[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 23513]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  TRIBUTE TO HON. DAVID BONIOR OF MICHIGAN, AND ISSUES FOR THE 108TH 
                                CONGRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, we just finished, I think, a 
very necessary debate and discussion involving the Homeland Security 
Department but, as well, some of the ailments that we will be facing as 
this Congress returns in the 108th session.
  Before I comment on some of the issues that I believe leave us in a 
state of unreadiness, I would like to take this opportunity as well to 
again thank my colleague, the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Bonior), for 
the leadership that he has given to this Nation. I might say ``to this 
Congress,'' but I believe his leadership goes far beyond these walls.
  Having come in 1995, elected in 1994, the gentleman from Michigan 
(Mr. Bonior) is the leadership that I knew, which, in essence, I grew 
up under, legislatively. If I might say, there was not a time, although 
his work was as the whip in organizing the votes, that he did not have 
a listening ear and welcoming of different perspectives, being 
courageous enough to recognize that we do not always speak in one 
voice. We speak as Americans, but we do not always speak in one voice.
  So my applause to him for always being willing to be of service and, 
might I add, for the special work that he has been engaged in, and that 
is working to bring people together. I know he has a special connection 
to the Faith and Politics Institute, bringing individuals of faith and 
political life together for the betterment of all of us. So I thank him 
very much.
  It leads me right into the reason why I speak today, which is to 
highlight, as I said, the unreadiness of this Congress on a series of 
issues that I think are extremely important that we have not yet done.
  I want us to move quickly in the 108th Congress to face down 
corporate irresponsibility and malfeasance. Yes, we have passed 
legislation dealing with the ability to audit the internal records of 
corporations, to fix the audit committees, to oversee accountants, but 
we have not done much reform on the bankruptcy laws that negatively 
impacted laid-off or terminated employees.
  For example, in my congressional district, when Enron filed 
bankruptcy on Sunday, they laid off almost 5,000 employees on Monday. 
Those employees are still trying to recoup. They had nothing, and they 
lost everything. It is interesting that the corporation could go in and 
recover through the bankruptcy laws, but the employees had no standing.
  I am looking to file legislation with my colleagues to reform the 
bankruptcy law to put unsecured, fired, or terminated employees of 
corporations who seek bankruptcy protection at the top of the line. 
That is most evident by what happened to the family in my community, a 
member of the Enron family who was out on leave with a catastrophic 
illness. He, along with others, were terminated in the midst of his 
catastrophic illness. Of course, he was left with nothing. He lost his 
house, and he lost his life, because there was no more medical care for 
him, and there were no more health benefits and no ability to secure 
his prescription drugs. We have to fix that, Mr. Speaker.
  We also have to fix this homeland security bill. I bring to the 
Members' attention the autism case dealing, as my colleague spoke 
before, with a vaccine that was utilized to the bad results of this 
particular individual. Russell Rollins was a picture perfect baby. Then 
at 15 months, just like every other baby, he got his MMR shot. He had a 
physical reaction to those vaccines, including a high-pitched scream 
and days of high-pitched crying and listlessness. Ten years later, 
those problems continue. Russell is now autistic.
  So a vaccine moratorium on this case would be horrific, and this 
could happen time after time with the kind of limited liability that we 
have in the homeland security bill. I think it is misdirected, Mr. 
Speaker, as it is misdirected for airport security and antiterrorism 
technology.
  We have never been afraid of doing the right thing, of ensuring that 
we have an opportunity for redress of grievances in courts. We have 
never been overwhelmed with frivolous lawsuits to the extent of 
products that are defective. We only need to engage in saving life. If 
Americans understood that under the auspices of homeland security we 
are blocking their opportunity into the courthouse, they would 
understand the problem.
  Let me close by simply saying that we have many miles to travel; and, 
as we travel, we need to do it right. I close by simply saying that we 
did not do it right today, Mr. Speaker. We left 800,000 employees who 
were fired, terminated, and unemployed without unemployment insurance. 
We did not do it right, and I hope that we will get it right. I will 
fight on behalf of those individuals and on behalf of America until we 
get it right in this Congress.

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