hour special orders mr less you for mine for one hour and mr murphy from connecticut for one hour thank you without objection the five minute requests are granted permitted to address the house revise and extend their remarks and include their in extraneous material the supposed to do and march twenty seventh twenty eight twenty nine for five minutes he missed a gear on march twenty seventh for five minutes ms granger today for five minutes mr frank today for five minutes mr burton today march twenty seventh twenty eight twenty nine five minutes without objection report the title just for to accompany house resolution two sixty nine resolution providing for consideration of the bill a char a thirty five to reauthorize the program of the department of housing and urban development for housing assistance for native hawaiian report to accompany house resolution two seven the resolution providing for consideration of the bill h r fourteen zero one to improve the security of railroad public transportation and over the red buses in the united states and for other purposes referred to the house calendar and ordered print the terrible in attained one minute requests for what purpose is a gentlewoman from florida ri without objection thank you madam speaker i rise today expressed my concern that the democrats will not extend tax tax measures critical to the american people residence in my own state or risk floridians currently deduct the their sales tax from their federal income tax however this deduction x buyers this year as democrats set their agenda for the coming year there is talk of offsetting increases in federal spending by raising taxes for millions of americans quite frankly i worry that the use of this provision will be to pay for additional spending constituents don't want additional taxes they want us to be more conservative in the spending listen up america congress needs to be sure that tax payers do not face unnecessary tax increases i appeal to my class colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ensure that our constituents are able to based on his words he must never deceive mislead or misstate there have been two different accounts by his office about the firings of some u s attorneys gonzales says he never has discussed the foreign but secret memos show need to discuss such was held in his very office where he was present both statements cannot be true to his word is tarnished the issue is not where the administration can fire u s attorneys it can do so for almost any reason under the law matters because growing up my grandmother was a chief law enforcement officer her word was the law never doubted what she say our respected her because she was always bluntly truthful she had told me it was writing in my house i would have rushed home and started putting plastic over the furniture because she never misled misstated or denied the truth deserves better and to have an attorney general who cannot be forthright with congress and the slaves of citizens he's been sworn to protect he has a two thousand and four the united states of america spent one hundred and three billion dollars by an oil from non democratic countries such countries as venezuela is iran as russia and even ones who are allies like saudi arabia some of that money finds its way to the hands of terrorist groups we are funding both sides in the war on terrorism it is a national security issue we have to get off middle east oil and we need to reduce our oil dependency we import sixty percent of our oil today congressman eliot engel and i have introduced h r six  seventy the goal of it is to reduce our oil consumption by twenty percent in twenty years it has overwhelming bipartisan support both in the house and the senate now if you don't buy that there's another reason to do that to  focus on this and it has to do with your pocketbook just think about the flexibility that we have out there in fuel choices from ethanol to biodiesel from battery operated cars ladies and gentlemen we balance of the week is no wonder mcdonald of california for today and tomorrow mr utah and new mexico for today and tuesday march twenty seventh and mr wampus tennessee for today without objection the request are granted under this speaker's announced policy of january eighteenth two thousand and seven and under a previous art of the house the following members are thank you madam speaker i rise today to express my opposition to trade policies that are unfair to american workers congress must insist on a new model for trade that makes american workers the top priority trade agreements must also take into account protections for the environment and ensure access to life saving that assumes developing trade agreements that take these priorities into account will be difficult but we must not rush into obligations which will ultimately harm our own interests and we must reject the false choice between expanding our trade opportunities and fairness to us workers it is simply wrong to follow the old model that we know hurts the livelihoods  so many of our constituents that is why democrats are pushing for new priorities in the trade deals that the administration is negotiating with colombia peru panama south korea and other countries congress must continue to press the administration to change its trade policies and provide specific constructive says suggestions to advance the goals of our workers and our economy unfortunately the bush administration doesn't act as though it believes that congress should have a real say in trade negotiations one example though it is certainly not the only one is the matter of allowing access to lifesaving medications congress has passed legislation directing the administration to respect the doha declaration an agreement that allows countries flexibility under w t r rules to provide for public health although the administration signed the doha declaration u s t r has completely ignored congress directive to respected every trade pact negotiated since two thousand and two has contain stringent intellectual property rules sought by the major drug companies by keeping medicine prices high these rules increase industry profits but restrict access to needed medicines for citizens in developing countries even in current free trade negotiations u s t r continues to ignore the will of congress to respect the doha declaration that is why a new framework for trade must include a stronger role for congress the current model of non binding the goshi ating objectives permits the president to ignore the wishes of this congress it's no surprise that the administration has favored large corporate interests at the expense of american workers the environment and global health but it is wrong however our new majority in congress will respond to workers who have been hurt by previous trade agreements after all trade agreements have affected my home state of mains manufacturing far army and service sectors soon congress may be asked to consider renewing fast track authority i voted against the trade act of two thousand and two which granted fast track authority to the president urged my colleagues to reject renewal of fast track in its current form it is vital that congress continue to press for change firmly and constructively and madam speaker i yield back the balance of my time for what purpose as the gentleman from north carolina wri begin serving eleven and twelve years sentences respectively agents copy on and ramos were convicted last spring for shooting a mexican drug smuggler who brought seven hundred forty three pounds of marijuana across the border into texas these agents never should have been prosecuted the u s attorney's office prosecuted the agents and granted immunity to the drug smuggler who claimed he was unarmed the illegal drug smuggler received full medical care in el paso texas was permitted to return to mexico and is suing the border patrol for five million dollars the violating his civil rights madam speaker he's not an american citizen he is a criminal matter speak it is a ronnie that one of the eight federal prosecutor dismissed by the justice department who never should have been terminated were criticized for not doing more to track cases of illegal immigration yet we have a federal prosecutor in western texas johnny s who instead of prosecuting and illegal alien who was also a known drug smuggler decided to give immunity to the lego illegal alien drug smuggler and prosecute the two hispanic american border agents who tried to to a year in jail for shooting the tires of a car transporting illegal aliens at the drive attempted to escape a routine traffic stop aiming to be heckled at the deputy hernandez was charged with violating the civil rights of one of the passengers an illegal mexican national who was struck in the lip by bullet or metal fragments citizens across this country and many of us in congress want to know why does the u s attorney's office in western texas chooses to go after law enforcement officers while protecting the legal aliens who commit crimes the president has the power to immediately reverse this injustice by granting a pardon to these two men who are doing their jobs to protect the american people but so far the president has refused to stand up for justice in this case madam speaker i hope the white house will agree with many of us in congress who played mrs sutton's actions in prosecuting these agents ra serious questions and need to be investigated as i had asked you just where chairman john conyers and his staff for their interest in this situation involving the two border agents who should have been commended instead of indicted and recognize the five minutes that is speaker on the fourth anniversary of the invasion of iraq several new polls looking at the opinions of the iraqi people were released it is important that we heed this call that we listen to their voices because has been for years some frightening stories were eliminated by the new polls for example one in four rocky adults have had a family relative murdered in the last three years while twenty three percent of those living in baghdad have had a family relative kidnapped in the last three years more than half of iraqis have a close friend or relative who's been hurt or killed in the current current violence one in six say someone in their own household has been harmed eighty six percent worried about a loved one being hurt two thirds worry deeply huge numbers limit their daily activities to minimize risk seven in ten report multiple signs of traumatic stress the number of iraqis who describe their lives as good has dropped from seventy one percent three years ago to under forty percent today this shameful this is shameful madam speaker every day the evidence against president bush's so called war plan mounts it makes one wonder if there is even a plan at all how much of the bush iraq policy has been forced by the iraqi people how much real involvement have the iraqi people in deciding the future of their own country how are the bush policies affecting iraqi families i voted to give the authorization to go to war and manage speaker i say to my colleagues whether they voted yes or no natural is the time to make a change in direction let us empower the iraqi people let us restore their sovereignty last week i had the opportunity to testify before the foreign affairs committee about my legislation h r five zero zero eight the bring the troops home and restoration of iraq comprehensive proposal it has forty nine co sponsors and it will end the occupation of iraq within six months of an act meant it will accelerate the training and equipping of iraqi military and security forces preparing the iraqis to take over their own security after u s troops contractors leave at the end of the six months it will fully fund the health care commitment to our returning veterans it will make veterans health care and entitlement something they deserve because for heaven's sakes they've done so much for us additionally the legislation revokes the president's iraq war powers it prevents establishment of permanent bases in iraq and it returns the all right to the iraqi people actually it gives iraq back to the iraqis madam speaker our most solemn obligation is to the brave and capable men and women who have been placed in harm's way this legislation as i said guarantees physical and mental health care for us veterans of military operations in iraq and other conflicts it is the least we can do it is the very least we can do to show the gratitude of a grateful nation h r five always will fulfill our commitment to our nation's brave troops and to the iraqi people the polls here and the polls in iraq are clear it is time to bring our troops home to those who are watching and wondering about the future of our iraq policy i say i will not stop i will not wrath and i will not back down in my fight until every single last soldier and marine is home safe with his or her family i yelled back the remainder of my time thank you the gentleman from north carolina country while fighting alongside his fellow soldiers of the first cavalry division of fort hood texas private spencer is survived by his mother and son and his loving wife army private charlotte spencer who is also devoted herself to our nation's noble military profession clarence spencer served three tours in iraq two of which words are marines wounded in iraq is on a previous tour he demonstrated tremendous courage by deploying into harm's way once again private clarence spencer is gone but he will never be forgotten his memory lives in our hearts and america's eternally grateful for his spirit and his dedication as clarence dunbar high school football coach sa about clarence i've coached faster stronger and more talented students but i've never coached anyone i was more proud of that's precisely the white at the fort worth community in our nation feel about soldiers such as private client clar spencer a true american hero madam speaker out also rises on our second hero the fourth community and of our nation a graduate of fort worth a stir held high school started first class alan was an eighteen year veteran of the army who was assigned as the scout leader in the first cavalry division based at fort hood texas he gallantly and selflessly gave his life for his country as a result of wounds he received during a firefight against recognize their sacrifice and not of the most year old families patriotism as a career soldier and senior noncommissioned officer sergeant last year was leadership was instrumental in developing younger soldiers and he did not take his responsibility lightly a veteran of operation desert storm of the current war alan last year zero dedicated his life to securing the freedoms that all americans so rightfully cherish sergeant first class alan gone but he will never be forgotten his memory lives on to the wonderful family that he left behind and and the dedicated soldiers he so i believe lead i yield back the balance of my time t under this week was announced policy of january eighteenth two thousand and seven the gentleman from maryland this to my show is recognized for sixty minutes as if this is me of the majority leader the thank you very much madam speaker i rise with my colleagues here this evening talk about trade policy as a form of mill worker at great northern paper company and the smaller  main i know firsthand how these trade deals have crippled our manufacturing base in the state of maine when i ran for congress i told the people of this data i would fight for them for their jobs and for their families every single day mainers know that these trade deals have left them behind you can go to almost anywhere in my district and find an abandoned male or vacant factory they are painfully reminders of what was and is no longer to be their jobs have been outsourced to countries that pay slave wages how can we compete when our own workforce has been left behind the election results proved that the american public is sick and tired of their jobs being outsourced they want a congress that fight for our workers and businesses they want this country to move in a new direction they want this congress to move in a new direction i'll be the first to say that i'm concerned when i'm hearing my fellow colleagues that we can't cut side deals on trade agreements some say maybe we can make a few concessions on both sides and a deal is cut the american workforce is sick of these trade deals these side deals being cut they don't want more trade adjustment assistance they want their jobs some say the pending free trade agreement that we should do aside letter labor or maybe a couple tiny provisions that fix the environment my mom always told me you can't fix what's broken trade policies broken it's time to start from the ground up it's time to renegotiate the peru colombia and the panama free trade agreement with the deadlines quickly approaching we cannot  something broke the american public deserves to have the new majority renegotiate these trade deals this election sent a strong message is to change course in what the bourse administration has done without fail trade policies there is no quick fix to the solution when these agreements are based they privatized social security they threaten intellectual property rights they undermine states rights and they infringe on access to medicine i strongly agree with chairman  levin that we need to address these issues and we need to do it now nonbinding side letters are not good enough regarding the colombian free trade agreement there is no fact that can make this agreement acceptable it is highly offensive that the bush administration even initiated negotiations with that country infamous for having the highest rate of trade sixty assassinated in one in two thousand and six alone one per week until the quantity and government changes this abominable situation the united states should not offer any enhanced trade relations to colombia and then let me touch on the biggest issue of them all fast track fast track delegates away congress's constitutional authority undermines our right to have a say in what goes on in these trade deals we must replace this outdated failed trade the goshen system over three million american manufacturing jobs want out of every six manufacturing jobs have been lost during the fast track era before fast track we had balanced trade since the united states trade deficit has exploded as imports serves the world wide gulf between the rich and the poor widened fast track i could go on and on and on about fast track what fast track has put us on the wrong track and it's time to turn it around and acceptable version of fast track must include the bare minimum of some of the following it would restore congress is right to decide which countries it is in our national interest to negotiate a new agreement it would set mandatory requirement for what must must not be in every agreement including core labor and environmental standards it would require congress to vote on a trade agreement content before it can be signed and it would not allow for s negotiations a new negotiating system must include more oversight on how past agreements are actually working i would reinstate out system of checks and balances please that's all my colleagues  leader and as the president of unite here local six seventeen as district director for then congressman lane evans phil hare fought for the working men and women in his district is a leader among the pressman class on i also want to just commend you for your leadership on this whole issue of trade when i first came this body people said you know i campaigned on this whole issue of trade and they said there's a couple people who need to look up right away need to look up represent you look up mike me show for standing up for an every people you know with all due respect to the president i don't consider this fast track i can still education it's wrong track the legislation you know i am a card carrying capitalists and i've said this many many times but i came out of an industry the quality in textile industries you mentioned but for the life of me i don't understand this president just doesn't seem to get it we keep losing good paying jobs overseas and for the me one of the few countries i know that actually subsidize our manufacturers for going overseas if you look in the east and in the east coast and look what happened in the mills in your area from maine all the way down and you look at what happened in the midwest with maytag and you know today i sat down and i listen to a person from i just tricked dave of our who worked at the maytag plant he had thirty two years and and his wife had thirty sixty two years to clean both of them here these workers gave up two wage concessions you can believe that to keep this plant open twenty four million dollars from our state of illinois in tax breaks to this company and at the end of the day they ended up moving just ignore mexico the c the company said i don't care about the workers in the community all i'm here to make a dollar for my shareholders didn't matter about the health care and the pensions and dave brought up to today you know we have trade readjustment funds and things of that nature but with as the gentleman knows by the time you get them you have to decide between your unemployment compensation or whether you're going to be retrained and then they tell you well you should go into a field that is growing maybe like health care or so he said of the twenty five hundred people that lost their jobs at that p four hundred people tried the medical care things they we're going to get into it and into medical care well that worked great for the schooling but when it came to practical exercises to go in and be able to learn the trade to be able to do it they only had room for thirty people so three hundred seventy people were left out in the cold at another woman that wanted to go through and then wanted to get into daycare and they did a one year program at the community college they only had a two year program and they said well maybe you should just try being a cosmetologist instead and if when you take a look at the way we do this in the way we treat our workers i said so this is a moral issue that i think we in this congress have got i support trade i will always support trade i know our country needs it but i ask at what price and i want to know why is it that this this president feels he doesn't have a congress basically come to congress for anything as you know but particularly comes with a trade issue he can outsource it he can fast track that he can do whatever he wants to do and there's no congressional countability you know oversight we're left with a package we can't even vote up or down on half the time because he has a secret backdoor deals and i'm for one as a freshman i'm tired i'm tired of going back to my district and seeing people like dave are his wife who by the way has cancer he's going to lose his health care and i ask a question very simply of this administration and for those on the other side of the aisle and maybe some with the my own party to think that this is the the way to go you know i want you to come to gill's park and i want you to see what was left of that maytag plant and i want you to see the people whose lives have been affected by this you know and the lack of health care their prescription programs that they had they have now th that they've lost their prescription drug program that they had it was for some of them their prescriptions for months of the pension that they received now they don't even get a pension they have no health care and somebody is going to try to convince me that this tra deals going to work and that this was in the best interest of our manufacturing base now i can in good conscience do that and i think we had some interesting hearings today but ultimately we have to be able to stand up and i agree with the gentleman from maine we had a directive i think this past election i campaigned on this issue as you know and i campaigned very strongly about it i said look i support trade i support fair trade so i'm a for i'm a fair trader and i think that that's what we should all be and i think we have an obligation as i said before to ask this administration but also ask of ourselves you know are are we here to represent the dave of ards of this country are we here to represent the c e o the took the j mexico and we're going to keep doing it every single day we read of another small fact we're going my clothing factories and that i worked in was shut down and now i hear that the remaining three hundred fifty people that are working there are hanging by a threa translation in about a year that plants going to go simply because nobody wants to have the initiative in the courage to stand up for an industry that's been hit or dumping of steel it goes on and on and i don't want to use up the whole hour but at the general just let me conclude by saying this i like to ask some of our folks on the other side that that samak the call me a protectionist and i looked in the dictionary and i think that means you're trying to protect something and i am and i know we are  trying to protect the basic fundamental right for people to have a decent paying job you know these aren't c e o s these are ordinary people who want to put their kids through school has health care they want to be able to work and work very hard and be able to retire and not have to worry about it and i am not going to stop on this issue and i again applaud the gentleman from maine for the courage that he has and i will promise you this that i've said many times that are a whole and i'm going to be in this body but as long as i am i'm going to continue to come to this floor i'm going to continue to talk about those lost jobs i say that we have to start thinking differently than we have before we have an obligation and our obligation is to stand up for ordinary people that's what i've always been about and i think the basic job i think of a member of congress when you really get down to it after all of sudden done is all of us are here to do the best we can to help ordinary people out to make their lives better not complicate him and so to my friends on the other side that might think i'm off base i'm not going to support fast track i will vote against it i'm not going to have any any part of outsourcing one more job from my district or from this country i'm going to stand up for workers whether they're from illinois or maine or hi lo or florida or wherever they're from because we have a responsibility to do it it's the right thing to do and again i just can't thank you enough congressman for taking the lead on this and you and representative kaptur been great inspirations to me as a as a freshman here i who campaigned on this issue of trade and by the way i would just say to people listening it's ok to run on things you believe in and and lead with your lead with your heart and on the right issues and every now and then the good guys do come out on top so i thank the gentleman for allowing me to participate saving look for ginning questions or discussion you might have  you actually brought forward a whole new fresh discussion about trade and what it has done to this country so i really appreciate your leadership and look forward to continuing working with you as we move forward  this area there's another member i'd like to i recognize not a member of the freshman class but this member she has been a true advocate for fairtrade congresswoman kaptur has been a tremendous leader in this fairtrade fight marcy came to congress from a working class background her family operated a small grocery where she where her mother worked after serving on the original organizing committee of an auto trade union at the champion sparkplug marci knows firsthand how these unfair trade deals have affected interest rates throughout her congressional district in you've been a true leader and you've been a mentor to me ever since i got elected to congress so thank you and i you will do such time as you may congress in the show thank you so very much for bringing us together tonight and for your great contributions to this debate that is probably the major economic debate this nation faces a real pleasure to be here with you this evening i thank you for you'll give me some time to congressman phil here from illinois who just hit the ground running here and who i think is such a tremendous addition to our membership and to this great struggle for the cause of all people in our country the dignity of their and the future for their families and the future of our communities and to congressman steve lynch of massachusetts who worked so respectably as an ironworker and he looks like that man you know that they have and they have iron beam over new york city you know that famous poster whenever i look at i think i see him he's the one is swinging the golf club with the ball or something and it's a pleasure to be here with these gentlemen tonight because they have all worked for a living their families have worked for a living and we need more people who bring this experience to the congress of the united states the plants that congress michaud discuss champion spark plug no longer exists in toledo back when i was first elected we tried so hard to get the japanese to buy the sparkplugs the best plugs that were made in the whole country champion spark plugs i took them to japan  and i said to prime minister nakasone i said you know your companies aren't buying from our premier companies and our trade deficit was beginning to really get bad back then and i said so i'd like to suggest that we give you these plugs for free for your manufacturers and let them try them and we learned a lot about the k read through system of japan and what a closed system indeed it is and that other companies couldn't get into that production and that these very tight buying chains exist globally in japan has been eating our lunch in the automotive market for a very long time now but the japanese market still remains closed with less than three percent of the cars on their streets from anywhere else in the world they don't even take hugo's or bugs v w bug so that market is a closed market and we we began to see how difficult it was to engage in trade with nations that truly were protectionist congressman here talked about protectionist countries where you can see pretty clearly which ones they are when you look at what's on their shelves and what's on their streets and i'm here tonight to say that i've never supported fast track because i don't believe congress should ever let a fastball go through here that we don't grab ahold of and the problem with fast track is you can't amend a trade agreement so even if you want to as happened when we debated nafta i can remember a more piercing debate in this congress other than votes on war that nafta debate was the most significant economic debate we had here in one thousand nine hundred three and at the time that we debated that it was purposely brought to the floor in a way that we could not a man let me just take one issue we're going to have discussions this year on the issue of immigration when that bill came down here there were many of us that said we have to deal with the displacement that's going to happen in mexico in the farm sector because there's no transition provision in nafta and no currency exchange that when we knew that the mexican farmers were going to be thrown off of their community oriented farming a hito systems  happened no one wants to recognize it's happened but over two million people were disgorged from their villages and towns and they're wandering the continent providing an endless stream of labor that's dirt cheap there and here it's almost as if they didn't want us to talk about it because that fast track bill came through here now the nafta model is being used they want to expand it to colombia they want to put it in peru and i want to say a word about colombia this evening i agree with congressman michaud there's no nation in the world that allows the assassination of their labor leaders more than colombia why would we want to sign a free trade agreement with a country that isn't free our cardinal rule ought to be free trade among free people mostly look at what happened in colombia recently chiquita brands member chiquita banana which is headquartered in my state of ohio has just pleaded guilty to funding terrorism in colombia several what are called an identified high ranking corporate officers of a subsidiary of chiquita paid one point seven million dollars from one thousand nine hundred seven through two thousand and four to fund the united self defense forces of colombia a group that our country says is a terrorist organization and also bribed other groups inside of colombia the company has now admitted to this wrongdoing and agreed to pay twenty five million dollars in fines they said that the money was paid to protect employees from violent paramilitar who fight over the banana plantations i wouldn't wish working on a colombian banana plantation to any living human being and yet we are about to sign a free trade agreement under fast track we can't amend and stand up for the dignity of people in colombia we know the colombian workers unsafe yet the president evidently thinks it's ok to sign an agreement where there is no transparent justice system or bribes protection