[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 7678-7685]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      THE PLIGHT OF THE NATION AND THE WORLD RELATING TO CHILDREN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 7, 2003, the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) is 
recognized for 60 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate this opportunity 
to bring to the attention of this Nation and my colleagues the combined 
plight of the Nation and the combined plight of the world, particularly 
as it relates to children.
  It is certainly important, Mr. Speaker, to note that we have been 
engaged in a budget process. That budget process will be impacting the 
children of the Nation, so I wanted to speak today about how we need to 
turn this Nation around.
  I am reminded, Mr. Speaker, that just a few years ago we had great 
focus and concern on the high schools of our Nation as gun violence 
broke out across the Nation in urban areas, rural areas. It was 
baffling to most of us. The most striking was Columbine. Enormous 
carnage occurred at the hands of young people.
  During that time, we had many meetings in this House and great 
concern with funding for juvenile programs; great interest in gun 
reform, if you will; a lot of intensity and focus on how we could best 
stop the gun violence. It always seems that we attempt to close the 
barn door when the horse and the cow have escaped.
  Now, some few years later, Members do not hear us talking about what 
do we do about violence in our high schools, gun violence in our high 
schools. We do not talk further about

[[Page 7679]]

the question, if you will, of providing resources for school 
counselors, guidance counselors.
  I have legislation, Mr. Speaker, that would increase the number of 
community mental health clinics, increase the number of guidance 
counselors who can separate themselves away from paperwork. Yet this 
body has not seen fit to focus on legislation that, in essence, Mr. 
Speaker, would promote our children first.
  After 9/11, there was a great notation that in New York many children 
were left abandoned or orphaned because they were being raised by 
single parents in many instances, or their parents were in foreign 
countries, the other parent. Interestingly enough, Mr. Speaker, 
interestingly enough, we found out that that was the case.
  This body over a period of weeks passed legislation that I was very 
gratified that I had authored that the children of 9/11 in governmental 
benefits would be promoted first, would be first over others to receive 
benefits, responding to a crisis. Why do we not respond to the needs of 
our children now, Mr. Speaker, before the crisis?
  Right now in our schools we are finding out that young people are 
failing in their standardized tests; that there is an unequal, if you 
will, educational system, separate and unequal, in many of our rural 
and urban areas. The physical plants are crumbling.
  Just last week, I had the opportunity to talk with some of my school 
districts.

                              {time}  1600

  In speaking to them, and asking the hard questions about homeland 
security, they are proceeding to put in place that their skills will be 
safe houses, safe places, a safe plan so that parents would know if 
there was a crisis, that they did not need to run quickly to the school 
to take their child away. They might be in danger, but is it not 
interesting that this body has not seen fit to pass a program to 
rebuild our schools.
  A plan that we have offered, the Democrats have offered over and 
over, the school construction plan, to rebuild America's crumbling 
schools. We could have done this two sessions ago, but our good friends 
on the other side of the aisle thought that this was an unnecessary 
expenditure and look where we are today. Looking at school buildings as 
potential safe houses, promoting safe plans that would keep children 
inside schools. Do we not need the same kind of important and well-
structured physical structure that, of course, our good friends would 
have in more prosperous areas and school districts?
  Here we go again, not being preventive, not striking while the iron 
is hot but waiting for disaster to befall us.
  I think it is extremely important that we recognize that our children 
should be first. So I just want to share with my colleagues, Mr. 
Speaker, both the plight of our children domestically, because this is 
a week that we have responded to the needs of children, and to say what 
more we can do to provide a safe Nation for our children.
  First of all, Mr. Speaker, it sounds like we are going astray, but we 
can eliminate the President's $726 billion tax cut, and we can do that 
and focus our investment in the resources that would help not only the 
children but their parents and their community.
  A few of us just spoke a few minutes ago about the waging and raging 
war. We have said it over and over again. We voted today to encourage a 
period of fasting and praying, whatever faith a person may have, if 
they desire to engage in such, a voluntary fasting and praying. We did 
that today, and one of the Members who spoke at this press conference 
on the question of peace so eloquently stated, and I recite his words, 
that we pray for President Bush; that he may be wise in his decisions; 
and that he may reflect upon options for peace; and that we will have 
the opportunity to bring these brave young men and women home; that we 
have the opportunity to press forward on a cease fire; that, in fact, 
we find our way not to enter Baghdad, to increase the numbers of lost 
lives of both our troops and others.
  The $726 billion tax cut does not seem to recognize that there must 
be mutual sacrifice. Today, as we speak, young men and women are 
sacrificing for us, and they are willing to sacrifice their lives for 
us. How in the heck, Mr. Speaker, can a $726 billion tax cut, failing 
to take into consideration the enormous growing unemployment, the $280-
plus billion deficit right as we speak and the $1 trillion deficit 
expected to grow over a decade, how in the world can we afford to pay 
for a growing, costly war which may cost upwards of $1 trillion which 
would include potential occupation and governance of Iraq and maybe 
even alone, not with our allies? How can we afford a $726 billion tax 
cut?
  Might I draw from the words of the gentleman from New York (Mr. 
Rangel) in the idea of mutual sacrifice. I would not expect that there 
would be one ``no'' vote in corporate America and the richest of us in 
America, one ``no'' vote to say I will bypass the $726 billion tax cut 
for the troops, for rebuilding Iraq and for our children.
  We have not been shown by the Nation's media, American media, the 
devastation that is being promoted or being wrecked in Iraq. I am 
talking about the civilians. We already know the sanction has caused a 
huge number of deaths of Iraqi children. We already know that has been 
occurring, preceding us entering the country because of their inability 
to get medical care and food; but we do not know what kind of damage we 
are facing.
  Mr. Speaker, I have been very fortunate as a Member of Congress. My 
constituents honor me. This body honors me. I am honored to be here, 
and out of that respect for my constituents, I have chosen to accept 
invitations to visit our troops, invitations to be in Bosnia, Mr. 
Speaker, before the peace treaty was signed, the very war that I heard 
many of my colleagues get up and oppose, and that happened to have been 
a NATO alliance effort and short lived as it was.
  By doing that, Mr. Speaker, I went to cities like Sarajevo and saw 
the realistic and real devastation of war, buildings, of which we would 
pride ourselves as being historic, leveled, people walking the streets 
in tattered clothes. War is ugly.
  Kosovo, I saw the devastation of the million refugees marching and 
fleeing the killing that might have occurred if they had not left their 
homeland, and I see now still the work we have to do to restore those 
people. They were living in huge refugee camps; and in visiting those 
camps, I saw the ugliness of it, the uncleanliness of it, and the pain. 
The Kosovo war again was NATO allies, but I went because it is best to 
see firsthand both the presence of war and the vestiges of war.
  So it is key that we recognize that we may have to sacrifice to 
rebuild a nation that we are now at war with. I know Americans are 
caring people. I know that because we move so swiftly to provide 
humanitarian aid to our own and to others, and so I know Americans 
would want to be on the front lines of helping those children and those 
families in Iraq.
  I know that we would want to teach them other than terrorism and 
other than issues that would divide our world. But, Mr. Speaker, we 
cannot do it with a $726 billion tax cut and an increasing amount of 
dollars for the war. We cannot do it with the budget that has been 
presented by the President or the budget that has been passed by this 
House by one vote. We cannot do it to our veterans who clearly do not 
deserve a 28 percent cut in their budget and as well the door being 
closed at veterans hospitals on a daily basis. These are veterans that 
are parents of young children.
  Mr. Speaker, I would simply say that we have a lot of work to do if 
we care about our children. It is a disappointment that we would offer 
this budget and this approach to America and the world. I am 
disappointed that the President's budget raises spending on 
international affairs by substantially more than inflation. The cut to 
domestic appropriations must be $129 billion; and might I balance my 
remarks, Mr. Speaker, because I support our work internationally. I 
believe it is important to gain friends.
  I know that a good friend of mine, former Congressman Cleo Fields, 
who I

[[Page 7680]]

am delighted to see has joined us on the floor, was a champion for 
ensuring that we not only balance friendship overseas, but he was a 
champion on school issues and the issues of providing for our children, 
representing his constituents out of Louisiana. Clearly, I can say to 
my colleagues that I would hope that our work would be befitting of his 
legacy and that we would not see domestic spending going down.
  It is certainly a crisis when we see that over 10 years, $244 billion 
in domestic discretionary spending is going out the window. We know 
what that means, Mr. Speaker. It means the CHIP program, the Childrens 
Health Insurance Program, that is what is going out. It means that 
Medicaid for children who need mental health services is going out.
  Mr. Speaker, I have some information coming that I think is extremely 
important, but it means that those kinds of resources are coming 
quickly, hard hitting, and it is coming on top of States who, as we 
speak, Texas with a $12 billion deficit, California with a $38 billion 
deficit, other States with enormous deficits. It seems it is coming 
right when our States are hurting. Governors are hurting. Cities are 
hurting. It is extremely important.
  So I would ask that my colleagues listen as we move toward designing 
the emergency supplemental, that is, the appropriations that would 
include funding for the war. I would ask my colleagues to consider the 
importance of remembering our children, and I would ask them to 
remember what we are doing when we are cutting funds, and I am going to 
be citing a few for my colleagues.
  We mentioned $244 billion that we will see cut in domestic 
discretionary spending below the current service level over 10 years. 
In addition, the Republican budget requires $265 billion in cuts to 
public benefits, as I said, veterans benefits, Medicaid, Medicare. The 
cuts are likely to hit veterans programs, loans for college students, 
school lunch programs, Medicaid, pensions for Federal employees and 
railroad employees and agricultural programs.
  Recently, I visited with Forest Brook High School, the Jaguars, 
almost 500 students in an auditorium. They were so bright. They were a 
recognized school. They are moving to be an exemplary school. That 
means they are crossing the T's and dotting the I's as it relates to 
their academic prowess; but they asked the hard questions about this 
war. But one young lady, a student, got up and said, Will I be able to 
have an education? I do not know, Mr. Speaker, with this kind of budget 
because Pell grants are being cut. Colleges are being cut.
  I understand in some legislatures and States that college presidents 
were asked, send their testimony in writing because they were too 
embarrassed to have college presidents come and tell them how many 
services will be cut and how much they would be raising their tuition. 
What an embarrassment.
  Already, we know that school lunch programs are in jeopardy, and, 
yes, loans for our college students. What is our concern for the 
children?
  Mr. Speaker, I would offer to say to my colleagues we can do better, 
and even though we have come to an end in this week's legislative 
effort, I believe that we have to be responsible in investing in our 
children and investing in America's domestic tranquillity and its 
economy.
  We must be concerned about creating jobs. That helps improve the 
quality of life of our children because it improves the quality of life 
of their parent or guardian or that grandmother. We tend to forget 
things, and that is one of my underlying themes. We are always ready to 
put out the fire. I would like to make sure we do not have a fire, and 
we all ran to put out the Enron fire. Lo and behold the collapse of 
corporate integrity, one of the largest bankruptcies that we have ever 
seen and the laying off of thousands of my constituents who were 
impacted, and they impacted the children that they were responsible 
for.
  The Democratic stimulus plan looks to creating jobs. Right now we 
have got a huge number of jobs being cut. I think upwards of 200,000 
and less jobs are being created. The Democratic plan will create about 
twice as many jobs as the President's budget, and the Republican 
budget, according to mainstream economic forecasting models, by costing 
less than one-sixth as much over the long term.

                              {time}  1615

  Democrats provide an immediate $136 billion in tax cuts as opposed to 
$726 billion. That is what you call mutual sacrifice. It is a stimulus 
which we will immediately see. What does that do? It puts the 
children's parents and guardians back to work. Remember, I have said 
the children should be our priority. I believe that we have harmed the 
domestic tranquility.
  We have failed our senior citizens by not yet moving on a guaranteed 
robust prescription drug plan, one that guarantees prescription drugs 
to our senior citizens. Mr. Speaker, some of them are in fact the 
grandparents who are taking care of the children in many of our 
communities through the tragedy of drug addiction or incarceration or 
for some failure to that child's parent. The grandparent steps in, they 
have the responsibility of caring for that child, the responsibility of 
being on Medicare with no other funds and they cannot pay for their 
prescription drugs. Again, the children are harmed.
  And so, Mr. Speaker, I think that we need to begin to look 
constructively at how we can help the children. I want to go for a 
moment to education and health care and specifically to the Leave No 
Child Behind Act. The Republicans cut 2004 appropriations for 
Department of Education by $1.4 billion, 2.7 percent below the 2003 
enacted level. However, because Republicans matched the President's 
funding for several Leave No Child Behind Act programs, their across-
the-board cut reduces all the education programs by 10.2 percent below 
the President's levels and by 8.3 percent below the 2003 enacted 
programs.
  Let me give you an example, Mr. Speaker. Tremendous cuts to safe and 
drug-free schools, after-school programs, education for homeless 
children, vocational education and aid to Historically Black Colleges 
and Universities and other programs.
  How does that hit home? It hits home, Mr. Speaker, in the course and 
manner of real people. Our school districts are not celebrating that 
you are cutting their safe and drug-free schools because, Mr. Speaker, 
some of them have been able to access those dollars to help them in 
their homeland security needs. And so to cut the safe and drug-free 
schools just puts the responsibility or the burden on the local 
districts and their dwindling tax base and gives the United States 
Government another free ride. We are saying to them, do you have a safe 
plan, are you protecting the children where most children spend a great 
part of their life, in school; and we are telling them we are going to 
cut safe and drug-free schools, the after-school programs.
  Some years ago, Mr. Speaker, I served as a member of the Houston City 
Council and in serving as a member of the Houston City Council, I 
worked very hard to put in place for the city of Houston after-school 
programs in the parks. Let me compliment Mayor Lee P. Brown and the 
city of Houston and city council members for continuing that program 
and having an expanded program that embraces the churches. I was able 
to add $1 million to my district a year or two ago to have that after-
school program continue. Who knows what will happen now? Here we go 
dumping our burdens on our local communities. After-school programs are 
vital because we realize statistically that children get in most of the 
trouble that they get into from 3 to 7 when parents are working and the 
latchkey children are bound.
  But we apparently in this body are not concerned because the 
President's budget, and I would imagine the budget we voted on by one 
vote just a few days ago did the same thing. Homeless children should 
be calculated as part of homeless families which increase all the time. 
Transitional home units are not being built but families who are 
transient, who are moving from home to home, are part of our homeless 
families and they have children. I know my

[[Page 7681]]

school district has a large number of them; and we are cutting housing 
for homeless children, our vocational education which allows 
individuals to get skills and go from the high school to the work room 
with a skill that can provide for them.
  Then I am concerned for the historically black and Hispanic-serving 
institutions. Tragically, of course, we will be hearing the Supreme 
Court argument on April 1 about affirmative action, the challenge of 
affirmative action before the United States Supreme Court, and I raise 
that as a tool, a vehicle for many children in our Nation, young 
Hispanics, African Americans and other minorities, women included, who 
have utilized the tool of affirmative action not to exclude anyone but 
simply to give them a hand up. What a tragedy that this administration 
in a time when young men and women are in harm's way in the military to 
be able to note that this government would stand in opposition to 
affirmative action. We certainly hope that the United States Supreme 
Court will listen carefully to the arguments, and I believe that they 
will carefully assess that the University of Michigan affirmative 
action programs are in fact constitutional. Many of us will be 
gathering in Houston, Texas, for a summit on the question of 
affirmative action and the abysmal record of civil rights in this 
administration because we believe that we do in fact leave children 
behind if we do not promote the civil rights of a Rosa Parks and Martin 
Luther King. We do not in fact provide opportunities to continue for 
higher education.
  I think as an aside, it is important to note, Mr. Speaker, that civil 
rights is a very core part of America's history. There are moments that 
I was not proud of America, as many of you know, it would be certainly 
our slave history; but there are certainly moments that we can all be 
proud of America because she sought corrective measures. Though there 
was a violent period through the civil rights era of the 1960s and 
certainly voices being raised of protest, there were moments when 
America stood tall. The Voter Rights Act of 1965, the Civil Rights Act 
of 1964, the executive order on affirmative action that Richard Nixon 
signed, those were positive moments. Why would we stoop to the level 
that we are stooping to, to have the United States Government challenge 
affirmative action as a viable tool?
  The reason why I connect this to being preventative and dealing with 
our children, Mr. Speaker, is because in Texas when the Hopwood 
decision was rendered, we lost large numbers of our Hispanic and 
African American young people because they were denied admission to our 
institutions of higher learning. We were willing to lose them and deny 
them because of, I think, misdirected decisions and others who would 
represent that they are excluded because of affirmative action. 
Obviously, I find great pause and question as to why the United States 
Government could not be on the side of arguing for the 
constitutionality of the Michigan plan as opposed to being against it, 
because I know the ripple effect that will occur if the Supreme Court 
pronounces it unconstitutional. We will see affirmative action plans 
being dismantled around the Nation. But to the credit of the private 
sector, let me congratulate corporate America where large numbers of 
them have submitted, if you will, and there is a great deal of joy that 
they have submitted amicus briefs in support of this plan.
  And so, Mr. Speaker, I hope that we can all see the importance of 
being proactive and to be preventative. Certainly we have situations 
that that is not occurring. As I have indicated, it is extremely 
important that our children be in the highest priority. I went off a 
little bit to the side on affirmative action and civil rights because I 
noted that the cuts would impact historically black colleges and 
Hispanic-serving institutions. America is only at its best when all of 
us have access to equal education.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to speak to rural America, and I want to speak to 
urban America. We want to make sure that our educational systems are 
equal. I want to cite a Governor that I have great respect for, 
Governor Mark White, who came in and did something in Texas that was 
innovative and shocking: no pass, no play. The reason why he 
implemented that and that had to do with playing sports, and we are in 
Texas a football State. Every Friday night you will find us right where 
we need to belong with our families watching the football, the 
basketball, the baseball. To be able to be a Governor and say no pass, 
no play was outrageous. But he did that because he did not care to say 
that if you were in a prominent school district, you had the right to a 
good education. He wanted you to have a good education no matter where 
you were.
  And so the very fact that No Child Left Behind is being cut is a 
tragedy. The very fact that there are children being tested today and 
are failing standardized tests is a tragedy because part of the laws 
that we put in place, Mr. Speaker, for No Child Left Behind was to give 
those schools who had less moneys and their children were failing, to 
give them moneys to improve their teaching quality. We wanted to remedy 
the problem of failing students. We did not want to condemn the school, 
close the school, condemn the children, condemn the parents. We wanted 
to help them. But here we go in 2003, failing to provide the kind of 
support that we need.
  Job training has been cut by this budget, and I believe it again 
undermines trying to get people reemployed. I mentioned to you about 
Enron. There are many of those individuals still unemployed. Some of 
them are overqualified. Some of them need to be retrained. They 
represent a different set of circumstances than those who need more 
training. But I would argue that we should invest in human capital. 
Again, domestic tranquility. I want to give you the figure that the 
President's funding for Pell grants would reduce the maximum Pell 
grants by $50; but over a period of time, that has an impact. This is 
back to the level of the maximum award in 2002. As I said to you, Mr. 
Speaker, there are presidents who are saying in State schools that we 
are raising your tuition. That sort of puts a slice, if you will, to a 
number of individuals seeking higher education and goes to the question 
of that student at Forest Brook High School earlier this week who 
asked, will I be able to get an education? Mr. Speaker, I do not know.
  We will also be saying to those children who need Head Start, that 
28,000 of you because of this budget will not be able to attend Head 
Start. I am very proud of my children, as we all are. My son is an 11th 
grader. My daughter is a new teacher. She is in a program that should 
be promoted and complimented, Teach for America. She is teaching in one 
of our schools in Houston. They are wonderful children, first graders. 
But many of them, Mr. Speaker, were not able to participate in early 
childhood education where they were exposed to learning and reading, 
and it is evident in the difficulty of learning to read. This is what 
will happen if we cut enough funds that it would result in 28,000 low-
income children not being able to utilize Head Start. Do we really know 
what that means, Mr. Speaker? I am not sure we do.
  I want to just cite H.G. Wells who said, ``Human history becomes more 
and more a race between education and catastrophe.''
  Clearly if we allow generations to be uneducated, if we create an 
equal divide, if we go back to pre-Thurgood Marshall's argument to the 
Supreme Court in 1954 where we were arguing against allegedly separate 
but equal, it was separate and unequal, or the Kerner Report in 1967 
which said we live in a Nation black and white and unequal. We are back 
there again in the unequalness of housing, education and health care.

                              {time}  1630

  Mr. Speaker, if we are to do that, then we are raising throngs of 
individual young people who maybe speak a different language, who are 
now disadvantaged because they are not able to get early childhood 
education, they are not able to get Head Start. Why would we, Mr. 
Speaker, want to undermine, if you will, our responsibilities

[[Page 7682]]

to those young people? And, Mr. Speaker, I think it is important that 
we fight against not promoting our children first, and clearly the lack 
of funding for Head Start is one of them.
  Might I cite, Mr. Speaker, a rising issue before I address the 
question of our children living across the world, and that is this 
question dealing again with our little ones and the amount of money 
that we are going to see leaving them and going somewhere else. As I do 
that, let me just cite one other fact that I think is extremely 
important, and that is that 50 percent of our children heading towards 
college are not prepared for college courses. That is a little tidbit 
that I wanted to add, because it goes to the question of affirmative 
action. It goes to the question of Leave No Child Behind, that once we 
cut off K through 12, then of course we are simply cutting off 
opportunity.
  I want to applaud two amendments, or at least one amendment, one by 
legislative initiative by the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Fattah), 
a constitutional amendment to provide equality for children, a bill of 
rights for children as it relates to education.
  But as I close on that topic, I want to speak to another tragedy 
amongst our midst, if you will, and that is the question of child 
abuse. Again, Mr. Speaker, I have said that this discussion this 
afternoon is about promoting our children, the interests of our 
children. The work of the Congressional Children's Caucus that I chair 
has been always to promote children as a national agenda item, which is 
why legislation such as the 9/11 Save Our Children, the mental health 
legislation that was promoted, the issues that we discussed on 
mentoring, the work being done with Afghan children, it is all about 
recognizing the importance of protecting our children.
  So I want to raise the question of where are our missing children and 
why can they not be found and the fact that we have a crisis in the 
Nation on efforts to find our children. And I cite Rilya Wilson, the 
tragedy in Florida. 5-year-old Rilya Wilson was staying with her 
grandmother in January of 2001 when someone showed up saying they were 
with the Department of Children and Families and took her away.
  A man claiming to need help finding his dog grabbed 5-year-old 
Samantha Runnion while she played a board game with her friend on the 
front lawn of her home in Orange County, California. A body was found 
later in a gruesome pose in a forested area less than an hour's drive 
away. Unfortunately, a horrible discovery found that she had been 
molested and asphyxiated. The trail of evidence led police to a man who 
was acquitted of molesting two girls 2 years ago.
  In my own district, we are still looking for Laura Ayala, crying, 
with her family painfully wondering what happened.
  Danielle van Dam's body was recovered.
  Jahi Turner, a 2-year-old African American boy, disappeared after we 
found Danielle van Dam on April 25.
  Clearly, we believe that our children are precious, but do we realize 
that murder is the only major cause of childhood death that has 
increased over the past 3 decades? About 200 to 300 children are taken 
in kidnappings by strangers each year, with about 100 of those kids 
found murdered. Typically black, Hispanic, and poor children are 
disproportionately represented among that number.
  We are gratified and excited that Elizabeth Smart came home to her 
loving family.
  Mr. Speaker, we have a crisis of child abuse and child molestation, 
and we need to get in front of the problem. So we need a budget that 
reinforces our support of child abuse prevention. We need to audit the 
Children's Protective Services in many of our States, and I am going to 
take a point of personal privilege and suggest that the Harris County 
Children's Protective Service has been working diligently to find 
abandoned children or to prevent abandoned children but, more 
importantly, to be a stickler on ensuring that we are attentive to 
children we have placed in foster care.
  We have had some ups and downs and tragedies. We even just recently 
had a tragedy with a suicide in one of our mental health facilities 
dealing with children, and I know that we will be focusing on that 
investigation in my own community.
  It happens to say that we need more mental health facilities for our 
children. That is a crisis as well. But there is no doubt, Mr. Speaker, 
that we are abandoning our children to the extent that they need 
resources, they need education, they need affirmative action, they need 
civil rights. They need the Children's Health Insurance Program. They 
need a peaceful world. They need a world without war. They need to 
bring some of the young parents home, similar to the young Marine who 
has to make a choice with honorable service to her Nation and a 4-
month-old baby because her husband is already deployed on the front 
lines. They need someone caring about their plight.
  So I ask my colleagues as we begin this journey toward the passage of 
the emergency supplemental, as we pass the budget with one vote, as we 
talk about a $726 billion tax cut, where are our hearts for our 
children? Do we really realize that children themselves need mental 
health services and they grapple with depression and we do not have 
enough beds in America for our children, mental health beds?
  My dear, dear friend, the late Senator Paul Wellstone, a man that we 
grew to love, championed for mental health services for all Americans, 
championed for parity in health care for mental health services, a 
champion for going to any part of the world to look and to investigate 
the plight of children, a man who joined me in Houston, Texas where we 
listened to 90 witnesses about the plight of children without mental 
health services. Mr. Speaker, it was clearly a tragic loss, but in his 
name as we move toward this process, might I simply ask my colleagues 
to look at some of the issues that I have discussed and as well look at 
some of the needs of children around the world.
  So I will close with simply, Mr. Speaker, sharing some of the sights 
and the plights of our children. This may not be an American child, but 
I have described the pain that we are experiencing in this country and 
that our budget clearly does not speak to that pain. So I would ask 
that as we look to our budgeting process that we remember USAID and the 
funds needed to help the children of the world, and I cite specifically 
the faces of Afghan children and who knows what other children will be 
facing a devastating condition.
  When I visited Afghanistan, these are the children that I saw, a 
thousand of them in an orphanage, covered with sores, no school books, 
no pencils, no paper, very limited resources. Would this not be a 
better posture for America to take, one of peace, reconciliation, and 
humanitarian aid as we spend $1 billion a month in Afghanistan?
  These are the children and the faces that need to be helped, mother 
and child. And there are children that are going to be left in terrible 
conditions as well, children that we would want to help, our own 
children, America's children, that do not have Head Start. They do not 
have health coverage. They do not have housing because we are cutting 
homeless programs for children. They do not have school counselors who 
can do something other than paperwork.
  The children of America. They are under siege because child abuse is 
still rampant, sexual predators are about and abound. So as we have 
done some good things, Mr. Speaker, that I acknowledge, passing 
legislation that speaks to runaway children and children that are 
abducted, there is much more work to be done.
  I would argue that if we are to be a Nation of values, believing in 
the Declaration of Independence, that we all are created equal, with 
certain inalienable rights of life and liberty and the pursuit of 
happiness, we will respect our conscience. We will respect the work 
that is done in this body. We will not demean and degrade anyone who 
rises to speak more for peace than for war. Because we have to make 
choices, and those choices should be for our

[[Page 7683]]

children, the longing of these faces who long for us to be credible and 
to be preventative and to stop the gunfire, the violence, to stop the 
lack of foster parents and care and the lack of jobs for their parents.
  See these faces, Mr. Speaker. Can we not be responsive? Will there 
not be a signal and a clarion call for the emergency supplemental to 
not bust the budget and will there be the call for mutual sacrifice, 
tax cuts that stimulate the economy, not bust the economy?
  And, if the Members will, Mr. Speaker, with these smiling faces I end 
on the note an opportunity to bring the young men and women home to a 
Nation that will parade them and honor them, but not only that, take 
care of them and their families. Might this be the kind of bipartisan 
spirit that this Congress could engage in to show to the world that 
America has sought her higher angels and the premises upon which she 
was founded, to create a more perfect union? Is that not the America we 
all know and love?
  God bless this Nation, and God bless our troops.
  ``Human history becomes more and more a race between education and 
catastrophe.'' H.G. Wells spoke those words in 1920 and they are just 
as valid today. As our interaction with technology increases in the 
workforce and in our day-to-day lives it is ever more vital that our 
young people be educated to manipulate that technology or they will be 
left behind.
  We as a country will indeed be in danger of falling behind. If our 
youth are not properly educated from very early in life we are at risk 
of losing them--at risk of losing our future. It is for that reason 
that I believe that the investment in human capital should be our 
highest priority. We are shortchanging our Founding Fathers who sought 
to make this a nation for all.
  The Founders knew something that James Garfield would later say, 
``Next in importance to freedom and justice is popular education, 
without which neither freedom nor justice can be permanently 
maintained.''
  As protecting our freedoms and our way of life is dear to us so must 
be the provision for and maintenance of our public schools. I 
understand that issues of student to teacher ratio, teacher's salaries, 
funding on the federal, state and local levels are all issues that 
those of us who care about education must address.
  Recently, I have co-sponsored a bill that calls on the Secretary of 
Education to determine whether each State's public school system is 
providing its students with the educational resources necessary to meet 
challenging academic achievement standards and to compete and succeed 
in a global economy. The bill is H.R. 236, to provide for adequate and 
equitable educational opportunities for students in State public school 
systems, and for other purposes. It contains a student bill of rights 
that requires providing specified fundamental educational opportunity 
to students at each and every public elementary and secondary school. 
The bill also requires providing educational services in school 
districts that receive funds for disadvantaged students that are, taken 
as a whole, at least comparable to educational services provided in 
school districts that do not receive such funds.


              no child left behind--republican budget cuts

  A gap in funding education is harmful to our children's futures as 
well as to the future of our nation's economy. In fact, poor 
educational policy is injurious to our society as a whole.
  In my district, the Houston Independent School District has more 
students in special education than in gifted and talented programs: 
58.5 percent of Houston Independent School District students are 
considered at risk and 7.9 percent of Houston Independent School 
District students study English as a Second Language.
  Across the country more than 50 percent of urban college freshmen are 
not prepared for college courses. That has an obvious detrimental 
impact on their ability to succeed at the college level. Ill-prepared 
freshmen also have a deleterious affect on our nation's institutions of 
higher education as those institutions strive to provide young minds 
with an academic environment that allows graduates to become productive 
members of the workforce. Whole semesters are lost when students have 
to be instructed at a remedial level even before they can begin basic 
college courses. To avert adverse outcome support has to be given at 
the earliest levels of education to our youngest students.
  Not long ago Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act, 
touting the Administration's commitment to education. The Bush 
Administration has proposed a budget that suggests devastating cuts to 
primary and secondary education in this country. You should be aware of 
what that budget proposes and of the profound impact the budget cuts 
would make.
  His current budget cuts funding for Elementary and Secondary 
Education programs by $90 million! The Administration's budget would 
shatter Head Start and threaten the quality services that the program 
provides.
  Head Start programs have helped prepare 20 million disadvantaged 
preschool children for school. Yet because the House Republican budget 
would slash funding to Head Start, 28,000 preschool children could to 
be dropped from the program. The Administration's budget would freeze 
child care for the next five years forcing states to drop 200,000 
children over five years. That is 200,000 children who will be dropped 
from the care they need to enter school prepared to learn. That is 
200,000 children who need care while their parents are at work.
  The House Republican budget proposal would force deep cutbacks in the 
Child Care and Development Block over the next ten years. Those cuts 
will sacrifice child care for thousands more children and families.
  These budget cuts are proposed, in order to pay for a tax cut for the 
most affluent of citizens. The most affluent will benefit while the 
children will suffer. That is not justice. That is not the American 
way. That is not how we demonstrate respect for our most important 
values.
  If the Republicans' budget proposal is passed it will demonstrate 
that America believes children and the poor should subsidize tax breaks 
for the rich.
  If the Republican budget is passed it will demonstrate that health 
care, Head Start, child care, education, and after school programs are 
not as important as adding to the bottom line of the wealthiest 
taxpayers.
  In truth, the Republican plan would force severe cutbacks in 
virtually every essential support for America's most vulnerable 
children and families over the next ten years in order to hand a 
$90,000 tax cut to each millionaire this year.
  If, in fact, no child is to be left behind then no dollar should be 
lost to education at a time when states and localities can least afford 
to lose them. That's why the proposed budget cuts from the 
Administration and House Republicans are the wrong choice for America.
  The Children's Defense Fund has said, ``It is time for new choices 
that invest more in children than in millionaires, more in the poor 
than in the powerful. It is time to make our country live up to its 
promise of fair opportunity for every child and to demand that we truly 
Leave No Child Behind.''
  Supporting education, Head Start, and child care is the way to truly 
began to create equal opportunity for every child. That equal 
opportunity should continue beyond pre-school, elementary and secondary 
school. It should continue into the higher education institutions of 
this country.


                           affirmative action

  This spring, the Court will decide whether achieving a racially and 
ethnically diverse student body in institutions of higher learning is a 
``compelling state interest'' such that the consideration of race and 
ethnicity in public college admissions is constitutionally permissible.
  The University of Michigan's admissions policy is at issue. The 
policy considers race as one of several factors in a constitutionally 
permissible manner that is narrowly tailored and geared to address the 
compelling state interest of achieving diversity.
  While the University of Michigan does not set aside seats for 
minority applicants and has no two-track system of considering 
applications, President Bush falsely described its policy as one 
dependent on a quota system that rewards applicants solely on the basis 
of race.
  President Bush argues that ``some states are using innovative ways to 
diversify their student bodies. Recent history has proven that 
diversity can be achieved without using quotas. Systems in California 
and Florida and Texas have proven that by guaranteeing admissions to 
the top students from high schools throughout the state, including low 
income neighborhoods, colleges can attain broad racial diversity.''
  Bush also says, ``In these states, race-neutral admissions policies 
have resulted in levels of minority attendance for incoming students 
that are close to, and in some instances slightly surpass, those under 
the old race-based approach.''
  In reality, The Harvard University Civil Rights Project has issued 
two reports that conclude that percent plans are not effective 
replacements for traditional affirmative action. These percent plans 
dictate that a certain percentage of every graduating class of every 
high school in the state is admitted to a state

[[Page 7684]]

school. Presumably, this removes other barriers to minority enrollment 
and will provide a diverse pool of students. The percent plans cannot 
be applied at national universities, private universities, or graduate 
and professional school programs, and they simply do not yield the 
levels of diversity that race-conscious admissions policies produce.''
  In Texas, Florida and California, which the Administration holds out 
as successful examples of percent plans, there was low minority 
enrollment in the universities before affirmative action was ended, 
despite the fact that all three have rising population rates of 
African-Americans and Hispanics. The Harvard study noted that students 
in these states face great educational disparities long before the 
college level, disparities that are reinforced through the percent 
plans.
  Affirmative action is critically needed to achieve diversity in our 
universities. When students complete their K-12 education they need to 
know that the doors of higher education will be open to them. The 
diversity that is sought benefits the entire student body and enhances 
the educational experience for all students. The plurality of 
backgrounds and life experiences contribute to the robust learning 
environment that serves as the hallmark of quality institutions of 
higher learning.


                              child abuse

  Five-year-old Rilya Wilson was staying with her grandmother in 
January of 2001 when someone showed up saying they were with the 
Department of Children and Families and took her away.
  A man claiming to need help finding his dog grabbed 5-year-old 
Samantha Runnion while she played a board game with her friend on the 
front lawn of her home in Orange County, California. A body was later 
found in a gruesome pose in a forested area less than an hour's drive 
away. An autopsy revealed she'd been molested and asphyxiated. A trail 
of evidence led police to a man who was acquitted of molesting two 
girls two years ago.
  In my own district these tragic acts of violence hit home. Laura 
Ayala, a 13-year-old Latino girl from Houston was reported missing 
after leaving her apartment to buy a newspaper at a nearby gas station. 
Only her shoes were found.
  On April 25th, two months after Danielle van Dam's body was 
recovered, Jahi Turner, a 2-year-old African American boy disappeared, 
while playing in a San Diego Park.
  In a study by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, 
law enforcement officials identified pictures as the single most 
important tool in the search for a missing child. One out of six 
children featured in photo campaigns is found as a direct result of the 
photo.
  About 200 to 300 children are taken in kidnappings by strangers each 
year with about 100 of those kids found murdered. Typically, black, 
Hispanic and poor children are disproportionately represented among 
that number.
  Murder is the only major cause of childhood death that has increased 
over the past three decades. Over one-third of all sexual assaults 
involve a child who was under the age of 12. One in four children is 
sexually abused before the age of 18. One of every seven victims of 
sexual assault is under the age of six.
  Over a four-to-five year period, 13.4 percent of sex offenders 
recidivated with another sexual offense.
  Only 22 State sex offender registries collect and maintain DNA 
samples as part of registration. We know that DNA helped police find 
the suspect in the case of Samantha Runnion, and it is critical if we 
are going to capture other offenders. Despite the atrocities against 
our children, only 22 State sex offender registries collect and 
maintain DNA samples as part of registration.


     health care--census 2000 statistics on children's health care

  Uninsured rates for different age groups of children are not 
statistically different: 13.3 percent of children under six are 
uninsured, 13.5 percent of children six to 11 are uninsured, and 14.5 
percent of those 12 to 17 are uninsured.
  Hispanic children are far less likely to have health insurance than 
White or African American children, and African American children were 
somewhat less likely to have health insurance than White children: 26.8 
percent of Hispanic children were without health insurance in 1995, 
15.3 percent of African American children, and 13.4 percent of White 
children.
  In 1995, 66.1 percent of all children under age 18 were covered by a 
privately purchased or employment-based health plan, and 23.2 percent 
were covered by Medicaid.
  Older children are less likely to have Medicaid coverage. Percentages 
of all children covered by Medicaid in 1995, by age group, were: 29.6 
percent of children under six, 22.6 percent of children between six and 
11, and 17.2 percent of children 12 to 17. Significantly more African 
American and Hispanic children than White children were covered by 
Medicaid in 1995: 45.4 percent of all African American children, 37.4 
percent of all Hispanic children, and 18.3 percent of all White 
children.
  In 1995, 3.1 million (or 21.4 percent) poor children were without 
health insurance. Poor children comprised one-third (32 percent) of all 
uninsured children in 1995. Over a 28-month period between 1992 and 
1994, 30.0 percent of all children under the age of 18 lacked health 
insurance for at least one month (20.4 million). About 4 percent, or 
2.8 million children, were uninsured for the entire 28-month period.


                           Mental Health Care

  As founder and Co-Chair of the Children's Congressional Caucus, I am 
a staunch advocate for the health and well being of children.
  Health care issues have been getting a lot of press as far as 
Medicare and Medicaid are concerned and also in terms of a prescription 
medication benefit for our seniors. We also hear a lot about HMOs and 
insurance coverage. And that is as it should be. Health care is among 
the most basic of needs concerning the American family. Whether one is 
unemployed and uninsured or employed and underinsured health care is an 
issue a family might face daily.
  The Administration's budget would block grant Medicaid and jeopardize 
the health care services that are now available for millions of low 
income children. Moreover, the Republican House budget proposal would 
create more harm by forcing cutbacks in mandatory spending programs. 
Those cuts could mean a $93 billion reduction in Medicaid funding over 
the next ten years. Those cuts are likely to greatly increase the 
number of uninsured children.
  Insurance and health care are certainly issues that concern children 
and we, as a body must do our utmost to address those issues. It is 
important to remember that health care involves not only physical 
health but also mental health and mental health care is just as 
important for children as it is for adults.
  In fiscal year 2001, I urged funding for children's mental health 
services through the appropriation of a Mental Health Block Grant 
program in the amount of $420 million. In addition, I helped bring over 
$300 million to the health care industry in the 18th Congressional 
District of Texas and know these funds are an essential investment in 
the future of children.
  It is important for their well-being and for their development. So we 
must support mental health programs for America's youth. That is the 
reason that at the beginning of this Congress I cosponsored H.R. 81, 
the Give a Kid a Chance Omnibus Mental Health Services Act of 2003.
  Give a Kid a Chance is a bipartisan bill, co-sponsored by 
Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, my fellow co-chair of the 
Congressional Children's Caucus.
  American youth are struggling to come to grips with a confluence of 
disturbing issues. On a daily basis, they face the dangers of drugs, 
smoking, violence and the fear of terrorism. Added to the more 
traditional problems that plague adolescents--pressure from school, 
family, and peers--it seems this barrage may be taking its toll on the 
mental health of our children. Those children living in the wake of the 
attacks of 9/11, or those living in broken homes, may be particularly 
vulnerable. However, no child is immune.
  A recent survey revealed that 13.7 million children nationwide suffer 
from mental health problems. At least one in five children and 
adolescents has a diagnosable mental, emotional, or behavioral problem. 
That is 20 percent. However, 75 to 80 percent of these children do not 
receive any services in the form of specialized treatment or other 
mental health intervention.
  Unchecked mental illness in the young can lead to academic failure, 
substance abuse, violence, or suicide. In fact, adolescent depression 
is increasing at an alarming rate. Recent surveys indicate that as many 
as one in five teens suffers from clinical depression. Each year, 
almost 5,000 young people between the ages of 15 and 24 take their own 
lives. The rate of suicide for this age group has nearly tripled since 
1960. Obviously, the youth mental health programs we have in place are 
either ineffective or insufficient.
  Responsibility for mental healthcare is shared across multiple 
settings: schools, primary care, the juvenile justice system, and child 
welfare. The bill I co-sponsored would establish school and community-
based grant programs that would help prevent, identify, and treat 
mental health problems in children and adolescents. Local educational 
agencies that receive the grants would be required to maintain a 
certain ratio of students per counselor, nurse, psychologist, and 
social worker.

[[Page 7685]]

Grants will be funded with a matching requirement of $2 from private or 
local public entities, for each $3 of federal funds.
  For too long we have ignored the mental health needs of young 
Americans. There is a clear cry for attention to the mental health of 
our children. We must answer that cry. I hope others will support this 
bill, in a bipartisan way, and help our children through their 
formative adolescent years and help make them into healthy, well-
adjusted adults.


                          anti-drug activities

  On June 24, 2002 I joined the U.S. Department of Justice in 
announcing a $100,000 grant to the Houston Council on Alcohol and 
Drugs, the fiscal agent to the Coalition of Behavioral Health Services. 
The Coalition will play a critical role in the prevention of substance 
abuse in youth in the 18th Congressional District of Texas by 
strengthening community anti-drug activities and reducing abuse among 
youth.
  The 2002 project was a continuation and refinement of The Houston 
Council on Alcohol and Drugs' past goals: to reduce substance abuse 
among youth by 10 percent over the next 12 months, and encourage 
participation and collaboration of all sectors of the community 
including federal, state, and local government in an effort to increase 
resources for substance abuse prevention and reduction among youth.
  The Houston Council on Alcohol and Drugs has distinguished itself as 
a leader in the fight to save our young people from the perils of drug 
abuse. I applaud and will continue to support these model programs that 
effectively motivate our youth to avoid drugs and equip them with the 
skills necessary to have a healthy and productive life.
  We continue to wrestle with the devastation that drug abuse creates 
in our communities. It is particularly important that we support 
programs that will aid our youth in finding alternatives to drug use. 
Grants will help our children stand up against drugs. It clearly 
benefits the whole of our society when we help those most vulnerable 
before they enter into a life of substance abuse and crime.

                          ____________________