[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 17]
[House]
[Pages 23377-23378]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1515
                         EATONTON BICENTENNIAL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Broun) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROUN of Georgia. Madam Speaker, for over 200 years, Eatonton, 
Georgia, has served as the seat of Putnam County and has continuously 
reflected the American spirit and ideals.

[[Page 23378]]

  Both town and county were named after American patriots. Israel 
Putnam was a hero of Bunker Hill, and William Eaton was a famous 
officer and a diplomat during the First Barbary War.
  Eatonton is a gorgeous town with patriotic people, beautiful homes, 
historic churches, and a magnificent courthouse. Sitting on the famous 
courthouse square, there's a statue of Brer Rabbit, the central figure 
of the Uncle Remus stories, which pays tribute to great literary 
contributions and cultural preservation.
  Just outside of Eatonton is St. Paul's Methodist Church, which is 
over a century old and sits near Rockville Academy, the State's first 
consolidated rural school. Many generations have used this historic 
church to worship God, and many individuals have come to know His 
saving grace within its walls.
  There are many Antebellum and Victorian-era homes within Eatonton 
that survived the war between the States. When General Sherman 
conducted his destructive ``March to the Sea'' during that great war, 
he bypassed Eatonton and left its beautiful homes untouched. Now 
visitors to the town have the opportunity to see grand American 
architecture of long ago.
  The sons and daughters of Eatonton have served, fought, and died for 
their country for over two centuries. Every single time America has 
called upon its citizens for help, the residents of Eatonton have 
answered. They have served in the armed services, and, during the Civil 
War, they cared for the wounded on both sides of the conflict.
  There are many famous people from Eatonton, but some of the best 
known are Alice Walker, author of ``The Color of Purple''; Vincent 
Hancock, a recent Olympic Gold Medalist in shooting; and Truett Cathy, 
founder of Chick-fil-A. These great Americans are products of 
Eatonton's two proud centuries of history, culture, and religion.
  As Eatonton celebrates a great milestone in historic history, I 
applaud its historical accomplishments. I thank God for its prosperity, 
and I pray that He, God, will continue to bless this great American 
town.
  Madam Speaker, on another topic, today we did have a historic vote. I 
encourage our leaders on both sides to listen to Mr. William Isaac, the 
former Chairman of the FDIC. Democrats and Republicans alike have come 
to the floor and talked about his perspective solution to this problem 
we have in our credit crunch.
  There are other solutions. Congressman Jeb Hensarling introduced a 
bill, and I am proud to be a cosponsor of that bill. I'm sure my 
colleagues on the other side have other alternatives too that they 
would like to introduce.
  But I hope we will bring forward a simple bill that this House 
produces, as constitutionally we are supposed to, and then we won't let 
Mr. Paulson bully us, as he did, to demand his product that we just 
tweaked around the edges.
  Madam Speaker, this bill was a bad one, and that's the reason it went 
down in defeat. We were offered a little marshmallow of sweetness to 
put in the bill, but the bill itself was a cow patty with a marshmallow 
in the middle. And, Madam Speaker, I'm not going to eat this cow patty 
even though it has a marshmallow in the middle, and many other of our 
colleagues also refuse to eat it.
  We need to have a bill that's simple, that eliminates capital gains 
for 2 years, that cuts out the mark-to-market accounting that the SEC 
and Mr. Paulson demand, one that will give insurance to those banking 
institutions so that they can insure the securities that they have that 
are mortgaged based, and not have anything else.
  And I hope our leaders will bring forth a very simple bill that our 
colleagues on the Democratic side and my colleagues on the Republican 
side can put forward and that we can pass in the next few days that 
will solve this crisis that we have in America and bring us to 
financial security in this Nation, and I call upon our leaders to do 
so.

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