mrs. christensen: thank you. at this time i'm joined by two of my colleagues and i'd like to yield to the gentlelady from ohio who had the responsibility in the last congress and who led us in these special orders for two years religiously and with a lot of conviction and great information to share with the american people, congresswoman marcia fudge of ohio. ms. fudge: thank you so much. mr. speaker, i'd like to thank representative christensen for anchoring today's timely c.b.c. special order on unemployment in the african-american community and job creation. it is no secret that the unemployment rate for african-americans is almost twice that of the national unemployment rate. studies show that 16.7% of all african-americans are unemployed. it's probably closer to 20% when you take into consideration those who have given up looking for jobs or who are severely underemployed. in some cities it is nearly three times the national unemployment rate. and, mr. speaker, the people i represent, i'm not talking about b

mrs. christensen: thank you, mr. chairman. as a physician and a mother and a person of the racial minority i rise in opposition to 2250, as well as 2861, which just passed and in strong support of the waxman amendment which i urge every colleague to support. both bills, h.r. 2861 and h.r. 2250, essentially wipe out e.p.a.'s regulations, first of cement kilns, now industrial boimers and incinerators, and it would have significant public health impacts because it would allow high emissions of dangerous pollution that -- pollutants that would cause more as marks heart attacks, birth defects, impaired brain development which i'll come back to and other illnesses at a time when we're working to improve the health of all americans, reduce health care costs and we're already struggling to remain competitive. all e.p.a. is asking these entities to do is to meet the best existing standards in the industry, existing standards. standards that they've had years to meet. mr. chairman and colleagues, allowing these regulations to go forward

mrs. christensen: thank you, mr. speaker. i expect to be joined by a few colleagues, but i want to take this opportunity to thank the democratic leader for allowing the congressional black caucus to control this hour of special orders. here we are again, mr. speaker, 10 months into this congress and not one job-creating bill has been brought to the floor. i know the people in my district are suffering as are constituents in all of our districts and we need to do something significant to help them, not next year, but now. as a physician, it amazes me that it's even affecting people's health. it's increasing violence and crime in some of the hardest hit communities. when we were here a few -- a few weeks ago, i was remarking on an article that showed how the mortgage crisis was affecting people's health adversely. but of course joblessness is. people don't have insurance they don't have money to buy their medications, they're putting off needed health care to try to save money for other things to provide a roof over their fam l