E1674 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks August 1, 2007 INTRODUCTION OF THE UNI- Because of decades of refusal by Congress He has managed several successful local VERSAL PRE-KINDERGARTEN to approve the large sums necessary for uni- and State political campaigns. Mr. Pugh AND EARLY CHILDHOOD EDU- versal health coverage, the Universal Pre-K served as chair of the Saginaw County Rev- CATION ACT OF 2007 Act encourages school districts across the erend Jesse Jackson for President Committee United States to apply to the Department of in 1984 and 1988. Rev. Jesse Jackson won in HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON Education for grants to establish three and Saginaw County in 1984. In 1988, again under OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA four-year-old kindergartens. Grants funded Mr. Pugh’s leadership, Jackson won the Sagi- IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES under Title IV of the Elementary and Sec- naw district. Mr. Pugh served as a delegate to ondary Education Act, ESEA, would be avail- the National Democratic Convention in 1988 Tuesday, July 31, 2007 able to school systems which agree in turn to and 1992. Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, I am intro- use the experience acquired with the Federal His community involvement includes: found- ducing today the Universal Pre-kindergarten funding provided by my bill to then move for- ing board member of the Ruben Daniels Edu- and Early Childhood Education Act of 2007 ward, where possible, to phase in three and cational Foundation, member of Saginaw (Universal Pre-K) to begin the process of pro- four-year-old kindergartens for all children in County Mental Health Authority, chair of the viding universal, public school pre-kinder- the school district in regular classrooms with Saginaw Branch NAACP ACT–SO Program, garten education for every child, regardless of teachers equivalent to those in other grades member of Zion Missionary Baptist Church income. as part of their annual school district budgets. Deacon Board, chair of New You Design The bill is meant to fill the gaping hole in the The success of high quality Head Start and Men’s Apparel Store, managed local campaign President’s No Child Left Behind law, which other pre-kindergarten programs combined efforts for Rev. Jesse Jackson, President Bill requires elementary and secondary school with new scientific evidence concerning the Clinton and Democratic presidential nominee children to meet more rigorous standards importance of brain development in the early John Kerry. while ignoring the preschool years which can years virtually mandate the expansion of early During his 36 years at Delta College, he de- best prepare them to do so. My bill would pro- childhood education to all of our children. Tra- veloped a wide range of programs and initia- vide a breakthrough in elementary school edu- ditionally, early learning programs have been tives to assist students and the Saginaw urban cation by taking a step at the Federal level to available only to the affluent and to lower in- community. Delta College’s faculty and staff provide initial funding, and using such funding come families in programs such as Head recognized Mr. Pugh in 1980 and 1995 for his to encourage school districts themselves to Start. My bill provides a practiced way to extensive service to the college and commu- add a grade to elementary schooling at ages gradually move to universal pre-school edu- nity when he was presented the American As- three and four as an option for every child. cation. The goal of the Universal Pre-K Act is We cannot afford to continue to blithely let to bring the benefits of educational pre-K with- sociation of University Professor, AAUP, the most fertile years for reading go by while in reach of the great majority of American Award, the highest honor bestowed upon col- we wonder why we can’t teach Johnny to working poor, lower middle class, and middle lege administrators. read. As the President presses No Child Left class families, most of whom have been left Mr. Pugh is married to Carolyn. They have Behind into high schools, my bill asks him to out. three daughters, Yvette, Pamela, and Canika, begin at the beginning when children should Considering the staggering cost of daycare, and three grandchildren, Andrea, Delyn, and begin their education. the inaccessibility of early education, and the Kevin John. The Universal Pre-K Act responds both to opportunity earlier education offers to improve Madam Speaker, I ask the House of Rep- the huge and growing needs of parents for a child’s chances in life, three and four-year- resentatives to join me in congratulating John educational childcare and to the new science old kindergarten is overdue. The absence of Pugh on his retirement from Delta College. He showing that a child’s brain development, viable options for working families demands has devoted his life to nurturing the next gen- which sets the stage for lifelong learning, be- our immediate attention. eration of our country’s leaders and has made gins much earlier than previously believed. I strongly urge my colleagues to support this the world a better place. However, parents who need childcare for their legislation. pre-K aged children are rarely able to afford f f the stimulating educational environment nec- TRIBUTE TO JOHN L. PUGH essary to ensure optimal brain development. COUNCIL OF KHALISTAN WRITES Universal pre-K education would be a part of TO CHIEF MINISTER TO DEMAND school systems, adding a new grade for three- HON. DALE E. KILDEE WITHDRAWAL OF WARRANT and four-year-olds similar to five-year-old kin- OF MICHIGAN AGAINST DR. UDHOKE AND RE- IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES dergarten programs now routinely available in LEASE OF MANN the United States. The bill would eliminate Tuesday, July 31, 2007 some of the major shortcomings of the uneven Mr. KILDEE. Madam Speaker, I rise today HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS commercial daycare now available and would to recognize the accomplishments of John L. OF NEW YORK assure the qualified teachers and safe facili- Pugh as he retires from Delta College after 36 ties of public schools. years of service. John will be honored at a IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES This bill’s introduction is particularly timely party of Friday, August 3, in Saginaw, MI. Tuesday, July 31, 2007 here in the District of Columbia, where more John Pugh was born in Shubuta, MS, where extensive integration of early childhood edu- he attended public school through eighth Mr. TOWNS. Madam Speaker, as I have cation is planned as part of a larger effort to grade. He completed his secondary education discussed recently, the Punjab Government improve D.C. public schools. A recent report in Newton, MS. He received his B.A. degree, has issued an arrest warrant against Dr. highlighted the economic benefits of early cum laude, in economics from Florida Agricul- Sukhpreet Singh Udhoke for the crime of writ- childhood education, generating $221 million tural and Mechanical University, Tallahassee, ing about Sikh freedom and criticizing the each year in the District while starting early to FL, and his master degree from the University chief minister. Mr. Mann’s crime was placing a expand job, career, income, and academic of Toledo in 1971. He also attended Tougaloo picture at the statue of the brutal late chief prospects of children, decreasing the amount College, Tougaloo, MS, and spent 4 years in minister, . spent on social programs to address teen the U.S. Air Force before entering Florida A The Council of Khalistan has recently writ- pregnancy, crime, and the like. and M University. ten to Chief Minister to Compare the cost of daycare, most of it of- John Pugh became involved in politics, eco- demand the withdrawal of the warrant against fered today with an inadequate educational nomic empowerment, and civil rights efforts as Dr. Udhoke and the release of Mr. Mann. We emphasis, at an average cost of $6,171 per a freshman at Tougaloo College, where he should join in that demand, Madam Speaker. year, to the cost of in-state tuition at the Uni- worked with Medgar Evers on a successful We should stop aid and trade with to versity of Virginia, which costs $6,785 per public boycott that encouraged businesses in support rights for everyone and we should de- year. Yet, more than 60 percent of mothers Jackson, MS, to hire African-American em- mand a free and fair vote on freedom for with children under age six work. That propor- ployees. He continued his community involve- Khalistan, the Sikh homeland, for Nagalim, for tion is rapidly increasing as more mothers ment during his 3 years as a student at Flor- Kashmir, and for the other nations seeking enter the labor force, including mothers leav- ida A and M University as he worked on local their freedom. ing welfare, who also have no long term ac- campaigns for Black mayoral candidates and I would like to add that letter to the RECORD, cess to child care. helped develop a student magazine. Madam Speaker.

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COUNCIL OF KHALISTAN, the Guru Granlh Sahib. Sant Jarnail Singh Mr. Badal, I urge you to get on the right side Washington, DC, June 28, 2007. Bhindranwale and his supporters peacefully of history today. Or would you rather be re- Hon. PARKASH SINGH BADAL, protested outside. Your police fired on the membered as an enemy of the Sikh Nation? Chief Minister of Punjab, protestors, killing 13 of them, then your po- Sincerely, , Punjab, India. lice escorted the Nirankari leader, GURMIT SINGH AULAKH, DEAR CHIEF MINISTER BADAL: I am writing Gurbachan Singh, safely out of Punjab. President, Council of Khalistan. to you regarding the recent arrest warrant Apparently, you were not through trying f for Dr. Sukhpreet Singh Udhoke and the ar- to destroy Sant Bhindranwale. According to rests of Sardar Simranjit Singh Mann and letters reprinted in the book Chakravyuh: PERSONAL EXPLANATION his associates. As you know, both were in- Web of Indian Secularism, you, along with volved in peaceful political action, which is Harcharan Singh Longowal and the late protected under the Indian constitution, at Gurcharan Singh Tohra, invited the Indian HON. LUIS V. GUTIERREZ the time the warrants for their arrests were government to attack the Golden Temple in OF ILLINOIS issued by your government. Dr. Udhoke’s of- June 1984 to kill Sant Bhindranwale. 37 other IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES fense was publishing articles critical of you. Gurdwaras were attacked simultaneously. Tuesday, July 31, 2007 Sardar Mann’s was protesting and placing a Over 20,000 Sikhs were killed in those at- picture of a Sikh martyr at the statue of the tacks. Their blood is on your hands, Mr. Mr. GUTIERREZ. Madam Speaker, I was brutal, genocidal Beant Singh, who presided Chief Minister. unavoidably absent from this Chamber yester- over the murders of over 50,000 Sikhs. Mann Furthermore, your government in your day. Had I been present, I would have voted had previously been arrested for the dan- previous term was the most corrupt in ‘‘yea’’ on rollcall votes 758, 759, 760, 761, and gerous crimes of making a speech and raising Punjab’s history. You creatively invented a a flag. new term for bribery; ‘‘fee for service.’’ No 762. You have been in opposition. You have en- fee, no service. The sale of government of- f gaged in political activities while in opposi- fices was standard operating procedure. Your tion. What would you think if you were ar- wife even developed the handy skill of being INTRODUCTION OF THE ‘‘POVERTY rested for those activities? That is exactly able to tell how much money was in a bag MEASUREMENT IMPROVEMENT what your government is doing to S.S. Mann just picking it up. ACT’’ and proposes to do to Dr. Udhoke as soon as Furthermore, your operatives are calling you can find him. this office repeatedly and harassing me When did the right to protest peacefully about my website because it exposes you. HON. JERRY WELLER disappear in Punjab, Khalistan? Are you de- You may be able to suppress the freedom of OF ILLINOIS termined to prove the late General Narinder Sikhs in Punjab, but you cannot stop the IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Singh right that ‘‘Punjab is a police state’’? Sikh diaspora from exposing your brutal and Tuesday, July 31, 2007 On behalf of the 25 million strong Sikh Na- corrupt acts. Remember that Sikhs have a tion in Punjab, in India, and around the long memory of those who are traitors and Mr. WELLER of Illinois. Madam Speaker, world, I am writing to demand the with- murderers and who cooperate with the op- today I am introducing the ‘‘Poverty Measure- drawal of the arrest order against Dr. pressors of the Sikh Nation. K.P.S. Gill’s Udhoke and his associates and the imme- ment Improvement Act.’’ This legislation is de- turban is still preserved in Belgium. When diate release of Simranjit Singh Mann and signed to improve the way our Nation counts Khalsitan is free, it will be on display so that his associates. I do not do this for political various antipoverty benefits we currently pro- the Sikh Nation will never forget those who reasons; Mann has been a vocal critic of this vide low-income families—to better understand committed atrocities against us. office and has cooperated with the Indian Punjab’s water is being taken away by both who is poor and how effective those anti- government. But if you truly believe in de- non-riparian states without compensation. poverty efforts are. mocracy—the system that put you back in At least your predecessor, who is from the The Ways and Means Committee and its In- power earlier this year—then you cannot in Congress Party, the enemy of all Sikhs, tried come Security and Family Support Sub- good conscience arrest people for dissent. Indeed, Mann’s arrest shows what can hap- to do something about it. He cancelled the committee, on which I serve as ranking mem- pen to a Sikh even if he cooperates with the water agreements. The bill passed by the ber, has recently held a series of hearings on Indian government, as you have done Legislative Assembly expressly affirmed the poverty, reviewing the cost of poverty, how throughout your political career to the det- sovereignty of Punjab. Under your rule, the economy of Punjab is U.S. poverty measurement differs from other riment of the Sikh Nation. One day, your deteriorating. Sikh farmers are committing countries, and possible solutions to poverty. utility to them will be exhausted and they suicide because they cannot make a living, As several Members noted in those hear- may then have you thrown in jail for a peaceful political activity—simply because due to the fact that your friends in Delhi ings, one of the first failings of our current you are a Sikh. Who will you turn to defend force them to pay exorbitant prices for fer- poverty measure is the fact it does not count you then? To this office? tilizer and seeds, but forces them to sell tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer funded Yet while you seem intent on prosecuting their crop at substandard prices. And you, assistance provided to reduce poverty for lit- peaceful dissent, you are unwilling to take who as Chief Minister and head of the Akali erally millions of families each year. action against those who commit murder Dal are supposed to protect the interests of the Sikhs, sit there and kowtow to these This omission limits the usefulness of to- and other serious crimes. Is that because of day’s poverty measure. It also devalues the your alliance with the BJP, which is the po- criminals. litical arm of the pro-Fascist, militant Even though the government of Pakistan sacrifices of taxpayers who pay for those ben- Hindu nationalist, anti-Sikh RSS? said it would build a road to Kartapur, where efits with their hard-earned tax dollars. And it When you were elected in 1997, you prom- Guru Nanak went to his heavenly abode, increases the apparent number of families in ised the Sikhs of Punjab that you would ap- with no visas, your government has refused poverty. point a commission to inquire into the atroc- to build the Punjab side of the road so that On August 1 the Income Security Sub- ities in Punjab and prosecute the police offi- Sikhs can go freely to this sacred site. From these actions, it is clear where your committee will hold another hearing on how cers who murdered Sikhs. Instead, you pro- poverty is measured in the U.S. Several wit- tected SSP Swaran Singh Ghotna, who mur- loyalties lie, and they are not with the Sikh dered Akal Takht Jathedar Gurdev Singh Nation or with the Sikh religion or with the nesses will suggest counting the value of Kaunke. people of Punjab, but with the violent, pro- more antipoverty benefits to determine wheth- Just recently, Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh Fascist, murderous Hinducrat thugs from er families are poor or not. That is exactly was fraudulently dressing as Guru Gobind Delhi who sponsor you and your career. But what the ‘‘Poverty Measurement Improvement Singh, performing baptisms that are re- remember the warning I gave you earlier; Act’’ would do. Major assistance not counted served for the Panj Piaras, and advertising it when they are through with you, when you today includes food stamps, public housing, in the newspaper. This was a desecration of no longer have any usefulness to them, they the Sikh religion and a fraud. Yet you met will dispense with you as they have dis- earned income tax credits, and health cov- with Ram Rahim to ask for his political sup- pensed with so many other Sikhs who have erage. These also constitute the fastest grow- port. But you couldn’t even succeed in per- served them. ing portions of our Nation’s safety net de- suading this corrupt baba to support you! That is why it is incumbent on every Sikh signed to help low-income families escape Yet when he perpetrated this fraud, you pro- to engage in the ‘‘long struggle’’ to free poverty. So unless we act, more and more of tected him until the political pressure to Khalistan. Only then will Sikhs such as Dr. our effort to alleviate poverty will be ignored prosecute him got too intense. He still has Udhoke, Sardar Mann, and even the likes of each passing year. you be protected from the violent and brutal not been arrested, nor has an arrest warrant Consider what this means for families. been issued. I guess the jails are too crowded whims of the oppressive Hindustani regime. from holding the likes of Dr. Sukhbir Singh It is crucial to protect the Sikh religion and Let’s say the Jones family of four has an Udhoke and Simranjil Singh Mann. the Sikh Nation from this oppression by lib- annual income of $30,000—all from wages. In 1978, during your Chief Ministership, the erating Khalistan today, in accord with our Current rules count wages as income for pur- Nirankari cult had a meeting and desecrated declaration of October 7, 1987. For your good, poses of judging whether a family is poor.

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