fairness and contracting act the supplemental report contains the estimate on the bill prepared by the congressional budget office digestion so order commemorating the four hundredth anniversary of the settlement of jamestown ga the role of the gentleman from illinois mr davis and the general woman from north carolina mr mrs fox each will control twenty minutes the chair recognizes am pleased to join my colleague in the consideration of h conrad's one seventeen a bill that commemorates the four hundredth anniversary of the founding of the jamestown settlement with the speaker of the house generous recognize thank you must be good h conrad's one seventeen which has seventy seven co sponsors was introduced by representative joanne davis of virginia on april the eighteenth two thousand and seven age conrads one seventeen was reported from the oversight committee only one two thousand and seven by a voice vote on may fourteenth sixteen hundred seventy indians of the parkland driver virginia saw three english sailing ships approaching their land the two hundred fourteen people on board of the susan constant the discovery and the god departed from london five months earlier they were stablish on the banks of the james river what with the calm america's first english settlement in the new world while disease famine and continual attacks from neighboring indians took a tremendous toll on the settlers only sixty of the original settlers survived just two years after arriving in america england sent another three ships that arrived with suppliers and new settlers to help stabilize the colony jamestown survival became the colonists because the colonists worked together to cultivate the swamp like land of the virginia island and made it suitable for the growing  tobacco by sixteen twenty jamestown and shipped almost fifty thousand pounds of tobacco to england fifty years later virginia and maryland which ship fifteen million pounds jamestown depended upon its agricultural products and trade to flourish as a new colony in america last friday queen elizabeth the second visit to the tourist village at jamestown to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary of the founding of america's first english settlement the queen last visit to jamestown was fifty years ago jamestown represented a government that reflected many of our nation's democratic ideas and institutions including the rule of law and free enterprise the speaker i commend my colleagues seeking to commemorate the four hundredth anniversary of jamestown  the four hundredth anniversary of the settlement at jamestown i want to thank my colleague tom davis for his work on this resolution and also the entire virginia delegation for their support i feel very honored to represent the first district  like to call america's first district as we all know in sixteen zero zero seven the first permanent english colony in north america was founded in jamestown virginia as we look back on this historic time four hundred years later it's obvious that the journey that began with the settlement of jamestown has truly changed the world representative government in america began at jamestown and many of our nation's democratic ideals and institutions including the role of law free enterprise and cultural diversity trace their roots to that beginning it was not a perfect beginning nonetheless it was the start of an experiment that changed the course of history i would be remiss if i did not mention the native americans contributions to the early beginnings of this nation the jamestown settlement owed its survival in large measure to the compassion and aid of the printing indians they provided columnist and supplies at times that were crucial to their survival and they served as guides to geography and natural resources including the carmine's exploration of the chesapeake bay region it is a fact that the settlement would not have survived without the pitching indians and we owe them an enormous debt of gratitude as americans we are so blessed with the freedoms that we enjoy and with the truth for which our country stands many of these ideals can be traced back to jamestown virginia and i urge my colleagues to vote for h conrad one seventeen to commemorate the events that took place four hundred years ago with that i yield back the balance gentleman for yielding arrives in support of age conrad's one seventeen a resolution commemorating the four hundredth anniversary of the founding of jamestown virginia introduce from our distinguished colleague from virginia and america's first congressional  district joanne davis this is truly an exciting time for the commonwealth of virginia and our nation as we commemorate the four hundredth anniversary of the founding of james the first permanent in resettlement in north america and the cornerstone of our republic i've been honored to be one of the representatives of the most historic region in america and all of the members of the original delegation of work hard to ensure the federal funds and services have been readily available to prepare for this historic occasion beginning back in two thousand with the establishment of the federal jamestown four hundred commemoration commission that like to specifically acknowledge the hard work of congresswoman jo ann davis and her and her staff for their tire efforts on behalf of james ounce one hundred the anniversary this to speak of the spotlight of the world is now shout jotting on the commonwealth of virginia the queen of england visited our state capital in richmond in the jamestown settlement just last week to commemorate this  event hundreds of thousands perhaps millions of people from all over our nation and from all over the world will descend on virginia this year to celebrate our four hundredth anniversary this is speaker are encourage all of my colleagues to visit jamestown this year and encourage them to support this concurrent resolution a year back the balance of my time and o'neill's back the gentleman from north carolina is recognized thank you mr speaker i feel myself as much time as i may consume speaker four hundred years ago a group of entrepreneurs from the virginia company landed on jamestown island with the intent of establishing a colony to find gold and water route to the orient this landing spot became the first permanent english colony in america and would eventually become the capital of virginia for ninety two years built on a marshy and unhealthy side the town suffered badly at the hands of fire and disease the development of this great nation clearly did not come about easily by the end of sixteen zero seven after a particularly harsh winter only sixty of the original two hundred fourteen settlers remained alive the colony probably would have failed completely if it had not been for the courage and determination of captain john smith who contrived to get food from the indians proving to be crucial for their survival the suffering of these early settlers continued for many years however by sixteen fourteen rolf introduced new techniques of curing the tobacco leaf which provided the first opportunity for the settlers to finally grow a crop that would sustain them for many years to come to back up again the money crop for jamestown and ultimately virginia in a short time every farmer in virginia was raising in exporting tobacco soon there after a representative assembly called the house of burgesses was established in the colony and met once a year meeting in the jamestown church it was the first legislature of elected representatives in america every farmer in virginia was granted forty acres of land and with the income from farming tobacco families began to sustain themselves this community of small farmers the great majority ninety percent of them not only own but cultivated their own land today it is hard to fathom out jamestown a region has survived with the suffering malnutrition disease and an appalling death right but here we are four hundred years later celebrating the  looted not only the british colonists but the native americans they met upon arrival and the africans who became indentured servants soon after furthermore this year we have the honor to celebrate the four hundredth anniversary with people from around the world including queen elizabeth the second of england wholeheartedly encourage all americans to visit this is story it offers an opportunity to learn how the first settlers survive and ultimately thrive as a result of their tenacity and steadfast desire to make this a place of which we can all be proud seeing how many of the democratic ideals which originated in jamestown are still being preserved four hundred years later is only natural for us to commemorate naan or the founding of jamestown jamestown this year to celebrate its four hundredth anniversary i commend representative julian davis for introducing this legislation urge its passage in your back the balance of our time expressing the sense of the house of representatives that public servants should be commended for their dedication and continued service to the nation during their public service recognition week may seventh through thirteenth two thousand and seven to the rule the gentleman from illinois mr davis the gentleman from north carolina mrs fox each will control twenty minutes the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois and the speaker i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days contributions to this great nation doing public service recognition week may seventh the roommate thirteenth two thousand and seven this resolution salutes their unyielding dedication and spirit of public service on tuesday april seventeenth two thousand and seven i introduced this legislation in conjunction with senator cochran who introduced it as rare as one fifty to honor and celebrate the commitment of the men and women who have dedicated their lives to serve in the public over eighteen million individuals in cities counties and states in america and abroad serve our government and the american people they perform essential services that the nation realize the phone every day federal employees from agencies like the national institutes of health national science foundation and the food and drug administration are committed to promote in help advance and research regulated industries and ensuring the wellbeing in and safety of our citizens the men and women serving in the armed forces of the united states as well as the skilled trade and craft employees who support the efforts contributed greatly to the security of our country and to the world we cannot thank our public servants enough for the work that they do for their fellow citizens day in and day out government at all levels simply cannot function properly without good employees who are committed to public service we should be reminded of their contributions not just in may but when we're set in their pay and benefits and by ensuring they have the i reserve the balance of months on gentleman reserves the balance of his time the gentleman from north carolina is recognized thank you mr speaker i yield myself as much time as i may consume i'm extremely proud zero seven honoring the millions of dedicated public servants that serve our nation our country simply could not function without its innovative professional highly trained public service employees at all levels of government you will find hardworking staff making our country prosper and thrive through their contributions the expertise and work ethics offered by these individuals sets an honorable example for future generations of public employees from emergency respond librarians public servants family spectrum of jobs that keep our country fish and safe beyond the tremendous work of civilian employees in uniform service personnel the members of our national guard reserves are crucial to the welfare of all u s citizens they provide vital strategic support for our nation's military both at home and abroad there are tremendous accomplishments in assisting states and countries overseas with natural disasters is to be praised once again i commend these employees for performing challenging and often times thankless jobs with honor and dedication i appreciate them for moving our country forward and maintaining our safety and security for these reasons i'm thrilled to express my support for a week of honoring these individuals mr speaker i reserve the balance of my time the gentleman reserves the balance of our time the gentleman from illinois rocking  opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the resolution is agreed to without objection the most to reconsider is laid on the table general from illinois recognized the speaker move that the house has been the rules and agreed to a dress two ninety one corker report the title of the resolution house resolution two ninety one resolution supporting the goals an of peace officers memorial day pursuant to the rule the gentleman from illinois mr davis the gentleman from north carolina mrs fox each will control twenty minutes jerry recognizes the gentleman from illinois as a member of the house committee on oversight and government reform i am pleased to join my colleague in consideration of house resolution two ninety one which honors our fallen law enforcement officers a dress to ninety one which has seventy two co sponsors was introduced by representative ted poe of texas on march twenty ninth two thousand and seven a dress ninety one was reported from the oversight committee on may the first two thousand and seven by a voice vote the startling america has been blessed with citizens of courage and character who have dedicated their lives to keep in peace in our communities five years after the creation of the u s marshal service in seventeen eighty nine u s marshal robert forsyth was shot and killed in the line of duty he was the first of more than fourteen thousand law enforcement personnel since that time to give his or her life to uphold the law last year one hundred forty three officers gave their lives in the line of duty  heroes the safety of their fellow citizens was their purpose and passion they made the ultimate sacrifice to fulfill their duty and service to humanity each year the president issue proclamation name in may fifteenth as national peace officer memorial day our nation owes the last in debt of gratitude to the men and women of law enforcement who risked their lives each day to protect and serve the citizens of this nation every american should on a peace officers not only in words in ceremony but in their commitment to promote justice fairness and peace in their homes communities schools and businesses the speaker i commend representative paul for seguin to honor our fallen heroes birds with passage of this bill and reserve the balance of my time gentleman reserves memorial day to honor federal state and local law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty and encourages the citizens of the united states to observe the day with appropriate ceremonies and respect police officers have been protecting american citizens since april sixteenth thirty one when the city of boston first established its night watch law enforcement program in the colonies there's a quote by president george h w bush engraved on the national law enforcement officers memorial located at judiciary square here in washington which summarizes the mission of the eight hundred seventy thousand current sworn law enforcement officers in the united states it states that it is their daily quote quest to preserve both democracy and decency and to protect a national treasure that we call the american dream and quote law enforcement officers face dangers on the job every single day on may seventeenth seven hundred ninety two new york city's deputy sheriff smith became the first recorded police officer to be killed in the line of duty today more than fifty six thousand are assaulted each year and every fifty three hours an officer is killed while serving the american people september eleventh two thousand and one was the deadliest day for police officers in all of american history when seventy two officers were killed while responding to terrorist attacks i want mr speaker to recognize the life of sergeant howard tough from my district who was killed recently in the line of duty he was known as an honorable man who selfless served his family and community for more than seventeen years in the winston salem police department he was dedicated to community development and service he has is a legacy of the spirit of service that permeates this great country we are the respect of his fellow officers and did not hesitate to go above and beyond the call of duty in fact during his time with the winston salem police department he was awarded its highest honor the medal of valor he left behind a loving wife and two daughters and he is an extremely positive role model and an example of all the officers we're honoring with this resolution may fifteenth this peace officers memorial day a holiday created in one thousand nine hundred sixty one by congress to honor following law enforcement officers who dedicated their lives to protecting this country and its citizens the flags flown at half staff and thousands of people visit the memorial which was authorized by president ronald reagan in one thousand nine hundred four built in one thousand nine hundred nine it currently has seventeen thousand nine hundred twelve names etched into the wall each of these names reminds us of the sacrifices these brave law enforcement officers have given in order to keep american citizens safe they also stand for those living officers who would without hesitation do the same to protect all of us with gratitude to our law enforcement officers devotion and dedication to our country i ask all members to join me in supporting actress to ninety one and mr speaker i reserve the balance of my time gentleman reserves the balance of her time recognized i and i thank the distinguished gentleman for yielding this is an appropriate resolution that comes before us i know that in a couple of days many of us will be out on the west lawn commemorating and celebrating the nation's a law office or is across the nation we welcome them to this congress every year and we do so humbly and with great appreciation let me acknowledge the work that many of us have done with our local law enforcement in the state of texas we have a multitude of law disciplines from the counsel's office i have the privilege of representing the first african american woman constable and mae walker representing consul victor trevi hispanic constable we have deputy sheriffs we have the sheriff's department we have the houston police department and the department of public safety in many instances we find great leaders who believe not only in crime fighting but crime prevention i rise today to focus in particular on the importance of law enforcement in working in the community i salute of the former mayor of the city of houston lee brown former chief of police of the city of houston new york and atlanta i consider him the father of community oriented policing that really speaks to the hearts and minds of the people it lets the police officers the law enforcement officers become knowledgeable about the community and in particular it works they work to know if you will the good guys and the bad guys neighbors become comfortable with law enforcement officers when they are engaged as certainly people see are concerned about the neighborhood in the community they're eager to help them bust if you will the crime situation or bust the criminal or make sure that the situation is corrected and at the same time as we raise up and respect our law enforcement officers let me applaud those who i speak to all the time as i travel to washington and we have a very effective aviation police force and i get an opportunity as i go through the airport to listen to them and to thank them let us be concerned about the benefits of law enforcement officers in particular i know that my city a very large city has seen the decline of senior officers because for some reason or other because our belts are being tightened we don't have enough resources to one provide them with the upward mobility the professional development and to protection of their pensions recognize the sacrifice that they and their families are making and we as  communities across the nation should be concerned about making sure they have the kind of benefits on the federal level i'm very glad that the house judiciary committee has just passed out a copy bill reauthorization i think that is a very very important aspect of the work of this congress but cops program worked it provided police offices for rural communities and urban communities i even spoke to my police persons there and they said yes this would help us greatly if the cops reauthorized so as we salute our peace officers across america let us make sure that we are actually doing as we are saying and that is providing them with the resources that they need at the same time let me also and the importance of training the sensitivity that our police officers were able to get through experience but also training helps them to detect those with mental illness and have the best resources to address those suffering from mental illness so that those persons can be taken away from society before they do harm to themselves or someone else this legislation is timely because we thank those who are serving today we offer our deepest sympathy to the families of those who lost their lives on the front lines of law enforcement in america over the last year and we certainly acknowledge the continued sacrifice that law enforcement officers will make and the best point about what this says as we stand on the floor today saluting them is that we should promote congratulate good law and for but officers we should not allow the bad incidences that occur the mishaps that occur and many of them have occurred and i've stood up vigorously against them and i will stand up yesterday today and tomorrow when there is abuse but we should not allow those kinds of situations to take away from the grander the respect the honesty the  integrity and the downright commitment that the law enforcement agencies of america particularly those in our local communities make every single day with the idea that as they leave in the morning and kissed their families goodbye that they might sacrifice their lives so that we might be saved we owe them a great debt of gratitude and it's my pleasure to thank the distinguished gentleman from illinois and thank the sponsors of this legislation for allowing me to pay tribute at this time with that i y or thank the lady from north carolina for yield in the time mr speaker i'd like to also thank the committee on oversight and government reform and chairman waxman ranking member davis for their support of this legislation and of course the gentleman from illinois as well house resolution two ninety one supports the goals and ideals of peace officers memorial day our nation's first line of defenders i'd also like to thank the seventy eight members of congress who co sponsored this bipartisan resolution for their support law enforcement officers are a special type of people they put on the uniform and the baggage of a law officer they swear on an oath to uphold the law of our land and bow to protect the citizens of all communities and carrying out their duties law enforcement officers are routinely subjected to threats against their personal side fifty according to the national law enforcement memorial fund more than fifty six thousand law enforcement officers are assaulted every year in the line of duty they are subjected to being slapped punched kicked bit stabbed and even shot by suspects and this does not include what could happen in the course of high speed chases that occur throughout our country most of these peace officers that are assaulted walk away from that fight with a minor injuries in a suspect generally is carted off to jail in handcuffs these are are those community protectors however that aren't as fortunate because they give their lives in the line of duty since the first record of place death and seventeen ninety two over seventeen thousand nine hundred peace officers have been killed while performing the duty of a law office somewhere in this great country statistics show that every fifty three hours a law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty and last year two thousand and six one hundred forty three officers were carol were killed in the line of duty we all remember september the eleventh and what occurred on that day and how many of us watched on television how when those planes hit the world trade center how they hit the pentagon how thousands of people good people as soon as that tear hit those buildings those people were running as fast as they could to get away from that danger but there was another group of people not very many but they were there running as fast as they could to get to the danger and those were the people who wear the badge that also included our firefighters and our emergency medical technicians and seventy two of those peace officers that ran to those buildings that were being assaulted from the air were killed in the line of duty that one day and of course it strikes all communities even our community down in beaumont texas and the beaumont police department and its recent tragedy of a peace officer that was killed in the line of duty last week this community suffered the loss of one of their own all sir lisa  first peace officer in southeast texas first female peace officer in southeast texas that has been killed in the line of duty she was a six year veteran of the beaumont police department she was on patrol by herself at one a m which he responded to the scene of a motorcycle accident in beaumont as she got out of her vehicle and started directing traffic a drunk driver slammed into her throwing her over the side of the freeway and killing her it was a tragic end for a police officer that love to protect the people of our nation mr speaker during the time that i was a judge in texas for over twenty two years i encountered many many peace officers who wore the badge and proudly did so and i consider those peace officers who do that that cross over the line to represent the rest of us and protect us i rare and noble breed so on tuesday may fifteenth thousands of local state and federal peace officers will gather across the nation to remember their fellow officers known as national peace officer memorial day established by president kennedy in one thousand nine hundred two the day serves as a tribute to the men and women who daily put themselves in harm's way to ensure the safety and security of our country and our nation the flags will be lowered at half mast and ceremonies will be held across the entire country the national memorial ceremony is held right here on the lawn of the united states capitol where the president of the united states thousands of law enforcement officers and members of congress will be there and those officers that are in attendance their badges will be draped in black as remember it's of their fellow officers who were killed in the line of duty law enforcement officers are the first line of defense between law abiding citizen citizens and those who violate the law they are public servants who dedicate their time in their lives to protect us and they wear the badge of courage with pride and we as a nation need to honor them for the service of the american people and i hope that our congress this these folks in this body will pass this legislation as fast as possible and i yield back the remainder of my time gentleman yields back the gentleman from illinois recognized speak to you the gentleman from illinois reserves a gentleman from gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized thank you mr speaker i yield five minutes to my distinguished colleague from the state of washington mr riker a gentleman from wash is recognized for five minutes thank you i thank them gentle lady for yielding time mr speaker i am proud to stand here today as a co sponsor of this resolution to honor our law enforcement officers across this nation  i was one of the eight hundred and seventy thousand sworn law enforcement officers that are on the job today just a couple of years ago until i came to this house i have to be honest and confess that i my heart still lies with my fellow officers and deputies in the king county sheriff's office in seattle washington i was one of those officers who have been spit on kicked called every name that you could think of maybe some that you can think of stabbed shot at i threatened all of those things happened in my thirty three year career but i'm here today alive and well to talk about those officers that sacrificed their lives some of those were my good friends two were my partners one was an academy mate one was my best friend murder shot and killed now just last year the kane county sheriff's office last another dedicated law enforcement officer by the name of steve cox imagine your deputy steve cox and you're responding to a call on an early saturday morning back in the summer and you really don't know what kind of a call you're going to but then you hear that shots have been fired part of your job is to interview every person at the scene so you start to interview these people all of a sudden in the middle of the interview somebody pulls a gun and before deputy cox could react he was shot in the head and killed he left behind a wife and a one year old son these are things that happen every day on the streets of our great nation we owe such a debt of gratitude to the men and women who wear the badge whether they wear blue uniform or green gray or whatever color might be are there to protect us from those people on our streets who choose not to obey the laws of  there are four people from the state of washington who will be added to the memorial this year those leaks little hose leaked a barba barber from seattle p d let me pronounce that one more time who is alito barber from the seattle police department at wanton thomas from briar police department dick road from kit a task county sheriff's office and deputy steve cox from the king county sheriff's office mr speaker as you can tell this is very close to my heart it should be close to each and every one of us every time we see one of the capitol hill police officers of the washington d c police as we're back here please stop and say thank you for a job well done and putting their life and their family's lives really on the line for us every day i urge all of my colleagues to support this resolution i must speak poe texas lost fifty five law enforcement officers that's part of the three hundred eighty two fallen officers across this nation as mayor of the city for orthon i ask what i am what was the most important thing that i did when i was mayor always talk about working with the fort worth police officers those bright evolve cers who risk their lives every day to keep us safe and keep us free and we think about those officers we think about their families also one of the officers was drunk and whine frito who just thirty four years ago when he was killed by a drunk driver just eight days before this past christmas he'd been a police officer with fort worth police department since august of two thousand and five he saw also serve the united states army and when he was killed he left behind a wife karen and two daughters ages three and nine those stories can really be repeated about our officers across this nation so many times and so i certainly join in strong support this resolution and also remind everyone of the candlelight vigil this sunday to honor those officers it's their people who as i said sacrifice their lives every day and stand up for us and so it's my great honor to speak today and i  balance of our time the general and from illinois recognize thank you mr speaker i want to commend the gentleman from texas by introducing this very meaningful and worthwhile legislation i think that all of us  gratitude to our law enforcement officers and personnel throughout the country as of this resolution and your back the balance of my time the gentleman yields back the question before the house is well the house suspend the rules a to house resolution two hundred ninety one dollars in favor say aye aye those opposed no the opinion of the chair two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the resolution is agreed to without twenty minutes to john the chair recognizes the gentleman from illinois the speaker i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks that objection so order i thank mr davis for yielding in a special thank you to mr waxman mr speaker i'm delighted to be here today in support of a resolution i have reintroduced that would promote the goals and ideals of creating a day in honor the women of america suffragette movement the goal of this resolution is to recognize the anniversary of the inaugural women's rights convention in seneca falls new york in eight hundred forty eight the suffragettes are role models  inspired an entire generation and continue to inspire generations of young american women just as they have two young women from the state of nevada hannah lowe and destiny carroll who started their own  position drive to pay tribute to the efforts of these great suffragettes hannah and destiny presented a petition to me with hundreds of signatures from their fourth grade class in support of creating a day to recognize the achievements of our brave suffragettes i cannot tell you how proud i am of hannah and destiny and i thank them for serving as an inspiration for this resolution while it may seem unbelievable to us now it was not that very long ago that women did not have the right to vote in our great nation on july nineteenth eighteen forty eight the first public to feel appeal for women's suffrage was made and a new movement was born for equality we owe these suffragettes a debt of gratitude for their efforts in their fight to give women the right to vote and to be full participating members in our nation's political process i hope that recognizing the anniversary of the and now you're a women's rights convention in eighteen forty eight well keep alive the memory of the struggle to win the fundamental right the right to vote for women and i urge  is difficult to imagine a time when our nation's women did not have the privilege to vote thankfully we've moved past those times to where we currently have the highest number of female members in the history of the congress although i think it's very difficult for many people to realize that in the history of this congress we've had only two hundred forty nine women and ninety of them are serving now as we all know the struggle for women to achieve this came at great sacrifice the fight lasted over many decades because of dedicated perseverance many women these pioneers were revolutionary in their fight for equality they worked tirelessly knowing there would be a future when women were seen as equal to men with the ability to vote the historical seneca falls convention held in eight hundred forty eight was led by a group of innovative women including lucretia mott and elizabeth cady stanton following the convention they form the national woman suffrage association and the american woman suffrage association which merged together in eight hundred ninety three public speeches marches parades pickets arrests and even hunger strikes the members of the association fought their battle across the country their historic efforts came to fruition on august eighteenth one nine hundred twenty when the congress ratified the nineteenth amendment of the constitution thereby granting women the right to vote the goal of the suffragists movement endured over fifty years schools around the world teach their students the rich history of the movement and it is with pleasure that we promote continued awareness through a national suffragettes day thank you mr speaker i reserve the balance of my time gentlewoman reserves of balance of our time the gentleman from illinois recognized speakers my pleasure to yield three minutes to it obviously means that we have come a long way as a result of woman suffrage we now have a woman who is the speaker of the house of representatives which represents movement and progress columbia home roll act to conform the district charter to revisions made by the council of the district of columbia relating to public education for short of the rule the gentleman from illinois mr davis the gentlewoman from north carolina mrs norton gentlewoman from the district of columbia as recognized may i offer my thanks to the to the chairman of the subcommittee and particularly for the very expeditious way in which he which he has moved my request for early consideration of the matter before us now i rise to request passage of h r twenty eighty a bill to amend the district of columbia whole act in keeping with in committee expeditious x the dishes fully and the leadership has kindly granted our request for early consideration of the bill on the house floor on the suspension capital cat can calendar in light of the fact that the matter before the house is now controversial the bill supports the district in moving on its own to correct problems in its local school system in fact h r twenty eighty is before the congress only because the current home rule act now in the process of being revised requires that certain changes to the district's charter be made by federal legislation as stressed that the underlying school the organization involves no federal funds and is entirely a local school issue however h r twenty eight is of major importance to the district of columbia and if it were possible the city would have made these provisions affective immediately and therefore i'm grateful to the federal workforce chair danny kaye davis and oversight and government reform committee chair henry waxman for moving this bill as soon as was possible in committee and the subsequent movement to the house floor the very next week the week in which we now find ourselves the school structure change in particular puts a heavy and unprecedented burden on the administration of a new mayor mayor adrian  fenty many in the congress have over the years urged changes in the d c public schools and therefore i know that the last thing congress wants to do is to get in the way or slow a difficult local school reform process the extra congressional level of procedure for local school restructuring is not within the expertise of a national legislative body whose agenda is packed with urgent national concerns the necessity for a member of congress to introduce a bill for self governing city is an anachronism either congress nor the district desires or can afford today i promise the congress i will try to make this the last time the house or the senate is requested to pass a charter bill of no concern and of little interest to the congress of the united states i strongly ask that all members support the swift passage of this bill today and yield back the mandate gentlewoman yields back to gentlewoman from north carolina as recognized thank you mr speaker i am myself as much time as i ma consume is recognized i rise today in support of h r two which will implement the district of columbia public education reform amendment act of two thousand and seven the legislation was passed by ninety two by the city council on april nineteenth and was signed by mayor fenty on april twenty third because the local bill includes amendments the home rule act congress must pass this bill for it to be effective and make a special note that this legislation relies sole on local funds before approving the bill the city council held over seventy hours of hearings i commend mayor fenty for proposing this bold changing government and the city council for its careful deliberation and amendments the original proposal chey elements of the local bill include streamlined education responsibility spending controls and consolidation of functions the legislation is also intended to resolve the issues that if s are between the d c public school system and charter schools every city in counties and govern its own school system as it sees fit and the district of columbia ought not to be an exception the challenges that have faced the city's public schools are well known and extensively documented congress needs to pass this legislation promptly to ensure these four reforms can be in place before school begins again next august changes in education procure on are particularly important recent reports of failing boilers and high levels of live in school water fountains lend a sense of urgency to this bill i wish the mayor and the city council well as they assume enhanced responsibility for public education they've asked for this legislation to be held to a much higher level of accountability and i commend them for stepping up to the plate on this core function of local government this is not obviate the continuing need to provide an alternative to underperforming neighborhood schools that is why the d c opportunity scholarship program is so vital today the program gives the proximately eighteen hundred low income students access to schools of their choice reauthorization of this excellent program which will be required by two thousand and eight is necessary as part of our vision to expand and improve opportunities for d c students mr speaker i reserve the balance of my time gentleman reserves a balance of her time the gentleman from illinois  speaker myself such time as am i consumed close with speaker h r twenty two repeal section four fifty two and four ninety five of the district of columbia home rule act and the district of columbia council to establish the district of columbia public schools as a cabinet level agency under h r twenty eight of the mayor and the council will be held accountable for the management of the district's public schools section forty fifty two describes the role and responsibility of the mayor and council with respect to the annual budget process where the district of columbia public school system section four fifty two provides the mayor and the council a priority to establish the maximum amount of funds which would be allocated to the district of columbia's board of education but they are not allowed to change how the funds are used for educational programs eight hundred twenty eight it will eliminate section four fifty two and allow the mayor and council to determine the level of funding allocations that each program receives the money for this budget is entirely local money section four ninety five established the d c board of education h r twenty two would repeal the powers of the board and gives the mayor and council authority of the district's public schools mayor fenty has been seeking the authority to reform the d c public school system since earlier this year on january the field two thousand and seven the mayor submitted the district of columbia public education reform image act of two thousand and seven the act to the d c council for their consideration the act transfers management and oversight authority for the public schools to the mayor it transfers all state education agency responsibilities from the board of education to the state education office creates an interagency collaboration and services integration commission establishes an office of ombudsman for public education and the public education facilities management and construction authority the d c council has held over seventy hours of hearings and heard the testimonies of residents teachers students parents and lead an educational experts on the mayor's proposal the mayor believes that giving him control of the c public schools will lead to a dramatic improvement in the district school system the district of columbia the public education reform of two thousand and seven passed the district of columbia council on april the nineteenth two thousand and seven about vote of ninety two h r twenty eight it will allow the mayor to implement his to reform d c public schools the speaker i want to commend representative eleanor holmes norton and ranking minority member representative tom davis for introducing this legislation and it is important to note that in d c had a home rule this legislation would not be necessary i urge all my colleagues to support this legislation because in effect what we are really doing is given certification in a sense to actions that have been taken by the district of columbia city council and given them the authority to exercise responsibility for their own public school systems which is obviously the right thing to do i would reserve the balance of my time german reserves a balance of us on the gentleman from north carolina  objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table gerry's before the house the following personal request leaves of absence requested for miss corinne brown to florida for may seventh and the balance of the week for mr engel of new york for may seventh on the balance of the week for mr ruppersberger of maryland for today after one thirty p without objection the requests are granted gentlewoman from north carolina is recognized thank you mr speaker i ask unanimous consent that today following legislative business and any special orders heretofore entered into the following members may be permitted to address the house revise and extend their remarks and thousand and seven under a previous order of the house the following members i recognize for five minutes each mr paul of texas and one from north carolina without objection the gentleman is recognized for five minutes to day is the one hundred twelfth day since a great injustice this took place in this country on january seventeenth the two thousand and seven to united states border patrol agents in a federal prison to begin serving eleven and twelve year sentences respectively agents copy on and agent ramos were convicted last spring for wounding a mexican drug smuggler who brought seven hundred forty three pounds of marijuana across  borders into texas these agents never should have been prosecuted yet the u s attorney's office prosecuted the agents and granted immunity to the drug smuggler the illegal drug smuggler received full medical care in el paso texas was permitted to return to mexico and has soon sued the border patrol for five million dollars for violating his civil rights and he's not an american citizen the american people have not forgotten a just ramos and copy on who should have been commended instead of indicted i encourage citizens across this country to continue calling the white house and ask the president to use maidenly pardon these two heroes members of congress and the american people are outraged and concerned with this administration's indifference to the plight of two honorable men who have been crucified unfairly by federal prosecutor these two ages have given years of their life in service to this nation yet they have been unjustly punished for doing their job to protect the american people by using the power of his office to pardon these two agents the president has the opportunity to reverse a grave injustice misspeaking close and i would like to share part of the comments made by chairman john conyers on the floor last week following my remarks on these two border agents and i quote the chairman it it is important that the cans of concerns you have raised are known to all of our men and women who carry badges and weapons defending us not just judiciary committee was soon move forward with hearings to investigate the injustice committed against these two border agents with that mr speaker i would like to your back to balance my time gentleman yield back the balance of this time ge i guess if i had not have had to be here today i would have been back in my community where i live at the friendship baptist church and i would have been there because today was a feel for mrs lucy hall who is the wife of the pastor of that church for the last fifty years and the whole family have made tremendous impact on not only the community where we live but also on the city of chicago its around in communities  retired educator she and her husband raise their three children in our neighborhood two of their children are judges one is an appellate court judge in the state of illinois other is a supreme court judge in new york and of course their son is a noted psychologist who works in the state of new york but mrs hall is simplified the essence of excellence she was indeed a grey and lady full of dignity full of charm full of commitment full of dedication and full of hard work she and her husband are legends in our neighborhood they develop programs which originated at the friendship baptist church to deal with health issues such as cancer they provided mammogram screening and education they had after school who read in and boy scouts and tutoring and so i simply take to the floor this evening to extend my condolences to the whole family to reverend sheldon jerome hall to judge shelvin louise hall to judge hall of the supreme court in new york to their brother and the hall's son and all of the members of a great family in the community where i live and work we shall miss her but we rejoice of the speakers announced policy of january eighteenth two thousand and seven the gentleman from pennsylvania mr english is recognized for sixty minutes as designee of the minority leader gentleman's recognize thank you mr speaker mr speaker i rise tonight to talk about the tax increase that's coming now we know that in the budget that the democratic majority put together in the house they posited the largest tax increase in american history but that's not the tax increase that i've been referring to the tax increase i'm talking about is something that had its genesis in the one nine hundred sixty s was about mr speaker is the alternative minimum tax at the late one nine hundred sixty s the alternative minimum tax was created to deal with at most several hundred tax payers they were the people at the very kl of the american economy who somehow were able to position themselves using a hyper complicated tax code using it to free themselves almost completely or in some cases completely of tax liability in the late one nine hundred sixty s correctly congress looking at the complexity of the tax code and looking at this outcome thought that is  fair so they created an alternative calculation that would provide that everyone pay at least a certain tax liability that policy was renewed and actually expanded in the late one nine hundred eighty s when democrats controlled the house of representatives and in the process this alternative minimum tax was applied to what was then very high income thresholds lo and behold it was never indexed to inflation and accordingly more and more people have fallen under this alternative unfavorable tax calculation which i'm going to talk about in this hour and more and more people have that we would consider to be middle class and found themselves under the alternative minimum tax more and more small business owners have seen the incentives that they expected to get from making investments in the economy stripped away more and more families have seen pro family tax policies taken away from them by the alternative minimum tax and far from applying to a few hundred taxpayers today the alternative minimum tax is applied did nearly three million taxpayers but in past congresses quietly we have moved to at least protect the people who would have been hit in recent years with additional tax liabilities from being covered we put in place a series of patches patches that would protect taxpayers that we wanted to give tax relief from being hit with the a m t those patches of become more expensive to apply the annual patch next year we would have to in effect set aside forty seven billion dollars to do it but if we don't do it let's treat speaker not a few hundred taxpayers not three million taxpayers but twenty three million taxpayers in america including a significant part of the middle class would have to pay the a m t that frankly mr speaker is flat out unfair and unsustainable it's a tax increase that congress had never intended and that the last few congresses have acted to protect the middle class against and yet what has happened here we find that the majority of the house democrats particularly in their budget haven't set aside a dime for a patch to deal with the a m t they want to spend the money even as they want to spend the money from the lapsing of some of the tax policies that we put in place at the beginning of the decade they don't call it a tax increase but they take the money and run by not fixing by not patching the a obtain a implicit in their budget is a major tax increase on top of that on a major part of the middle class and yet it's far worse than that because we've been hearing recently committee that i serve on the ways and means committee that someone in the majority want to make changes in the a m t a supposedly to reform it but they do it by raising taxes elsewhere and that's what i'm here tonight to argue against if we deal with the t not by controlling spending and by putting in place a long term fix but by simply raising taxes we put run the risk of having a dramatic impact on the economy think i have some numbers here that i think put this into a fairly dramatic perspective as we have looked at the bracket creep we've seen many middle class families particularly in communities with higher taxes and higher standards of living paying potentially the a m t what we've looked at is that some of the proposals that have been laid out there would provide a m t tax or lave to middle class taxpayers by increasing the tax burden specifically we understand that some in our committee are considering an a m t exemption for families earning up to two hundred fifty thousand dollars that sounds great but it also potentially will raise taxes at the high end now we've just had an election in france and in france one of the issues was that their economy hasn't been very dynamic because of their top tax rate the top tax rate in france is about forty eight percent unfortunately fixing the a m t would require so much revenue that if it's all a done through raising with parade our top tax rate would be in the range of forty eight percent that would be a significant break on the economy and let me put this into a local perspective i represent a district we're not many people are in the highest income levels but we have many local businesses and many local manufacturers that are subchapter s companies they basically exist they are closely held ownerships and they exist basically and pay no personal income tax rates this would in effect on some of our most dynamic and job creating local companies put the brakes on their growth this is a direct jobs in the emerging economy and as such it is a real concern in a place like northwestern pennsylvania where we have mainly people who are working class and middle class and very few high income people we think that this would have a big impact directly on our local economy ladies and gentleman i'm very concerned that we get this right and i'm also very concerned not only that we fix the a m t but also that we do it in the right way now we have a proposal and i think it's very important to realize there is a proposal out there to repeal the individual a m t i'm a cochairman of the zero a m t caucus and i'm prime sponsor of a bill h r thirteen sixty six that would flat out repeal the a m t and my view the a m t is a frankenstein's monster which over the years has affected more and more taxpayers by subject them to a parallel tax system that arbitrarily and sometimes unpredictably deprives them of tax preferences and incentives that they plan for in effect the a m t as it runs the risk of punishing millions of middle class americans every year with a tax that as i've said was intended only for a handful of the highest level earners my legislation would once and for all rid our tax code of this arcane and unfair tax policy and remove a significant barrier for economic growth in the american economy the a m t is not only a source of higher taxes it's a source of complexity in the tax code and getting rid of it as a priority for many of those who have advocated a simpler tax code the a m t i believe is unfair on the face of it because it is now applied to a whole host of tax payers th congress had originally told them this will never apply to you while the structural features of the regular income tax are indexed to inflation the a m t is not and as a result as incomes have risen over the past as i said earlier it would take forty seven billion dollars which is a lot of money but in a three trillion dollar budget it's something that we can find the room to do patching for two years would cost or they estimated one hundred ten billion dollars that's also something that's expensive but is something that we should be prepared to do an alternative approach would the to make the a m t a temporary tax provision i have argued potentially for doing that if congress does not have the will to pursue flat out repeal but the idea of getting rid of the a m t by simply raising taxes is very very dangerous you know i was always struck by a quote from h l mencken when a new source of taxation is found it never means in practice that an old source is abandoned it merely means that the politicians have two ways of milking the taxpayer where they previously only had one before i think that and for the unfortunate thing about the am tape is that it is generating now so much revenue that people in washington are afraid to do away with it i think we need to have an aggressive approach to getting rid of the a m t that does not simply shift the tax burden back to more tax payers we need to come up with a creative way of dealing with this problem and i believe that there is the will to do it i've offered to work across party lines with my colleagues on the other side and i want to extend that offer again today i do think that if we approach this as something that has to be fixed through a combination of savings and maybe other changes in tax policy there are going to be a range of ways that we could we can deal with this problem and certainly to protect the middle class from t falling on it but we are concerned when we hear the press reports that suggest that the house democrats simply want to use this to raise taxes here is what in effect they're doing they're taking that additional twenty million taxpayers and they're a fact of life holding them hostage for a higher tax level which is going to generate revenue for them to fulfill their campaign promises  we think that there's got to be a better way of doing that we're also concerned that the a m t can become a locomotive of the kid recognizing that many taxpayers will otherwise be hi liabilities that a m t relief will become a basis for running through a bill that generates much higher levels of revenue in effect or manufactures a crisis that way the a m t bill becomes a locomotive for driving much higher taxes in the economy today i would argue very simply mr speaker that washington takes a very high percentage of what people earn in america today the problem and the source of our national deficit is not the fact that we don't generate enough revenue in fact revenue has been growing  year to year basis the problem is not that we haven't entertained tax increases because in a fact we've been passing and adopting tax policies curiously through lower capital gains rates we've been generating more revenue from capital gains the problem has not been a lack of revenue it's been a lack of spending restraint and unfortunately our friends on the other side of the aisle have approached the t problem exclusively as one that needs to be dealt with through revenue i think people need to understand what level of tax payer we're talking about here the a would be applied to people who are authentically middle class i'm struck here by the fact that if we look today washington is left to deal with this growing monster that that is the a m t that is going to ensnare twenty three million americans come april fifteenth two thousand and eight it operates as a parallel tax system and in effect it takes away from taxpayers some preferences that congress said firmly intended to them this i think represents something that is fundamentally unfair we're talking here that for the year two thousand and six under the a m t the basic exemption from the a m t is only sixty two thousand five hundred fifty dollars for joint returns  this is not in my view a wealthy couple it's forty two thousand five hundred for a single and head of household returns which in turn is subtracted to obtain a t taxable income it's the income above that that pushes people into the a m t these exemption levels as i've pointed out are the result of a patch that passed congress has of enacted in other words they are temporary and are scheduled to revert in two thousand and seven to their prior levels of forty five thousand for joint returns and thirty five thousand seven hundred fifty for unmarried taxpayers the basic a m t exemption is phased out for taxpayers with high levels of a m t income a two tiered rate structure of twenty six percent and twenty eight percent is assessed against a m t taxable income the tax payer then and this is how it works compares his a m t tax liability to his regular tax liability and pays the greater of the two as a result middle class americans hard working families are falling victim to what was and always was intended to be a policy that was aimed at the wealthiest and which ultimately at the end of the day is simply bad tax policy we think that we need to do a better job of dealing with the a m t but to do that simply raising taxes is the wrong way to go how high would taxes have to go to deal with the a m t problem i'm struck by an estimate by the urban institute and brookings tax policy center that took a look at this question and came back with some startling figures they argue that in order to repeal the a m t the majority if they were to do that simply through tax increases would have to increase the top three brackets very substantially th study estimates that the majority would have to increase the twenty eight thirty three and thirty five percent brackets to thirty two point two thirty eight and forty point three percent respectively on top well i sincerely believe that there's the potential for a bipartisan consensus here i think what we're seeing is a set up for much higher taxes and that's why i'm here on the floor tonight to blow the whistle on that you know in my own district in pennsylvania's third congressional district in two thousand and five a little over twenty seven hundred taxpayers were impacted by the a m t by contrast if congress does not act in two thousand and seven roughly eighteen thousand five hundred taxpayers will be hit with the a m t this is a serious tax bite and it has to be deal dealt with in a serious way and not simply by raising taxes let's are speaker the a m t is a classical example of the rule of unintended consequences the fundamental reason for the spread of the a m t is that the exemption amount was never indexed to inflation as a result the a m t spread rapidly before the two thousand and one and two thousand and three tax laws were adopted and it would have continued spreading without those laws it is projected to spread further after two thousand and ten even if those laws are sunset taxpayers who move on the a and two thousand and seven through twenty ten due to the two thousand and one and two thousand and three tax laws will still enjoy a net tax cut from those lost the most recent attempts to deal with the a m t have been through the use of the house and it passed the senate it was part of a broader tax bill and it was recognized at that time to be a very important priority repealing it at that time was something that we knew we could afford to do yet in  ninety nine the clinton administration vetoed that legislation on fortunately some of those who now want to deal with the a m t by raising taxes voted to sustain that veto voted in effect to leave in place a tax that was never intended for the middle class the individual a m t doesn't just affect individuals it also hurt small businesses the many small businesses that pay the individual a m t lose the benefit of important business tax incentives such as the r and d tax credit the work opportunity tax credit accelerated depreciation and many other general business tax credits it is you know anyone who has been in that and any accountant will tell you ridiculously complicated an arbitrary it's almost impossible for the average taxpayer a small business owner to count the late the a m t without help from a tax preparer or from tax software if we're serious about dealing with the problem of complexity in the tax code one of the quickest things that we could do one of the simplest things we could do is flat out repeal the a m t we think this is something that ought to be of direct interest to us today and we're very concerned that this real problem is being calm and geared by those who simply want to raise taxes our solution is that we want to see action today we want to see both parties come together and talk about this problem honestly not just discuss plans to raise taxes behind closed doors we want to see an opportunity here today  to discuss how we can use fiscal discipline and restraint in spending to get rid of the a m t or pretend potentially to sunset it and phase it out over time it's not too late to do that we believe that there are ways to deal with the a m t as an alternative that don't require us to bring our top tax rates up to the level of france i believe that there are means of dealing with this problem without sucker punching our economy i believe that we have the opportunity to deal with this problem fairly and honestly without presuming a tax increase you know we tend to forget this in washington but when somebody is paying out more in taxes that's a tax increase you know whether that tax increase was the phase out of a tax provision that was put into law years ago and simply not renewed whether that change in tax policy  something that was a policy from the sixty's that was never adjusted or modernized the fact is we anticipate a tax increase unless we show fiscal restraint this year and the democratic budget in addition to positing the largest tax increase in american history has manufactured this a m t crisis and created a challenge for us that the democrats are apparently proposing to respond to simply by raising taxes you know when people hear that the only folks experiencing the tax increase are going to be the highest income people that doesn't tell the whole story because so many jobs are tied up in companies that are also at those rates this is a challenge that i think requires an authentic bipartisan solution not just a tax increase that's your speaker may i inquire how much time do i have remaining the gentleman has thirty four minutes remaining and other members on the floor awaiting recognition the gentleman has thirty four minutes remaining that being the case does the gentleman from kansas seek time in that case mr speaker i will yield him such time as he may consume gentleman from pennsylvania yields gentleman from kansas such time as he may consume the gentleman from kansas mr moran is recognized as i think the gentleman from pennsylvania for yielding time and i thank the speaker the ceiling for recognizing me mr speaker twenty minutes can go by in a flash two minutes seems like an eternity last friday night greensburg kansas was struck by a devastating tornado twenty minutes warning i'm sure the people of greensburg did everything possible to protect their homes their lives together their loved ones to find the basement to seek the shelter twenty minutes it's an awfully short period of time to try to save your life two minutes the time that it takes for the tornado a mile and a half wide winds blowing two hundred seven miles an hour two minutes it takes to destroy a community the losses last friday night in greensburg kansas are significant the photograph i have with me demonstrates the look of a town a county seat town of kyle a county kansas population about fifteen hundred in many ways the typical kansas community in many ways the typical small town in rural america mr speaker i've been in greensburg kansas for the last three days and perhaps what i see is typical but what i see as heroics from the moment the tone nato struck the people of greensburg arose to  moment since then their lives have been devoted toward making certain that people are ok seeking recovery of their loved ones and their property and trying to make certain that everyone is found and that life is preserved mr speaker two minutes did a lot of damage to a community and yet in every conversation i had with a citizen of greensburg ultimately at least a small smile would come upon their face because they were able to count the blessings that they had despite the tornado they were able to talk about the next opportunity they have to rebuild their lives the people whose lives were saved people's whose lives are here today speaker this community has lost to a number of and and fact it's its entire housing structure i walked through greensburg for about forty five minutes on saturday a town that i represented as a state senator and now as a member of congress and i found one home in that forty five minutes that i thought would be habitable the downtown business district is gone you know especially mr speaker how difficult it is to preserve and enhance a business district in rural community this is a community that has a business district maybe of six or seven blocks both sides of the street but every business destroyed gone is the city hall gone is the high school gone is the great school gone is the hospital gone is the library this community faces many challenges mr speaker but in each and every instance not only have the citizens of that community arose to the occasion not only have the citizens of that community done everything they could to save lives and protect property but now already they talk of how do we rebuild our hometown i spent a little time with the national media who is covering this story in greensburg kansas and my guess is greensburg kansas is probably a foreign country to many of them and their questions is as they look across rubble that's demonstrated in this photograph is congressman can you really believe that this community has a future that they will be around two years from now five years from now a decade from now and the answer is yes i don't know a lot about lots of other communities in the country but i know about the people of greensburg kansas and they will make every effort to see that their community survives and prospers and their children and grandchildren have a future there you know there's a special place we all call it's called home and everybody wants to live where it's home and so as the folks  greensburg try to pick up their lives rebuild their homes reestablishes of the businesses recreate a community they just want greensburg to be home again and so tonight i rise to commend them for their spirit acknowledge their bravery speak about their compassion and love for their friends and family and neighbors and i especially want to talk about the city officials the mayor lonnie mccollum the city manager steve hewitt perhaps people don't realize that the people who are there today trying to restore the electricity the water the sewer the telephone service the power they too lost everything so as the city officials are gone back to work trying to restore the basic needs of a community they face the challenges of not having a home vehicles destroyed families living outside the community and mr speaker in addition to the city officials in the people of greensburg the american red cross the salvation army heart to heart church groups hundreds and thousands of people across the country on sunday said their prayers for the people of greensburg kansas offering plates were passed the community of havilland a small town much smaller than a community of greensburg fifteen miles down the road a grocery store open on sunday i was there i watched as the owner of the grocery store no small task to keep a grocery store and have one kansas alive and well but i watched as customers placed groceries on the counter and the grocery store owner said where you're from and the answer was greensburg no charge that's the community that people call home in kansas and many places across the country and it's that effort that we're seeing today in which people come to the aid and rescue of their friends and neighbors and people they don't even know to make certain that good happens in a very difficult and challenging time and we're pleased with the national guard we're pleased with the services we have surrounded with around communities and their law enforcement emergency preparedness and fema has arrived on the spot almost from the from day one almost from the first moment the tornado struck this got off the phone with the national weather weather service in dodge city kansas twenty minutes is not very long but that twenty minutes because of the efforts of the folks forecasting the weather that night save lives and i would ask that kansans and americans tonight again say their prayers for the people of greensburg but they recognize that we in america no matter where the challenger difficulty lies we're in it together and i would ask that throughout the course of time that the contributions be collected and the efforts be made to restore the community and that all americans share in that process the pope people agree bird oughta be reassured that we in congress we as the federal government will do everything within our power to assist them in their efforts we want to reassure them that the future is theirs and we're here to help and the role that we play as a federal government the role that all the agencies who have arrived to provide assistance is important but the reality is that greensburg kansas has a future because the people who call greensburg home want to ensure that future comes tomorrow next year and for another generation mr speaker i thank you for the opportunity to pay tribute to a community back home will a gentleman yield ideal to the gentleman from pennsylvania first of all i want to thank the gentleman for his stirring words  i can say in north western pennsylvania we have watched the developments in kansas with horror because it was just a couple of decades ago that we had a series of major tornado  that very much mark seemingly immutably many of our rural communities and i think of albion pennsylvania and how it took years for its downtown to bounce back can i reassure the gentleman that i think all of his colleagues appreciate his plea appreciate the the terrible dilemma facing so many of his constituents and you can count on our solidarity in this effort and it seems a little trite to point this out but i have to say the gentleman has always been one of the most eloquent voices for all of america he has done a great job here tonight of laying before us the plight of this community but we are particularly grateful for his advocacy tonight and i want to say you our prayers will be with you our resources will be with you and northwestern pennsylvania will be there for kansas in any way we can help well i thank the gentleman and appreciate the words of encouragement the phone calls the letters and the conversations i've had with my colleagues from across the country who like you express their character and certain for the people of kansas i'd be happy to the old to you very briefly i was in the other side of the  want to echo the statements made by the gentleman from pennsylvania kerry you spoke from the heart we can feel the pain that you're feeling on behalf of those who had their lives just devastated it's important for them to know that they're going to have your first class advocacy and you certainly does put that on display tonight and it's also important for them to know that we offer them our prayers and beyond that we will be with them as they rebuild and i represented a city that got flooded and it took years but we just had the ten year commemoration of that event and this city is back bigger than better than ever now i've never seen anything like the picture that you put on display tonight it's a different challenge a different magnitude of average going to be required but we will be with you the federal government will be there and will follow your lead as we fashioned a response that meets the need the tremendous need in the wake of this tornado thank you i yield back i think so so much the gentleman from north dakota who i know like the gentleman from pennsylvania understands that rural america is a special place and the place called home in this case a place called greensburg kansas matters a lot not only in the future of that community but in the future of the way that we try to preserve here a way of life that matters i think to all of america again i express my appreciation to my colleagues for their support i remind the folks of greensburg kansas that will be an ally i thank those who have worked so hard to this point to see that there is an opportunity for a future and tonight i especially say my prayers for the family members of those whose families lost their lives ten people died in the tornado on friday night life is a very precious thing and we offer our prayers and we seek the support of all as we try to rebuild greensburg kansas i thank the gentleman i thank the gentleman for his contribution mr speaker how much time do i have remaining you have twenty one minutes remain mr speaker i'm going to keep my remaining remarks brief and again salute the gentleman for taking the time to come down and share the experience of his district and his community with this awful weather disaster which we in northwestern pennsylvania certainly understand and certainly we will reach into our pockets and be generous in helping our fellow americans but mr speaker i'd like to for a moment return prior topic put my green eyeshade back on and talk about the a m t and its potential effect on tax payers you know one point that i hadn't had the opportunity to make earlier was that over the past few weeks in the ramp up to what we fear will be an attempt to use the a m t as a basis for a broader tax increase we've heard made this strange argument by our friends on the other side of the aisle that somehow the a m t is falling on more families because of the tax cuts and they acted in two thousand and one and two thousand and three this argument has been acco to within the ways and means committee and it's bizarre on the face of it but there are actually arguments that are being made trying to connect these dots and say and square this circle the argument is that as a result of reduced income tax rates relative to the a m t more tax payers are subject to the am today conversely this logic maintains that if income taxes are are increased less people would be subject to the a m t it's an odd reform that raises to axis on americans and this smells an awful lot like robbing peter to pay paul after all if taxpayers are paying the a m t or paying the basic income tax one where the other what is relevant to them is how much they're paying the argument we're hearing from the other side simply runs roughshod over the facts the a m t is growing significantly because the tax brackets and volved were never indexed to inflation clearly no american is worse off under recent tax relief and fewer taxpayers are subject to the a m t that otherwise would be as a result of the patches that that tax relief contained i have i believe a number of charts but i'm not going to trouble you with them the time of the evening that demonstrate that this problem has been stated in an a an unusual way it is misleading to claim that the two thousand and one and two thousand and three tax cuts lead to more people paying the a m t the fact is between the patches and the tax cuts fewer people are paying the a m t today than we would have two thousand and one tax laws this is a very important revelation the fact is the past congresses have moved in budget after budget to protect the middle class from the the a m t not was standing that the a m t now hits nearly three million taxpayers where it was originally designed only to hit a few hundred without a patch the a would fall on twenty three million taxpayers because of that added tax live well the on twenty million taxpayers fixing the a m t is certainly a challenge but to me it's a much bigger challenge to argue that somehow we should let the a m t fall on these people when it was never conceived as a tax to be applied to them the fact is the a m t at current rate runs the risk of crowding out the rest of the tax code and becoming the tax code and that would be a disaster the a m t does not treat families as fair favorably at this not treat small business investment  favorably it doesn't have the nuances of the current tax code and it simply has higher rates we believe that in the end the real solution is fundamental tax reform to move to a reform tax system that contains no a m t but through its simplicity also requires no a m t to guarantee that everyone pays and you know what that what they are obliged to pay through simplicity we can reduce the tax gap we can make the tax code more predictable and we can provide through fewer loopholes fewer opportunities for people to take on fairer advantage that's the real solution at the end i believe though that we are going to see this year a concerted effort by the new majority to do what they did the last time they were in the majority and that is to push through massive tax increases the a m t that looks like is going to be their first excuse to do it so it's going to be the first real test of this congress whether it's going to take a different route than that that we traditionally expect or whether it's going to go down the old path of tax and spend raising taxes landing the size of government and ultimately hitting the taxpayers a newer and more subtle enacting french tax structures is not the solution to growing the economy it's not the solution to the deficit and it's not the solution to the a m t i think the time has come for congress to deal with this issue honestly to bring it out into the open my hope is that our committee the ways and means committee will have an opportunity to do hearings specifically on this point as ranking member of the select revenue subcommittee i also hope that we have the opportunity there to more closely examine the a m t and to build on recent hearings to look at actual solutions  come up with a solution that reduces the tax burden and protects the middle class rather than simply raising taxes that may be a chair challenge that require statesmanship but i believe the time has come to deal with this issue directly and anyone who i believe signs on to what the papers tell us might be the solution here can't claim that they're following  certainly the dictum of americans for tax reform which years ago got many members of congress to sign a pledge not to raise taxes i believe that any a m t solution that raises taxes  put congress on on record as being in favor of big government and higher taxes i believe that we need to look at creative alternatives in the time has come for that mr speaker i'm grateful for the opportunity to