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“AFTEREFFECTS OF SEPTEMBER 11 TRAGEDY” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H7887-H7894 on Nov. 7, 2001.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
AFTEREFFECTS OF SEPTEMBER 11 TRAGEDY
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Osborne). Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2001, the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I do have an opportunity now to speak with a sense of appreciation as well as a sense of questioning. Many of us have come to the floor of the House in the weeks after September 11 to raise many issues to help heal this Nation or to help solve the crisis that was created. I am never far from thinking of the enormous loss of life that occurred on September 11. For that reason, I believe that there is certainly never enough commentary and solutions that could be offered to help heal us from September 11.
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We, of course, have been told to get on with our lives, to go about our business as Americans, to not be intimidated by the terrorist acts, and I would add something else, to not turn, if you will, into the kind of people who would perpetrate hatred so deep that it would take innocent lives. I am very gratified Americans have not done any of that, that there is a great deal of charitableness, there is a great deal of desire to be involved in how we can be problem solvers. For that reason, I see it fitting that we continue doing our work in the United States Congress to be problem solvers.
So to my colleagues tonight, I believe there is a degree of work that is yet undone, and we must keep busy to help solve these problems. There is work undone with respect to airline security, Federal security, federalizing the airline security in our airports.
We have yet to address the approximately 5.4 percent unemployment, the surge in unemployment, the many industries that have been hit so hard because of the tragedy of September 11, such as the tourist industry, hotels, hospitality, those particular employees, and many others.
I was riding on a plane with a constituent who said that an accounting firm had laid off 400 workers. Every day we are finding different industries that are being impacted from the events of September 11. Is American going about its business? Yes. Americans are cheered and buoyed by their values, and they are committed to the wonderfulness of this Nation.
I also see the effort by Americans to draw closer together, as diverse as this Nation is, from the many walks of life and many ethnic backgrounds that our citizens have come from, and I have seen a renewed zealousness around our values, our songs, our spirit, our charitableness; and it has been done not with any particular negativeness.
We have overcome or maybe we have spoken about or spoken out against the idea of targeting any particular group. We have joined together to say that this is not a fight against Islam, this is not a fight against the Muslims, but clearly what this is is to recognize that we are standing against terrorism. That is why we acknowledge the fact that September 11, 2001, left thousands of victims from around the world. The attacks killed hundreds from Britain, from Israel, 250 from India, and scores of others from Japan, Mexico, Iran and elsewhere. As I have said previously and as the mayor of New York City has said, these attacks were crimes against all humanity, and much of it was more than any of us could bear.
But I think as we look at our challenges and before this Congress recesses this year, there is still work to be done. As chair of the Congressional Children's Caucus, I am very gratified that we will have an opportunity to debate H. Con. Res. 228 on the floor, and I would like to thank my colleagues for this opportunity and I ask Members to join me in that opportunity. That is legislation to finish one piece of our task, and that is addressing the needs of children of this terrible tragedy.
I introduced Members to the Calderon family just a week ago. They have become very real symbols for the 10,000 to 15,000 children which have confronted this terrible tragedy, having lost a parent or parents or guardian on September 11. The pain is still being felt. The reaching out to find these children is still occurring. The need to nurture these children is still occurring. The long-term results of the impact of this tragedy on these children is still being deciphered. We do not know.
Mr. Speaker, we recognize that children are being deprived access to mental health services. We realize, of course, that there is a great need. That trauma in children's lives can be implemented, if you will, in many different ways. We have yet to determine what those ways will be.
H. Con. Res. 228, with sponsors from around the Nation, is a legislative initiative that helps us recognize the plight of these children and establishes a quick expediting through Federal and State and local agencies the needs of these children. The psychological needs, counseling, nutritional and medical counseling, and upon determination of death of their parent or parents or guardian, in 60 days those benefits can be generated for them.
I want to applaud the opportunity to be able to debate this, which I am hoping and looking forward to doing, and I want to applaud the bipartisan effort on this legislative initiative.
This is the Calderon family. This is Naomi, 4, and this is their 20-
month-old son, and they lost their mother.
Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased that I have been joined by a number of colleagues on this issue. Again, we are talking tonight about work undone, work that we need to carry forth because we have been given this very special challenge of September 11. While there are many who are still burying their loved ones, they are also requesting that the United States Congress moves towards addressing issues dealing with children, but also dealing with the question of airline security and also dealing with the economic stimulus package.
As I introduce my friend and colleague from Texas, I am going to continue to discuss my family that is symbolic of the children who lost parents on September 11. That is one unfinished business. How do we address their needs, the thousands that have yet been, if you will, secured; or if we have not found the kind of resources for them, we must do so and establish the bully pulpit to get the government focused on them. But we have something that we have been focused on.
Just this past weekend in Chicago it was determined that an individual going through the security check was found to have had a myriad of more than utensils, threatening instruments, stun gun and box cutter and knives. As I recall the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Lampson), we were here last week debating vigorously on the floor and just adopting the Senate bill so we would have legislation in place as we speak tonight. I consider that unfinished business, and I yield to a member of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
Mr. LAMPSON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding me time, and for the significant work she does and her statements regarding the children.
There is, indeed, much work that remains to be done. It goes obviously to the heart of people like this family that is exhibited in the picture that the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) has been talking about and many, many others who lost loved ones, families broken apart. Those are hurts and pains that will take literally forever to heal, and probably never to be able to be put back together. There are things that we can be doing in the House of Representatives and in the Congress of the United States to put into place and make a difference in people's lives.
Mr. Speaker, one of those other areas of unfinished business happens to be airport security. It is unbelievable to me that we continue to have a debate at this late date. The attack occurred on September 11. The gentlewoman joined me and others of our colleagues only 5 days after September 11 with a specific plan that we discussed at one of the major airports in Houston, Texas, and that we discussed at other airports in southeast Texas. We came back here, and there was a proposal made in the House of Representatives. The Senate took it up soon after that, passed a measure unanimously that we could not pass in the House of Representatives.
It seems that our desire and America's desire for us to be considerate of all the needs of all of the people and considerate of our political differences set partisanship aside; and on so many things we have done that. But in too many areas we have broken down in our ability to work together.
I have big concerns about where we are and why we are not able to move this forward. We would not dream of contracting out the protection that our police provide or the protections that our military provides. Why are we having a debate today on whether or not this body would attempt to contract out airport security? That is, finally, we hope, going to be debated in a conference as soon as the Senate, I think they are preparing to name their conferees, as we did yesterday.
Airport security forces have to be reliable, standardized and verifiable. There should be no compromise on this. We should speak to the will of the people of this country, 82 percent of whom have told us what needs to be done. That is in the Senate's legislation that will be discussed between our two Houses, hopefully within the next few working days. We should not continue to even think about rewarding the private companies who have a proven track record of egregious violations.
The example about the man carrying knives, Mace, and a stun gun that slipped past the screeners, well, slipping past people is not acceptable any longer. If we are going to affect the lives of the family that the gentlewoman is talking about, and every family happens to be dealing with the safety of travel within this country, our ability to move about the country and promote economic security and development throughout this country relies on safe transportation; and that means in the air just as it does on the ground.
We must move this legislation through the conference committee, and do so quickly and effectively. Speak to the will of the people of this country and put into place so that the national defense and security, which are the charges of the Federal Government, will indeed work to keep our skies safe, and it is the responsibility of the Federal Government to make it happen.
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It is plain and simple common sense. I hope that everyone in this country and certainly everybody in this room tonight asks themselves, who do you want protecting you and your family, a Federal security force or the lowest bidder? I think that question is real simple on almost everyone's minds.
I thank the gentlewoman from Texas for allowing me to come and speak a little bit to this concern, this one particular area of concern that I have and the many things that are left to be done, as you are graciously taking the opportunity to point out to us and give our other colleagues the opportunity to talk about.
We have an economic stimulus package that is critical for the United States of America. We obviously were in an economic slump before the attack on September 11, and we certainly are today. We are trying tremendously hard to affect the real areas of our economy that can make a difference in re-creating the activity that helps so many people enjoy some level of quality of life. That does not mean that we have to put money out to those businesses that are continuing to lay people off. It needs to be put in the hands and the pockets of the people who will spend it today because they need it today. They need it to have food and clothing and shelter that will make a difference for themselves and their families.
We will pray for the family of the woman whose life was lost in that attack, and we will also pray for each and every person in the United States of America that we will continue to hold together as we have and fight through this war that we are now living in the hopes that we will overcome terrorism worldwide, that we will not ever face the terrible tragedy that we faced in this country on September 11, and the pain and suffering of the people like this gentleman and two young kids will have to face because of the loss of a loved one. We do not ever, ever want to see that happen again. If we will act on these pieces of legislation soon, now, we can make a difference in their lives and an appropriate one.
I thank the gentlewoman for allowing me to have the time. I wish you well in your continued work as I do for all of us.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Let me thank the gentleman for his leadership on these issues. We did draw together quickly in Houston at our airport after the terrible incident to hear from our local officials but also to address those concerns. We are now here in November, and I believe it is extremely important that we move forward. You may be aware that the U.S. Conference of Mayors supports federalizing the security at the airports.
Might I just, before I yield to the distinguished gentlewoman from California, mention that just yesterday at Dulles Airport, a passenger was able to get on with a different boarding pass. That compounded with the situation of Mr. Gurung at O'Hare to the extent, I just want to call out what it is alleged that he had, seven knives, a stun gun and pepper spray. And that he was also released. Certainly we believe in civil liberties and respect for the individual's rights, but because there were no standards, the individual was released, where he was, if you will, able to leave without further determining any associations that he might have.
I yield to you to answer this question. This is not an issue now of numbers of employees or who hires employees. I think the American people realize this is an issue where we need consistency. We need every single person dealing with security, whether they are in a small airport in Mississippi or California or a large airport in Texas or New York to have the same comprehension of what you should be looking for, what the standards are for an individual who may have violated the law. You treat them with the respect of the law, but you also treat them with the severity of the issue.
Let me yield to the gentleman. Does the legislation that we are trying to propose even with the conference and the fact that the bill that the Senate passed 100 to nothing but did not pass the House have anything to do with politics or does it have to do with securing our Nation?
Mr. LAMPSON. In my opinion, the ideology difference that we had in the House came down to politics. It is clear to me that 49 Senators and 50 Democrats and one independent coming together in the Senate on one bill was not a political statement. It was a statement in belief of the American people. When it came to the House, the House was broken on ideological grounds and that broke down to party lines. That is unfortunate. That is what I am talking about. The biggest concern that I had during that whole debate was not that people are not going to be hired; people will be hired. We need that experience to be the same regardless of what airport it is.
As you were just saying, the training has to be much more significant than what it has been. And if we leave the people in charge of the process who have been a part of the process, and I might add that before the Transportation Committee just 2 or 3 weeks ago, we had some of the major airport security companies represented at a meeting, three of the five present were foreign-owned businesses. If we are going to allow people working in our airports for foreign-owned companies to be in line with our Federal security agencies, with information that is critical to the security of the United States of America and allow them to come into this loop, I think that is a ludicrous thing. But at this point, we just have to have a bill before this President to sign so that the country can get back to traveling and feel safe in doing so.
I hope that the House will quickly consider what the Senate put forth and that in our conference, whenever it happens and hopefully it will happen very quickly, maybe Monday or Tuesday of next week, that we can have a bill that the people of this country will be as happy with and feel secure with as they have in the statement that was made very clearly that this whole process be federalized. Regardless of the end run, we have to have the standard in training and in action and in a career path that allow people to keep an interest in the job that they are doing in the hopes that because they do a good job at one level, they will be able to grow from level to level and on through, so it truly becomes a career.
Through that, I think our country will be safer and more secure in their travels, our economy will get back to what it was doing before with so much of it being driven by tourism, by hotels and many other tourist activities that are involved with air travel. I think these are critical pieces.
My plea to our colleagues is that we set aside partisan politics in this matter, do the business that the people of this country want them to, and let us get this bill back over here so we can put it on the President's desk and let it become law.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. I am hoping that is the case. I am very pleased that we have also been joined by the distinguished gentlewoman from California (Ms. Millender-McDonald), whom I believe is as well on the Transportation Committee and the cochair of the Women's Caucus.
I thank the gentleman from Texas for highlighting for us the importance of standards and just how ludicrous it is that we would have incidents like this that are occurring. That is why I believe that our discussion this evening is so important, work yet done that we have to address. I have indicated establishing an expedited process for these children to get their benefits so that they can continue on with their life, so that schools can be notified in case there is a special treatment or special process, a special notice to help them with the trauma that they may be feeling; but yet we also have this airline security bill. Thanksgiving looms, one of the happiest and joyous times when families are going about the country visiting. I want them to do so.
We have been on airlines since September 11. We were leaving to go to our district shortly thereafter to hold forums, as I did and as I know the gentlewoman did, to hold forums to share with people what happened and let them express themselves. At the time, I believe we all committed to working on airport security, to looking at the issues dealing with Afghanistan, to try to deal with the pain of people being laid off. Our work is still yet done.
I am delighted to yield to the distinguished gentlewoman to talk of the work undone and that we must try to finish our legislative business so that some of these people who have been so devastated, whether they have lost loved ones, whether or not they have not got the full confidence of flying, even though we are encouraging everyone, we are not trying to scare people, we are just trying to do our jobs, but we need to finish these tasks. These are very important tasks, so that we can make good on our commitment to the American people.
I yield to the distinguished gentlewoman from California.
Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD. I thank the gentlewoman so much for yielding. Let me commend you on the leadership that you have taken for our children around this country, those who have been devastated by the horrors of September 11, as we call 911, urgency. Let me also commend you on your tenacity to make sure that this House gets in front of it the piece of legislation that will help these children to get benefits for those horrific things that they had nothing to do with: the loss of parents, the loss of loved ones, the loss of even having the ability to carry on without counseling. I would like to join you and the Women's Caucus to call all agencies to see how soon they can expedite the funding, the benefits for these youngsters so we can get counseling done so that they can get back on track. I would love to join you in those efforts.
I also commend you for helping us to categorize just what is left on this floor, why we are still here this November 7 or 8, I have lost count of the dates; but it is because when we rushed to pass an airport bailout, I was all for that, being a senior member of the Aviation Subcommittee of the full Transportation Committee representing California; and I thought this was the proper thing to do, because on the day of 9-11, we had to bring in 2,200 flights from the air to the ground at the request of the Secretary of Transportation and the President and Vice President.
But little did we know that an airline security bill would be this long in coming, for heaven's sake. We thought that after bailing out the airline industry, the secondary thing would be to make sure that all of our folks who work at the airports and on the aircrafts will be secure. Of course we asked for the cockpits to be fortified, and that is what was in all bills. We asked for the flight attendants to get antihijacking training as opposed to some generic type of training. That was put into the bill. We also asked, and I was very dogged about this, that you do not remove these screeners until they have the opportunity to vie for positions, to take exams and to try to keep their jobs. I am livid that that happens and continues to happen. You do not just erase thousands of people off a job just to bring out a whole new crop. You see how qualified those are who are currently in those positions. But the whole thing of federalization comes to be.
And when we talk about security, that is a national issue when it comes to American people. And so I will say to you that I am a little disheartened over the fact that we have not passed as yet the people's bill, because that is the people's bill. That bill will rush people back on to the aircrafts; it will boost our economic stimulus, because what it will do is bring back that $6.6 trillion that we see with the traveling public. It will bring an additional $6.5 trillion that we see in tourism. And so all of those things will help our economic stimulus package.
I am joining the Democrats and especially the Senate side and our side, too, in asking for the stimulus package to include a consumer interest-type of provision for those who are low-income workers who do not have homes but need some type of rebate so that they can go out and join the crowds in the mall with this upcoming big holiday. I would like to ask for $14 billion for tax rebates to low-income workers, $27 billion to spur businesses and their investments.
I would like to also talk about those small businesses that came to talk with me. As the ranking member on the Small Business Committee, I had about 15 businesspeople from lower Manhattan come to meet with me last week. They said, we need some type of stimulus; we need some type of push because we are losing our family businesses in lower Manhattan, New York.
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That is what we are talking about, making sure that small businesses get their rightful stake in this stimulus package.
Lastly, I would like to see the $24 billion that is being requested by Senator Daschle and others who are working on this stimulus package to be for health care and unemployment benefits. If we are going to rush people off of jobs, 100,000, we certainly should have the funding to give them unemployment benefits that they rightfully deserve. We should be able to try to give health care to the over 11 million children who are uninsured and the 44 million adults who are uninsured.
So I thank the gentlewoman tonight for allowing us to bring into focus for the American people the unfinished business, the business that is truly the people's business that is going undone.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman very much for her leadership on this very important issue, and I might ask and pose a question to the gentlewoman as well on this question of unfinished business: Can we do any less?
First, I want to thank her for her leadership, as I indicated, as Chair of the Women's Caucus, and also her work in the Committee on Small Business as well her work on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. All of that seems to be lodged right here.
The gentlewoman raised a point that I think is very important, and I hope in the conference, if they change anything in the bill, they will address the question or at least make known that there are some qualified individuals who are presently working for private contractors who should be given the opportunity to apply. What we are saying is that there are no standards, there is no training, and we are also saying that these private companies have erred toward not paying money, not paying benefits, undermining the quality of the employee so that they can get the cheapest bid.
We know that one of those companies was engaged in O'Hare, and in fact, we have run into that same company engaged in some other activities that brought about tragedies. I think it is well-known and they have been published. So they are really an example, if you will, of the need for not promoting self-interest, if that may be the case, of worrying about what private contractors may be eliminated, and really talking about the public interest, the national interest, of how we can create standards. So I want to applaud the gentlewoman for that.
I think if there is anything else they fix in the conference while they place federalizing the security as a priority out of that conference committee, taking it out of the Senate bill, would be also the eliminating of this super-citizenship, which means you have to be a citizen for 5 years. We respect the fact that there are difficulties in dealing with people who are not citizens, and I have raised that concern.
I have another concern on that issue, but I am going to focus just tonight on making sure if you are a citizen, then there is no reason to put a number of years on it. I do not think we need to do that.
But my question to the distinguished gentlewoman deals with the economic stimulus package, and that is that we are about to enter into the holiday season. We have been charged and challenged by the President to go on with our lives. If there is ever a season where families are out, when consumers present the final indicators of how the economy is doing, it is the Thanksgiving through the holiday season, the many names that the Christmas holiday season is called, whether it is for the different faiths. But it is a holiday season.
I cannot for the life of me understand why we cannot immediately move an economic stimulus package that goes to the consumers, small businesses, to provide for health care and unemployment benefits, not just for the airline workers, but as we are coming to understand, workers around the Nation.
What I believe is so important is getting this message out to the American people of how we need to move on that package.
Ms. MILLENDER-McDONALD. Mr. Speaker, I agree with the gentlewoman. As I have said, and I will reiterate, in order to move any economic stimulus package, you must have people buying into the economy, and in order to do that, you must give low-income workers a rebate so that they can provide the toys and those other types of things that we provide for our children. We can ill afford not to do that.
I also would like to say that when you talk about the private companies engaging in the screening and screeners, we know that those private companies were in violation over millions of dollars. But if we are talking about national security, we have to be careful of how we disseminate information that we want to do now, that we are talking about the integration of information.
We have to be careful how we are going to integrate information coming from the CIA and FBI to some private company, especially foreign-born companies. So we have to be very clear and very careful on that.
Secondly, when you talk about federalizing workers, as a former personnel director, we had a merit system in place in the Federal Government. You will have a merit system, and you cannot just do an exodus of employees without them having their due diligence and fairness. So this is why we need the federalization of those screeners.
I thank the gentlewoman so much for having us come today to talk about this.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. I thank the distinguished gentlewoman. The important point she raised was, first of all, the disseminating of information. When we are looking to secure our airports, share intelligence, would it not be more appropriate to have these particular workers under the Federal auspices, under Federal law enforcement, under the Department of Justice?
Then, with the economic stimulus package, does it make sense to give billions of dollars to corporations, and the consumers are left holding the bag? I would like to say to her, I would like to take her up on that offer in trying to reach out to Federal and local and State agencies to see how they are doing with our children.
Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to be able to yield now to the distinguished gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton).
When I mentioned to her that we were on the floor today to talk about unfinished business, knowing her work in the Committee on the Budget, I know she has great insight into what we need to do with the budget, on how we need to balance the needs for securing this Nation, and also her experience. Both of us have experienced terrible natural disasters, when she had to single-handedly work to help save her hometown and local community of Princeville, and I just experienced Tropical Storm Allison. You have to get busy and finish the job because people are in pain.
I want to thank the gentlewoman for her great leadership on the Committee on the Budget and on the Committee on Agriculture and her knowledge about rural areas.
As I yield to the gentlewoman, no one has really mentioned the last plane fell in Somerset, Pennsylvania. I imagine that was a rural area. We do not know what kind of impact it had, we have not made a determination. There is a lot of work we need to do.
I am delighted to yield to the distinguished gentlewoman from North Carolina (Mrs. Clayton).
Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased to join the distinguished gentlewoman from Texas. Again, I want to join my colleagues in thanking you for arranging this special order so we can talk about the unfinished work that we should complete prior to the holidays or the work we should complete in the next few days or certainly in the next few weeks.
The gentlewoman mentioned the issue of airline security that has been talked about by both of my colleagues who preceded me, being on the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and having interest in the airlines.
I serve on the Committee on the Budget, and today we had a homeland security hearing. At that homeland security hearing we were privileged to have the Director of GAO share with us a number of reports that they had performed throughout, I guess, the last 2 years.
But the latest report that the government is using comes from the GAO audit, which actually was released the very day that President Bush came and spoke to the combined House here in the House of Representatives when he spoke to the Nation. It basically talked about the threats that may affect our homeland security and looked at what the roles of the government should be.
Obviously, there are things we could do now, not only because of that report having been identified, but things we have undertaken on this floor that have not been finalized. As flawed as the transportation piece is that came from the floor, we are hoping that during the conference meeting it will be improved. You have already mentioned some things perhaps it ought to consider.
But we had our opportunity at bat over here, and most honestly, we missed a few balls. But, as they say in the ball game, ``It ain't over until it's over,'' and it is not over until indeed we have finalized the conference bill. So there is hope.
I think we do need to federalize the security. I think it is unthinkable. We would not think of not federalizing the Border Patrol. Those workers are under a certain standard. The idea that we cannot find ways of dealing with them in a fair way, in recruiting those who are among the contractees now who possibly could qualify is to suggest that we do not know how to recruit people. So I think that is a bogus argument that we cannot control, or we do not know how to dismiss them or discipline them.
We know how to discipline our military. They are federalized. They have a certain standard. We know how to discipline our CIA. They have a certain standard. It is the same thing with them. We know how to recruit and employ and discipline the FBI. They are all federalized.
So the intelligence, the military, in fact, the Capitol Police officers, are employed by the Federal Government with certain standards. So to suggest that we need to have a different structure because it is unmanageable does not bear well on the consistency of how we protect ourselves.
I want to spend my time, though, talking about your idea of what we do in terms of children, and I want to parallel some opportunities.
I think in homeland security, as well as national security, we need to take every opportunity to look at our communities in holistic ways. We need to take opportunities as we look at these threats, again referring to the Committee on the Budget, the threats on our water system, threats on our food program, bioterrorism, chemical threats, low-tech threats, all of the information, cyberterrorists, all of these are potential threats that we need to find ways to handle.
But we have an opportunity before we leave in the next few days to make sure we find resources to make it available to our local health departments, our local front-line defenders, to give confidence.
What we have as a result of September 11, America is really feeling great fear and anxiety, more anxiety about the homeland threat than they are about our national threat, to be most honest. Not only with the attack on September 11, but since that we have had the anthrax attacks; and all of those have just raised the level of anxiety and fear and increased the lack of confidence in our infrastructure being capable of responding or protecting us.
The first responsibility a government has is to protect its citizens. The next one, it seems to me, is to give a sense of freedom and opportunity that they can bring their children up or their families can grow and be provided for. We need to make sure that we are providing those necessary resources to shore up our health departments, to shore up our first-line responders, to give them the tools, the information, the technology, the collaboration.
I am pleased that President Bush has appointed someone to focus on that. Governor Ridge has that responsibility, and I am very pleased that that has happened. But that will not do it, just to have a spokesman. He needs to have the authority, plus the local people who will be working with him, whether State or local, need to have the capacity to respond to give our communities that kind of response.
The whole idea of homeland security is, not only have we been threatened physically, but our economy has been threatened, our way of life has been threatened. So we need to give confidence back to families that the government will respond to them in their hour of need.
Yes, we did pass the airline reassurance, or bailout, whatever you want to call it, and perhaps they needed those monies. But I thought it was grossly unfair to put them ahead of people. I thought both of them needed to be helped. I did not think that the big dogs needed to eat before the little dogs. I thought all of them needed help. Children and unemployed people need to have that opportunity.
So we have an opportunity still to make sure we extend those resources, make sure health care is there, and to provide for families to do that.
Finally, I want to parallel children in foreign countries as well. We have made a military response to the attacks, and they were horrific. They were unacceptable and there is no excuse for it. There may be causes, but it is still unacceptable.
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So it was a terrorist act without justification. But nevertheless, in those countries, there is the instability that gives opportunity for terrorists to grow. In those countries are families and children who are suffering. In Afghanistan itself, it is reported as of this last week, 6 million people, most of them women and children. Let me say that again, Mr. Speaker: 6 million people. We are dropping more than 1 million packages of food which will feed for one day. It will not at best respond to more than 1 million. Already they cannot get the food in certain areas. So we need to find ways of working with our allies to bring, in parallel with our military, a humanitarian approach.
Now, the United States has done well in terms of providing food for needy countries, but we can do far more. Our strategy must be one that says our military will always be strong; but our strategy has to be, if we do not want our homeland security and our national security continuously threatened by terrorists who come from unstable situations, we have to be smart enough to try to prevent the cause of that, as we indeed defend militarily anyone who is killed or maimed or brought harm to the American citizen. So we have an opportunity here in this country, both to respond to corporate America, but we also have to respond to the average citizen and children. We also as a great Nation have an opportunity, an obligation to defend our country. So military strategy has to be involved, but at the same time we ought to be doing humanitarian strikes.
So we have an opportunity as we close these last few days, yes, to do the final version of the airline security; and hopefully, they can work out a compromise that will improve what we have, and we certainly need to do more on the stimulus. The stimulus program that we passed in this House is really shameful when we understand the needs of the unemployed, the needs of the children, and the needs of those who do not have opportunities for other resources, and giving them a tax break is not the response that they need for shelter, for clothing, for food, and yes, also for Christmas and toys. They need some basics, and we are not providing that as a great country; and I think we can do that.
Again, I want to thank the gentlewoman for her leadership and her vision to challenge all of us that in these waning days, we have an opportunity, but more than that, we have a challenge and an obligation to make sure we take care of the American people and take care of all of them, not just part of them, all of them. Our humanitarian efforts, our responsiveness to the whole community requires us to look at our infrastructure, requires us to look at our health and education needs, and requires us to look at security of our airlines. But nationally, the reason we have trouble in our homeland security is that we are threatened by those who dislike us enough to kill us. Whether that is reasonable or not, we have to find how we change that. Not to suggest that we ever give up our military response, but we are very shortsighted as a country if that is the only approach. Because what we will be doing is fighting this war sometime next year, the next year and the next year, because what we are doing is giving opportunities for new terrorists to attack us.
So our homeland security and our national security is tied almost the same way in that our policies do matter. There are consequences of our foreign policy and there are consequences from our domestic policy. To the extent that we do patchwork, we get that kind of response. So we have an opportunity to respond to the holistic need and the vulnerability that my people back in my district feel, both physically, but also economically, and the vulnerability that we see that is nationwide is also one of military strength, but also of diplomacy and humanitarian. So we have opportunity.
Again, I thank the gentlewoman for allowing me to participate.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I thank the gentlewoman for bringing her insight to the floor of the House this evening, particularly since the gentlewoman just came out of a very important budget hearing on the question of how we prepare long range.
As the gentlewoman well knows, we have formulated a Homeland Security Task Force that has just presented a report that our caucus has received and reviewed; but what the gentlewoman is highlighting, and I want to yield to the gentlewoman on this question, is that we now have the opportunity. We are here now. This is November. Our work is not yet finished; appropriations bills are yet unfinished. But we need a new bill from the administration and we need the Committee on the Budget engaged so that we can address these issues head-on with a plan. The Committee on the Budget provides the plan, the vehicle, and I know that with some sense of humor; but we will not make light of this. There are always some vigorous debates sometimes between our budget legislators and our appropriators, but we have been working together.
The gentlewoman has seen now what the long-range plans need to be. It does not seem like the economic stimulus package that has been proposed by this House that so many of us opposed took into account the dollars that we might need for long-range planning, and I am going to pose that question to the gentlewoman. As we move through the appropriations process, this economic stimulus package is sort of a part of that; but it has no plan to it, because none of us can comprehend billions of dollars going back to large corporations on tax rebates to them dated back to 1986. My son was born in 1985. It almost looks like we are burdening people with monies that have been long given and really are not at this point the appropriate utilization of precious Federal dollars.
The other point I would like the gentlewoman to be able to comment on, and I thank the gentlewoman for that, I am not sure how we can approach this; but the gentlewoman has highlighted a very important point. What is happening in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan is that children are being sent to these terrorist schools, these schools that are training them for lack of something else to occur in their lives, and they are being led to believe that we are bad and they are good.
Unless we deal with the needs of people, the starving people in Afghanistan, the starving people around the world; in the Sudan, there are tragedies happening there between religious groups; but unless, as I hear the gentlewoman saying, we address the pain of starving, millions of starving Afghanis, millions of starving people who are innocent, the terrible cold that is going to be approaching, and we can certainly salute our military.
By the way, I want to salute them. We are approaching Veterans' Day. I want to thank all of the men and women who are protecting us all over the world who are part of the United States military. But unless we address the question of the pain in this country, and that we take these children away from these kinds of terroristic training, we take them away from being brick makers at 8 years old. I do not know if we know that Afghan children are working at 4 and 5 and 6 and 7 years old to bring home 50 cents a day, 50 cents a week, making bricks. I think the gentlewoman knows that the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Solis) is doing a briefing on Afghan women. We have agreed to join her to do one on a separate day on Afghan children. But as I hear the gentlewoman saying, we have to wake up and address those issues.
I yield to the gentlewoman.
Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, first I think it is almost shameful that we ask the local policemen and the firemen to sacrifice their lives, and yet we give GM and these big corporations big tax breaks, but we do not give the families of these people those kinds of breaks. Just to use the comparison in that stimulus. There are some principles in the stimulus, and the Committee on the Budget might not agree on both sides, but they agree on the principles. The stimulus needs to be short-lived. The stimulus needs to have an effect that it would cause people to have confidence, and also the stimulus would be the one that would bring no harm in terms of increasing the deficit. Also the issue of Afghanistan and what we must do in that area, I think the gentlewoman is right.
I think to the extent we fail to speak to the great gap between societies, we are creating those vacuums where dictators and terrorists come and fill that void. That is what bin Laden did in Afghanistan. That is what we find in other countries where they are harboring terrorists or governments that are unstable. So there is value in America spreading democracy or trying to stabilize those communities for our own selfish interests. It is in our interests to have stability in the Middle East. It is in our self-interests to have stability in Afghanistan and Pakistan, if no more than to keep down the potential of a threat of terrorists; but it is also in our interests in the long run to have trading partners. So we want to secure those.
So both of those questions are very important. Again, I want to thank the gentlewoman for the opportunity, and I want to wish her well in pushing her bill and that we should consider that.
Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman. I thank all of my colleagues who have taken the time to address the question of unfinished business. I started out by saying that 9-11 was a day in infamy, it was a day of pain. It was a day where many of us have said, let us go on with our lives, we do not want to talk about it; but it is the responsibility of those of us in government to talk about it and act upon it to heal the American people.
Let me just summarize what I think our unfinished business is. It is to deal with the children. As I started out, I want to thank the leadership of this House that I understand will possibly be giving us an opportunity to debate this resolution, and I am very pleased with that. I think the Members of the House realize the importance of the long-range impact on the children that lost a parent or guardian or parents on that day. They are going to need foster care assistance, adoption assistance, medical, nutritional, psychological care, educational services and other services.
We realize that those children who are separated from family members are going to need the kind of direction from government, or at least the impetus of government, to encourage that these children get with relatives, close relatives; and then we are going to need to give those relatives the financial support based upon benefits that are due these children. This resolution will address local and State government and the Federal Government to get those benefits out, not handouts, but benefits due these children in a 60-day period from within the determination of the death. We think this is something we can do. I applaud the leadership of the House for the appearing opportunity to do this.
Airline security must be done now, and it must be federalized. The Attorney General said about a private contractor even before this terrible incident in Chicago, an astonishing pattern of crime that potentially jeopardized public safety described one of the private contractors doing Federal security. My friends, let us restore the faith of the American people back into the travel industry, and in particular our airlines, on the brink of this holiday season. I am flying. We are all not trying to create hysteria; but it is long overdue for us to be able to check and to screen checked bags, to be able to train and have standards on people who are checking us into the airport. We do not mind being checked. We just want to make sure that they check us the same way in Atlanta that they do in Chicago; that someone is not just looking at you in Chicago and screening you and all that you have in Atlanta. Standards are extremely important for federalizing.
I plan to offer a bill, it has been in the drafting stages, to outlaw once and for all the idea of knives and such instruments being carried on to planes. I think if the American people know you cannot carry them on, you will be subject to criminal penalties, they will adhere to that; and I believe that is extremely important.
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And then it is crucial in the economic stimulus package that we take care of those individuals who have been laid off through no fault of their own because of this enormous tragedy; that we provide unemployment benefits and health benefits; that we get help to the small businesses that are out there struggling, as they are the infrastructure, the backbone of America; the concessions in the airport are suffering as well; that we provide a rebate to those low-income workers and moderate-income workers who will take those dollars and put them back into the economy as we move toward the holiday season.
Let us not get into any kind of warfare about what large corporations deserve funds and which do not. Let us attempt to do the job, Mr. Speaker; finish our business and provide for the American people through a real stimulus package; with airport security, federalize it and let the conferees do the bidding of the American people.
Then let me be grateful for the fact that we are going to work to help our children. We have not forgotten this family. I would simply say that we have work to do. Let us get it done.
Mr. Speaker, the tragedies of September 11, 2001 left thousands of victims from around the world, killing hundreds from Britain, more than 130 Israelis, more than 250 from India, and scores of others from El Salvador, Iran, Mexico, Japan and elsewhere. Indeed, these attacks against all people, and against all humanity are, as Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani correctly noted, ``more than any of us can bear.''
But perhaps the greatest victims of these tragedies are the yet-to-be counted children whose parents or guardians never came home on September 11, 2001, and never will.
As Chair of the Congressional Children's Caucus, I call on Congress to recognize the uncounted victims of these tragedies: the children. Their slain parents and guardians were the passengers and crew of Flight 77, Flight 11, Flight 93, and Flight 175. They served our great Nation at the Pentagon, both as civilians and military, and they were the thousands of innocent civilians and rescue workers killed or injured at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Today, six weeks after the September 11, 2001 attacks, there is still no official overall count of the bereaved children. Speculation as to just how many children have lost at least one parent or a legal guardian range in the area of 10,000 (based on various news sources and cited last week on National Public Radio by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton) to 15,000 (cited in an editorial in The Times on September 26, 2001), to the conservative estimate of 4,000 who qualify as ``orphans'' under the Twin Towers Orphan Fund. Finally, the early estimate of 1,500 children left by the 700 missing Canter Fitzgerald employees alone is strong evidence that the projections of children affected should be interpreted quite liberally.
Whatever the actual number, one thing is clear--as Members of Congress we must address the needs of our children, the most vulnerable of all Americans, first and foremost.
My resolution before us today, H. Con. Res. 228, addresses this great need. It expresses the sense of the Congress that the children who lost one or both parents or a guardian in the September 11, 2001, World Trade Center and Pentagon tragedies (including the aircraft crash in Somerset County, Pennsylvania) should be provided with all necessary assistance, services, and benefits and urges the heads of Federal agencies responsible for providing such assistance, services and benefits to give the highest possible priority to those children.
This resolution is non-controversial. It merely prioritizes the delivery of Federal benefits currently available under Federal law to children who have lost their parent(s) or guardian in this horrific tragedy. These should include: (1) foster care assistance; (2) adoption assistance; (3) medical, nutritional, and psychological care; (4) educational services; and (5) such additional care or services as may be necessary in light of this tragedy.
Additionally, we urge such agencies, to the maximum extent possible, to take such steps as necessary to ensure that such assistance, services and benefits are provided within 60 days of the date of the determination of the death of the child's parent or guardian.
Much of the funds that would be utilized for services in this legislation would come from the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG). The SSBG is a flexible source of funds that states may use to support a wide variety of social services activities.
In FY 1999, the largest expenditures for services under the SSBG were for child day care, foster care for children, and prevention and intervention services.
There are no federal eligibility criteria for SSBG participants. Thus, states have total discretion to set their own eligibility criteria (with exception of the welfare reform law's income limit of 200% of poverty for recipients of services funded by TANF allotments that are transferred to SSBG). States also have wide discretion over the use of these funds. Federal law establishes the following broad goals toward which social services must be directed: Achieving or maintaining economic self-support to prevent, reduce, or eliminate delinquency; achieving or maintaining self-sufficiency, including reduction or prevention of dependency; preventing or remedying neglect, abuse, or exploitation of children and adults unable to protect their own interests, or preserving, rehabilitating or reuniting families; preventing or reducing inappropriate institutional care by providing for community-based care, home-based care, or other forms of less intensive care; and securing referral or admission for institutional care when other forms of care are not appropriate, or providing services to individuals in institutions.
Federal law also provides the following examples of social services that may relate to these broad goals: Child care, protective services for children and adults, services for children and adults in foster care, health support services, and services to meet special needs of children, aged, mentally retarded, blind, emotionally disturbed, physically handicapped, alcoholics and drug addicts.
My legislation, H. Con. Res 228, would express to the States that these funds be expeditiously distributed to the proper Agencies so that needed services for the children who lost parents or a guardian during the attacks of September 11 may be rendered.
Mr. Speaker, this resolution is greatly needed now.
Foster Care and Adoption Services: These services are crucial to any child who has lost their parent(s) or guardian. The importance of providing such services expeditiously cannot be underestimated, particularly in light of compounding emotional trauma endured by these children.
At a recent Congressional Children's Caucus briefing held on October 12th, 2001, Cindy Freidmutter, Executive Director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute in New York spoke to this issue. She noted that after September 11, the Adoption Institute proposed the Permanency Project to minimize further trauma and uncertainty in the lives of children who lost one or both parents in the attacks.
This project is needed due to the uncertain future faced by children who have lost their parent(s) or guardian. For many of these children, extended family members become decision-makers and permanent caregiver for these children. Some children, however, may not have a relative or friend to assume parental responsibility and eventually enter the public welfare system. Other children find themselves moved around from relative to relative.
Best practices and research in the fields of adoption and child welfare dictate that two considerations should be paramount in offering crisis services to these children and their families/caregivers. First, it is critical to quickly institute and support a stable family structure because repeated changes in caregivers for displaced children can cause irreparable harm. Second, children who have lost their parent benefit by having a permanent caregiver who is a family member or close family friend, and when possible, it is beneficial for such children to remain with their siblings. Separation from remaining biological family members can cause these children significant additional trauma.
This resolution recognizes these needs, and to the greatest extent possible, provides for services that best serve these children.
Medical and Nutritional Services: Without a parent or guardian to provide regular medical and nutritional services, children face worsening situations still. This resolution ensures that such services are available.
Psychological Services: According to the National Mental Health Association, children who experience such trauma are at extreme risk of mental disorders, particularly in situations such as this, where ongoing trauma exists due to the loss of parents or a guardian. For example, children who lost a parent in the Bosnian War still experience chronic depression, post traumatic stress disorder, and grief, even years after the Bosnian War ended. These children have been further deprived of a normal grieving process due to difficult and painful thoughts in the way in which their loved one died. As a result, these children needed and continue to need intensive and long-term mental health services.
Importantly, the trauma that the Bosnian War children endured closely parallels that of the children who lost parents or a guardian in the September 11, 2001 tragedies because the circumstances and violence of the loss is analogous.
The combination of witnessing and experiencing traumatic events and multiple environmental and family factors further contributes to various mental health problems. Statistics indicate that only one in five children with a serious emotional disturbance receive mental health specialty services. That's why I introduced H.R. 75, the ``Give a Kid a Chance Omnibus Mental Health Services Act of 2001'' to promote mental health among all children and their families and to provide early intervention services to ameliorate identified mental health problems in children and adolescents. This legislation is greatly needed, but the resolution before us today, H. Con. Res. 228, effectively address the issue of mental health in our children in light of these tragedies.
Mental health is indispensable to personal well-being, family and interpersonal relationships, and contribution to community or society. This resolution recognizes the need for such services and makes them available.
Educational Services: Clearly, children displaced from their homes, communities, and families must be stabilized as soon as possible, before further damage is done. One of the most important factors in providing such stability immediately, and in preventing further de-
stabilization is maintaining the level of education that existed prior to the loss of the parent(s) or guardian. This resolution provides for such services.
Other Services: Finally, other services may be deemed appropriate in light of the situation as it progresses. While it is impossible to anticipate and enumerate every conceivable situation calling for the need for such services, this resolution recognizes the need for common sense and discretion in determining what services are needed given the particular situation as it applies to children.
Update on Mr. Calderon and His Children: Mr. Calderon is 39 years old and moved to New York City from the Dominican Republic 7 years ago. He and his children currently reside in the Washington Heights neighborhood of Manhattan.
At an October 12 briefing sponsored by the Congressional Children's Caucus, Mr. Calderon spoke about his wife Lizie Martinez-Calderon, who is still missing from the attack at the World Trade Center.
Lizie was employed with Aon Financial Group, which was located on the 100th floor of Tower 2. They were married in 1996.
The Calderons have two young children, Naomi, 4 years old, and Neftali, 20 months, Mr. Calderon is a school bus driver, but was force to take a leave of absence in order to care for his children.
As a result of that briefing, which included a panel of experts whose agencies deliver services to families, Mr. Calderon is now able to provide for his children. The American Red Cross, with the personal assistance of Ron Houle, presented Mr. Calderon with 2 months rent, and will be providing food and winter clothes for his children shortly. Mr. Calderon is also expecting financial assistance from the Red Cross to help with living expenses and to help secure a future for his children. Because of this greatly needed assistance, Mr. Calderon is able to return to his job in a few weeks.
Afghan Children: While H. Con. Res. 228 specifically speaks on the children who lost parents during the September 11 attacks, there are millions of children in Afghanistan who will lose a father and/or mother as a result of the War Against Terrorism. A generation of Afghan children is at risk. We cannot forget these children and they will be the focus on an upcoming briefing co-sponsored by the Children's Caucus.
As Members of Congress, we bare the great burden of providing and protecting these children. This is perhaps our greatest and most sacred responsibility. So today I urge us all to come together as parents, as leaders, and as Americans to provide these children with the services and benefits that they so desperately need are entitled to.
Thank you. God bless the Children, and God bless the United States of America.
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