now and forever and the has examined the journal of the last days proceedings and announces to the house the supreme will their officer went to close one of rule one the journal stance approved the pledge of allegiance will be led by the gentleman from kentucky mr davis ask everybody to stand it join me in the pledge i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america to the republic which stands one nation under god indivi liberty and justice for all nine six six and that's to enable the department of state to respond to a critical shortage of passport processing personnel and saw the purpose without objection as the speaker one of president bush's must use justifications for the war in iraq has been that it is central to winning the war on terror but the national intelligence estimate tells a completely different story al qaida has only gained strength since the united states invasion of iraq in march of two thousand and three now qaida has regenerated in pakistan along its border with afghanistan a reality that may have something to do with the fact that the great majority of our troops and resources are fighting an ill conceived war in iraq set of finishing a job we started in afghanistan the sad truth is that when our nation undertook operation enduring freedom after the horrific attacks of nine eleven we had al qaida on the run we had them on the verge of being dismantled president bush decided to alter our mission at a critical time and send our brave men and woman to iraq that and nothing to do with nine eleven to fight a war that has been a detriment to the war on terror president bush et al qaida on the ropes he threw them a life preserver they were weak and today they're stronger according to the report so the president bush and my colleagues on the other side the who want to stay the course i simply ask why why would we want to continue a war that the american people want to end get the towers in ninety six bombed our embassy and our africa ninety seven this enemy values death over life and seeks not to negotiate but to war against us these fanatics in the name of religion with a doctrine of hate preach death to the united states on september eleventh the terrorist brought the fight to us now arac is the centerpiece of the war on terror and so is afghanistan we cannot give ground to this home of sidled enemy because this will only encourage more attacks the resulting consequences are disaster destruction and defeat today we find ourselves in a global struggle we have been attacked over and over again by these radicals war no one wants war but war will not end just because we quit nor because we are weary of war nor but does we desire peace the enemy will continue this war against us whether we are in the fight or not they do not want peace there can be no peace until we stop them without objection thank you mr speaker and good morning to members today i rise to discuss the fifth annual congressional tri caucus minority health summit which will be held this weekend in san diego hosted by the community clinic association of los angeles county the event is an opportunity for members of congress to learn about from health experts grassroots advocates and innovative solutions and address health disparities in communities of color i'm proud that eleven members from the congressional hispanic caucus the black  us an asian caucus will join me and health advocates in san diego were prepared to discuss issues such as expanding the s chip program eight b n aids homelessness foster care border health and veterans care along with that discussing chronic that face many communities of color that are low income and disadvantage that's why my tri caucus colleagues and i recently introduced h r thirty fourteen the health equity and accountability act a comprehensive bipartisan legislation which addresses health care disparities as chair of the hispanic caucus task force on health and the environment i look forward to this event and bringing a new direction to this congress i yield back the balance of my time for what purposes the general from pennsylvania  deaths and a cost of twenty seven billion three hundred ninety seven million two hundred sixty thousand and two hundred eighty two dollars this is not a war these are infections of people pick up and spittles and these are based upon c d c estimates of ninety thousand deaths per year but a more recent study associated came from the association from professionals infection control so the numbers can be as high as one hundred and nine hundred thousand deaths and twelve million cases per year when will we start acting to make sure that we have all hostiles active so many have done to eliminate infections from hospitals i asked my colleagues to to co sponsor and help pass h r eleven seventy four the healthy hospitals act it is time we stop wasting healthcare dollars health insurance dollars and wasting lives and start saving lives in hospitals the way so many hospitals able to do please let's get moving to make our hospitals healthier and you'll back for what purposes jennifer michigan draws are remarks without objection mr speaker carbon monoxide added to meet peggy at packaging is the septa for consumers blasting meat with carbon monoxide make spoiled meat appear to be red wholesome healthy when it's really dangerous to eat although it is well known that consumers rely heavily on color to evaluate their freshman freshness of meat the f d a has not required to use of carbon monoxide in the packaging of meat to be labeled consumers therefore have no way of knowing whether the meat has been treated and they can no longer rely on color to judge the freshness and safety of treated meat here's meat we left all for twenty seven hours the tops been treated with carbon monoxide the bottom has not the bottom is brown and nasty the top looks fresh and wholesome either one of these packages of meat and you become very ill for this reason i will today introduce the carbon monoxide treated food safe handling labeling and consumer protection act this legislation is needed to help prevent consumer deception and serious risk to our public health given the recent events that have highlighted food safety risk as a threat to public health the carbon monoxide treat it meets safe handling labeling and consumer protection at takes an important step in helping inform and empower waste by the federal bureaucracy that almost nothing shocks or surprises us anymore however the worsening post reported yesterday on a really ridiculous waste of money the federal emergency management agency paid twenty four million dollars for one hundred  twelve thousand tons of ice after hurricane katrina forty two thousand tons were stored for future use and famous paid twelve point five million dollars in storage fees now all of this unused dyess is going to be thrown away but here is the really ridiculous par fame is going to pay three point four million three million four hundred thousand dollars to mail to ass it's over ninety degrees outside the department of homeland security of which team is a part has one hundred seventy one thousand employees a first grader could mill tasks but the federal government is going to pay three million four hundred thousand dollars to have it done no wonder the federal government is almost nine trillion dollars in debt if we ever create a hall of fame of mr speaker i come to the floor today in full support of h r three zero four three the labor health and human services and education appropriations bill for fiscal year zero eight by bringing this bill to the house floor we demonstrate again the hard work of the democratic majority to reverse the trend of critical cuts to programs that improve the lives of all americans the bill includes an additional seven hundred fifty million for the national institutes of health another four hundred million for the social security administration to address the backlog of disability cases and reviews and more schematically two billion dollars additionally to improve the requirements of no child left behind additional a head start will get seventy five million dollars in additional funding under this bill but when you look at it in real dollar terms that's actually a decrease headstart is widely recognized as one of our most productive education programs for congratulations to our troops for capturing the highest ranking iraqi in our conscious leadership must adani known to be the most senior iraqi and al qaida leadership operators chief communicator between his terrorist and senior leaders including bin laden and zawahiri this arrest for the confirms the connection between al qaida in iraq and the global terrorism network i believe this news is significant and proving that they all caught on our troops are fighting in iraq is inseparable in the front in the global war on terrorism our troops are fighting to protect american families stopping the terrorists in iraq which are we here in bin laden have identified as the central front in the global war on terrorism is vital to this effort our troops courageous efforts in iraq aco working and we must support our brave men and women in uniform to defeat this enemy who promote mass murder in conclusion god bless our troops that will never forget september the eleventh for what purposes agenda mussulmen the on the rise now without objection mr speaker i rise today to commemorate the birthday of c j martin i say commemorate because he would celebrate his four years for fourth birthday tomorrow instead c j was taken from his family and our community by a killer f three tornado that struck his great grandmother's home in east brick manufactured housing community c j and the other twenty four victims might have been saved had they only had a warning that they needed to protect themselves mr speaker i was the sheriff vanderburgh county when this tornado hit i saw firsthand the devastation that it caused and it was severe weather can bring to the families the communities they touch that experience resulted in my introduction of c j s home protection act h r twenty seven eighty seven the bill simply requires manufactured homes a chemical with life saving no weather radios like a smoke detector these inexpensive devices can provide families with the warning they need to take action and protect themselves today as we remember c j s birthday i encourage my colleagues honor his life by co sponsoring this important public safety measure thank you  school in ashland and north old a middle school in goshen were recently recognized by the national forum to accelerate middle grade reform as schools to watch the national forum selected fifty nine schools nationwide to receive this prestigious honor schools were chosen based on three criteria academic excellence responsiveness to the needs and interests of young adolescents and commitment to helping all students achieve a high level recently i had the opportunity to meet with educators from these schools during their visit to washington d c i was impressed by the commitment of these educators and though they face innumerable challenges in their classrooms they're dedicated to providing each student with the highest quality education possible i'm proud to know that these exceptional teachers are educating future generations of kentucky and i applaud their hard work