[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 175 (Monday, December 8, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H12880-H12881]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           REGARDING THE FIRST SESSION OF THE 108TH CONGRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HASTERT. Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening with sadness at the 
passing of Joe Skeen. Joe Skeen was a friend of mine, a great member of 
this Congress for many years from New Mexico, somebody who served this 
Congress with great love, with great compassion, and a steady hand. We 
will all miss him. He chose not to run in the last Congress, but he was 
a great friend; and his funeral will be this coming Thursday, and later 
on we will have a session to honor him.
  Mr. Speaker, I also rise this evening to give an end-of-the-session 
assessment of the first session of the 108th Congress, to recount our 
accomplishments and to review what we have left to do.
  This session of Congress commenced as we were engaged in a struggle 
against terrorism and as our economy struggled in a near recession. We 
opened this session with three major goals: first, to make our Nation 
safer from terrorists and those states that support them; second, to 
grow our economy and create jobs for American workers; and, third, to 
make America a better place to live for all of our citizens. We have 
had a notable success in all three areas.
  First, we have made this country more secure from foreign threats. 
The Congress passed and the President signed three different 
supplemental appropriation bills to support our efforts on the war on 
terror. This helped pay for the war in Iraq and for our continued 
efforts in Afghanistan. And, of course, the American people are greatly 
concerned for the safety of our troops in both places, but we must 
continue to support our brave men and women as they fight to defend our 
freedom and to defeat the terrorists who want to bring death and 
destruction to our homeland.
  Saddam Hussein's Iraqi regime and the Taliban's Afghan regime 
actively supported terrorist organizations. Al-Qaeda trained in both 
countries. Now, both countries are making the tough, but vitally 
important, transition to democratic government. Changing terrorist-
supporting dictatorships into democracies is hard work, but it is 
important work for our national security.
  We also passed defense appropriations and authorization bills that 
included necessary long-term funding for our defense efforts and 
included a pay increase for our troops and a historic change in the 
disabled veterans compensation. For the first time since the Civil War, 
many disabled veterans will be able to receive both their disability 
payments and their retirement benefits.
  The President also signed into law the Military Family Tax Relief 
Act, which provides overdue tax relief targeted to our dedicated 
servicemen and their families.
  September 11 also proved that we must be vigilant on our home front. 
That is why we created the Department of Homeland Security in the last 
Congress. In this session we created a Select Committee on Homeland 
Security and a Subcommittee on Homeland Security of the Committee on 
Appropriations so that this Department would have the proper funding 
and oversight. Indeed, the Congress completed work on the first 
appropriation bill dedicated solely to homeland security this year.
  The second challenge we faced at the beginning of this year was a 
slowing economy. The economy faced the twin shocks of a bursting high-
tech bubble and the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. Those 
shocks undermined both business and consumer confidence, while 
shattering investor confidence. We had to do something about it. We 
passed the President's economic growth package aimed at restoring 
confidence in the business, consumer, and investor sectors. Coupled 
with the earlier tax cut signed into law in 2001, these tax relief 
bills accomplished all three goals. It gave small businesses the relief 
they needed to buy more equipment and incentives to expand their 
businesses. It returned more money to consumers so that they could 
spend more. And it inspired investors to return back to the markets.
  The results have been better than expected. The economic growth rate 
hit 8.2 percent in the last quarter. Manufacturing output is at the 
highest levels in 2 decades. The Dow Jones has reached its highest 
level in 18 months. And the job rate shows the best signs of 
improvement in 2 years.

                              {time}  1800

  Aside from the war and the economy, our Nation faced other 
challenges.
  Health care costs continue to be one of the top concerns of our 
citizens. We passed historic reform of the Medicare system that will 
now include a prescription drug benefit for the first time in history. 
I am very proud that we kept our promise to senior citizens by 
delivering this most important reform.
  The prescription drug benefit means that never again will low-income 
seniors have to face the choice between putting food on the table or 
paying for

[[Page H12881]]

life-saving prescription drugs. It also means that seniors with high-
cost drugs will have an insurance benefit that will protect them. 
Finally, the average senior will get their drug costs reduced by up to 
60 percent because of this far-reaching reform.
  Included in this historic legislation was historic assistance for 
rural and urban hospitals, as well as other important health care 
reforms. I am most proud of the new health savings accounts, tax-free 
savings accounts that allows consumers to have more control over their 
health care costs. These health savings accounts will revolutionize the 
health care market in this country, giving consumers better health care 
at a lower price.
  Aside from health care, we faced another domestic crisis, the lack of 
comprehensive energy policy. From the rolling brownouts of California 
to the New York City blackouts, from the turbulence of the natural gas 
market to the persistent problems of higher gasoline prices, energy 
policy became a front-burner issue.
  So working with the White House, we put together a comprehensive 
energy policy aimed at making our Nation more energy independent. This 
legislation did several things. It created incentives to get the most 
out of our natural resources, from promoting greater energy efficiency, 
to encouraging the use of renewal fuels such as ethanol. It encouraged 
greater reliability for electricity by providing for open access of 
transmission lines, while improving the transparency of electricity 
markets.
  This energy policy has another salutary effect. It will create jobs. 
The latest estimates are that it will create up to a million jobs. We 
passed the energy conference report by a large bipartisan margin in the 
House, and we are waiting for final action by the other body. It is my 
hope that this vitally important legislation will not get caught up in 
the flurry of lobbying by the trial lawyers. I urge my colleagues on 
the other side of the rotunda to drop the delaying tactics and send 
this conference report to the President.
  Another perennial issue is education. In the 107th Congress, we 
passed the President's No Child Left Behind legislation aimed at 
increasing accountability and demanding results when it comes to 
educating our children. This year, we kept our promise by increasing 
education funding to $4.1 billion, the highest Federal contribution to 
education in history. Clearly, we are keeping our promise to the 
parents and teachers and children of America.
  Finally, we passed a series of legislation initiatives designed to 
make this Nation a better place to live. We passed the Do Not Call and 
Do Not Spam bills, aimed at stopping consumers from being harassed 
through the phone and through computer by telemarketers. We passed the 
Amber Alert bill, to help keep our children be safe from kidnappers. We 
passed historic levels of funding to combat AIDS. We passed the 
President's Healthy Forests Initiative, to protect communities from 
out-of-control forest fires. We passed the Fair Credit Reporting Act so 
that consumers have better access to their consumer reports to protect 
against the persistent problems of credit card fraud.
  In other words, we delivered good legislation for the American 
people. As we get ready for the second session of the 108th Congress, 
we still have some work to do. We still have a highway bill to pass. 
Nothing is more important to our Nation's economic well-being than a 
modern transportation system. I want to get this bill done by early 
next spring.
  We need to complete the work on the welfare reform bill. When we 
reformed welfare in 1996, we helped millions of Americans get a hand up 
rather than a hand out. Millions of Americans woke up in the morning 
and went to work rather than woke up and went to the welfare office. 
They got a job and got a paycheck. We need to reauthorize this bill, 
and we need to reauthorize it soon.
  We also must find a way to get the budget back to balance. The 
attacks of September 11, the war against terrorism, and the struggling 
economy have all led to deficit numbers that, while manageable, must be 
controlled. This year's nondefense, nonhomeland security discretionary 
budget increased by a 3 percent margin, a relatively small increase, 
but one that can be improved. Our budget chairman, the gentleman from 
Iowa (Mr. Nussle), has worked hard to find ways where we can control 
Federal spending. As we debate next year's budget, we will work to find 
ways to cut the budget deficit in half through lower spending.
  But as we work to control spending, we must also work to ensure that 
the economy stays on track. The tax cuts were enacted to help spur 
recovery. We must keep them in place to ensure that they finish the 
job. Those who want to raise taxes and thus threaten our recovery and 
job creation are just wrong. We have already seen that as the economy 
grows, the budget deficit falls. Keeping the economy growing is a 
sensible way to get the budget back to balance.
  Finally, we need to start the debate in this Nation on how to reform 
our tax laws. Not only is our tax system too complicated, it also hurts 
our Nation's competitiveness. If our companies cannot compete, we lose 
jobs here in America. As we reform the Foreign Sales Corporation Tax, 
as required by the recent WTO decision, we must also start a discussion 
on how we create the best tax system possible to meet the needs of the 
people of this country in the 21st century.
  I want to thank all Members for their patience and for their 
perseverance. Public service in the Congress is not an easy vocation, 
and it is especially hard on families. I thank all Members for their 
service to this Nation. I would also like to thank the dedicated staff 
and especially the floor staff, the clerks and the pages, who work long 
and hard to make this place efficient and workable. Thank you for your 
fine service to this Nation. I wish you all a happy holiday season, and 
God bless you all.

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