dr. martin luther king jr., who abust is in our capitol rotunda, coretta scott king, his widow, rosa parks, medgar evers, benjamin hooks. and i must mention, a.w. willis, johnny turner and others. that you are unwavering commitment to promote civil rights for all americans is a great tradition that the naacp continues today. i am a member of the naacp and am proud of it. i encourage members to support the naacp. i congratulate the naacp on its 101st milestone and urge my colleagues to support this important resolution and reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves the balance of his time. the gentleman from texas. mr. smith: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. smith: mr. speaker, this resolution recognizes the 101st anniversary of the founding of the national association for the advancement of colored people. this resolution also praises the naacp for its work to secure the political, educational, social and economic equality of all persons. phe naacp was founded on february 12, 1909, i

dr. martin, and stipward and thomas williams. i join with the comments of all of my colleagues ining you for your diligence and recognizing the burden this has put on your department. you didn't sign up to deal with an oil spill. you thought you were going be worrying about jack rabbits in the west and occasional wilderness issues. and you had to take this on and you deserve all of the compliments you received from this committee. i do want to put this in the report with my own observation with respect to the issues that the senator has raised. >> we will be glad to include whatever you have in the record and what the senator offered as well. >> i appreciate the comment that the engineers played and will continue to play as we try to move forward with a new safety regime. let me also just comment that when i s up for this job, i signed up for it because it is the view of america. i describe it as going from sea to shining sea as well as the 1.75 billion acr of the inner continental shelf. we have a job to do to deal with the futu

dr. martin luther king. it is much needed. as a little boy, my mother would tell me when things became strained, a little founder comes before every rainbow -- thunder comes before every rainbow. this has an application to politics, too. it is urgent to win the current battles for unemployment compensation, financial reform, education -- the harkin jobs bill and the other bills -- their passage will make a difference for millions of families living on the edge. a friend of mine said to me, " sometimes a piece of legislation makes only an inch of difference. but do not forget a lot of people live on that inch." also, without small changes like financial reform, it is difficult to make big changes and to stay with the wall street example, turning our financial system into a democratically- run, public utility. i got a kick out of the republican senator mitch mcconnell. i think he was talking about the negotiations going on in the senate over the details of the financial reform bill. his reply was that the government is taking ov

dr. martin, and stipward and thomas williams. i join with the comments of all of my colleagues ining you for your diligence and recognizing the burden this has put on your department. you didt sign up to deal with an oil spill. you thought you were going be worrying about jack rabbits in the west and occasional wilderness issues. and you had to take this on and you deserve all of the compliments you received from this committee. i do want to put this in the report with my own observation with respect to the isss th the senator h raised. >> we will be glad t include whatever you have in the record and what the senator offered as well. >> i appreciate the comment that the engineers played and will continue to play as we try to move forward with a new safety regime. let me also just comment that when i up for this job, i signedp f it because it is the view of america. i describe it as going from sea to shining sea as well as the 1.75 billion acres of thenner continental shelf. we have a job to do to deal with the future plans.and we

dr. martin luther king jr. once said that violence is the language of the unheard.voting in america is supposed to be the language of our democracy. so if people can't vote or express themselves through he franchise hen indeed there is trouble ahead. every election cycle, and you would hear my colleague enumerate some of the documented difficulties people face. especially in communities of color. most people with disabilities and people who are new voters. who they face every election cycle and every election day we see 1,000 points of fight with election officials about whether people who are eligible to vote and want to vote but are prevented frm voting because of different barriers in the registration process, eople with felony convictions, the only group of member -- mentally competentdlts in our country that cannot vote, especially of certain state, even after they have paid their debt to society and are now part of the tax paying population cannot express their voices through the ballot box because of senfranchisement laws that keepthem unable to participate.

martin nussbaum will take your phone calls on "and debt." -- in depth." south carolina's primary election is next tuesday. . >> representatives of all three can enter the question. dr. rex will go first. >> as part of your jobs initiative, proposed following items -- ged's for those who enter prograas, unemployment benefits for those getting retreated high demand field, tuition reimbursement in high demand field, work share options for employers, tax breaks and regulatory relief for small businesses, and expansion of public transportation in rural areas for employees to get to their jobs the tax revenues are at best flat and probably diminishing over the next few years and your proposal would add new costs to the state budget, would you pay for these or by budget cuts in other areas? if its budget cuts, what would those areas be? >> thank you. let me first say thank you to everyone. i was the first dean of education at coastal and its former provost share. here. thank you for outlining some of those approaches. south carolina has serious problems now. we are going in the wrong direction with our economy. we need comprehensive tax reform. every economist who has loo