H5206 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE July 25, 2012 

He had the privilege of speaking to 

over 20,000 persons in January of 1992, 

where he spoke to the Baptist General 

Convention of Texas—Evangelism Division, to an attendance of over 20,000 

persons. And in January of 1992, he was 

guest preacher for the Mississippi Baptist State Evangelism Conference and 

delivered the Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Day sermon at the Austin Presbyterian 

Seminary, his alma mater. 

What I would like to say most of all 

is that, beyond the accolades that he 

got on the outside, he was an outstanding human being, an outstanding 

minister, an outstanding civic leader, 

someone who continued to serve his 

community even during his time of illness. You never noted a lack of cheerfulness in Reverend Lightfoot. And in 

the early stages of his illness, I had the 

opportunity to visit him at home. And 

again, what a cheerful, believing person who loved America and served 

America in his capacity, and that was 

as a faith leader who believed in all 

persons, reached beyond his doors, 

helped build a beautiful new sanctuary 

on that same street, Homestead, did 

not move, continued to serve the community, and was known as a light to 

all. 

My sympathies to Velma Mitchell 

Lightfoot, his wife, and his beautiful 

children and his eight grandchildren, 

and being a great-grandfather as well. 

The diversity of his training has led 

him to be that light, that servant, that 

special person. I believe it is appropriate to pay tribute to James Lightfoot who remains, even in death, a 

light to us all because of the great history and the great legacy he has left. 

May God bless him, God bless his 

service, and I know that he would want 

me to say that God bless his most wonderful and most great Nation, the 

United States of America. 

Pastor Lightfoot, may you rest in 

peace. 

f 

HONORING PAUL RODGERS 

PIERCE, JR. 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair recognizes the gentleman from 

Georgia (Mr. WESTMORELAND) for 5 

minutes. 

Mr. WESTMORELAND. Mr. Speaker, 

I have come to the floor today to honor 

Mr. Paul Rodgers Pierce, Jr., for his 25 

years of service to the State Theatre of 

Georgia and the Springer Opera House. 

Paul was born on January 19, 1953, in 

Anniston, Alabama, to Mr. and Mrs. 

Paul R. Pierce. He attended East Rome 

High School and graduated from the 

University of Georgia in 1977. After 

graduation, he developed his passion 

for theater through working as an 

actor, director, designer, and booking 

manager on a number of national touring productions, such as the American 

Repertory Theater, Flat Rock Playhouse, and Circuit 21 Playhouse. Following his time on tour, he accepted 

the position of associate artistic director at the American Repertory Theater 

under the guidance of Mr. Drexel Riley, 

who was not only his mentor, but his 

friend. 

Paul’s adventures led him across the 

country when he accepted the position 

of managing director of Virginia’s 

Wayside Theater, and then as artistic 

director of the Harbor Playhouse in 

Corpus Christi, Texas. Thankfully, his 

travels led him back to Georgia, where 

he became the artistic director of the 

Springer Opera House in 1988. 

To say Paul was passionate about his 

job is an understatement. He expanded 

the artistic mission of the Springer 

Opera House and took its potential to 

new heights. Paul created the Spring 

Theatricals, a national touring company that reaches over 60 American 

cities annually. He hired Ron Anderson 

and created the Springer Theatre Academy that mentors and develops over 

16,000 children and families through the 

year-round character education program. With Paul’s additions, the audience of Springer has nearly tripled, and 

the bar for artistic excellence in the 

community has been held to a higher 

standard. 

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Paul has not only improved the artistic standards in the community, but 

the physical appearance of the Springer Opera House as well. Paul oversaw 

the National Historic Landmark Theatre’s $12 million renovation in 1998 and 

has campaigned for over $11.5 million 

for the construction of the McClure 

Theatre for children’s programs and 

education. 

In his 25 years, Paul has helped put 

the Springer Opera House on the map. 

In 2008, the Georgia Council for the 

Arts declared it one of Georgia’s topranked art institutions. Paul has 

served on with State Theatre of Georgia as producing artistic director with 

distinction and dedication and continues to further his mission through 

the pursuit of selfless innovations to 

improve the quality of life for the citizens and community of Columbus, 

Georgia 

I’m proud to stand here today to 

honor and thank Mr. Paul Rodgers 

Pierce, Jr., for all he has done for the 

great State of Georgia, the city of Columbus, and all the children and families he has touched. Paul’s devotion 

and commitment to theater is an inspiration to us all, showing us that with 

passion and hard work you can make a 

difference and leave a legacy that will 

never be forgotten. Thanks, Paul. 

f 

START WINNING THE WAR ON 

MILITARY SUICIDE BY ENDING 

THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 

California (Ms. WOOLSEY) for 5 minutes. 

Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, more 

than 2,000 U.S. troops have been killed 

in the line of duty in Afghanistan. Unfortunately, that dramatically understates the human cost of this war, a 

war that is now nearly 11 years old. 

A recent Time magazine cover story 

details the silent killer of our brave 

servicemembers—the tragically high 

suicide rate among Iraq and Afghanistan veterans and other members of 

the service. The article describes how 

one Army helicopter pilot, who had 

flown 70 missions in Iraq over 9 

months—70 missions over 9 months— 

waited on the phone for 45 minutes to 

speak to the Pentagon crisis line when 

he was in severe distress. The last communication his wife received from him 

was a text in which he said, ‘‘Still on 

hold.’’ Several hours later, she found 

him in their bedroom with a fatal gunshot wound to the neck. 

A second victim, an Army doctor who 

wasn’t deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, 

wrote an email to his wife minutes before hanging himself. It read: 

Please always tell my children how much I 

love them, and most importantly, never, 

ever let them find out how I died. 

Mr. Speaker, we can no longer deny 

the devastating mental health impact 

of repeated deployments, of continued 

exposure to explosions, horror, carnage 

and destruction. Of course, in an institution like the U.S. military that values courage and toughness, there’s a 

reluctance to admit to depression and 

anxiety. 

Sometimes that manifests itself in 

the worst possible ways. For example, 

one Army major general wrote an 

angry diatribe on his blog about the 

selfishness of troops who killed themselves or were leaving others to ‘‘clean 

up their mess.’’ He admonished: 

Act like an adult, and deal with your reallife problems like the rest of us. 

It’s about time, Mr. Speaker, that we 

lost that attitude because we’re losing 

brave Americans at a terrifying clip. In 

fact, according to the Time article, 

more soldiers have taken their own 

lives than have died in Afghanistan. 

While veterans make up 10 percent of 

the adult population, they account for 

20 percent of the suicides. 

We are starting to see more awareness of this problem, thank Heavens. 

Secretary Panetta says the right 

things, but it’s time to back up rhetoric. It’s time to back it up with more 

resources because the fact is only 4 percent of the Pentagon’s medical budget 

is devoted to mental health, about the 

same amount that we spend on the Afghan war every day and a half. We 

spend $2 billion a year to treat servicemembers suffering from psychological 

trauma, but we spend $10 billion a 

month on the war that is the root of 

much of that trauma in the first place. 

Even if the Afghanistan war ended 

tomorrow, Mr. Speaker, so much damage is already done. We would still be 

left with a huge crisis that will require 

more resolve than we are seemingly 

prepared to muster. I would expect 

every Member who has enthusiastically 

supported this war to just as eagerly 

support what it takes to fight the suicide epidemic this war has caused. It’s 


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July 25, 2012 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H5207 

time to stop the bleeding to make sure 

our heroes are removed from the conflict that is inflicting so much damage. 

We can start winning the war on suicide by ending the war in Afghanistan. 

Let’s bring our troops home now. 

f 

NATASHA’S STORY 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair recognizes the gentleman from 

Texas (Mr. POE) for 5 minutes. 

Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, 

Natasha’s life changed because she was 

the prey of a sexual predator. 

Here’s the beginning of her dramatic 

story: 

In 1993, I was violently raped, sodomized 

and robbed at gunpoint by an unknown assailant. When I escaped and thankfully found 

myself in my apartment, my roommate insisted that I go to the hospital. 

I agreed to wait for an ambulance, even 

though my first instinct was to take a shower. I’m so grateful today that I made that 

choice to go to that hospital. 

Mr. Speaker, Natasha is one of many 

victims of this barbaric and dastardly 

crime. According to information released by the Centers for Disease Control, nearly one in five women in America has been raped at some point in 

their lives. As both a former prosecutor 

and a judge in Texas, I was involved 

with the criminal trials of rape cases 

for 30 years. 

I learned firsthand the devastation 

that sexual assault victims experience, 

and I understand and learned that sexual assault does not just physically 

harm the victim; it harms their entire 

being both physically, emotionally, 

and mentally; and the pain sometimes 

lasts forever. Mr. Speaker, rapists try 

to steal the soul from their victims, 

and they try to destroy the self-worth 

of victims, and sometimes they do. 

One of the most critical pieces of evidence for rape trials is the rape kit, a 

tool that gathers forensic evidence, including DNA evidence, to link the rapist to the crime. But, unfortunately, 

rape kits often languish in evidence 

rooms across the United States, some 

untested for years, some discarded before ever being tested, and some gather 

dust so long that the statute of limitations on the crime of rape has expired 

and the criminal can never be prosecuted. This ought not to be. 

Mr. Speaker, Natasha’s story did not 

end in that cold hospital examination 

room. She says further: 

Ten years later, in 2003, I received a call 

from the New York City District Attorney’s 

office. My rape kit, which unbeknownst to 

me had been sitting on a shelf for almost 10 

years, had at last been finally processed. I 

had long since reconciled the fact that my 

perpetrator would never be held accountable 

for his actions. But now there was hope. 

After a long trial, Victor Rondon was tried 

before a jury of his peers in 2008 and was 

found guilty on all eight counts of violent 

assault against me. He’s in jail now for a 

long time. The best part for me is that he 

can never hurt anyone else. 

My rape kit sat on a shelf for many years. 

It was not just a number in a police department. My rape kit was me—a human being. 

Every rape kit that sits on the shelf somewhere is a human being. 

Mr. Speaker, Natasha’s story humanizes rape kits ignored in evidence 

rooms throughout the country. Victims of sexual assault deserve justice, 

and their perpetrators deserve to be 

punished by courts and juries in America. 

Stories like Natasha’s compelled 

Congresswoman CAROLYN MALONEY

from New York and me to introduce 

the Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence 

Registry Act, the SAFER Act, in the 

House, and Senators CORNYN and BENNET to introduce the same bill in the 

Senate. This bill would allow existing 

funds to be used to provide grants to 

States and localities to audit their 

rape kit backlog and also would call 

upon the Attorney General to create an 

Internet-based rape kit registry for 

sexual assault evidence testing. Estimates of untested rape kits are as high 

as 400,000 in America according to 

Human Rights Watch. 

b 1040 

According to the DOJ’s National Institute of Justice, 43 percent of the Nation’s law enforcement agencies don’t 

even have a computerized system to 

track forensic evidence, either in their 

inventory or after it is sent to a crime 

lab. The SAFER Act would allow 

criminal evidence to be prosecuted and 

processed, and these do-bads to be held 

accountable for their dastardly deeds. 

Mr. Speaker, the insensitive say 

there’s no money for these exams, 

these rape kit tests. Well, Congress 

needs to find the money. Maybe, instead of sending money to foreign 

countries to help them, keep some of 

that money in America to help American rape victims like Natasha. Help 

them get justice. Because, Mr. Speaker, justice is what we do in America. 

And that’s just the way it is. 

f 

FEDERAL RESERVE 

TRANSPARENCY ACT 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The 

Chair recognizes the gentleman from 

Tennessee (Mr. DUNCAN) for 5 minutes. 

Mr. DUNCAN of Tennessee. Mr. 

Speaker, later today, we will vote on 

H.R. 459, the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2012. Because this legislation comes to us on the suspension 

calendar, it will require a two-thirds 

vote in favor of passage. 

I rise today in support of a full audit 

of the Federal Reserve. I have thought 

for many years that there’s too much 

secrecy and too much power vested in 

our Federal Reserve. This is an effort 

that I first joined in June of 1991, in the 

102nd Congress, when I cosponsored a 

bill introduced by Congressman Phil 

Crane of Illinois to audit the Federal 

Reserve. 

Even back then, before our most recent major financial recession, Congressman Crane’s bill had 56 bipartisan 

cosponsors. That support has grown 

over the years, and in the 111th Congress, the last Congress, Congressman 

RON PAUL’s ‘‘audit the Fed’’ bill gathered an overwhelming 320 cosponsors 

from both parties. Now that support, I 

believe, is at 270 in this Congress. 

Thomas Jefferson was one of our 

Founding Fathers who was concerned 

about putting too much power into a 

central bank, and he wrote in a letter 

in 1816 ‘‘that banking establishments 

are more dangerous than standing armies.’’ That was not me; that was 

Thomas Jefferson. 

Listen to what people are saying 

about this bill today from both ends of 

the political spectrum. 

Matt Kibbe, president and CEO of 

Freedom Works, said: 

Many economists have found that the central bank’s loose monetary policy played a 

major role in the current economic crisis. It 

is more crucial than ever that the Federal 

Reserve’s monetary decisions be examined. 

Without a comprehensive audit, we will 

never know how the Fed is manipulating our 

money behind closed doors. 

The National Taxpayers Union, one 

of our most respected organizations, 

said: 

American taxpayers deserve to know more 

about the workings of a government-sanctioned entity whose decisions directly affect 

their economic livelihood. 

Arnold Kling, an author and scholar 

at the Cato Institute, said: 

If an audit were to uncover serious flaws 

and decisions made by the Fed, it is difficult 

to see why we are better off remaining ignorant of such flaws. 

Journalist and columnist Rick Sanchez said: 

For an entity that wields so much power, 

we know relatively little about the Fed. 

Would you trust an unknown banker to decide what happens with your paycheck every 

week? Why do we accept this for our country? 

And Brent Budowsky, a very liberal 

political opinion writer, wrote in support of an audit and said: 

In my years of experience in politics, 

media, and business, I have learned that secrecy is usually the enemy of common sense, 

fairness, and sound policy. 

Another liberal economist, the famous John Maynard Keynes, said this: 

There is no subtler, no surer means of 

overturning the existing basis of society 

than to debauch the currency. 

And a very conservative—one of the 

most respected conservative economists, F.A. Hayek, said this: 

When one studies the history of money, 

one cannot help wondering why people 

should have put up for so long with governments exercising an exclusive power over 

2,000 years that was regularly used to exploit 

and defraud them. 

I have heard over the years, Mr. 

Speaker, people say that we need to 

have a Federal Reserve and a Federal 

Reserve system in order to prevent depressions and recessions. Well, that is 

certainly a very, very dumb statement 

to make because the Federal Reserve 

was created in 1913, and 16 years later, 


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