[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 158 (Thursday, October 12, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H10023-H10024]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           THE OTHER AMERICA

  (Mr. COLEMAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. COLEMAN. Mr. Speaker, I know that some of you may have seen the 
``60 Minutes'' report on CBS Sunday night about what was called the 
other America, a report about the shameful developments along our 
border known as colonias.
  I only wanted to take this time this morning to come before my 
colleagues on both sides of the aisle and to simply say on behalf of so 
many men, women, and children who have been helped by the action of 
this Congress, thank you. It is true that Democrats and Republicans 
have come together on an issue of extreme importance, and that is to 
provide water and sewer service, the basic necessities of life to so 
many in the United States who live along the United States-Mexico 
border, who are indeed American citizens, but who have been the subject 
of much greed by developers who sold them land without having dedicated 
the very basic necessities of life for their future habitation.
  Unfortunately, the ``60 Minutes'' report did cloud the issue somewhat 
by suggesting that our dollars were going to help the developers. 
Nothing could be further from the truth. What we have done on both 
sides of this aisle is to provide the services to the people who really 
need it, and for that I say thank you.
  Some of you may have seen the ``60 Minutes'' report on CBS Sunday 
night about the other America--a report about the shameful 

[[Page H 10024]]
developments along our border known as colonias.
  Throughout my tenure in the U.S. Congress, throughout my public 
service--I have sought to make the American people aware of the fact 
that, as the result of the indefensible greed of developers, these 
communities lack the basic necessities to sustain life--water and sewer 
services.
  The colonias are breeding grounds for deadly diseases most of the 
United States never sees--cholera, typhoid, tuberculosis, and others 
that occur mostly in the poorest nations of the world, not, one would 
think, on our very own border from Texas to California. These diseases 
and the improverished communities in which they fester are a threat to 
every American.
  It is for these reasons that I have fought and even pleaded with some 
of you not to forsake victims of the colonias--thousands of people who 
risked their financial resources for a small slice of the American 
Dream that has, all too often, turned out to be an unsantiary patch of 
desert that has robbed their babies of childhood and them of their 
hard-earned dollars.
  As a result of our efforts to give local communities and the victims 
of colonias the resources for the basic water and sewer services that 
any home requires, some $250 million has given thousands of colonias 
residents not just running water and toilet facilities, but hope.
  And it's been worth every penny of it and it's been worth every one 
of the countless hours I have spent trying to explain the need just to 
look in the eyes of a colonia child who is healthy today only because 
of Congress.
  And Texas, too, has responded by enacting legislation similar to that 
I proposed in the Texas Legislature more than 20 years ago to make it 
impossible to develop more colonias that fail to offer water and sewer 
services.
  Not one penny of America's tax dollars has gone to colonia 
developers. All of it has gone to help their victims and to help 
protect all Americans from diseases no American should be exposed to.
  Although ``60 Minutes'' made some of these points and raised the 
consciousness of viewers about this issue, it made some suggestions it 
knew to be false--including that I threatened the attorney general of 
Texas.
  Attorney General Morales knows that I never directly or indirectly 
threatened him in any fashion about this or any other issue, nor 
participated in any conference call with him about colonias or any 
other matter. The attorney general knows this and ``60 Minutes'' and 
other news media would, too, if they only bothered to investigate.
  ``60 Minutes'' could have helped colonia residents and the public 
health crisis caused by colonia. Instead, it muddied the water with 
false charges and innuendos that careful, accurate reporting--or 
attention to the facts provided it--could have avoided.
  Because my intentions with regard to colonias--helping the victims 
get water and sewer services and putting the developers out of 
business--has clearly been a matter of public record for 25 years, I 
ask you, my colleagues, and you, the American people, not to turn your 
backs on the children and struggling families living along our southern 
border in the abominations called colonias.

                          ____________________