H4918 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE July 18, 2012 

immediate action on finalizing long 

overdue rules on crew training. This 

rule would mandate additional training 

and evaluation of requirements, ensuring that those working aboard an aircraft are best equipped to handle potential emergency situations. 

Mr. Speaker, the National Transportation Safety Board found that between 1988 and 2009 inadequate training 

was found to be a leading factor in 178 

accidents. The crash of Flight 3407 was 

preventable. Each day that these rules 

go unfinished carries a potential risk 

to the flying public. 

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CONGRATULATING CALIFORNIA 

STATE UNIVERSITY, FULLERTON, PRESIDENT MILDRED 

GARCIA 

(Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California asked and was given permission 

to address the House for 1 minute and 

to revise and extend her remarks.) 

Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today to 

congratulate recently appointed President Mildred Garcia of the California 

State University system’s Fullerton 

campus. 

President Garcia currently serves on 

the Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics, and she was appointed to that by President Obama. 

Previously serving as the 11th female 

president for California State University, Dominguez Hills, President Garcia became the first Latina president 

within the California State University 

system in 2007. 

She began her career as an educator. 

She’s still an educator, still teaching 

at Cal State, Fullerton, while having 

the presidency, also. She is a scholar. 

President Garcia focuses much of her 

research on fairness for higher education policy and practice, and she has 

authored many books on this subject. 

I wish her great success in her new 

position and, again, congratulations, 

Millie. 

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b 1220 

CONTINUING COSTS OF OPERATION 

ENDURING FREEDOM IN AFGHANISTAN 

(Mr. SCHRADER asked and was 

given permission to address the House 

for 1 minute.) 

Mr. SCHRADER. I rise today to support our planning for a safe and responsible withdrawal from Afghanistan in 

the very, very near term. No one has 

forgotten why we went into Afghanistan: to rout out and bring justice to 

those who attacked us on September 

11, 2001. With extraordinary bravery, 

our troops have accomplished the mission they were set out to do over 10 

years ago. Osama bin Laden has been 

brought to justice and al Qaeda has 

been largely crushed. Our troops have 

done their job. Many of them—over 

2,000 of them, in fact—have given their 

lives not only to defend our freedoms 

but those of Afghans as well. 

After 10 years of war and reconstruction, it’s time for Afghans to stand up 

for Afghanistan, and it’s time for us to 

do our job and bring our troops home. 

We can continue to defend ourselves 

from terrorists without tens of thousands of troops fighting a ground war 

in Afghanistan. The $88 billion we’re 

talking about putting into Afghanistan 

in this Defense appropriations bill this 

week could build our own infrastructure and create jobs and economic opportunity right here at home. It is ludicrous to be spending such large sums 

rebuilding other countries when our 

own economic problems are so large 

and persistent. Our greatest leaders 

say our greatest threat is not a military one, but an economic one. 

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SEQUESTRATION TRANSPARENCY 

ACT 

(Mr. WELCH asked and was given 

permission to address the House for 1 

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.) 

Mr. WELCH. Madam Speaker, this 

afternoon the House is going to take up 

the Sequestration Transparency Act. 

It’s harmless enough, but it doesn’t do 

anything. What is it? A year ago, Mr. 

BOEHNER and Mr. MCCONNELL took this 

country to the brink of debt default. 

They demanded that we cut spending 

by $1.2 trillion to offset the increase in 

the debt limit. Now, their plan was to 

have the supercommittee get the job 

done any way they wanted to balance 

the cuts and revenues. But if that 

failed, they had a backup. The backup 

was automatic cuts that would be half 

Pentagon and half discretionary. 

Now the day arrives. January 1, 2013, 

those cuts go into effect, but they 

don’t want the cuts to go into effect. 

So this legislation tells the Congressional Budget Office to look at the law 

we passed and tell us what did we do, 

why did we do it, what will happen if 

what we order to be done is allowed to 

be done. This is a ‘‘Comedy Central’’ 

joke. We have to have a balanced approach to a serious problem, but that 

means making decisions today about a 

balanced approach that includes revenues, includes the Pentagon, and includes domestic discretionary. 

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INTERNATIONAL AIDS 

CONFERENCE 

(Ms. PELOSI asked and was given 

permission to address the House for 1 

minute.) 

Ms. PELOSI. I want to join my colleague, Congresswoman BARBARA LEE, 

in acknowledging that this weekend we 

will begin the International AIDS Conference, which will come to America 

with a fitting theme: ‘‘Turning the 

Tide Together.’’ 

It has a long history. In 1990, expert 

scientists and political officials from 

across the globe gathered in San Francisco, in my district, for the International AIDS Conference to turn our 

promise of leadership into progress. 

Since that time, however, the conference has never returned to an American venue for two decades. The organizers point to our longtime shameful 

travel ban on those with HIV/AIDS. 

Next week, when the conference assembles right here in our Nation’s Capital, the world will see how far we’ve 

come. Together, we will commit to 

turning the tide, as the theme indicates, toward the next stage in our 

fight: fewer infections and a cure and 

an end to HIV/AIDS. 

Consider what this Congress has 

done: funding the Ryan White CARE 

Act, creating housing opportunities for 

people with HIV, and expanding access 

to Medicaid for people with HIV, but 

not full-blown AIDS. That’s an early 

intervention. Also, increased investments in research, care, treatment, and 

intervention by more than half a billion dollars. 

And in response to the global challenge and the leadership of Congresswoman BARBARA LEE, we have supported global solutions by increasing 

funds for bilateral AIDS efforts during 

the Clinton administration; making 

the first American contribution to the 

Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria in 2000; and working with Presidents Bush and Obama to 

establish PEPFAR. I know that it is a 

great source of pride to President 

George W. Bush for the leadership he 

provided, the support he gave, and the 

pride I think he takes in PEPFAR—and 

we salute him for that. 

President Obama has continued that 

work, more than doubling the support 

for global health initiatives and doubling our investment in the Global 

Fund. These commitments and more 

have helped families in the United 

States and the villages of Africa and 

communities worldwide. 

These actions have saved lives, but 

there’s much more to do. With the 

International AIDS Conference coming 

to Washington, DC, we have an opportunity to recommit ourselves to the 

cause of a world without HIV/AIDS. 

That is the challenge. That is the goal. 

We can turn the tide together. 

After 25 years in Congress, little surprises me anymore; but one thing that 

does is that after all this time we still 

do not have a cure. But we’re hopeful. 

And when the AIDS conference opens 

its doors next week, we must stand 

united in our pledge to discover a cure 

and raise an AIDS-free generation. 

Science is making progress. We have a 

moral obligation to support that. It 

has been done in a bipartisan way 

under President Bush’s leadership, 

under President Clinton, and under 

President Obama. Hopefully, we can 

continue to do that. 

We can and we must work together 

to make HIV/AIDS a very, very sad 

memory and certainly not part of our 

future. I thank you, Congresswoman 

LEE, for your tremendous leadership 

locally and globally and in every way, 

and certainly in this Congress of the 

United States. 


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