[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 12]
[House]
[Pages 16452-16453]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  WORKING TOGETHER TO SERVE AMERICANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Michigan (Mr. Clarke) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. CLARKE of Michigan. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank Congressman 
Benishek for that wonderful invitation for me to visit your district. 
Northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, it's one of the most 
beautiful areas you can

[[Page 16453]]

ever see in the country. It has delicious food and great people. I know 
I'm going to have a wonderful time. But also, too, my visit to northern 
Michigan will help Dan and I have another set of common experiences 
that we can use to help serve our people together.
  With his area in northern Michigan and with the area that I'm hired 
to represent, metropolitan Detroit, we can focus on the common needs of 
our people. Let me give you an example. When Representative Benishek 
visited the east side of Detroit with me this past summer, we found out 
we had a lot of things in common. I'm born and raised on the east side. 
Well, he actually lived on the east side when he attended one of the 
finest medical schools in the country, Wayne State Medical School in 
the city of Detroit.
  We visited several places, but in particular we visited the Mercy 
Primary Care Center. This is a health clinic located right in the heart 
of Detroit. Firsthand, we were able to hear from and see the challenges 
that many of our veterans are facing. Our veterans--these were young 
men and women who, because of their loyalty to our country, were sent 
overseas. They risked their lives. They risked their mental and 
emotional well-being. Many of them came back to Detroit only to face a 
place where they can't even find a job. They can't even find a home. 
They are out on the street with no place to live. No one should have to 
live in that type of indignity.
  Representative Benishek, as a physician and as a Member of the House 
committee that oversees the Department of Veterans Affairs, he wanted 
to work with me to better serve these veterans. So he and I are now 
working together with the Department of Veterans Affairs to better 
provide shelter, health care, and training to these homeless veterans 
in the city of Detroit. This is an example of how Republicans and 
Democrats can work together to help our people.
  And you know what? It's not really that hard for he and I to work 
together. The folks that he represents and the people that I serve in 
metro Detroit, like all Americans, we all want the same thing. We just 
want to have a chance to live a decent life. We want those rights that 
are spelled out in the preamble of the Declaration of Independence, 
rights of life, of liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, just a chance 
to live your life as fully as you choose it. That's the American dream.
  So while the deliberations of this House many times highlight the 
differences between Republicans and Democrats, he and I are choosing to 
underscore how we can work together to serve our people and make this 
country an even better place to live. It's my greatest honor to visit 
the Upper Peninsula, and it's also my honor to serve this country as a 
Representative of metropolitan Detroit.

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