EC from DC - April 17, 2013

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What happened in Boston is quite simply – unimaginable. On a day when friends and families gathered, traveling from all over the world to celebrate and strive for greatness, an act of terror destroyed lives and shattered a sense of security. But this terrorist, or group of terrorists, whether foreign or domestic, will never succeed in robbing us of our way of life – nor will they escape our system of justice. I extend my deepest sympathies and my prayers to the families and loved ones of all of those killed and injured in this heartless attack. I commend the brave responders in Boston, and the kind and generous spirit of all of those Bostonians, and others, who rushed to help. They exhibited the true spirit of America.

This weekend my wife, Dianne, and I were proud to host the Congressional Art Contest for Missouri's Fifth District. "A Voyage of Artistic Discovery" featured artwork from approximately 20 area high schools and more than 200 students.

All of the pieces of art, and there were more than 250 of them, left my wife and I in complete amazement. And I'm happy to share that for the first time, 10 pieces submitted in the contest will be displayed in the Crossroads Art District in Kansas City this year.

Judges selected First through Fifth place winners for the competition, along with an Honorable Mention. Those names are listed below.

On behalf of Dianne and I – we consider all of the students winners in our book. A great job to all!

When I was young, growing up in a shack in Waxahachie, Texas, we had nothing, but my grandmother still found a way to help those who came to knock on the door, seeking a small sign of kindness and something to eat. As a nation, we can and we must do more to ensure every American, and especially every veteran, has access to a safe and affordable place to call home. The State of Homelessness, a report released last week by the National Alliance to End Homelessness, is the first step in that process. This report is full of these kinds of updates, some cause for pause, some cause for praise, and all cause for continued, concerted action.

Housing has been a lifelong issue for me. Public housing was a step up the economic ladder from the life my family started in a shack in Ellis County, Texas. My father worked three jobs to get us out of public housing and into our first home where my father still resides. There were four children in our family. All four children graduated from high school and college and two earned advanced educational degrees. Much of our educational accomplishments occurred while we lived in public housing.

Sadly, an estimated 537,414 people in 172,767 families used an emergency shelter or transitional housing program during 2011. Missouri was one of several states to experience an increase in homelessness each year between 2007 and 2011. Just more than 1 in 200 people in the United States became homeless at some point during the year. Members of minority groups are at greatest risk of becoming homeless (1 in 128), and the likelihood of a member of a minority group becoming homeless is nearly double that of their risk of being diagnosed with cancer.

Veterans also have a higher risk of becoming homeless when compared to other adults, as 1 in 154 veterans were homeless. Sometimes our discussions about how we address homelessness can become very technical. We can get mired in definitions and program specifics. But we must not lose sight of the fact that this is about real people and the real stories of their lives.

If you want to read more, you can read the full report here.

This week I, along with my colleague Congressman Sam Graves (R-MO06), introduced new legislation (H.R. 1454) to help area farmers, ranchers and producers recover from last year's record drought. This legislation would make critically important supplemental agriculture disaster assistance available.

Congressman Graves and I both believe the bond between rural and urban legislators needs to be strengthened, so our constituents are represented fairly and treated justly in Washington.

"The livestock industry is critical to Missouri's economic well-being," said Congressman Graves. "For instance, Missouri is the second largest producer of beef cattle in the nation, and sixth in overall cattle production. But cattle farmers and other livestock producers have been particularly hard hit by last year's historic drought. Our bill helps them receive assistance so they don't lose their livelihoods."

Last year's drought was devastating and I have spent numerous hours with constituents listening to concerns. The driving force behind this legislation is to provide much needed relief. The hope is, as well, to push leadership into action on disaster assistance and on the reauthorization of a long overdue 5-year farm bill.

The bill would extend disaster assistance to programs that expired in October of 2011 and make funds available for Fiscal Year 2012-2013. It would extend 4 of the 5 USDA disaster programs that were created in the 2008 Farm Bill. The authorization for these programs expired in October of 2011. They were reauthorized in legislation this past January, but they were not given specific funding levels.

This legislation includes changes in the Livestock Indemnity Program (LIP), the Livestock Forage Program (LFP), Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Bees, & Farm-raised Fish (ELAP), the Tree Assistance Program (TAP), and fruit losses from 2012 freezes in the Noninsured Crop Disaster Assistance Program (NAP).

I hope we can keep these crucial safety net programs available and accessible to those who desperately need them. And I will continue to keep you updated on the progress of this legislation.

A member of the U.S. House of Representatives wanted to show the new pastor of the church, to which he and his family belonged, how his stewardship had changed the landscape in his congressional district. He picked the pastor up at the parsonage and quickly pointed out that the bridge which they crossed was a million dollar earmark, which he secured. Soon they came to a veteran's shelter, "Pastor, I thought that it was an insult to our brave boys and girls who went into battle for this nation and returned home only to sleep on the streets, so I helped get a sizeable grant to build this shelter, which the good people who operate this facility named in my honor."

After a drive across town, the congressman pointed out the light rail central station, and began waxing poetically, "I was expungeably fruitful in wrestling about 45 million from the Department of Transportation and I am working on another big chunk of dollars to get it finished."

The sufficiently proud congressman then drove to a community health center which he explained was built with his good work in the Capitol. Finally, the congressman said, "Reverend, this is just a short look at what I have done…so what do you think?" The pastor paused for a few seconds and said, "While all this good work is fabulous, if tomorrow you die, is it enough to bring folks out to your funeral on a rainy day?"

To be sure, the work we do to improve the lives of real people in our districts is essential; most of us want to be long remembered for changing, for the better, the congressional districts we were employed to represent. But as George Washington wisely noted, "It should be the highest ambition of every American to extend his views beyond himself, and to bear in mind that his conduct will not only affect himself, his country, and his immediate posterity; but that its influence may be co-extensive with the world, and stamp political happiness or misery on ages yet unborn."

Years later, after we have gone and the fruits of our labor have passed, how will we have influenced this enduring body? Will we join our Founding Fathers and help push our great experiment in democracy to its zenith, or fail to hear the foreboding chorus, ever increasing its raucous roar?

Over the years of serving in public office, I have come to believe that while my work is meaningful, I am, on my greatest legislative days, so very small walking through the halls of history where giants have wandered.