[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 52 (Tuesday, April 1, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H2578-H2584]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     COMMEMORATING THE BIRTH OF CESAR CHAVEZ, AMERICAN LABOR LEADER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Burgess). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 7, 2003, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Rodriguez) is 
recognized for 60 minutes.
  Mr. RODRIGUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I want to take time tonight as chairman 
of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus to pay tribute to an inspiring and 
beloved man, Cesar Estrada Chavez. Cesar Chavez, 76 years ago this 
Monday, marked the beginning of his life dedicated to improving the 
quality of life for all Americans. We honor and pay respect to a man 
who brought awareness of the labor injustices to the national light and 
helped pave the path to educating people about the importance of the 
plight of the working individuals in the fields of this country. He 
cleared the way for progress and opportunity. Tonight, we have here 
members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus; and I want to make 
tribute to one of our members, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. 
Grijalva), and ask him to say a few words in behalf of Cesar Chavez.
  Mr. GRIJALVA. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Texas 
for the opportunity to come and speak today. It is my honor to rise 
today in this House to acknowledge the birth date of Cesar Chavez. 
Yesterday would have been his 76th birthday. Cesar Chavez, cofounder, 
along with Dolores Huerta, of the United Farm Workers' Union, led a 
historic struggle to give voice to the voiceless and empower the poor 
and powerless, inspiring a people beyond the limits and barriers that 
had been artificially placed before them.
  Cesar Chavez was born and died in the district that I represent, in 
Yuma and San Luis, Arizona. It is vital that all Americans acknowledge 
the profound contributions that Cesar Chavez has made to our country. 
These contributions were not in the form of money, false praise, or the 
trappings of power. He reinforced the values of this Nation, values 
such as commitment and of purpose and strength of cause.
  Allow me, Mr. Speaker, to quote directly from Cesar Chavez: ``In this 
world, it is possible to achieve great material wealth, to live an 
opulent life. But a life built upon those things alone leaves a shallow 
legacy. In the end, we will be judged by other standards.''
  Another value that Cesar imparted and reinforced for our country is 
the value of struggle and perseverance. Again let me quote Cesar 
Chavez: ``When we are really honest to ourselves, we must admit that 
our lives are all that really belong to us, so it is how we use our 
lives that determines what kind of men we are. It is my deepest belief 
that only by giving life do we find life, that the truest act of 
courage, the strongest act of manliness is to sacrifice ourselves for 
others in a totally nonviolent struggle for justice. To be a man or 
woman is to suffer for

[[Page H2579]]

others. God help us be men and women.''
  But the legacy of Cesar Chavez is a legacy of change that he brought 
to this country, and we are all obligated in our own way to continue 
and finish a change that sought equality for all people and the 
opportunity to live without the yokes of poverty, racism and the 
domination of others. It is time that this great Nation formally 
declares support for Cesar Chavez through a holiday, a holiday that 
celebrates nonviolence, the rights of all workers and the strong spirit 
of all people to overcome. I am proud that in my community where I 
formerly served as a county supervisor we have a paid holiday for the 
employees, we have a livable wage for employees as an acknowledgment to 
the struggles and as an acknowledgment to the goals of Cesar Chavez. In 
this country, we face tough times, war, peace, our Nation's obligation 
to the poor and underrepresented in this country. These are issues that 
this Congress struggles with on a daily basis.
  But let me speak for a second on one issue that intertwines what we 
are facing today in Iraq and what we are facing today on the question 
of immigration in this country. Even in this Chamber, we hear the 
shrill anti-immigrant babblings that Cesar Chavez fought so hard 
against his entire life. I want to pause and read a letter to the 
editor that appeared in our local newspaper, the Arizona Daily Star, 
today. The letter starts ``Truly Ironic.''
  It is in reference to a March 26 article entitled ``Immigrant Marine 
Pledged His Life as a Matter of Honor.'' The gentleman who wrote this 
letter goes on to say: ``I found this story truly interesting. Lance 
Corporal Jose Gutierrez from Guatemala was an illegal immigrant, or 
criminal as the haters and vigilantes would call him, who instead of 
dying in the Arizona desert was able to find a foster family, go to 
school in America, then die in the Iraqi desert protecting these 
haters' and vigilantes' right to keep on hating the so-called 
illegals.'' Mr. Dennis Jones from Kearny, Arizona, wrote that letter. I 
think it fits well to the times, and it fits well to the dilemmas that 
this Congress must face and resolve.
  By recognizing Cesar Chavez, we recognize ourselves. We extend to 
ourselves all the traditions and the realities of the faces in this 
country. Chavez once said, ``It is possible to become discouraged about 
the injustice we see everywhere, but God did not promise us that this 
world would be humane and just. He gives us the gift of life and allows 
us to choose the way we will use our limited time on earth. It is an 
awesome opportunity.''
  In this time when we anguish about the future and confront the 
present struggles, it is indeed a fitting time to pause and recommit 
ourselves to the legacy and the challenge that Cesar Chavez has given 
us, a legacy of hope, compassion and fairness, and a challenge before 
this Congress to act to help the people of this country, to act to 
stabilize our world, to act to assure that opportunity and fairness 
still is and will continue to be one of the cornerstone traditions of 
this country.

                              {time}  1945

  It has indeed been a pleasure for me to make these comments about 
someone who influenced my life, and I will be very frank. His 
motivation, his spirit, his tenacity to lead people that were never 
represented is a legacy and a tradition that should be part of the 
history of this country. It is indeed my pleasure.
  Mr. RODRIGUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. 
Grijalva).
  Let me take this opportunity to thank the gentleman for his words and 
I want to thank him for his leadership. I know that, as a freshman, he 
has already made some great impacts here at the Congress, and it is 
great to see two Hispanics from the great State of Arizona representing 
that State.
  As we talk about Cesar Chavez, he was a person who grew up in the 
fruit and vegetable fields and knew what it meant to work them from 
dawn to dusk. He knew the injustices that faced labor workers on a 
daily basis and he knew that something had to be done; and from those 
fields Cesar rose to head of the United Farm Workers of America, 
instilling the UFW, the principles of nonviolence practiced by Gandhi 
and Dr. Martin Luther King.
  When the UFW began strikes in the 1960s to protest the treatment of 
farm workers, the strikers took a pledge of nonviolence, determined not 
to detract from the message of improving labor conditions; and I want 
to tell the Members this was a critical time in my life and in my 
wife's life, Carolina, because this was a time that we had an 
individual in our community who talked about nonviolence, one of the 
first. I had been involved in the civil rights movement during that 
time, and I was involved in Mexican-American youth organizations during 
that time, working to get single-member districts and getting Hispanics 
registered to vote.
  My wife also, while in college, worked with Cesar Chavez in those 
efforts. So both of our lives met both as she struggled to help Cesar 
Chavez, and I worked with voter education and voter registration. And 
for those of us who have lived through this time period, we heard of 
the great odds Chavez faced as he led the successful 5-year strike, 
boycott. Through this boycott, Chavez was able to forge a national 
support coalition of unions, church groups, students, minorities, 
consumers. And everyone came together; everyone understood the struggle 
of the worker. By the end of the boycott, everyone knew the chant that 
unified all workers, Si se puede, yes, it can be done. It was a chant 
of encouragement, of pride and dignity.
  Chavez continued to speak out in other areas and helped communities 
to mobilize by assisting them with voter registration efforts and voter 
registration drives and insisting that the minority communities had 
just as much a right to have equitable access to educational 
opportunities as anyone else.
  Cesar Chavez's legacy continues to live on today. His influences can 
be seen in the legislation that comes to our floor, legislation that 
aims to provide for our children's education, legislation that aims to 
help improve our children's health care in our communities, legislation 
that helps and comes forward in the area of civil rights and liberties 
and respect for human beings.
  We must also continue the fight to ensure that in today's world, the 
rights of workers are still protected, whether it is the workers in the 
fields, in the kitchens, or in our factories. The blue collar workers 
are invaluable to America and to the American economy. It is important 
that these Americans be treated with the respect and dignity that they 
deserve, and that all rights afforded to those working in air-
conditioned offices be provided to those that work in the sun-heated 
fields and the like.
  America has seen few leaders like Cesar Chavez. He is among a rare 
group who have left a lasting imprint in American history. We can only 
hope to fulfill this vision as we walk through the halls of Congress, 
to create a better tomorrow for the Hispanic community and all 
Americans.
  I want to take this particular time and opportunity to also indicate 
that as Cesar Chavez struggled and worked, we could see the strength in 
the man's face as we saw his eyes. He was a man of nonviolence, a 
person who, as we met this humble individual, gave us strength; and I 
recall distinctly having the opportunity at various times to meet with 
him and, various times, to be able to share with him and take some 
pictures with him as well as helping those boycotts that he had as the 
struggle continued.
  He was a unique individual that had a very strong sense of 
perseverance that was there and that just his presence, as humble as he 
was, gave us that strength. So that is why, when we look throughout 
America, if we look at any Hispanic community whether we are in Arizona 
or California or Texas, anywhere throughout the Southwest and beyond, 
we see the street names of Cesar Chavez. We see the building names. 
Especially, I know in my district in south Texas we have a school named 
after Cesar Chavez. We see the highways that are named after Cesar 
Chavez, one of the Hispanics who we can say, here is an individual that 
has really represented us well, an individual that has not only 
represented the Hispanic community, but the American community, with 
the strength of nonviolence and the strength to move forward.
  As we celebrate his birthday on March 31 throughout this country, and 
I know like in San Antonio we have

[[Page H2580]]

had marches and we had banquets that allow for the opportunity to 
continue the struggle, continue the education, that we still have 
people that are out there. We still have individuals that are working 
the fields. We still have individuals that need our respect and need 
the services and need to be treated in a dignified way; and it is 
important for us not to lose track of the fact that these individuals 
are the ones that either pick the strawberries or pick the fruits and 
the foods that we eat, and that we need to treat them in a dignified 
way. And he brought that to us and he brought that education.
  And I know that people like President Kennedy had a great deal of 
respect and would come to him, and he was able to have those contacts 
during the time when few Hispanics were able to reach those levels.

  Cesar Chavez will never be forgotten, mainly because of what he did 
and what he represents. So I wanted to take this opportunity tonight to 
talk about this man and talk a little bit about the things that he 
talked about, because as we talk about those things now, Cesar Chavez 
began this road of change, but it is up to those of us who come here 
after him to continue that struggle, to continue that work, and to 
continue that vision for a better tomorrow, that commitment to the 
community, that commitment to making sure that we make things better. 
And it is important as individuals and it is important as a community 
that we continue those efforts.
  I want to ask every American, because I know Cesar Chavez would 
operate from the same perspective, that each one of us has a 
responsibility and an obligation. Just like he started without a formal 
education, he educated himself, and I know that he would want all 
Americans, both Hispanic and non-Hispanic, to continue that struggle of 
continuing to further their education, whether it be formal or 
informal, that effort of trying to better themselves and making sure 
that whether they are out there as janitors that they continue to move 
forward to become whatever they can in terms of either, if nothing 
else, head janitor of that school and then move forward in advancing 
themselves.
  I know that Cesar Chavez valued education, and he stressed the 
importance of education, and he worked to try to get the migrant 
workers to get access to education. And as we talk about education, I 
know that right now we have those struggles that are going on in 
education. We know that our present budget, when it comes to Leave No 
Child Behind, is actually $9 billion behind; and I know that he would 
be talking about the importance of investing in our kids, the 
importance of investing in our country, and that education is key to 
fulfilling that American dream. And to him I know that that American 
dream would be just to fulfill their lives in a way that would allow 
them to move forward, whether it would be getting a better education, 
getting better protection, moving forward in obtaining a home, whatever 
it was.
  He lived in humble ways even up to his death, but I know that as he 
talked about the importance of education, that we must continue. I 
know, as Latinos and Hispanics throughout this country, that he would 
argue about the fact that we still have a long way to go.
  We still have too many youngsters that are dropping out of school. I 
know among the Mexican American community in the State of Texas, some 
districts have up to 50 percent of our kids that drop out. That is too 
many. Each one of us has a responsibility, starting with those parents, 
of making sure that their kids stay in school, starting also with the 
school system, making sure that they also do everything they can to 
keep those kids in school, starting with those communities that have an 
obligation and responsibility to also work with the school system and 
the teachers to help the teachers out in assuring that those kids 
remain in school.
  Because our Nation is a powerful nation. It is a superpower, and the 
only reason it is a superpower is because we also have a super economy, 
and that is directly tied into our education. So it becomes really 
important. And I know that Cesar Chavez would say that education is 
key, whether it be a formal education or an education where one begins 
to educate oneself informally about what needs to happen and what needs 
to occur. That is important.
  I know that Cesar Chavez would also feel very strongly when it comes 
to the issue of health care, and I know that in the area of health 
care, Cesar worked very hard to try to get access to health care for 
our young people; and I know as we look at that issue of health care 
and we look at the issue of the CHIP program that we have right now, 
the CHIP program is a program that responds to those kids that are out 
there, to those constituents and those Americans that are out there 
that are working, making $20,000, $30,000, maybe more, but find 
themselves without insurance. A lot of them are working for small 
companies. A lot of them are working individually and find themselves 
unable to get the coverage that they need. So that CHIP program that 
provides that health care is one that is extremely important, one that 
is critical. So at this point in time we need to be supportive of those 
kinds of programs.
  In addition, I know that the administration is looking at taking the 
CHIP program, the Medicaid program, which is a program that helps our 
indigents, those that are the most vulnerable of this country, those 
that do not have access to resources, those that cannot afford to pay 
for their access to health care.
  That Medicaid program is key. Both the Medicaid and the CHIP program 
are vital programs in this country, and I know the administration is 
looking at taking both the Medicaid and the CHIP, in addition to that, 
taking the disproportional share of moneys that go to our hospitals. 
Those are moneys that go directly to our hospitals, especially those 
hospitals that provide the indigent care, where they do not get 
compensated for the type of care that they provide. So these three 
programs, the proposal is to lump them up and send them to the State.
  I know that it goes also with a cap, but it is important for us, and 
those programs have worked well independently, and we ask that we work 
hard to keep them independent. In fact, we need additional resources 
for Medicaid. We need initial resources for the CHIP program, and our 
hospitals are having difficulty, our trauma centers, in the type of 
care that they provide throughout this country.
  This is the time for us, instead of looking at a tax cut, to move 
forward and provide access to care, and those three programs are the 
most vulnerable of this country.

                              {time}  2000

  Mr. Speaker, I know Chavez was always supportive of access to health 
care. In this country that has the best health care in the world, it 
makes no sense that that access to that health care is not affordable 
and not accessible to a lot of Americans. So as we celebrate and pay 
tribute to Cesar Chavez, it is important that we continue that 
struggle. And I ask all Americans out there and say that we need to 
zero in and continue those efforts as it deals with education and as it 
deals with health care.
  In the area of education, one of the best programs that we have ever 
had that has reached out to the young people has been the program on 
Head Start. Head Start has been a program that was originally designed 
to meet a need, because States were not going out and reaching out to 
those young people, pre-schoolers. We knew that if the States were not 
doing that, that as a Federal Government we had a responsibility and an 
obligation to do that. So we started the Head Start program.
  The studies that we have for the Head Start program reveal that it is 
a great program. It has great statistics, although it needs more 
resources. Right now it is only covering about 40 percent of the young 
people that are qualified for it. So we still have a large number of 
young people that could qualify for that. So Head Start is a great 
program. Of the early childhood programs, we only cover 2 percent of 
early childhood under Head Start. So it is a minimal program that could 
be expanded. It is under the Department of Health for a good reason, 
because it also reaches out to those families; it reaches out to the 
parents of those kids. The data shows that a Head Start baby, a Head 
Start youngster does a lot better in school and is able to go

[[Page H2581]]

through, and the data shows and the statistics indicate that that 
youngster and those kids under Head Start can do a lot better.
  So Cesar Chavez would be extremely supportive of those kinds of 
programs. As we once again take this time to pay tribute to the legacy 
of Cesar Chavez, we look at the struggles that he had in meeting the 
needs of those farm workers, in meeting the needs of those people that 
work out in the field. And those kids and those Head Start programs 
that are out there, meeting their needs is important, and it is one of 
the areas that we need to continue.
  This administration is choosing to basically do away with Head Start. 
Right now it is locally controlled. It is a program that has been doing 
well and we will say, why mess with it? Well, I think they see the 
resources there, they are choosing to send out those monies to the 
State and do away with it. We are hoping that that does not happen. So 
I ask Americans, if we have a good thing and we have a good program, it 
is doing well, why mess with it? So as we look at programs such as Head 
Start, we know that we can improve on those programs and we need 
resources. So this is the time to look at investing in Americans, 
investing in the educational opportunities of individuals.
  When I was elected, and I have been in public office now for 29 
years, I see my responsibility is the responsibility of making things 
happen, of being able to fulfill and solve the problems that confront 
us both in our back yards, in our States, in our communities, and in 
our country as a whole. As we look at those problems, one of the things 
that we know is that we have to continue to enhance our educational 
capability as a Nation. It is important. A lot of people will talk 
about the fact that we have too much immigration coming, but we forget 
that immigration has also been healthy. And if we do cut immigration, 
then we better educate our people, because we have also been a brain 
drain on the rest of the world.
  When we look at the figures from 9-11, Mr. Speaker, we had, on the 
average, we produced 12,000 to 13,000 doctors and bring in 5,000 
doctors from abroad. Here we have five people that are qualified to go 
to our medical schools, and yet we tell two of them, two of those young 
people, I am sorry, we do not have room for you, we can only accept 
three to our medical schools; and yet we bring in on the average about 
5,000 from abroad. And that is just in the medical field. In 
engineering and all of the others, it is the same. So if we decide to 
stop immigration, then we better start educating our own, we better 
start getting our own engineers, we better start building our medical 
schools to produce more doctors. I have not seen the will in the House. 
We have to create that vision of investing in ourselves. We have to be 
able to make sure that as we move forward we have the qualified people 
to be able to be our professors, to be able to be our doctors, and to 
be able to be our engineers in this country.
  As we look in terms of our future, we know that in our universities, 
the expense of higher education, and we have to make sure that we 
provide that education that is needed.
  So I would challenge all Americans out there, in the form of Cesar 
Chavez, to continue that struggle, to making sure that people can 
fulfill their American dream, whether they want to become an attorney, 
whether they want to get the job training to be able to get a better 
job, whatever it is, we have to make those programs available, we have 
to make those opportunities available. Sure, they have to be able to 
come up to the plate and be able to get the work done in order to make 
it happen. But it is important for us to make sure that we provide 
those opportunities and not to cut those opportunities. Because we have 
great people out there. We have youngsters that can be attorneys, but 
they need that help and that assistance at an early age. They need 
those programs such as Head Start that can be the basis for making 
something happen. They need those programs, those after-school programs 
that are required in order for them to be able to excel and be able to 
move forward.
  I wanted to take this opportunity, as we pay tribute to Cesar Chavez, 
not only to talk about his work, but the work that also needs to take 
place now, the work that each one of us has an obligation, each one of 
us has a responsibility as Americans to make sure that our elected 
officials are held accountable, to make sure that our communities do 
the right thing, that our school boards do the right thing when it 
comes to education. As we move forward, each one of us has a 
responsibility to participate in the democratic process and to vote.
  One of the things that concerns me is that as Americans we take our 
freedoms very lightly. It is not something that should be taken 
lightly. Just as we have a right right now, that right might not be 
there tomorrow. Freedom comes through struggle, and it is an endless 
process. It does not stop now; it continues. It is one that we have to 
be vigilant and be able to move forward, especially as we find 
ourselves now in war with terrorism, because a war with terrorism is 
also a war of ideologies. So we have to make sure that we move forward 
in a positive way and that we do not forget the reason why we have been 
a powerful country and that is that we have been a country of 
opportunities, we have been a country of immigrants, we have been a 
country that allows a person to fulfill their greatest potential 
individually.
  So as we take this time, once again, to pay tribute to a great man, 
Cesar Chavez, who was there for the most needy of this country, those 
that work out in the fields, those that pick our foods, those 
individuals that have the least power as we foresee, here is a person 
who gave a great deal and gave his life to that struggle, a person who 
saw a problem and worked at it and was persistent about it. So I want 
to encourage each one of us to look at his life and see in what ways we 
can participate in our community and in what ways we can come forward 
and help.
  One of the big things about Cesar Chavez is that he never spoke 
negatively against anyone. He always was an extremely polite 
individual, was always positive. One of the things that I noticed about 
him was that he always took personal responsibility for what he did. 
That personal responsibility is one thing of saying, we all have an 
obligation to making sure that everyone and every American has an 
opportunity for an education. We might say, well, they do, but in some 
cases the reality is that we still do not have that access for 
everyone. We still do not have that opportunity for where every 
American is able to go into the universities of this country. That is 
why we have programs such as the affirmative action or programs such as 
that that allows an opportunity for minorities to enter universities 
throughout this country.
  Today, the Supreme Court began to hear the cases on affirmative 
action; and I know that as we look at those cases, as they look at 
those cases, it is going to be important, the results of what comes 
about. I know that President Bush basically, by deciding to go against 
the affirmative action and fighting those opportunities, is basically 
closing the doors on minority access to higher education. While saying 
that he supports diversity, his lawyers are working to outlaw 
affirmative action at the University of Michigan.

  The President says that considering race and ethnic background is 
unfair. Let us look at a system that most of Americans in history 
silently penalized minority applicants and led the alarming disparity 
that we have now. Today, less than 10 percent of college-age Hispanics 
go to higher education. Only 16 percent of Hispanics between the age of 
25 to 29 have a bachelor's degree. We have a serious education gap in 
this country, and we should not tolerate this disparity. We cannot 
accept excuses. We cannot justify smoke and mirrors. Affirmative action 
or taking affirmative steps to try to correct this situation in 
universities' admissions will not solve all the problems, but it is an 
important tool that is available to schools seeking that diversity, and 
we should not throw out a system until we have a fix.
  The attempt now is to try to throw out a system without providing 
alternatives. Achieving racial diversity, at least until the vestiges 
of past racial discrimination are erased, is a legitimate and 
compelling goal. We know and everyone out there knows that we still do 
not have the appropriate numbers throughout our universities. In fact, 
things are getting worse. In

[[Page H2582]]

Texas, since the Hopwood case, and I will talk to my colleagues briefly 
about that, but President Bush said that we should not be satisfied 
with our current numbers of minorities on American college campuses. He 
is right. But other than nice words, what does he offer? Allowing a set 
percentage of top high school graduates is better than nothing, but it 
is not certainly better than affirmative action. Percentage programs 
will not even begin to work unless we have States with large, highly 
segregated minority populations. And even then, it is still second 
best.
  Hispanics will increase by 18 million in the next 25 years. We must 
ensure that the increase adds up to success, with an educated workforce 
and a growing economy that provides better lives for all our children 
and all our populations.
  When we look at the issue of affirmative action, the purpose of 
affirmative action, and it was established during the Nixon years, was 
an attempt to basically come up with steps that allowed an opportunity 
to seek out qualified African Americans, qualified Hispanics, and, yes, 
qualified women. And because of the fact that we knew that there was 
disparities, and just like coaches went out and got qualified football 
players, that same effort could be done to get people to go into law 
school, those same efforts could be done to get people into medical 
school, and into other professions. So affirmative action, all it means 
is that we are going to make a sincere effort to taking steps to 
bringing up the numbers and to make sure that we have that variety of 
individuals that will be able to be representative of our Nation and 
have the African American and the Hispanic numbers that are key.

                              {time}  2015

  I know that since I have worked, when it came to the issues of 
injustice, when it came to the issues of equality, those are the issues 
that I know he fought for extremely strongly. He felt that everyone 
needed to be given an opportunity, that everyone had a responsibility 
to work on making sure that everyone was treated appropriately.
  If we look at taking affirmative steps to get representation, I want 
to share a little bit about what the administration is talking about, a 
10 percent bill. The only reason I mention that is because the 
administration mentioned that as an alternative to affirmative action.
  I am here to tell the Members that I am the author of the 10 percent 
bill, although it was 15 percent when I was in the Texas House, before 
I came to the Congress. The reason why we came up then with 15 and 20 
percent, and it became 10 percent, was because we knew we needed an 
alternative. They just wiped out under Hopwood the affirmative action 
efforts in the State of Texas. We needed to come up with something that 
would help out in assuring that Hispanics and minorities had an 
opportunity to further their education in Texas.
  During a conference that I had, we came up with what we called the 20 
percent piece of legislation. I filed it during that time I ran for 
Congress, and then turned over the piece of legislation to a State 
representative who just passed away. We were able to pass it under the 
10 percent rule.
  Let me give a little background what it does. It basically says if 
you graduate in the top 10 percent of your class, that the State of 
Texas has to bring you in and allow you to start school.
  It is also based on the premise that it is also discriminatory. I 
will tell the Members right out, that is why we passed it, because if 
we have segregated schools with a concentration of Hispanic Americans, 
then we have an opportunity to get the top 10 percent to be able to go 
to those schools.
  We were successful in doing that, and the program has been somewhat 
successful; but it is not as good as affirmative action. The data can 
show that. But it is a program that works in segregated areas. It is 
not a program that is going to be successful throughout this country; 
but it is also, once again, based on the negativism of segregation, and 
the fact that we have segregated schools in Texas, where there are a 
large concentration, 80 or 90 percent Hispanics in some of our schools.
  The 10 percent has not been that good for African Americans in Texas. 
In fact, the numbers are a little lower. Yet, despite the gains, it 
also shows that, and I want to share that one of the other things that 
the 10 percent rule shows, and this is important to note, that the 
youngsters who do graduate at the top 10 percent, some of them come up 
with scores that are much lower, and they show about 1000 or 1100 on 
the SAT. They were able to get in, and are 200 to 300 points below some 
of the others, and do just as well as the other students.
  If nothing else, the 10 percent has disapproved the test scores that 
show that even up to 300 points, that those youngsters can outperform 
those other youngsters that do better in those major tests when it 
comes to performing in those universities. If nothing else, this 
particular bill has helped to do away with that.
  If Members really want to come up with a good affirmative action 
effort, we would do away with those test scores and do what we have 
always said: use a combination of things to really look at the 
youngster's performance. You look at the youngster's grades, you look 
at the youngster's tests, you look at his standing in the schools, and 
look, if you can, at the background of the individual. Because no one 
can really judge the motivation and the drive that someone has to be 
able to move forward. That will never show up on an instrument, on an 
exam or a test. It becomes important that we use multiple criteria for 
admission.
  We have always argued that we should not use one test or another, 
that it should be multiple criteria that should be utilized for 
admissions, and that every effort ought to be made.
  I have worked since I was in the seventh grade all through high 
school, and there is no way that we can compare someone who, in all 
honesty, did not work and had an opportunity to do their homework. Yet 
I can tell the Members, I sit here, and when I went to college I was 
able to eat their lunch when I started there. I mean that. Because 
other people have to do a variety of other things as they move forward, 
whether because of economics or whatever.
  The reality is that we do have youngsters out there that do extremely 
well; yet they might be youngsters that have dropped out of school for 
one reason or another. If we look at the dropout rates, we see a lot of 
youngsters that drop out. It is not, a lot of times, for 
academic reasons. I can tell the Members that because I have also been 
responsible for some of the assessments on dropout rates, the reasons 
why youngsters drop out, especially Mexican Americans. We know that 
they do well.

  My predecessor, Mr. Tejeda, had dropped out of school. Yet he later 
got a bachelor's and a master's and a law degree, and became the U.S. 
Congressman for this same district, and was in the military. Now, under 
these conditions, if he had dropped out now, he could not be even 
eligible to get into the military because the military does not accept 
individuals unless they have a high school diploma. They only accept 
GEDs up to 1 percent in the Air Force and 10 percent in the Army, so 
those are issues that need to be dealt with.
  Education is key. We need to continue to emphasize the Federal role 
in education, the fact that we have a responsibility to make sure that 
our constituency throughout this country is well educated.
  There is a direct correlation between education and our economy; and 
I would attest to the Members, there is a direct correlation between 
our economy and the fact that we are a superpower. If we want to 
continue to be a superpower, we have to continue to invest in our kids. 
We need to continue to invest in our people, in getting them 
opportunities to be able to advance themselves and be able to fulfill 
their American dream, whether it be getting a better job or being able 
to buy a home.
  I think as we look at those issues, and as we pay tribute to Cesar 
Chavez, I know that he would be continuing the struggle for the workers 
in this country. That struggle is a continuation of making sure that 
everyone is treated in an equitable manner, that everyone will have 
opportunities to be able to advance themselves, either educationally or 
in terms of job training that might be offered. That becomes real 
important.

[[Page H2583]]

  Let me take this opportunity also to indicate that Cesar Chavez was a 
humble individual who, as he worked in the fields, was able to 
organize, was able to educate not only the farm workers but our entire 
community. I would ask Americans to look at Cesar Chavez and the work 
that he did, because it is an inspiring work. It is an inspiring thing 
that we need to continue to come to and educate ourselves about.
  Also, Members should ask ourselves in terms of our role as 
individuals, in terms of our role in the community, our role in the 
Nation as we continue our struggle on the war on terrorism and the war 
on Iraq, we need to make sure that we do not lose sight of the fact 
that we also have a struggle in this country. That is to make sure we 
turn the economy around. Part of that is a continuous effort in those 
areas of both education and health.
  In the area of health, as I have indicated earlier, health is one of 
the areas where we continue to make inroads. Yet, it does not make any 
sense if our constituencies do not have access.
  Right now, our seniors are having a great deal of difficulty being 
able to get access to prescription drug coverage. I have had seniors 
come to me and talk about the fact that we had a struggle in that area 
in that they have to sometimes not buy the food that they need in order 
to buy their prescriptions. That should not be happening in this 
country.
  We argue about on the border we have a lot of problems, and we argue 
about people coming from abroad and from across the border to access 
the health care; but a lot of Americans also go across to get access to 
health care. A recent study revealed that half or 50 percent of those 
surveyed actually went into Mexico to get access to health care, buying 
prescriptions and getting medical treatment and dental treatment, 
because they could not afford it in this country.
  So we need to make sure not only that we try to make it affordable 
but also accessible. That is important. So those specific issues of 
both education and health were two primary issues beyond the issues of 
worker rights that Cesar Chavez worked on.
  Worker rights need to continue to be on the forefront. We need to 
understand, and it is unfortunate, yes, that we have to have a minimum 
wage; but we have a minimum wage because we also understand and 
recognize that there are still some people in this country that if they 
could get away with it, that they would pay fifty cents for someone to 
cut their yard instead of paying them appropriately in order to help 
them out, and being able to do the work that it entails.
  Also, in closing, let me take this opportunity. I know we had some 
Democrats that were out here. One of the things they talked about was 
our veterans. I want to take this opportunity to shift, as we pay 
tribute to Cesar Chavez, to talk a little bit about our veterans.
  Tonight we had an opportunity to hear some of our Members talk about 
the needs of our veterans. I sit on the Committee on Armed Services, 
and I also sit on the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. We must honor our 
veterans. We honor them by ensuring that they have access to quality 
benefits and services once they come home. That is so important and so 
key.
  With our troops in the field, and sadly, with many Americans already 
experiencing war's devastating effects, it is shameful that the House 
passed a budget resolution on the same day, Mr. Speaker, on the same 
day that our soldiers began Operation Iraqi Freedom, cutting $15 
billion from the veterans disability compensation programs and $9.7 
billion from the veterans health care.
  It is clear that this proposal will have a devastating effect on the 
veterans, the VA health care and the benefit programs, and would serve 
as a further insult to the millions of veterans already facing 
reductions in health care, in compensation, in pensions, and in 
education benefits.
  The administration's budget was already inadequate to meet the health 
care needs of our veterans. Now the Republicans have gone further and 
cut $844 million above the President's request for veterans health care 
next year. The proposal, approximately $1.3 billion above 2003 
appropriations, will not even begin to cover the inflationary impact 
and anticipated salary increases for VA health care workers.
  That budget relies on unrealistic management efficiencies, increasing 
copayments. It also relies on new annual enrollment of veterans using 
the VA health care system when they are going to be taxed, and other 
efficiencies such as eliminating 5,000 VA nursing home beds. At the 
same time, we are asking our veterans to fight in Iraq and to continue 
the struggle in Afghanistan, to continue the difficulties that we 
encounter in Colombia, and we are eliminating 5,000 veteran nursing 
home beds.
  The budget resolution also calls for cutting $15 billion over 10 
years, $463 million in 2004 alone. The VA mandatory spending under the 
disguise of eliminating fraud, waste and abuse, is cut. Mr. Speaker, 
when we look at this disguise of fraud, waste and abuse, 90 percent of 
the spending for VA entitlement is paid out of monthly payments to 
disabled veterans. I do not consider payments to our disabled veterans 
and pensions for the poorest disabled veterans in the GI bill, benefits 
for soldiers returning from Afghanistan, to be fraud, waste, or abuse.

                              {time}  2030

  I recently joined my colleagues on the House Committee on Veterans' 
Affairs and I have a great deal of respect for our leader, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), a Republican, in a bipartisan 
recommendation to the Committee on the Budget which would have added $3 
billion. And I want to personally thank the gentleman from New Jersey 
(Mr. Smith) for those efforts. But next year alone for veterans 
discretionary programs including Medicare and research construction and 
programs that fund the administration cost benefits such as 
compensation pensions and education programs, that is important. That 
is drastically needed.
  I urge all of my colleagues to do the right thing and honor our 
commitment to our veterans. These cuts are shameful and unacceptable. 
We must do everything we can in a bipartisan way to make sure that our 
veterans get those services that they are entitled to.
  Let me also just say that people argue, well, the budget is growing. 
It is growing because of the fact that our veterans are reaching, 
especially the World War II veterans, are reaching that age where they 
need us now. They are getting old. They are getting ill. They need our 
help. And, yes, our roles are increasing. But we have got to assume as 
those that fought World War II and fought in Korea and Vietnam begin to 
reach those levels, we have got to be there for them. This is not the 
time to cut. After that, the numbers are going to get smaller, but we 
have got to be there for them. And for us to argue, well, we are going 
to increase it and we have been increasing it and we ought to be 
comfortable that that is not sufficient, we are actually cutting 
priority 7 veterans. We are cutting priority 8 veterans. And we have 
got to be sure that we do the right thing when it comes to our 
veterans.
  So I want to take this time to thank the veterans who have taken the 
time to come out here. I want to appeal to the Republicans when it goes 
to conference to do the right thing when this comes to our veterans. We 
have asked them to go to Afghanistan. We have asked them to go to the 
Gulf War. We have asked them to go to Vietnam and Korea; and now as 
they reach their twilight years, they need our help. And what are we 
saying? Our priority is a tax cut. That is not right. That is not 
right.
  Every single war, we have the data, has shown that we have had a tax 
increase to pay for the war. But now we got on a tax cut. And I can 
understand those conservatives that feel that sometimes in order to 
stimulate the economy that you would need a tax cut. But after looking 
at that tax cut, Mr. Speaker, I saw that it was $674 billion initially. 
Thank God it has been cut now. I do not know where it is going to wind 
up, but it was $674 billion. Of that, if you would argue from a 
conservative perspective that it is going to go to business, the 
majority of it, and that would help stimulate the economy, you would 
also have to take into consideration the fact that 80 percent of new 
jobs are created in small businesses, not major corporations. So of 
that $674 billion, less than $18 billion actually goes to small 
businesses.

[[Page H2584]]

  So even from a conservative perspective, it does not make any sense. 
It really dos not if you are trying to stimulate the economy. And that 
is if you believe in that way, which I personally do not, and I think 
we could really help stimulate the economy and solve problems. I really 
feel that I have been elected here to solve problems, and we are not 
doing that here.
  One of the problems that we are encountering is that the States have 
difficulties with their budgets. For homeland defense, we could be 
providing resources to them. The VA, for example, just since 9-11 it 
has cost them close to 50, $55 million just from going to code orange 
every time with more security and other things that they have to do. So 
it is costing them money and so we have to help our States, and we 
could help them by addressing the issue of health care and providing 
resources to health care. Not only would it help the States, but it 
also would solve a problem in a very critical area, which is the area 
of health care that would allow an opportunity for consumers to have 
access to health care.
  It would allow an opportunity for the industry, the hospitals and the 
doctors who are having a rough time, in trauma centers who are thinking 
of closing down, it would have that opportunity for them to be able to 
get access to those resources and do the job they are required to do 
and do the job that is needed, so we would solve a problem and provide 
that access to those individual consumers out there that need access to 
health care. But we would also help in solving the issue and the 
problem that the States are having with the budgets, which is one of 
the issues of health care.
  So instead of that $675 billion in the form of a tax cut, we can 
utilize that in a much better way in the area of health care, in the 
area of education, in the area of meeting the needs of our veterans.
  So tonight I take pride in coming up and talking about a variety of 
issues, but our most important issue once again to pay tribute to the 
visionary Cesar Chavez who helped to inspire a great number of 
Americans in this country in a nonviolent way.
  I want to thank you, Mr. Speaker, for the opportunity in allowing me 
to be here tonight, and I want to take this opportunity to say thank 
you very much and good night.

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