into the fort payne cultural heritage center. it reveals that the city of fort payne received a $90,000 grant in order to begin construction on this project, which starts this fall. rehabilitation of the coal and iron building into a cultural and heritage center is the kind of thing that ought to be paid for at a state level or at a local level and by local communities. i applaud the ability of the council to make such a grant given the economic conditions that exist out there, but i question, again, whether this is one of those things which rise is to the level of whether it should have another $150,000 of taxpayer money. now, let me, madam chair, this is the fifth and final of various amendments that i have offered on behalf of myself and other members this evening having to do with earmarks. and let me say this, i have heard the passion pleas and i'm sure i will hear another one from people this evening about the importance of the project they are talking about, and i understand that. i get that. we all have things we think ar

payne: i claim the time in opposition. the chair: without objection, the gentleman is recognized. mr. payne: the foreign relations authorization act, which the royce amendment would designate eritrea the state sponsor of terrorism and call on the united nations security council to impose sanctions against eritrea i strongly oppose. while i certainly respect my esteemed colleague from california, ed royce, who served as an excellent chairman of the subcommittee on africa for several years and we worked closely together on many issues and i have a great deal of

first of all, that i have a great deal of respect for chairman payne. we worked together for years on africa issues. we worked together on darfur, sudan, but this is the very issue why we disagree here. because all members should know that it was eritrea that was the first country to invite sudan's president to visitor tria following an arrest warrant for his crimes against humanity in darfur. now, with respect to the issue, i can think of numerous issues and times when congress has had to push and would take sudan an example, since the example i'm giving here is an example in which eritrea has welcomed al-bashir, at a time when the international community is trying to get him to prevent the crimes he's committed in darfur, we have had to push to take more assertive actions. we did that with genocide in sudan. and if my view, there's nothing wrong now, especially with respect to its state sponsorship of terrorism. i think that the assistant secretary of state for africa's words speak for themselves. again, this is secretary carson, before the senate for

christensen: thank you, congressman payne. thank you for your leadership both -- as our leader in africa and global health, as well as for all of the work you have done with us in the caribbean caucus. thank you for joining us this evening. madam speaker, i'd like to ask unanimous consent to enter your statement into the record this evening. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mrs. christensen: thank you. there are so many men and women of caribbean american heritage who have contributed greatly in so many events that have grated ties that forever bind us together. president obama and his proclamation of this year recognizing caribbean american heritage month wrote, and i quote, generations of immigrants have plea served the traditions of their home lands and they define our nation's identity. this multilingual and multiethnic tradition has strengthened our social fabric and enriched the diversity of our nation. he continues, we are neighbors, partners, and friends. we share the same aspirations for our children and re

i also want to recognize a special work done by congressman donald payne who was the founding chair of the friends of the caribbean caucus and congressman kendrick meek, congressman gregory meeks, and of course congresswomany vet clarke. truly all the members are champions of the causes of the caribbean. last year one of our great achievements led by congressman donald payne and you, madam speaker, congresswoman lee, in one of those great efforts pepfar was extended to all of the caribbean for the very first time. two months ago health ministers and caricom leaders met to draft a five-year plan which would build on the pan cap, the pan caribbean partnership to ah.i.v. and aids in this region. the shirley chisholm exchange act of 2009 introduced again by congressional black caucus chairwoman and madam speaker lee, is now working its way through congress. it will help to build a stronger caribbean work force and promote greater collaboration between the united states and the caribbean, as well as a sharing of values and culture. madam speaker, i do have a few colleagues here with me this

payne: to address the house for one minute. revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new jersey is recognized for one minute. mr. payne: mr. speaker, the time has come to take decisive action on health care reform. we simply cannot afford to wait any longer. american families and small businesses have seen the cost of health care coverage steadily rise to the point where many can no longer afford to pay their premiums. we know that our system is broken when we have 46 million americans, many of them in my home state of new jersey, who are only one illness or one accident away from being wiped out financially. as president obama and the majority in congress work to take our nation into a -- in a new direction, we are firmly committed to making improvements in our health care system in a way which will reduce cost, preserve a patient's choice of doctors and plans, and ensure quality, affordable health care for all. it is important that we promote wellness by investing in preventi and educating about healthy life choices. healt

of fruit so they decided to make the first amendment challenge to this marketing program so thomas payne, a lawyer in fresno had been the lawyer for years and was challenging this program every step of the way. he knew every step there was about this marketing program and as the kid got to the supreme court he wanted to hang on to the case like many lawyers do but some of his clients felt this was we are getting away from the facts we need a really good first amend and lawyer and they hired michael mccaul who then went leader on to be a distinguished federal judge because of tremendous first amendment experts as we had to groups of farmers, one sticking with thomas campaign, the other guinn with the new lawyer. they both filed briefs in the case and supreme court didn't know what to do. we had two lawyers, only half hour for them to argue so the clerk of the court actually flip a coin to resolve this unresolvable fight between these two lawyers and thomas campaign had one so he argued the case and almost from the outset you could see that first amendment of the first speech was of no int

people like casper holstein, congressman payne mentioned raymond jones, emil griffin, tim duncan, many, many others. one, denmark vecsey, was born in st. thomas and settled in charleston, south carolina, one of my favorite cities. settled interest in 1783. 17 years later he brought his freedom and inspired, i'm sure by the 1733 african rebellion of st. john and the 1791 successful african rebellion in now haiti, he also planned a well-known slave uprising that was to have taken place in 1822, but was thwarted. i would be truly remiss if i didn't speak briefly about alex ander hamilton who was born in what is now the independent nature of st. kitts and who spent his formative years in st. croix before coming to new york and eventually becoming, quote, arguably the most important figure in american history who never attained the presidency but had a far more lasting impact than many who did. alexander hamilton is credited with having been washington's aide to camp, a revolutionary war hero, a member of the constitutional convention, the leading author of the federalist papers and head of

bipartisan legislation, the paul simon water for the world act of 2009, along with representatives payne, rohrabacher, jesse jackson jr., zach wamp, welch, boozman, burton, george miller and fortenberry. the purpose of this is act to empower the u.s. government to respond to the addressing poverty, security and environmental threats presented by the dire mismanagement and shortage of tpwhrobal fresh water. the goal for the water for the world act is for the united states to provide 100 million people of the world's poorest first-time access to safe drinking water and sanitation on a sustainable basis by 2015. to accomplish this goal the legislation builds on the water for the poor framework for investment, expands u.s. foreign assistance capacity and recognizes sustainable water and sanitation policy as vital to the long-term diplomatic and development efforts of the united states. i applaud the leadership of senators durbin, corker and murray who have introduced companion bipartisan legislation in the senate. this legislation will help the united states focus its efforts and fully imple

payne of new jersey, mr. pomeroy of north dakota, mr. farr of california, mr. ellison of minnesota, ms. hirono of hawaii, and ms. roibled of -- and ms. roybal-allard of california. the speaker pro tempore: the chair lays before the house a communication. the clerk: the honorable the speaker, house of representatives. madam, pursuant to section 4-b of house resolution 5, 111th congress, i am pleased to appoint the following members to the house democracy assistance commission. the honorable david dreier of california. the honorable john boozman of arkansas. the honorable jeff fortenberry of nebraska. the honorable judy biggert of illinois. the honorable bill shuster of pennsylvania. the honorable kay granger of texas. the honorable charles w. boustany jr. of louisiana. the honorable k. michael conaway of texas. the honorable vern cannon of nebraska. i am pleased to fulfill their requests. signed sincerely, john a. boehner, republican leader. the speaker pro tempore: the house will come to order. for what purpose does the gentleman from wisconsin rise? mr. obey:

constitution was so amazing that jefferson commented on it, george washington commented on it, and thomas payne was so pleased with the new constitution he considered applying for polish citizenship. however, catherine the great said if the poles free their serfs, mine will wanted to be free, and she got together with the prussians, and the austrians and they all attacked poland at once. now, kosciuszko who had fought in the american revolution, and was very impressed with the notion of minute mitt men and militias, explained to the poles that we need to have groups that are ready, and different areas, so we'll have our regular army and when the war goes to different regions, we should have local people ready. and at the time, in poland, 80% of the population were serfs, and 10% know built and 10% were jews. now, he wrote, that we need to have a regular army, recruited by force, made up -- if we have a regular arm recruited by force, made up of mole peasant with no legal rights, where government protection of their persons or their property they won't feel ties to our country and not be interes

payne: mr. speaker, today i rise to recognize the day of the african child. which has been celebrated on june 16 each year since 1991. when it was initiated by the organization of african unity, the predecessor to the african union. this year the african union has designated child survival as the theme of this year's day of the african child. according to the united nations children's fund, sub-saharan africa remains the most difficult place in the world for the child to survive. each year 1.2 million children, babies, die each year in the first month of their life. roughly one in six children fail to reach their fifth birthday. in response to these shocking statistics, the african union made child survival the theme of the 15th meeting coming up in 2010. the top five killers of children under age five include neonato calls such as respiratory infections, h.i.v. and aids. mr. chairman we encourage the legislators to support this. i join in solidarity with uni self for the africa child -- unicef for the african child. for what purpose does -- the speaker pro t