E2308 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks November 20, 2008 

were lost in September. So far this year more 

than 750,000 American jobs have been lost. In 

September alone, more than 1.5 million Americans are working part-time jobs because they 

cannot find full-time work. The wages of American workers are stalled and with inflation at 5 

percent it means most working Americans 

have effectively taken a pay cut. These are 

hard times for working families. 

This report translates into real pain not just 

for Main Street, but for every family that sits 

around the kitchen table deciding how to make 

ends meet. We are seeing jobs at risk, credit 

frozen, business activity stalled, and the pensions and college funds of hard working Americans at risk. This is an economic crisis and 

the time for Congress to act is now. 

On September 29th, the House failed to 

pass the economic rescue package. I voted 

for that bill and I have no regrets. As a result 

of the failure of that bill to pass, the stock market went into an immediate free-fall resulting in 

a $1.2 trillion loss of value. That translated 

into seniors losing their retirement, workers 

losing their jobs, and confidence being lost in 

the American economic system which exacerbates the downward economic spiral. 

What Congress is once again attempting to 

do today is pass an emergency package that 

will provide $700 billion to the Treasury Department to buy mortgage-backed securities, 

sometimes referred to as ‘‘toxic paper,’’ that is 

strangling the credit market for companies, 

small business, and families. This credit crisis 

is real and we are seeing it manifest itself in 

the inability of consumers with good credit to 

get auto loans, banks refusing to lend to 

banks, and municipalities unable to access financing for needed projects like roads, hospitals and water treatment plants. The entire 

credit system is frozen and it will require action by Congress to salvage our economy 

after years excess, abuse, and corruption by 

Wall Street. 

The American people, seeing this rescue 

package with a $700 billion price tag, should 

be angry. I am angry. My office has received 

thousands of calls from constituents who are 

furious, but anger should not be an excuse for 

inaction. Many of these calls, even the majority, have warned me of the evils of what they 

call a ‘‘socialist intervention.’’ Many advocated 

that a better solution would be to keep government out of the crisis and let the market solve 

its own problem even if the outcome is a complete economic meltdown. In my estimation, 

such an argument is both irrational and irresponsible. 

The bill before the House today is a critical 

first step towards stabilizing the economy and 

preventing financial disaster for millions small 

businesses, families and seniors. I support this 

rescue package because Democrats, Republicans, and the Secretary of the Treasury, 

along with the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, came together and worked tirelessly, 

putting politics aside, and put the people’s 

needs first in addressing this serious crisis. 

This bill provides $700 billion to buy mortgage-backed securities. These are assets with 

value bundled with distressed assets that will 

be purchased by the government so they can 

be taken off the books of financial institutions, 

restoring confidence and trust in the institutions, and allowing for liquidity to return to the 

credit market. This is not an ideal solution, but 

it is not a giveaway either. This $700 billion is 

a Federal investment that will buy assets that 

possess value and many experts say taxpayers could break even or earn a profit in the 

end. In the meantime serious oversight, accountability, and government regulations have 

been added to protect the taxpayer. There is 

strong language to help homeowners in financial distress to prevent home foreclosure 

which again makes this bill very important and 

relevant to American families in trouble. Also, 

I am very pleased that prohibitions on golden 

parachutes for executives from companies 

benefiting from this legislation have been put 

in place. 

Finally, this legislation is not the end of 

Congress’s efforts to address the causes of 

this crisis, only the beginning. Next week I will 

participate in Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearings to explore the root 

causes of this economic disaster. Where there 

is identifiable malfeasance recommendations 

for criminal investigation and prosecution 

should be made to the Justice Department. 

Wall Street’s high flyers whose excesses and 

corruption violated the law must be held accountable. 

While this package is not perfect, it is 

Congress’s best effort to address this economic crisis. A new provision in this bill that I 

support is a temporary increase for insured 

deposits under the Federal Deposit Insurance 

Corporation from $100,000 to $250,000. This 

increase in deposit insurance is intended to 

allow for additional liquidity in lending and restore confidence for depositors that their 

money is safe. 

There are other aspects of this bill that were 

added by the U.S. Senate which I strongly object to because they are giveaways to special 

interests. Tax breaks for special interests like 

NASCAR, the rum industry, and the manufacturers of children’s arrows is an egregious 

abuse of the legislative process to pass out favors. These giveaways result in a $107 billion 

reduction in revenues to the Federal Government meaning more deficit spending. 

My preference would have been to strip 

these provisions from the bill. These pork barrel provisions, if absolutely necessary, should 

have been offset and paid for to eliminate deficit spending. The Senate’s irresponsible inclusion of these earmark tax giveaways is an example of how the other body is out of touch 

with the needs of ordinary Americans. 

This week, concluding with today’s vote, the 

Congress—Democrats and Republicans—will 

take action not seen since the Great Depression to intervene to restore confidence in the 

markets. If successful the result will be to 

avoid dramatic and damaging pain for America’s families of every income level and geographic location. Doing nothing to address this 

emergency situation would be a decision to 

condemn the U.S. economy and the American 

people to years of stagnation and hard times. 

Following the passage of this bill and its 

signing into law, there must commence a new 

era of government responsibility, oversight, accountability, and, when necessary, regulation 

of the financial markets. The Reagan era of 

deregulation for markets and labeling government as the problem is over. We have seen 

how this philosophy has mutated into the grotesque excesses of Wall Street’s elite and 

their massive concentration of wealth. It has 

infected our economy with a financial pathogen that is now destroying small businesses 

as well as the lives of families and the communities they live in. 

The next Congress—the 111th Congress— 

will have a duty to institute unprecedented and 

tireless oversight of not only this rescue effort, 

but all the excess in the market place, from 

Wall Street to the pharmaceutical industry, 

and beyond. The Bush administration’s abdication of its duty to regulate and its endless 

campaigns of misinformation on innumerable 

issues has eroded the trust American’s once 

had in their Federal leaders. From the falsehoods that led this Nation to war in Iraq to the 

current corruption scandal in the Justice Department, this White House has destroyed the 

American people’s confidence in government. 

This administration’s failure to regulate Wall 

Street and protect taxpayers is just another 

example of misplaced priorities and a costly 

lack of leadership. 

My vote for H.R. 1424 is a vote to protect 

the jobs, pensions, college accounts, and the 

savings of millions of hard working Americans. 

This important step must be followed with a 

new commitment to accountability and government oversight. I will be working to make sure 

this rescue package not only helps restore our 

economy, but returns every dollar we invest 

back to taxpayers. 

f 

AMERICA’S TABLE: A THANKSGIVING READER CELEBRATING 

OUR DIVERSE ROOTS AND 

SHARED VALUES 

HON. JOHN LEWIS OF GEORGIA

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Wednesday, November 19, 2008 

Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Madam Speaker, as 

we celebrate Thanksgiving, a uniquely American holiday, I rise today to remind this Congress that we are all one people, one family, 

one America. We all come from different backgrounds, but in millions of homes across the 

country, our celebrations look very much the 

same. We will gather around our dinner tables 

with family and friends giving thanks. This day 

is a reminder that we are all together in this 

American experiment, that we should celebrate our diversity, but also recognize our 

shared values. 

I commend to every family the publication 

called America’s Table: A Thanksgiving Reader. The pamphlet is short and simple, and it is 

meant to be read at the Thanksgiving meal or 

as people contemplate the meaning of 

Thanksgiving. This booklet tells the story of 

American people by sharing profiles of men 

and women of diverse backgrounds. I am honored to be one of the people profiled in this 

year’s publication. 

The American Jewish Committee began 

publishing America’s Table annually on the 

Thanksgiving after the 9/11 disaster. They 

partner with ten human relations organizations, including the NAACP, the National 

Urban League, and the National Council of La 

Raza to distribute this wonderful pamphlet. 

We all have our stories of how we came to 

this great land. We must use this opportunity 

to celebrate our differences and our oneness 

as Americans. I submit a copy of this year’s 

America’s Table for the RECORD, and I hope 

and pray that Americans will continue to use 

it as a way to help build the Beloved Community, a nation at peace with itself. 


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November 20, 2008 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks E2309 

AMERICA’S TABLE

A Thanksgiving Reader 

CELEBRATING OUR DIVERSE ROOTS AND SHARED

VALUES

You are holding the eighth annual edition 

of America’s Table. 

As in past years, the brief narrative on the 

white pages is intended to be read aloud at 

the Thanksgiving meal. It helps us express 

gratitude for living in a nation where each of 

us, regardless of background, is entitled to a 

place at the table. 

The facing pages contain profiles of eight 

accomplished Americans. These profiles can 

be read at the Thanksgiving meal or whenever you have time. Five of the profiled individuals arrived in America recently. Another 

is descended from slaves. All are deeply engaged in helping America fully achieve the 

promise of opportunity and mutual respect. 

By reading America’s Table on Thanksgiving, we add new meaning to our most beloved and universal holiday as a time to celebrate our diverse roots and shared values. 

In some homes, a leader designates the parts 

to be read. At other gatherings, people simply go around the table, switching readers at 

each sentence, paragraph, or page. Do whatever feels right for you and your family and 

friends. 

And enjoy a warm and peaceful holiday. 

November 2008 

Adams Costa Spencer Lind Tanaka Carney 

Schultz Pucinski Leibowitz McLaren 

Gonzales Szymankiewicz Giannini Humphreys Zimmer Poulos Tinley Kahn Trugglio 

Singh Sandbuig Jackson Kogovsek Smith Rivera Acosta Demetrios Nemec Schwartz 

Nwaguru Rosenbaum Kimura Peck Teters 

Foulks Koproski 

WE ARE EACH ON A JOURNEY

These are the names of the generations 

that came to America. 

They reveal individual lives that represent 

the story of our nation. 

These are the names of the generations 

that built America. 

They recall our parents and grandparents 

and mirror ourselves. 

These are the names of the generations 

that will care for America. 

They remind us why we gather at this 

Thanksgiving table. 

Calderon Lew Durley Branovan Sharma 

Hassan Montalto Paterson Jordan Cheng 

Gioia Noriega Ellison Josephs Kassab Phillips Pun Letona Linares Brooks Gilchrist 

Mineta Levine Patel Tsosie Yuo Meghani 

Verdeja Aoun Parens Al-Suwaij Morris Rangel Hong Lafley Nganji Ahuja Totenberg 

Lewis Shamim Padron 

Chung-Wha Hong ‘‘We were watching the 

presidential debates with Jimmy Carter, and 

I remember my mother saying, ‘He’s going to 

be the president and he does the dishes’’’ 

Growing up in South Korea, Chung-Wha 

Hong gained her impressions of the United 

States from black-and-white TV. 

AMERICA IS HEAVEN FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN

Hong was eleven when the family arrived 

in St. Louis, in 1977. Local people were welcoming, she recalls, but the schools offered 

no programs for students like Hong who 

spoke no English. ‘‘I went to school and slept 

all day.’’ 

Her immigrant experience and the influence of her parents, both religious leaders 

and social reformers, shaped her career 

choice. After graduation from the University 

of Pennsylvania, Hong returned briefly to 

Korea, where young activists inspired her. 

Back in the United States, she worked in 

Washington, D.C., for Korean and Asian organizations before moving to New York to 

engage at the grassroots level ‘‘on work that 

flows from my identity as a Korean-American immigrant.’’ 

As head of the New York Immigration Coalition, Hong now helps immigrants of all 

backgrounds cope with what she describes as 

a convergence of issues facing new arrivals, 

including: poverty, lack of English language 

skills, and limited access to government 

services. These challenges, says Hong, are 

compounded by anti-immigrant sentiment. 

‘‘Part of my job is to challenge people that 

this is not what this country is about, to tap 

into people’s better instincts of generosity 

and justice.’’ 

The insightful questions of our children, 

innocently asked, compel us to reconnect 

with our past. 

When our families came to America. 

How they got here. 

What they found. 

Why they came. 

At every table the answers are different, 

but much the same. 

Many of us were immigrants and refugees 

from all regions of the world, fleeing the afflictions of poverty and oppression. 

Drawn by the promise of a better life, we 

chose America and she took us into safe harbor. 

Not every journey was easy. 

The first arrivals sometimes shunned those 

who followed. 

Not every journey was voluntary. 

The first African slaves landed in Jamestown a year before the Pilgrims settled in 

Plymouth. 

Not every journey was righteous. 

Native Americans were devastated by a 

new nation’s need to conquer, cultivate, and 

build. 

A.G. Lafley knows something about diversity. 

On his father’s side, Lafley is descended 

from a French Canadian man who migrated 

to New England in the 1850s and married a 

Native American woman. A few decades 

later, his mother’s family arrived in Boston 

from County Cork, Ireland. 

‘‘My mother was adamant about understanding the world and people who are different from you,’’ says Lafley. ‘‘She was a 

card-carrying member of the League of 

Women Voters. I remember being dragged 

around in the ’52, ’56, and ’60 presidential 

elections in neighborhoods we didn’t live in.’’ 

Lafley enrolled as a Ph.D. student in history before a hitch in the Navy overseeing 

retail supply shifted his career goals. After 

Harvard Business School, he joined Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble in 1977, becoming CEO in 2000 and chairman in 2002. 

For Lafley, diversity is a competitive advantage at a company that employs 138,000 

people from 140 nationalities and ethnicities, 

and provides household and personal care 

products for more than three billion consumers. 

Lafley recalls a recent conversation with a 

young mother and her family in a modest 

home on a hillside above Sa ̃o Paulo, Brazil. 

‘‘We sit around the kitchen table,’’ he says. 

I LEARN THROUGH HER STORY

‘‘It may take a little longer to work across 

cultures and languages,’’ says Lafley, ‘‘but 

we’re going to come up with more ideas and 

create something that will make a difference.’’ Sometimes the difference is big. 

‘‘We developed a unique and proprietary 

product that can render any source of water 

anyplace in the world potable.’’ 

Jean Nganji ‘‘Are you Hutu or Tutsi?’’ 

The question was raised by a teacher when 

Jean Nganji was a seven-year-old schoolboy 

in Rwanda. 

‘‘Go home and ask your parents,’’ the 

teacher commanded. 

The next day, he recalls, ‘‘I said, ‘I am 

Tutsi’’’ Nganji’s parents then pushed him 

hard to excel academically. 

‘‘Why?’’ he asked. 

‘‘Just listen,’’ they said. ‘‘Don’t ask questions.’’ 

The answer soon emerged, as Nganji was 

forced to repeat grades, despite his competence, because he was Tutsi. When he realized that a Tutsi admissions quota made it 

difficult to attend college in Rwanda, he was 

accepted at a small school in Massachusetts 

with the help of his friend Andre, who had 

moved to America. 

The two young men became college roommates soon after Nganji arrived in the 

United States, in October 1989. But Andre 

was Hutu, and a year later, with the outbreak of war, the friendship ended. 

The genocide started on April 6, 1994. On 

April 15, Nganji learned that his parents and 

youngest brother were killed. The daughter 

of his eldest brother, who perished, was 

saved by her nanny, a Hutu woman who 

claimed the four-year-old was her little sister. 

Today, Nganji lives near Boston. He tells 

his story at schools in America and travels 

regularly to Rwanda on a project that helps 

Tutsi and Hutu youth tell their stories 

through film. ‘‘I have found therapy and 

peace talking to young people.’’ 

DO NOT FALL INTO THE TRAPS OF IGNORANCE, 

BIGOTRY, AND RACISM

WE ARE EACH PART OF AMERICA’S JOURNEY

We did not leave history behind, like unwanted baggage at immigration’s door. 

Our particular pasts and our shared 

present are wedded in hyphenated names: 

African-American, 

Irish-American, 

Italian-American, 

Korean-American, 

Polish-American. 

We are not always on a first-name basis 

with one another. 

But we quickly become acquainted in playgrounds and classrooms, in college dorms 

and military barracks, and in offices and factories. 

We feel at home. 

In some parts of the world, our differences 

would be threatening. 

We feel enriched. 

In America, our differences resonate in our 

names, language, food, and music. They inspire art and produce champions and leaders. 

We feel free to disagree. 

We are a family, and what is a family gathering without debate? 

Gurpreet Singh Ahuja was completing his 

residency in New Delhi, in 1984, when Indira 

Gandhi was assassinated. 

Reports that the prime minister was shot 

by Sikhs set off reprisals throughout India. 

‘‘As a physician in the hospital, I saw the 

charred bodies of those young men and 

women.’’ 

The violence contradicted his experience 

growing up. ‘‘As a Sikh, we’re reminded to 

respect all faiths. They’re all paths to the 

same central truth.’’ 

He and his wife, Jasjit Singh, also a doctor, 

moved to New York, in 1986, where they continued their medical training before moving 

to Washington, D.C., and then to Southern 

California. They visited family in India annually. 

‘‘Every time I stepped foot back on American soil it would give me a great sense of exhilaration and liberation.’’ 

That feeling was tested in the aftermath of 

9/11 and the rash of hate crimes that began 

with the murder of a Sikh living in Arizona. 

The events evoked memories of 1984. Says 

Ahuja, 

I NEVER LOST FAITH IN THE SYSTEM IN AMERICA

He helped establish the California Sikh 

Council to promote tolerance and educate 


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E2310 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks November 20, 2008 

people about the Sikh faith, and now serves 

as president of the council. Jasjit Singh is 

vice president of the Central Orange County 

Interfaith Council. 

‘‘As a relatively recent immigrant, I am 

very appreciative of the opportunities that 

this country has given me,’’ says Ahuja. 

‘‘Our value system must remain steadfast. 

That’s what distinguishes us from most any 

other country in the world.’’ 

Nina Totenberg ‘‘Ninotchka, we’re proud of 

you.’’ 

Nina Totenberg still cherishes her father’s 

words. She had just endured a period of intense scrutiny after her reporting led to testimony by law professor Anita Hill, during 

the confirmation hearing of Justice Clarence 

Thomas. 

Her father, Roman Totenberg, a world-renowned violinist, performed across Europe 

by age eleven. A Polish Jew, he left Europe 

in 1935. ‘‘He saw the rise of Hitler,’’ says his 

daughter, ‘‘but he came to America because 

it represented a kind of equality and 

meritocracy that did not exist in Europe.’’ 

Nina Totenberg’s mother, Melanie, shared 

her interest in American politics. ‘‘I remember my mother watching the Army-McCarthy hearings on TV all day every day, explaining to me what was going on,’’ says 

Totenberg. ‘‘I knew who all those senators 

were and I was eight years old.’’ 

At 16, reading The Making of the President, the classic book about the 1960 election, Totenberg confirmed her childhood desire to be a witness to history. ‘‘I wanted to 

be a reporter from the time I realized that I 

couldn’t be Nancy Drew.’’ 

For the past three decades, Totenberg has 

reported for National Public Radio and is 

best known for her coverage of the Supreme 

Court. ‘‘There are a lot of injustices in the 

world and in this country,’’ she says. ‘‘The 

ones that I can do something about—I will 

try to do something about.’’ She credits her 

father, who still teaches at age 97. 

YOU CAN’T GET MY DAD TO DO SOMETHING HE

THINKS IS NOT RIGHT

We believe in fairness. 

In America, the loudest voice does not always have the last word, and every voice has 

a right to be heard. 

We act with hope. 

Not because life is perfect, but because we 

are free to face life, and all its imperfections, 

on our own terms. 

We rely on faith. 

In a sturdy and tested framework of law 

and government that works because of the 

confidence we place in it and in each other. 

WE ARE EACH RESPONSIBLE FOR KEEPING

AMERICA ON COURSE

‘‘Are we there yet?’’ the children ask. 

We know the answer. 

We pursue justice. 

But still have a way to go. 

We celebrate freedom. 

But endlessly debate what it means to be 

free. 

Our table is brimming. 

But not everyone receives a fair portion. 

John Lewis Growing up in a large family 

on a small farm in rural Alabama, John 

Lewis cared for the chickens. 

When his parents wanted to sell or trade 

chickens, or have one for dinner, ‘‘I would 

protest,’’ Lewis recalls. ‘‘They were creatures of God, and we didn’t have a right to 

abuse them.’’ 

Lewis was fifteen in 1955, when Emmett 

Till, a black teenager, was brutally murdered in Mississippi, Rosa Parks refused to 

move to the back of the bus, and Martin Luther King, Jr., organized the Montgomery 

bus boycott. Listening to King on the radio, 

‘‘It was like he was saying, ‘John Lewis, you 

can do it, 

YOU, TOO, CAN MAKE A CONTRIBUTION

Lewis went to Nashville, to study nonviolence and become a minister. He participated in sit-in demonstrations, Freedom 

Rides, and the creation of a campus group 

called the Student Nonviolent Coordinating 

Committee. 

‘‘Even when I was being beaten, I saw these 

individuals almost like the chickens,’’ he 

says. ‘‘They were innocent creatures and 

something happened to them.’’ 

As chairman of SNCC, at 23, Lewis stood 

with King and other civil rights leaders on 

the steps of the Lincoln Memorial during the 

March on Washington in August 1963, preaching, ‘‘Wake up, America.’’ He has exerted 

leadership in Congress since 1986, representing the district around Atlanta. 

‘‘We’ve made progress,’’ says Lewis. ‘‘The 

world is so different from the world I grew up 

in.’’ 

Still pursuing his vision of a ‘‘beloved community,’’ Lewis asserts, ‘‘We need to turn toward each other to create a greater sense of 

community and belonging.’’ 

Tasneem Shamim. In the late 1990s, at 

about age 40, Tasneem Shamim began to feel 

spiritually empty. 

She missed a sense of compassion and universality, which she remembered from her 

childhood in India and could not find in the 

mosques in New Jersey, where Shamim, a 

doctor, lives with her husband and three 

children. 

‘‘One of my early memories is going with 

my grandmother to the small villages. My 

grandmother started organizations to help 

women out of poverty and oppression.’’ 

To help reconnect with her feelings, 

Shamim visited the holy sites in Mecca and 

Medina, and she decided to cover her hair. 

Her mother and sister were concerned about 

potential antagonism, and one friend asked, 

‘‘Do you have to go to chemotherapy?’’ 

For Shamim, the head scarf is an opportunity to prompt and answer questions about 

Islam. Most important, it makes her more 

conscious of her roles in life. 

‘‘You become a doctor mostly to please 

God. God says, ‘You cannot help Me, but help 

the creatures that I have created.’’’ 

Shamim also began studying Sufism, a 

spiritual strand of Islam. At the urging of a 

Sufi leader that she express her religion in 

good works, Shamim established the Muslim 

Women’s Coalition, a national organization 

devoted to community service and mutual 

respect. 

PEOPLE ACCEPT THAT AMERICA IS A QUILT

Progress can be slow as we propose and 

protest, argue and advocate. 

But we are grateful to be part of this vigorous democracy. 

We enjoy its unparalleled privileges and 

accept its obligations: 

To pursue our dreams while helping others. 

To advance our convictions while respecting others. 

To prepare our children for the gift of the 

American journey. 

f 

EARMARK DECLARATION 

HON. STEVE KING OF IOWA

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Wednesday, November 19, 2008 

Mr. KING of Iowa. Madam Speaker, I wish 

to make the following disclosure in accordance 

with the new Republican Earmark Transparency Standards requiring Members to 

place a statement in the CONGRESSIONAL

RECORD for a bill that includes earmarks they 

have requested, describing how the funds will 

be spent and justifying the use of Federal taxpayer funds. 

Requesting Member: Congressman STEVE

KING

Bill Number: H.R. 2638, The Consolidated 

Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing 

Appropriations Act, 2009. 

Account: Research, Development, Test and 

Evaluation, Army. 

Project Name: Battlefield Plastic Biodiesel. 

Legal Name of Requesting Entity: Renewable Energy Group and General Atomics. 

Address of Requesting Entity: West Central, 

406 First Street, Ralston, IA 51459. General 

Atomics, 3550 General Atomics Ct., San 

Diego, CA 92121. 

Description of Request: $1.6 million is provided in the bill to continue a 3-year partnership with the U.S. Army to develop a technology providing a cost effective way to recycle military plastic waste into a useable biodiesel fuel with enhanced energy yield, for use 

in field power generation and other applications. This technology has the potential to 

save taxpayers millions per month in military 

waste disposal costs, and enhance the viability of increased use of biodiesel by both the 

military and civilian sectors to achieve greater 

energy independence. The $1.6 million FY09 

appropriation is needed to complete the development phase of this multi-year project and 

demonstrate the technology. 

f 

RECOGNIZING THE FUTURE 

FARMERS OF AMERICA 

HON. JACK KINGSTON OF GEORGIA

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Thursday, November 20, 2008 

Mr. KINGSTON. Madam Speaker, I rise 

today to recognize five students in my district 

that have received national honors from Future Farmers of America. These young people—Ryan Highsmith, Jordan Culpepper, Nicholas Worley, Jacob Schindler, and Courtney 

Curlin—have surpassed many other students 

to earn top honors for their work in local Future Farmers of America. All of these students 

excelled though challenging assessments at 

State and National level against their peers 

before being awarded these top accolades. 

Ryan Highsmith of Lake Park, Georgia, won 

first place in the nation for Specialty Animal 

Production for his four year work with honey 

bee cultivation. 

Jordan Culpepper of Lake Park, Georgia, 

won second place in the nation for Diversified 

Agriculture Production. Jordon dutifully worked 

with both livestock and crop production in a 

wide range of operations for over 5 years. 

Nicholas Worley of Valdosta, Georgia, was 

named National Agriscience Student of the 

Year. Using clean wood chips and leftover biomass from Georgia forests, Nicholas found 

that a large amount of ethanol can be produced from these two sources. 

Jacob Schindler of Valdosta, Georgia, won 

second place in the Junior Individual Botany 

Division. Jacob’s project involved research on 

the effects of inert gases on kudzu. Jacob researched the uses of gases on kudzu, which 

enabled him to eradicate several large infestations of kudzu in the Valdosta area. 

Courtney Curlin of Valdosta, Georgia won 

third place in the senior individual Engineering 


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