[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 13 (Tuesday, January 23, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H838]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          ELIMINATING POVERTY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the order of the House of 
January 4, 2007, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is 
recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, last week, on the night of the Martin 
Luther King, Jr. holiday, I attended a truly amazing event in the West 
Side Community Center in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
  The city of Asbury Park is in my congressional district, and has been 
plagued in recent months by gang violence. It is a phenomenon shared by 
many New Jersey municipalities, including my hometown of Long Branch 
nearby, which recently witnessed several gang murders.
  Mr. Speaker, redevelopment has come to Asbury Park, all the outward 
signs are of a seaside resort that is coming back big time. So why, you 
might ask, the gang violence? Why the murders? One of which took place 
right in front of the West Side Community Center where the Dr. King 
celebration took place. The truth is that the plight of the have-nots, 
that other America, has gotten worse in the last few years.
  The event was organized by the Reverend Kevin Nunn, leader of Spirit 
of Truth World Vision Outreach in Asbury Park. More than 15 local 
clergy testified to the difficulty of young people in getting an 
education, avoiding drugs, and preventing a return to prison because of 
lack of economic opportunities. The recreation programs which had been 
the backbone of the West Side Community Center are at risk because of 
lack of funding.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, the most important theme I can convey about Monday 
night's event was the message of hope. Dr. King was invoked as the 
example of love, peace and harmony among those of all races and creeds, 
and he was a symbol that pervaded the audience as the speakers talked 
about the need to vote, to go to church and unite as a committee. 
Reverend Nunn and most of the clergy who spoke at this meeting are 
directly involved in bringing shelter to the homeless, food to the 
needy, and promoting economic opportunity.
  The people present Monday night are proud Americans, but they need 
help. They are certainly not looking to government to solve all their 
problems, but they believe that government can make a difference, and 
it is up to us as their representatives to make the changes necessary 
so they can continue to have hope.
  Mr. Speaker, Senator Bob Menendez and I will soon introduce 
legislation to address the issue of gang violence. The bills will have 
three main goals. Our first goal is to provide after-school programs 
for students so they have a place to go instead of joining a gang. The 
type of recreation and mentor programs that were discussed in Asbury 
Park at the community meeting I attended could benefit from the grant 
set up by this legislation.
  The second goal is to prevent recidivism, the idea that people who 
leave jail don't get caught up in a gang once again because they have 
no job, no family or home to return to after jail. The legislation 
expands adult and juvenile offender demonstration projects to help with 
post-release housing and promote programs that hire former prisoners.
  And last, the administration addresses better police enforcement as 
well as gang suppression initiatives. At the Asbury Park meeting, the 
cries of ``Stop the Violence'' came up repeatedly. The legislation will 
direct more resources to towns to create a new COPS grant program and 
put more police on the street. Penalties will increase for those 
convicted of gang crimes, and particularly those using firearms, and 
communities would be empowered to create their own task forces to 
implement antigang initiatives.
  Now all of these ideas require more dollars, and on the day when 
President Bush is making his State of the Union address, I want to make 
one very serious point about Federal resources. We can't, as a nation, 
continue to escalate the war in Iraq with no positive consequences for 
America at a continued drain of hundreds of billions of dollars. 
President Bush needs to reverse course and redeploy our troops out of 
Iraq. The money and manpower are not only needed on the fight against 
terrorism elsewhere, for example, in Afghanistan, but also at home, to 
fight the criminals on our streets. The need is not only for more 
policemen, but for the housing, health care education and life support 
needs that will make it possible to get rid of the poverty that I saw 
on Martin Luther King Day in my community of Asbury Park.

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