H4916 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE July 18, 2012 

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 

The SPEAKER. Will the gentlewoman from California (Ms. WOOLSEY) 

come forward and lead the House in the 

Pledge of Allegiance. 

Ms. WOOLSEY led the Pledge of Allegiance as follows: 

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the 

United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, 

indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 

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WELCOMING REVEREND DR. STAN 

BALLARD 

The SPEAKER. Without objection, 

the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. 

CRAWFORD) is recognized for 1 minute. 

There was no objection. 

Mr. CRAWFORD. Mr. Speaker, it is 

an honor for me to introduce our guest 

pastor this morning, Dr. Stan Ballard. 

For the past 30 years, Brother Stan 

has pastored numerous congregations, 

and today he serves as a pastor of my 

family’s church, Nettleton Baptist in 

Jonesboro, Arkansas. 

Brother Stan is a native Mississippian and earned his undergraduate degree from Mississippi State University. 

After graduating from Mississippi 

State, he earned a bachelor’s degree 

from New Orleans Baptist Theological 

Seminary in New Orleans and a doctorate degree from Luther Rice Theological Seminary in Atlanta. During 

his career in ministry, Brother Stan 

has pastored churches in Louisiana, 

Mississippi, Ohio, and Arkansas. 

The pride and joy of Brother Stan’s 

life are his wife, Beth, and their children and grandchildren. During their 42 

years of marriage, Stan and Beth have 

been blessed with three sons and, more 

recently, four grandchildren. 

On a personal level, I can say that 

Brother Stan has been a constant 

source of support and guidance for the 

entire Nettleton Baptist congregation. 

Any time a member of our congregation is in need, we can rely on Brother 

Stan. 

It’s an honor to introduce Pastor 

Stan Ballard and welcome him to the 

U.S. House of Representatives. 

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ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER 

PRO TEMPORE 

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. 

FOXX). The Chair will entertain 15 requests for 1-minute speeches on each 

side of the aisle. 

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SEQUESTRATION 

(Mr. HECK asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.) 

Mr. HECK. Madam Speaker, I come 

to the floor today to call on the administration to inform the American people how they intend to implement the 

sequester cuts mandated by the Budget 

Control Act. With the failure of the 

supercommittee, we now face defense 

cuts that everyone agrees are far too 

steep. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has said that cutting military 

spending by an additional $500 billion 

‘‘would do real damage to our security, 

our troops and their families, and our 

military’s ability to protect the Nation.’’ 

Cuts of this nature would result in us 

having the smallest ground force since 

World War II, the smallest Navy since 

World War I, and the smallest tactical 

Air Force since the Air Force was created in 1948. 

Independent economists have testified before the House Armed Services 

Committee that these cuts will cause 

massive job losses, including as many 

as 4,000 in my State of Nevada, which 

already suffers from the highest unemployment rate in the Nation. 

The House has passed a plan to replace these devastating cuts, maintain 

national security, and prevent job 

losses. Today, I urge the administration to outline its plan for addressing 

this situation. 

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INTERNATIONAL AIDS 

CONFERENCE 

(Mr. CICILLINE asked and was given 

permission to address the House for 1 

minute.) 

Mr. CICILLINE. Madam Speaker, I 

rise today to recognize the International AIDS Conference that will 

bring 25,000 men and women to Washington, D.C., next week. 

As a country, we’ve made incredible 

strides in the three decades since the 

first cases of HIV/AIDS were identified 

in the United States. 

In the 1980s, after Ryan White, a 

teenager living in Indiana, acquired the 

disease through a blood transfusion, 

his family had to fight their local 

school board that feared he might infect his classmates simply by showing 

up for school. 

Today, men, women, and children 

with HIV are living longer, more fulfilling lives due to advances in treatment and a better understanding of the 

disease. And just this week, the FDA 

approved the first pill designed to help 

prevent healthy people from acquiring 

the virus. 

But even today, HIV/AIDS is still an 

epidemic that primarily afflicts our 

poorest and most vulnerable citizens 

across the world and even here in the 

United States. We must continue to 

work with advocates like those attending next week’s conference so that one 

day we can finally eradicate HIV/AIDS. 

In Rhode Island, EpiVax, under the 

leadership of Dr. Annie DeGroot, is 

working to develop a globally accessible vaccine, and I wish them great 

success in their important work. 

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THE DAMAGING EFFECTS OF 

DEFENSE CUTS 

(Mr. PALAZZO asked and was given 

permission to address the House for 1 

minute and to revise and extend his remarks.) 

Mr. PALAZZO. Madam Speaker, I 

come before you today not just as a 

Congressman from Mississippi’s Fourth 

Congressional District, but also as a 

Marine veteran of the Persian Gulf War 

and the only Member of this body that 

is currently serving as a noncommissioned officer in the National Guard, 

simply to say that one of the biggest 

threats to our national security that 

we face as a nation is the crippling defense cuts that would put our men and 

women in uniform at physical risk and 

more than 1 million Americans out of 

work. 

It will harm folks like the 857th that 

I had the privilege to send off this 

weekend as they are about to deploy to 

Afghanistan, or the more than 170,000 

warfighters from all across the United 

States who have come through the 

gates of Camp Shelby Joint Forces 

Training Center as part of the global 

war on terrorism. 

Today, once more, I join my colleagues in asking the President and the 

Senate Democrats to come to the 

table, consider the solutions we’ve already brought forth, or propose your 

own. The American people deserve answers on how these defense cuts will affect them, and American soldiers deserve leadership from their Commander 

in Chief. 

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AMERICAN COMPASSION FOR HIV/ 

AIDS 

(Ms. WOOLSEY asked and was given 

permission to address the House for 1 

minute and to revise and extend her remarks.) 

Ms. WOOLSEY. Next week, more 

than 20,000 delegates from around the 

world will convene in Washington for 

the International AIDS Conference. 

I find it ironic and a little bit sad 

that, as so many mobilize to fight this 

deadly epidemic, the majority in this 

body want to cut $150 million from 

USAID’s global health initiative, which 

funds AIDS prevention efforts. 

When will we learn? Fighting diseases in the developing world is more 

than a matter of humanitarian decency. It’s also critical to our national 

security. 

This week, as we debate how much 

money to appropriate to the Defense 

Department, I hope we will remember 

that defending America and our values 

isn’t just about how many weapons we 

build, but how many lives we save 

around the world. This is the core 

truth behind my SMART Security proposal, that fighting terrorism and 

keeping our country safe depends less 

on American military force and more 

on American compassion. 

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b 1210 

TAX HIKES 

(Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas asked 

and was given permission to address 

the House for 1 minute and to revise 

and extend his remarks.) 


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