You have Afghani women who are saying that they have been subjected to the same inequality and the same requirements of wearing the burqa and not being able to get an education. We have abandoned Afghanistan; and, instead, we have added our resources in our effort to making Iraq more of a cesspool than it already was. If we are able to implement our real security agenda, we will make sure that our troops are well equipped, that we are funding the appropriate activity and making sure that we actually go after Osama bin Laden. We will make sure that the war on terror is waged both here in the United States and across the globe and that we strike a balance, so that Americans don't have to worry about being attacked in the United States. We will make sure that we make a commitment to moving the country in a new direction militarily instead of continuing to fund an endless war in Iraq, that no matter what has been said in a 10-hour debate that occurred on this floor, still has no end in sight, still has more than 2,500 troops dead, and we know more to come every day. Mr. Meek, you are a member of the Homeland Security Committee and Armed Services Committee, so you are certainly more expert in this area than I am. But I literally heard in the last day and a half a policy of denial on the part of our Republican colleagues. It would be nice if they put both hands on the ground and yanked their heads out of it so that we could all come together and have a real debate, a real debate. Yes, bring out that rubber stamp, because that is exactly what happened on this vote this morning. If we were allowed to have a real debate, if we were allowed to put forward our alternative, if we were allowed to file amendments, I would have been willing to consider to be able to vote for something and would have been appreciative for the opportunity to vote for something other than what the majority tried to cram down. They certainly did cram it down their colleagues' throats. We refused to allow it to be crammed down ours. You know what, I don't check my brain at the door of the Chamber when I walk in the door. I represent my constituents. You know, not everyone will agree with me back home in the 20th district of Florida. That is okay, because I wasn't elected to be a rubber stamp. I was elected to be a Representative, a United States Representative, someone who stands up for what I believe in and stands up for what my constituents believes in. I was not elected to rubber- stamp anyone's policy, not Nancy Pelosi's, not Mr. Boehner's, not the President. I was elected as an individual. Unfortunately, our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, they do check their brains at the door. They bring in that big old rubber stamp, and they just pound it on whatever is put in front of them by the Republican leadership and say, yes, Mr. Leader, yes, Mr. President, I am glad to do your bidding and the heck with the checks and balances of the Constitution and our role here as a Member of the United States Congress. At the end of the day, why be here, why run, why make the sacrifice, why leave your family behind? We only need one of their Members. We only need Mr. Boehner or Mr. Hastert here. They are the only ones that bother showing up to work because these other guys on the other side of the aisle, they just do what they are told to do anyway. Really, they could go spend quite a bit of other time doing something useful and certainly could make sure that the country could begin to see what is really going on in this Chamber.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Thank you to my good friend from Florida, Mr. Meek. We are proud to wear the colors today, Mr. Speaker, and we have got the beads on. And because we could not be with the Heat in south Florida during their triumphant victory last night and the other night, we decided to stir up some spirit here and send some good karma home to them. And I can tell you that I have a little gastronomic wager with our good friend Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Dallas. I am looking forward to enjoying some lunch, courtesy of her and her staff after the Heat grabbed the championship. And hopefully, we will be able to be down there with them on Sunday and take home some of the spirit that we have been able to generate up here. Thanks to your good leadership and firing up the Heat troops up here. I have worn these beads all over the place the last couple of days and yesterday in the mall, walking with my husband and my kids, got stopped by a tourist up here saying, ``Go Heat.'' So we can feel it all the way up here.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Thank you, Mr. Meek. It is a pleasure again to be here with you and spend some time talking about the priorities of the Democratic Caucus. Mr. Speaker, I know when you were in the Chamber this afternoon you talked about what you would like the American people and the Republican Caucus, our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, would like the American people to believe. And I know it sounds good to continue to say that the Democrats do not have an agenda. Well, sadly for you, Mr. Speaker and our Republican colleagues, that is not true. Fortunately, for the American people we do have an agenda. We have had one for quite a long time. It is right here. Many times it is easier to graphically depict things as opposed to just using words, and we can take you through, as Mr. Meek just did, our agenda so that, Mr. Speaker, when you are finding yourself standing in front of a chair behind the podium on this floor, you can keep this in mind when you would like to say that we don't have an agenda because that is absolutely inaccurate. The Democrats' New Direction for America, as Mr. Meek said, pledges that we will make health care more affordable, unlike the rising health care costs that continue to skyrocket out of control in this country led by the Republicans for the last 14 years that they have controlled this Congress. We will make a commitment to lowering gas prices and spend--yes, spend--the American taxpayers' dollars on exploring alternative energy sources instead of just having things like President Bush putting words in the State of the Union where he said out loud, America has an addiction to foreign oil and then proceeded to do nothing about it. No meaningful policy on the part of the Republicans in this body. No meaningful change in the energy policy. No reduction in gas prices. I want to digress from this chart for a minute. First of all, let's just demonstrate the difference between what a new direction for America would be versus the same old Republican policies that have failed the American people and don't work. Under Republicans for the last 14 years, Mr. Speaker, you have college tuition that has increased 40 percent. You have gas prices that have increased 47 percent. You have health care costs that have increased 55 percent. And median household income, Mr. Speaker, that has decreased by 4 percent. If that is the direction that Republicans would like the country to continue to go, then, you are right, the American voters in November should vote for the Republicans and continue more of the same. But if they want a new direction, if they want to make sure that we can have a leadership in this Congress and in this country that is committed to making sure that college and higher education is more affordable, not less, if they want to make sure that we can expand access to health care and instead of adding more people to the rolls that do not have health care and that go uninsured and that have to wait till their family members are so sick that they have to take them to the emergency room before they can get them some health care treatment, then they should continue to vote for more of the same and elect Republicans. If they want to make sure that they can move this country in the direction that most Americans would like to go in, then they will choose Democrats in the fall and we will make a commitment to expanding alternative energy sources, expanding our commitment to making sure that we don't have a continued addiction to foreign oil. Mr. Speaker, I find personally that sometimes graphic depictions, sometimes three-dimensional demonstrations are really incredibly helpful. You see, Mr. Speaker, this is a gas pump. Apparently our colleagues on the other side of the aisle, many of them don't appear to have seen one of these since they looked like this. The gas pumps from what I understand looked like this, oh, in about the 1950s. It appears as though many of our Republican colleagues haven't put gas in their own car since they looked like this, because if they had then they would realize that in most places in this country, gas is now more than $3 a gallon, that it costs a mom or a dad that drives their kids around in a minivan or in an SUV more than $50 to fill up their tank, and I feel quite certain that if our Republican colleagues were actually pumping their own gas, were actually having to observe the counter on the gas pump that shows, Mr. Speaker, just so you know, those gas pumps actually show you how much you are spending per gallon while you are pumping the gas into your car, maybe we could just pass this around on the floor and our colleagues could see what a gas pump looks like so that they could remember the pain that Americans go through when they have to spend that much on a gallon of gas. Then maybe we would have our colleagues on the other side of the aisle not continue to vote like the rubber stamps that my colleague Mr. Meek always talks about. Maybe they would get some courage. Maybe they would realize that they shouldn't be voting for an energy policy that actually gives money away to the oil industry, to an oil industry that has made record profits, Mr. Meek, more money than any corporation in American history in the last quarter of last year. It is just unbelievable. I am hopeful that by my three-dimensional depiction, by my bringing an actual model of a gas pump to the floor, Mr. Speaker, then maybe some of our colleagues will keep in mind the actual difficulty that most Americans are going through when they actually have to fill up their gas tank by using one of these. I just wanted to provide a public service to some of my colleagues. I would be happy to yield to the gentleman from Florida.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate your leadership so much and really the opportunity to be here with you almost every night. I am going to have to catch back up to the two of you guys, and I have some family in town this week. I look forward to continuing to talk about the new direction that the Democratic Caucus will take this country when we are given the opportunity in November. I look forward to continuing this debate and this discussion on our commitment to making sure that we do not privatize Social Security and that we enact responsible legislation that truly shores it and does not use scare tactics against our seniors, implying that there is some sort of crisis that does not exist when Social Security will remain solvent for at least the next 47 years; that we make sure we enact a truly effective energy policy, invest in alternative energy resources and make sure that we actually generate the ability to become insulated from foreign oil, instead of giving away the store to the big oil company; that we make sure that we really expand access to health care, that we reduce the number of uninsured Americans and that when a child is sick, when an American is sick, that they can afford to go to the doctor and that cost is not the obstacle to basic health care. Those are the things that we remain committed to. That is an agenda that we have put forward and that we look forward to talking about as the months progress through to the November election. I look forward to sharing the podium with you and talking about that for the next several months.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to reflect on the inaugural Jewish American Heritage Month, which was celebrated across the country throughout the month of May. With the history of racial intolerance our country has witnessed, I believe we must remain steadfast in providing future generations opportunities to learn about the varied faiths and cultures that make this country so great. I am especially pleased that my colleague Congressman Joe Baca hosted a Special Order condemning hate crimes and racial intolerance. We must fight intolerance and stop the spread of hate-inspired acts and images, and I thank Congressman Baca for leading this important discussion. Mr. Speaker, we have seen how the national observance of Black History Month and Hispanic Heritage Month have brought, through education, greater awareness of the African American and Hispanic communities' contributions to our country. This past May, the many accomplishments of American Jews were recognized by the proclamation of Jewish American Heritage Month, issued by President Bush. When the Jewish community in Miami approached me with the idea to help designate a month to honor the contributions of American Jews, I realized the potential impact of this endeavor. It is my hope that Jewish American Heritage Month will make a difference in the fight against anti-Semitism. To those who would teach hate to their children, it might surprise them to learn that a Jewish man, Haym Salomon, was one of the largest financiers of the American Revolutionary War. To those who would paint graffiti on Jewish buildings, they should know that they have benefited from advances in medicine, trends in popular culture, and technological inventions, all developed by many famous and not-so-famous American Jews. Fortunately, we have leaders in government, the business community, law enforcement, and education who work to eliminate hateful words and actions and encourage acceptance and sensitivity to diversity. I am grateful to my colleagues who recognized the benefits that Jewish American Heritage Month would bring to the country, and I thank them for their unanimous support. Mr. Speaker, thank you for your support and commitment. Throughout the process, you were an instrumental and invaluable advocate. Leader Pelosi, Whip Hoyer, and Congressman Waxman, thank you for your leadership and guidance. And I'd especially like to thank Chairman Henry Hyde--who was the lead Republican cosponsor of the House resolution. Chairman Hyde helped immensely with spreading awareness of this resolution to our colleagues and the White House. I'd also like to acknowledge and thank Senator Arlen Specter who introduced and worked to pass identical legislation in the Senate. And once again, I would like to thank my colleagues, who unanimously passed the resolution. The amount of support for this initiative has been nothing short of inspirational: As the inaugural Jewish American Heritage Month comes to an end, national prominence of American Jewish heritage continues in communities across the country. In fact, many Jewish communities began their observances even prior to May. At the end of April, the Jewish Museum of Florida held a press conference with several community leaders to announce the Proclamation's release. At the beginning of May, the American Jewish Committee incorporated a celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month into their 100th Anniversary celebration here in Washington. On May 11th, the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia honored Senator Specter and celebrated the establishment of Jewish American Heritage Month at their annual gala dinner. On May 23rd, the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington hosted a breakfast reception in the Capitol where several Members including Representatives Hyde, Rangel, Cardin, Berkley, and Lewis. And just last week, Mayor Michael Bloomberg recognized the conclusion of the inaugural Jewish American Heritage Month at a Jewish Heritage New York event at Gracie Mansion. Like so many of the ideas that generate in this body, the creation of Jewish American Heritage Month all started with one community that wanted to make a difference. I would like to thank two talented and dedicated women who helped lead this effort in Miami: Marcia Zerivitz of the Jewish Museum of Florida and Judy Gilbert-Gould of the Jewish Community Relations Council of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. Finally, Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington and its Lillian & Albert Small Jewish Museum, who brought the celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month to the Capitol Building. I respectfully request that the remarks made by their Executive Director Laura Apelbaum and their President Peggy Pearlstein be placed into the Congressional Record. May 23, 2006 Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington event honoring the presidential proclamation of May as American Jewish Heritage Month. Laura Apelbaum, Executive Director: Good Morning. I am Laura Apelbaum, the Executive Director of the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington and its Lillian & Albert Small Jewish Museum. On behalf of our board of directors and members, I want to welcome you today to this very special event. I think we all can appreciate that as Jews living in America we are called upon to have a little bit of knowledge about a lot of history--ancient history, biblical history, Talmudic history, and Holocaust history to name just a few. Lesser known in our community and less well understood are the rich stories of American Jewish history--the stories beyond our own personal history that tie us to the Jewish community and to the national American story. In 1795, shortly after the site of the nation's capital was selected, the first Jew arrived in the new federal district of Washington. Fittingly, he was a real estate developer who built office townhouses for new federal government offices of the Department of War and State. Over the next two centuries, he was followed by tens of thousands of Jews, all of whom have become part of our community's history. Their lives and deeds tell a unique story of both a hometown and a capital city. The story of Washington's Jewish community is in many ways similar to that in other communities across the country. Many of Washington's early Jews, my great grandfather among them, arrived in port cities and to avoid the sweatshops of New York and Chicago made their way to DC to open small Mom & Pop shops-- groceries, furniture stores, tailors, jewelers. The presence of the federal government had a profound effect. Their clientele included Presidents, Supreme Court Justices and Congressmen. The few who served in the federal government for the century preceding the New Deal gave way to a wave of young intellectuals who arrived to serve a burgeoning federal government in the 1930s and '40s. By the 1950s many of the small shops had grown into large downtown department stores, Hecht's, Landsburgh's and Kann's or other stores that spread with the community to the suburbs. Along the way the Jewish community organized synagogues and Jewish communal organizations. Continued growth and prosperity in the post WWII era and into the ``modern'' era have created a community that spans three jurisdictions--DC and the Maryland and Northern Virginia suburbs and includes more than 215,000 members. We are now the sixth largest Jewish community in the country. The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is the nation's central archives for this special community. Our collections are open to community members and researchers. Our programs, publications, and exhibits recount our unique communal history--at once local and national. We first learned of the effort to create a special month to call attention to Jewish American heritage from a colleague, Marcia Zerivitz, the dynamic director of the Jewish Museum of Florida. It seemed to us entirely appropriate to mark the creation of this special month by honoring the many representatives and Senators--our friends and neighbors--that introduced the Congressional Resolution that led to President Bush recently proclaiming May 2006 as Jewish American History month. Presentation--Society President Peggy Pearlstein: Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Chairman Hyde, Chairman Specter, special guests and friends: In 1654, 23 Jews fled Recife, Brazil, and landed in New Amsterdam (now lower Manhattan) in search of political and religious freedom. These men, women, and children were the first of millions of Jews to seek refuge in America--the vanguard of today's American Jewish community--now the largest in the world. One hundred and thirty years ago on June 9, 1876, a small yet committed Jewish congregation gathered to see their dreams of building their own shul come to fruition. In the presence of President Ulysses S. Grant, they dedicated a small but beautiful synagogue building that stands just at the foot of Capitol Hill at 3rd and G Streets, NW. That building has been a witness to the history of the Jewish community, our city and our nation. It stands as a testament to the endurance of our community and to the commitment we have to preserving and caring for our past as we face the future. Our Jewish Historical Society is committed to restoring this special building and to educating our community especially its youngest members about immigrant history, city history, and the continuing story of Jewish life in and around our capital city. To commemorate the 130th anniversary of our local treasure, we have begun a major restoration initiative to ensure the buildings' existence for many years to come. The building stands as a reminder of where we came from and its legacy, an important part of where we are going. You can learn more about our community at a comprehensive exhibit now on display at the National Building Museum through July 4th. This exhibit, Jewish Washington: Scrapbook of An American Community, recounts the role that Washington area Jews have played in American Jewish life and in the nation's history. This past year, Representative Wasserman Schultz and members of her district coordinated a nationwide effort to support passage of a resolution calling for a Jewish American Heritage month. They were joined in their efforts by Representative Hyde and Senator Specter resulting in unanimous approval, in both houses of Congress for the resolution. In April, President Bush signed the proclamation declaring the inauguration of Jewish American Heritage Month in May. We have gathered to celebrate this Presidential Proclamation and to honor the three members of Congress who introduced the resolution supporting that proclamation: It is my pleasure to present each of them with a very special gift. This is a tzedakah box that is a miniature of the historic 1876 synagogue which our organization stewards. It was the first permanent home to Adas Israel Congregation. I hope that it will remind you of our appreciation for your role in commemorating Jewish American Heritage. Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, 20th District of Florida. Congressman Henry Hyde, 6th District of Illinois. Senator Arlen Specter, State of Pennsylvania. We also would like to take this opportunity to present a tzedakah box to President Bush and ask Jay Zeidman to accept on the president's behalf. I want to thank everyone for attending what we hope will become an annual event.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ of Florida

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my support for a safe and secure homeland, and for providing local governments and our first responders with the tools and resources they need. Mr. Speaker, I support H.R. 5441, the Homeland Security Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2007, which passed the House on Tuesday, June 6. Had I been present, I would have voted in favor of this legislation.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. I am glad you touched on that theme. It is a pleasure to be here once again for our 30-Something Working Group, where we try to talk about the issues from the perspective of our generation and also talk about the issues important to our generation. And for people in our generation and the point that we are at in our lives, what blows my mind and continues to baffle me since I arrived in the Congress last year was the crushing debt that we are buried under right now, and that is not reversing itself; that there are no efforts on the part of the Republican leadership to reverse course, to turn around and go in the other direction and return to the days when President Clinton was in office. We had a surplus, a budget surplus, when we had no deficit, when we had a much smaller debt in terms of our debt to foreign countries. Of course, we had debt to foreign nations but not nearly what we have today. We have more debt combined under this President than the 42 other Presidents that we have had previously. And normally we have charts that we can highlight.