January 8, 2009 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H83 

EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR H.R. 

11, THE LILLY LEDBETTER FAIR 

PAY ACT 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a 

previous order of the House, the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. KAPTUR) is recognized for 5 minutes. 

Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, today 

I am here to express my support of the 

Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. I would 

like to commend and indeed applaud 

my colleagues Congresswoman ROSA

DELAURO and Chairman GEORGE MILLER of the Education and Labor Committee for their tireless efforts in support of fair treatment in the workplace. Jobs are on everyone’s mind, and 

I rise in support today of H.R. 11, not 

only because it is the right thing to do, 

but also because, for me, it is personal. 

When our beloved mother, Anastasia, 

began work back in the middle of the 

last century as a counter waitress at a 

place called Liberty Lunch on Broadway in Toledo, Ohio, she did not even 

earn the minimum wage. And I will tell 

you what; she deserved it. That wage 

was only made possible by the Fair 

Labor Standards Act in 1938. But even 

when that act passed, her vile boss 

would then cash her check and deduct 

the increase from her and pocket the 

money for himself. Sadly, stories of 

pay discrimination and inequity still 

reside across our country. 

The Lilly Ledbetter bill is named 

after Lilly Ledbetter, who worked for 

almost 20 years at a Goodyear Tire and 

Rubber Company plant in Gadsden, 

Alabama. After finding out that she 

was the lowest paid supervisor at the 

plant where she worked, despite the 

fact that she had more experience than 

her male counterparts, Lilly sued 

Goodyear for unlawfully discriminating against her based on gender. 

A jury found in her favor, but, of 

course, Goodyear, which has deep pockets and in fact is a defense contractor 

of our country, went to court. In fact, 

they had the money to go all the way 

to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court ruled in favor not of Lilly, 

but of Goodyear. 

The Court cited the reason being that 

the time limit for her claim had passed 

as the initial discrimination happened 

nearly 20 years earlier. However, Lilly 

Ledbetter filed her charge as soon as 

she learned of the pay discrimination. 

It was not her fault that it took almost 

20 years to learn of her situation. 

The United States Supreme Court’s 

decision changes the law, limiting any 

action to 180 days after the first incident of discriminatory activity. In 

such cases as Lilly Ledbetter’s, it took 

nearly 20 years to have the discrimination come to light. This decision limits 

the ability of any employee to challenge discriminatory pay. 

H.R. 11 will restore the law and justice by clarifying that each paycheck 

resulting from a discriminatory pay decision would constitute a new violation 

of the employment nondiscrimination 

law and reset the 180-day clock. 

Employees do not go around asking 

each other how much money they earn 

on each paycheck. In fact, many employers even explicitly prohibit such 

conversations. It is not like working 

for Congress, where our pay is public 

record. In addition, who would want to 

go around when they are at a new job 

and ask new coworkers their income 

and level of work experience as well as 

other data to evaluate if one’s own pay 

is fair, knowing you have 180 days from 

your first paycheck to file with the 

U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity 

Commission? Who would want to start 

a job like that? 

b 1515 

Most new employees are more focused on doing their job and working 

hard and performing well so that he or 

she can keep their new position and 

continue to earn paychecks. In today’s 

climate, an income is more critical 

than worrying about pay discrimination, but that too should not allow this 

practice to continue. 

We cannot allow employers to hide 

behind a mere 180 days and potentially 

successfully carry out pay discrimination day after day. 

Madam Speaker, that is why I’m an 

original cosponsor of the Lilly 

Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. It’s in memory 

of our own mother. This bill is not only 

about pay discrimination on the basis 

of gender, but also race, religion, national origin, disability or age. This 

bill is about doing the right thing to 

protect the hardworking people of this 

Nation. 

I urge my colleagues to support this 

important bill as we begin the 111th 

Congress, and I want to thank Lilly 

Ledbetter for her life and for the life of 

working-class women and men across 

this country. 

Madam Speaker, thank you very 

much for the opportunity today to support the Lilly Ledbetter Act of 2009, 

H.R. 11. 

f 

FEDERAL BUDGET DEFICIT 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a 

previous order of the House, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. WOLF) is 

recognized for 5 minutes. 

Mr. WOLF. Madam Speaker, we saw 

yesterday the CBO projection that the 

Federal budget deficit for this fiscal 

year, which started in October, will 

balloon to $1.2 trillion. A member of 

the Senate Budget Committee, KENT

CONRAD, called it ‘‘jaw-dropping.’’ And 

our budget chairman, JOHN SPRATT, 

said he got ‘‘sticker shock.’’ 

President-elect Obama has predicted 

that ‘‘potentially we’ve got trillion 

dollar deficits for years to come.’’ 

President-elect Obama then said, ‘‘if 

we do nothing, then we will continue to 

see red ink as far as the eye can see.’’ 

Most Members know that our country is facing a critical crisis, and if we 

fail to find solutions that will halt a 

mortgaging of our children and grandchildren’s future, I seriously consider 

and believe the 111th Congress will 

really go down as a failed Congress. 

We have an opportunity at hand to 

deal with this issue, and we need to do 

it in a bipartisan way. There’s a bipartisan plan on the table that Congressman COOPER of Tennessee and I have, 

called the Cooper-Wolf SAFE Commission, that sets up a bipartisan panel to 

put every spending program and tax 

policy on the table and require this institution that has avoided its responsibility to vote it on up or down. 

Today’s Washington Post, in this editorial which I will submit for the 

RECORD, talked about our effort and 

the tough decisions that Congress 

faces. The editorial said, ‘‘Ideally, Congress could make the necessary hard 

choices through the normal legislative 

process. Its repeated failure to do so, 

however, may necessitate a commission to recommend reforms for the 

House and Senate to accept or reject.’’ 

Amen. The Post is right. Unless we 

do the Cooper-Wolf concept of a commission, this Congress will not deal 

with the issue. And if we don’t do it 

now, both parties, the Democratic 

Party and the Republican Party, will 

have failed the American people, and 

both parties will have to explain to the 

American people their failure to act in 

the best interest of future generations. 

Others have spoken out. Ben 

Bernanke, Fed Chairman said, ‘‘The 

quality of the future that we will 

endow to our children and our grandchildren will depend in important 

measure on how we rise to the occasion.’’ 

David Broder, a respected columnist 

for The Washington Post said, ‘‘The 

need for such a bipartisan approach (to 

examine the future of entitlement programs) is evident.’’ 

Robert Samuelson, Washington Post 

columnist, Newsweek said, ‘‘What 

would distinguish this commission 

from its many predecessors is that 

Congress would have to vote on its recommendations.’’ 

David Brooks, from the New York 

Times, said ‘‘The Commission would 

come up with a plan to restore fiscal 

balance, and the plan would immediately go to Congress for an up-ordown vote.’’ 

John Snow, the 73rd Treasury Secretary, said, ‘‘I agree that because of 

the huge debt overhang we face a looming financial crisis and I know of no 

better approach than the SAFE Commission idea.’’ 

Editorials from the Richmond Times 

Dispatch said, ‘‘The Cooper-Wolf bill 

would give the commission some teeth 

by requiring Congress to take an up-ordown vote on the recommendations of 

the 16-member bipartisan panel.’’ 

The Washington Times said, ‘‘Two 

rays of bipartisan sunlight appear to be 

trying to shine through the clouds 

casting dark shadows on the Nation’s 

long-term fiscal horizon. The two rays 

of bipartisanship sunshine take the 

form of legislative proposals working 

their way through the House and the 

Senate.’’ 

And there were many others. Policy 

groups across the political spectrum, 


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H84 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE January 8, 2009 

including the Heritage Foundation, the 

Brookings Institution, the Concord Coalition and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget also have embraced the SAFE Commission. 

Make no mistake. This could well be 

the hardest economic issue our Nation 

will ever be faced with, but we cannot 

afford to wait. 

I will end with a statement by 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was a Lutheran pastor who stood up to the 

Nazis and was executed, hung in 

Flossenberg Prison when the artillery 

was coming, the western ally artillery 

was coming to liberate Germany. He 

was hung by the Nazis. Here’s what 

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, and I think 

he was exactly right when he said, 

‘‘The ultimate test of a moral society 

is the kind of world that it leaves to its 

children.’’ 

Will this Congress, will this 111th 

Congress meet the Dietrich Bonhoeffer 

test? I don’t know. But I’m going to do 

everything I can, offer amendments on 

the floor, amendments in committee, 

to see that this Congress is forced to 

deal with this issue so that we can honestly say to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, we 

have tried and done whereby we, however, are a moral society, and we have 

left a good environment and society for 

our children. 

[From the The Washington Post, Jan. 8, 2009] 

YEARS TO COME

‘‘FISCAL SPACE’’ is an economist’s term 

for a country’s capacity to borrow and spend 

its way out of recession without risking exorbitant interest rates and inflation later on. 

Generally speaking, the more public debt a 

country already has as a share of its economy, the less new debt it can take on. 

As President-elect Barack Obama and Congress contemplate a fiscal stimulus package 

that could total hundreds of billions of dollars, they still have some fiscal space to 

work with. At $6.3 trillion, the publicly held 

national debt is about 45 percent of the $14 

trillion economy—not much above the postWorld War II average debt-to-GDP ratio of 43 

percent. But the space is shrinking rapidly. 

According to new figures from the Congressional Budget Office, federal debt is rising at 

the fastest rate since World War II. It is estimated at $1.2 trillion in fiscal 2009, or 8 percent of gross domestic product. This stunning number reflects both the direct effect of 

the recession on tax revenue and spending 

and the high cost of measures taken to combat the downturn, such as the financial sector bailout. And it is likely to be matched or 

exceeded when the Obama stimulus plan 

kicks in. 

Mr. Obama was just leveling with the 

American people when he noted yesterday 

that the country faces ‘‘ trillion-dollar deficits for years to come’’ unless policymakers 

‘‘make a change in the way that Washington 

does business.’’ The question, of course, is 

how to change. Though Mr. Obama’s appointment of an efficiency-minded chief performance officer sent a useful signal, the real answers are legislative. The stimulus package 

must not bloat the government’s permanent 

financial commitments. According to a recently published International Monetary 

Fund paper, appropriate measures include increased transfers or temporary tax cuts to 

consumers at the bottom and middle of the 

income scale; aid to state and local governments; and repairs and improvements (especially energy-saving ones) to existing infrastructure. The IMF recommends against 

increasing the federal payroll, cutting 

corporate tax rates or letting companies deduct their recent losses against past years’ 

profits. The stimulus plan should include a 

plan for offsetting spending cuts and revenue 

increases once the economy recovers. 

Over the long run, investors will finance 

the U.S. government at reasonable rates 

only if it tackles its huge unfunded healthcare and pension commitments. Unchecked, 

the cost of providing Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to 77 million retiring baby 

boomers could push the debt-to-GDP ratio up 

to nearly 300 percent by 2005, according to a 

December 2007 CBO report. 

Ideally, Congress would make the necessary hard choices through the normal legislative process. Its repeated failure to do so, 

however, may necessitate a commission to 

recommend reforms for the House and Senate to accept or reject. Reps. Jim Cooper (D– 

Tenn.) and Frank R. Wolf (R–Va.) and Sens. 

Kent Conrad (D–N.D.) and Judd Gregg (R– 

N.H.) have offered proposals for such a panel. 

Hard as it is, jumpstarting the U.S. economy 

will be easy compared with securing its financial future. But Mr. Obama and the Congress must do both. 

f 

HONORING THE SACRIFICE OF 

STAFF SERGEANT SOLOMON T. 

SAM 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a 

previous order of the House, the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. BOOZMAN) 

is recognized for 5 minutes. 

Mr. BOOZMAN. Madam Speaker, I 

rise today to honor a young man beloved by his family, friends and his 

country, Staff Sergeant Solomon T. 

Sam of the United States Army, who 

was taken from us on December 4, 2008, 

in Mosul, Iraq. 

Staff Sergeant Sam devoted nearly a 

decade to this country. He enlisted in 

the U.S. Armed Services in October 

2000, and redeployed to Iraq in November of 2008, serving with the 523rd Engineer Company, 84th Engineer Battalion, 25th Infantry Division out of 

Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. 

The commitment for this country is 

something we can all be proud of. Solomon will be remembered as a soldier, 

a son, a husband and a father. His three 

young children will grow up knowing 

their dad was a hero. 

Madam Speaker, Staff Sergeant Sam 

is a true American hero who made the 

ultimate sacrifice for his country. I ask 

my colleagues to keep his family and 

friends in their thoughts and prayers 

during this very difficult time. 

f 

THE FORGOTTEN WAR 

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under 

the Speaker’s announced policy of January 18, 2007, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. KIRK) is recognized for 60 

minutes. 

Mr. KIRK. Madam Speaker, with a 

President to inaugurate and a troubled 

economy we can overlook the sacrifice 

of our troops in Afghanistan. This conflict, overshadowed by Iraq, is often 

called the Forgotten War. 

Last month I became the first Member of the House to serve in an Imminent Danger Area since 1942. Now, 

Members of this House have served in 

all of America’s wars, from the Revolution through World War II. But the Defense Department’s policy of 1943 

blocked reservist Congressmen from 

serving in Korea, Vietnam, Desert 

Storm, Kosovo or Iraq. Senator and 

Colonel LINDSAY GRAHAM broke 

through this barrier 2 years ago, and I 

became the first Member of this House 

to also serve since World War II. 

While our country has moved from a 

draftee military to an all-volunteer 

force, I think it’s still important for as 

many Americans as possible to share 

the burden of our troops. Our military 

is the strongest when it pulls into its 

ranks Americans from all races, creeds 

and colors and especially all walks of 

life. It is important for Members of this 

House, where the Constitution places 

the power to declare war, to also serve 

alongside our troops. 

I voted for the deployment of troops 

to Iraq and Afghanistan, and was honored then to be one of the first to join 

them in Afghanistan. 

As a Naval Reserve Intelligence Officer, I deployed to Southern Afghanistan in support of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force, or 

ISAF at the headquarters of Regional 

Command South. I served in the command of a Dutch Major General, Mart 

de Kruif, and on the staff of his American Deputy for Stabilization, Brigadier General John Nicholson of the 

U.S. Army. 

I can report to the House that the 

morale of our troops in Afghanistan is 

high. Americans that I joined feel that 

this is the right mission in the right 

place. Just because this effort is 10 

times harder than we first thought, it 

remains the place where we can best 

support the safety of the American 

people. 

Our headquarters was located at 

Kandahar Airfield, known as KAF. We 

located just a few miles from Tarnak 

Farms, where Osama bin Laden had 

trained many al Qaeda operatives. A 

few miles further down the road was 

the palace of Mullah Omar, the murderous former dictator of the Taliban. 

We face some real challenges in Afghanistan. Our mission has now 

stretched for 7 years, and can wear thin 

with the Afghan people. As we look at 

Senator Barack Obama becoming our 

Commander-in-Chief, it’s important 

that we review what we have accomplished in Afghanistan, its differences 

from the Iraq mission and what remains to be done. 

First, it’s important to note that Afghanistan is not Iraq, and almost every 

comparison between the two leads to 

people making errors with regard to 

our policy in Afghanistan. While both 

countries are predominantly Muslim, 

with over 25 million people, there is 

where the similarities end. 

Iraq is a country that has always had 

a strong central government. Afghanistan has always had a certain amount 

of lawlessness, even during the Soviet 

dictatorship. 


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