members for lists submitted by the majority and minority leaders for the morning hour debate the chair will alternate recognition between the parties with each party limited to thirty minutes and each member other than the majority of minority leaders and the minority equip limited to five minutes the chair recognize gentlewoman from california mrs allard for five minutes robella allard mr speaker to help address domestic violence in our country i rise to announce the reintroduction of the security and financial empowerment act or as it is better known the safe act domestic violence is a personal and social tragedy that negatively impacts all of our society on average every day on our country more than three women are murdered by their husband or boyfriend and nearly one third of american women report being physically or sexually abused by a husband or boyfriend at some point in their lives the physical and psychological consequences of domestic violence are exacerbated by the less obvious economic consequences for example one of the key reasons survivors stay in or return to an abusive environment is because they are financially dependent upon their abuser to provide for them and their children as a result of the abuse employed women often lose their jobs due to frequent tardiness or absenteeism or because their abuser stalks and harasses them at work to help break this cycle of violence i have introduced the safe act with representative ted poe the safe act would provide employed survivors of domestic violence with greater employment protections and increased economic stability specifically the safe act would enable the survivors of domestic violence to pursue legal assistance and medical care and meet other immediate needs associated with violence in their lives without the fear of losing their job if survivors of abuse are fired or forced to leave their job as a result of the abuse the safe act makes them eligible for unemployment benefits the safe act also helps employers address the negative impact of domestic violence in the workplace while it is true that domestic violence is a personal tragedy it is also true that it has costly negative consequences to employers who pay an estimated three to thirteen billion a year sick leave absenteeism and loss productivity the safe act helps businesses save money by helping to reduce absenteeism and lost productivity and by enabling businesses to retain valuable and experienced employees thereby avoiding the high cost associated with training new staff in summary the safe act empowers survivors of domestic violence it protects the bottom line of business and it improves the quality of life of our american society mr speaker i thank the many advocacy groups for their support of the safe act and for the work they do every day to end domestic and sexual violence in our country and i sincerely thank representative poe for his cosponsorship and i look forward to working with him and my colleagues in congress to pass the safe act and empower women against the violence in their life i yield back the balance of my time the chair recognizes the gentleman from massachusetts mr mcgovern for five minutes mr speaker today is my final day on the food stamp challenge an initiative where public officials eat for one week on a food stamp budget twenty one for the week that's three dollars a day or one dollar meal this amount reflects the national average of food stamp benefit mr speaker the purpose of the food stamp challenge is to raise awareness of the crucial role the food stamp program serves in the lives of twenty six million americans each month including over four hundred and fifty thousand in my state of massachusetts three of my esteemed colleagues representative joanne emerson jan schakowsky and tim ryan joined me in taking this challenge over the past week and although we may be less energetic and perhaps crankier than when we started the challenge nearly a week ago each of us has learned a great deal certainly my wife lisa and i have gained valuable insights from our experience on a very tight budget we have much more sympathy over how the lack of energy and the hard choices on how to stretch the budget and put food on the table might also stretch one's patience and stress a marriage we can imagine the worry and pain of parents if we had to feed our children on this kind of budget these are just a few of our reflections over the past week yet truly our most valuable lesson came from the scores of individuals who reached out to us to share their personal experiences struggling to put food on the table for their families whether they posted comments on our blog or call my office and spoke with my staff these individuals todd lee sent me about how hard working americans managed to provide for themselves and their families in spite of inadequate food stamp benefit levels they talked about having to make tough tradeoffs between paying utility bills buying clothes for their children addressing medical needs and purchasing food they also described the tradeoff between eating to be healthy or eating to be full these kinds of tradeoffs are unfair and unacceptable mr speaker america can and should do more for low income individuals and families working hard to survive each and every day one way we can do that is through the feeding america's families act a bill that i introduced earlier this month with my colleague congresswoman joanne emerson the feeding america's families act which strengthen the food stamp program to better meet the needs of low income americans it raises the minimum benefit from ten a month an amount that has not increased since the 1970s to about thirty a month it also indexes current benefit levels to the rate of inflation ensuring that the purchasing power of food stamps remains constant furthermore because access to the food stamp program should be the right of every lawfully residing person in this country the bill restores eligibility to all legal immigrants a provision that was removed in one thousand nine hundred and ninety six on sunday may 13th mother's day the new york times editorial stated that and i quote bull string food stamps must be congress's top priority in this year's farm bill end quote well i could not agree more in my week on the food stamp challenge has not only strengthened my conviction i encourage all of my colleagues to cosponsor hr twenty one twenty nine feeding america's families act and other legislative efforts to bolster and improve our federal hunger and nutrition programs the cliche tells us that where there's a will there's a way but in this case there was a very clear way the question is do we have the political will i hope we do mr speaker i yield back the balance of my time now recognizes the gentleman from colorado mr salazar for five minutes thank you mr speaker mr speaker this morning as we stand here in our nation's capitol family and friends in colorado are gathered together to celebrate the life of a truly great american a wonderful human being the child of a mexican immigrant eva r baca was born on january 1st one thousand nine hundred and twenty nine in pueblo colorado she graduated from pueblo central high school and attended southern colorado state college mrs baca as a member of the first graduating class in one thousand nine hundred and sixty five as a widowed mother of two she balanced motherhood in her studies while attending adam state college and receiving her masters in education in one thousand nine hundred and sixty eight upon graduation mrs baca taught at lakeview and ella elementary schools she went on to get her principal certification and in one thousand nine hundred and seventy two she took her first administrative position at the new eastwood heights elementary school there she instituted new reading programs for children and for low income families eva baca was a strong advocate for the community in which she lived and worked to provide opportunities and increased accessibility of pueblo's isolated east side neighborhoods in one thousand nine hundred and eighty three eva baca was named director of title one programs for pueblo school district number sixty a position she held for a decade until her retirement eva baca has been recognized throughout colorado and across the country with various honors and awards everyone who had the privilege of knowing her has a wonderful story to tell most recently she received the lifetime achievement award by the pueblo latino chamber of commerce for her outstanding educational leadership and contributions to the lives of countless children in her community on thursday eva baca passed away in pueblo she was a loving mother to joyce and robert anderson gilbert baca a cherished grandmother to carl megan lindsey and nick she was a fearless educator and a dear friend in one thousand nine hundred and ninety three eastwood heights elementary school the school that she gave so many years of her life was renamed in her honor today two hundred and fifty children attend mr eva r baca elementary school a living tribute to a woman who has spent her life focused on those around her john lubbock wrote the important thing is not so much that every child should be taught as that every child should be given the wish to learn for the countless children that eva baca had given the wish to learn we thank her i yield back pursue into clause 12a of rule one the chair declares the host in recess until noon today