[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 65 (Tuesday, May 11, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H2805-H2809]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
30-SOMETHING CAUCUS REPORTS
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Chocola). Under the Speaker's announced
policy of January 7, 2003, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) is
recognized for half the time until midnight, approximately 36 minutes.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, we are here on our second weekly 30-
something working group, and I am joined by the gentleman from Florida
(Mr. Meek). We started this last week on Tuesday. Every Tuesday night
we are going to come here and talk about issues facing the young
people, not only in our own communities in Florida or in the State of
Ohio, not only young people who are at universities or private schools
throughout the country, but people who are in their 20s, in their 30s
and the kinds of challenges they are facing in society here today.
As Members can see, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), who
we would like to thank for the opportunity to do this, sponsoring the
30-something working group, we are going to ask young people, and you
do not have to be 30, you can be 20, 40, 50, to contact us by e-mail at
[email protected], and we will repeat the mailing address
later, but just to talk about issues that are facing young students,
young people today.
Last week we talked for about an hour about the challenges that are
facing young people with summer jobs, student loans, Pell grants, and
issues related to getting into college, having access to college,
having access to higher education in this country. The majority of the
discussion we talked about last week revolved around the priorities of
the country. As we sit in this Chamber late on a Tuesday night, the
issue again is priorities.
We just want to communicate to young people today that there is
active participation in this democracy in which young people who think
that democracy does not matter, who think that their vote does not
count, who think that somehow they cannot participate in the system, we
are here to tell them that they can, and they do have an opportunity to
participate in this system; and for two young people like the gentleman
from Florida (Mr. Meek) and myself and several others who are here,
have gotten to this establishment, this institution, the United States
Congress, through the help of a lot of young people. You can either say
no, reject the system, you can say no, we do not have an opportunity to
talk, we do not have an opportunity for our voice to be heard, or you
can say, yes. Yes, we can participate in the system; we can participate
in our democracy.
I heard some of the gentlemen before us talk about how the democratic
process works and how people will, if given the opportunity, they will
dictate what kind of government we get and what kind of government as
citizens we receive; but it has to be active participation.
We are here to say we believe, and I know I believe passionately and
have spoken on the House floor and I know the gentleman from Florida
(Mr. Meek) has also participated in these discussions, that we believe
that the priorities of this institution over the last year, year and a
half, several years, have not represented the interests of young
people. The Republican Party has controlled the House since 1994. They
have controlled the Senate for a good portion of the years since then.
They have controlled the White House for the last 3\1/2\ years; and the
agenda for young people, the agenda for students has not been
addressed. As we talked about last week, our discussion had a lot to do
with Pell grants and access to college.
[[Page H2806]]
The question that we want to present to young people today, tonight,
is: Do you agree with the priorities that this administration has
established for you? Do you agree with trillions of dollars of tax cuts
over the next 10 years? Do you agree with borrowing money to pay for
the deficits that we have today in order to give tax cuts primarily to
the top 1 and 2 percent? I know the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek),
who has been very active in this discussion, has agreed with the
majority of us on the Democratic side that we believe that money would
be better spent balancing our budget, making sure we have fiscal
responsibility in the country, and making sure we make the proper
investments. We believe that some of those investments, and it would be
misleading to say all of those investments, but a good portion or many
of those investments should be made to our young people.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I want to say that the gentleman
from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) has hit the nail on the head. I am glad we are
here with our 30-something working group; and we are also joined by the
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Linda T. Sanchez), as she was last
week. We are showing a level of consistency; and just from last week, I
hold in my hand, almost like the David Letterman Top 10, just some of
the e-mails sent in from individuals who saw us here talking about
issues not only facing college students, but also facing working
families in America that are concerned about how they are going to pay
back the second mortgage that they have taken out to allow their
children to be educated, and also to students that are now working in
student work study to try to pay for college. But they know they have
loans that are under attack here in this Congress and the banking
community is coming with a new scheme to have them pay more in interest
rates rather than have a fixed low rate. I will talk about the e-mails
later.
But first, I could not help but look at rockthevote.com before I
walked over here, and I can tell Members something that is very, very
disturbing. We talk about direct democracy and young people being part
of the process to correct the issues that we are here to talk about
tonight, health care; and in many locations throughout the country and
in some States, students are being told that they cannot register to
vote on their college campus.
This is very, very disturbing because it violates Federal law for a
State to say you cannot vote, and if you are going to be on a college
campus, the University of Ohio, whatever the case may be, if they are
there, they are in school, they may register to vote. I would encourage
parents and students that care about higher education, care about
tuition costs, Pell grants and care about making sure that we have the
workforce for the future to lead our country, I encourage them to go to
rockthevote.com so they can learn more about this voter suppression.
Mr. Speaker, I am from Florida, and we cannot wait until the last
minute to inform not only parents who want their children to be
politically active.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, on that point, we have many kids in
school surrounded by their peers who want to participate in the
process, who are campaigning for a certain candidate or referendum on a
State ballot, but they are from another State. How do they register to
vote? I remember being from Ohio, and I went to school in Bowling Green
which is across the State, how do you get registered to vote? Should it
be by absentee ballot? You have to send a formal letter and you have
exams, and you are trying to balance your duties at school to try to
achieve a better life; and it becomes a very complicated process,
instead of saying register to vote where your school is and being able
to participate in the process.
There are many instances where we have a college or university in a
congressional district that is controlled by a Member of Congress or a
party that is not representative of the people who are at that
university, where if all of those kids would be able to register to
vote at that university, they would swing a congressional election.
{time} 2300
Mr. MEEK of Florida. If I can, I just want to make sure that the
listeners that are listening to us right now and also Members of the
House, I would definitely urge them, because they should lead in this
fight. Direct democracy is important, being able to do away with voter
apathy. I do not believe that the folks that are not voting, that it is
all voter apathy. It is voter access. I want to read something to you:
Under Federal law, college students have the legal right to vote where
their residence may be and that is at schools. The Supreme Court
established this right in 1979. Yet 25 years later, many local elected
officials across the country have not gotten the message. They are
rejecting the voter registration applications of students claiming that
they are not permanent residents in their community, but the Supreme
Court has already said that this concept of permanent is not relevant
to students. We have to get that word out.
I would say to the parents that are listening to us tonight, your
children can vote in the fall elections. Where will they be in late
August or September? They are going to be in school. Where are they
going to be in November? They are going to be in school. We have to
make sure their voices are heard.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Go to rockthevote.com. Or, if the C-SPAN cameras
can come in here, [email protected]. Send us some e-mails.
We received a bunch just from last week, our first week here. Send us
some e-mails. Let us know what you think, what your issues are so we
can develop a students' bill of rights in order to advocate.
I would like to welcome a great new Member of our freshman class the
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Linda T. Sanchez).
Ms. LINDA T. SANCHEZ of California. It is really great to be here. We
are also joined by another colleague of ours, the gentleman from
Alabama (Mr. Davis). Just to catch the tail end of your conversation, I
wanted to say that there seems to be something wrong when people are
advocating that young people get involved in politics and express their
opinions and vote, and you have 18- to 35-year-olds who want to do just
that and then the rules are set up in such a way that make it nearly
impossible for them to participate. There is something wrong with a
democracy that does not embrace making it easier for folks to
participate in the political process and exercise their right to be
heard.
Not to get off topic, but one of the things that I wanted to talk
about a little bit this evening is a subject that is troubling not just
for students, for a lot of young adults all across America, folks that
may have graduated from college and been out in the workforce for
several years, but that is the need for access to health care. I can
remember myself when I was at UCLA law school right after I graduated,
there was this intense pressure to find a job, and I had this fear
during the period when I was studying for my bar exam, I had this fear
because I was not covered by any health insurance, this fear that if I
did not get a job quickly after taking the bar, that I was pretty much
going to be on my own where health care was concerned. I was fortunate
in that when I graduated from law school, I graduated in a somewhat
healthy economy and there were quite a number of employment
opportunities that presented themselves.
But today students are not so lucky. They are graduating from
universities and the job market is very dismal for them. Not only does
that mean that they are going to have to struggle without having an
income after they graduate and the thought of student loans on top of
it, but chances are they probably will not be covered by any type of
health care. As we rapidly approach the months of May and June, a lot
of college students are going to be graduating and finding themselves
in the situation that I have just described.
I know of one particular instance in which a female college student
recently shared a story with me regarding her personal hardship where
health care was concerned. She is about to graduate from college in
California and just received a scare by testing positive for an ovarian
cyst. She does not know where to turn. She does not have any idea where
she is going to get the money to pay for the necessary procedures; and
if this situation is not bad
[[Page H2807]]
enough because she is a student, currently some of the things are
covered by student health, but imagine if she had just graduated and
were covered by no health insurance whatsoever, she might not even be
aware of the situation that she is in because she might not have gone
to the doctor to be tested. I am sure she is not alone in that
situation.
I do not know what it is about young people, and to young people that
may be watching this, I say you absolutely have a right to affordable
and accessible health care. Do not think because you are young that
that is one of the dues that you have to pay. You absolutely should
have access to affordable health care. Do not sell yourself short and
do not demand anything less. Do not think that because you are young,
the government can ignore you. You have an opportunity. You have a
voice. Exercise it. You have an opportunity to try to shape the policy
that this Nation abides by. Be vocal about that.
We have seen the number of people who are uninsured in this country
continue to rise. That is just not the people that are uninsured, but
there are many people who are underinsured, which means they have very
superficial health care benefits; they are not really meaningful, they
have high premiums, they have high deductibles. That means that people
have just one more worry as they are starting out and embarking on what
should be the rest of their lives and a positive experience.
Four years ago, the President promised us action on health care but
every year since then, more and more Americans have lost their health
insurance. It is particularly dramatic in young people. Young adults
comprise a disproportionately large share of the Nation's uninsured.
Despite only representing 15 percent of the population, young adults
account for 30 percent of those who go without health care in our
country.
It is a shame that an industrialized, modern society, supposedly the
greatest country in the world, cannot find a way to make sure that
every person in this country has access to health care. Those of you
who are listening, all of us here on the floor tonight that are talking
about these issues that impact young folks, we are fighting like crazy
to try to make sure that big HMOs and pharmaceutical companies are not
the ones that are receiving the benefits of the health care policy that
we pass in this House. We are urging that 12 million young adults who
currently find themselves without access to health care, to get
involved politically, talk to your Representatives, let them know how
critical this issue is for you.
Mr. DAVIS of Alabama. I thank the gentlewoman, and let me certainly
thank my colleagues from Ohio and Florida for their vision in putting
this hour together and for making it a regular part of the
congressional calendar and the congressional schedule. As I listened to
the three of you before I had a chance to participate in this dialogue,
something struck me. I am normally one who tends to be resistant to too
many political analyses that rest on generation. I am one of these
people who thinks that people try to load a whole lot of analytical
content into that term when it should not always be there, but this is
something that occurs to me from listening to all three of you. Maybe
because we are new to this body, maybe because all four of us are
relatively new to public life, maybe because all four of us are still
young people, we still have a sense of the possible. We still have a
sense of how the power in this institution and the power in this
government can still be used to make better the lives of some of our
people.
Sometimes when I listen to our friends and our colleagues on the
other side of the aisle, I honestly think one of the most fundamental
differences is that they do not have a very strong sense of the
possible. They pretty much want to take this country as we found it.
They want to take the divisions in this country as we found them, and
they are pretty much happy to get by with that. Maybe what separates us
as younger Democrats and as Democrats is that we have a profound sense
of what is possible.
As I listened to the gentlewoman from California and I think about
health care in this country, we do have an enormous amount still to do.
One day some historian is going to look back at the fact that 4 years
ago, we had a $122 billion surplus, and we somehow did not manage to
spend a dime of it on providing health insurance for working Americans
who need it, who are playing by the rules, who are doing everything
that the system demands of them, and yet they somehow do not have
health insurance. We had a $122 billion surplus and could not spend any
of that largesse on addressing the problem of the uninsured. Here we
are 3 years later, we have a $521 billion, and climbing, deficit. We
are spending all of that money, and we are still not spending a dime of
it on addressing the problem of the working uninsured. That is
something that a lot of the young people who I hope are listening in
their college classroom and in their college dorms tonight will hold us
accountable for. That we have had an opportunity to spend an enormous
amount of the Treasury in this country, and we have never touched this
problem.
Understand something very basic about the problem of the uninsured.
Sometimes when we listen to the debate, we almost think that the
uninsured are all poor people. This is the reality. A significant
number of people who are uninsured are people who are working and
people who are earning between $50,000 and $75,000. Not poor by any
stretch of the imagination. A lot of these are people who are working
as young lawyers. They are people who are working as young legal
assistants. They are people who by no means are what we think of as
being on the margins of society.
{time} 2310
So I would simply make this point tonight when we talk about the
obligation that we have as young leaders, one of the most fundamental
obligations that we have is to maybe finish some of the business that
some other people have left for us, to maybe find some way to deal with
some of these problems that have been sitting and festering. Forty-two
million Americans are uninsured. That means 42 million Americans are
essentially one health crisis away from seeing their financial security
wiped out.
Again, my sense of the possible leads me to think that we can do
something about that, and my sense of the possible leads me to believe
that if we do not address this problem and we simply let it fester,
that we are going to wake up one day in America, in this wonderful land
of opportunity and we are going to see that we can split in two and
become two Americas. We become one America for people who are well
endowed and people who are wealthy. We become one America for those who
are without.
And I will close on this point. A lot of us are institutional
lawyers. The gentlewoman from California (Ms. Linda T. Sanchez) I know
is an attorney who practiced very ably in California. Unfortunately, in
our profession as lawyers, we kind of accept the fact that the more
money one has, the better legal service they can get. It is just
something that we accept.
When it comes to accounting, as we are just finishing the tax season,
the quality of one's bank account determines the quality of the
accountants that they get. I hope that we never let ourselves lapse
into a world where the quality of one's health and their capacity to
fight the ravages of disease is a function of how much money they have
got, because if we ever enter that kind of a world, we have entered a
world that is fundamentally less fair than what we have had and we have
entered a world that is less generous than what we need it to be.
And I would just in conclusion say this: I know that all four of us
are fans of Robert F. Kennedy and the vision that he had for America.
He was fond of saying, when he concluded a lot of his speeches, ``Some
men see things as they are and say why? I see things that never were
and say why not?'' And I think that is our challenge as young
Democrats, not just to see the things in this country that trouble us
and raise our hands and say why, but to see a better and fairer world
and to say why not?
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman was extremely articulate
in his analysis of the situation that we are in, and I think he is
right, that a lot of us that are here, and I have seen
[[Page H2808]]
many Members who are just a few years older than us, have maintained
that attitude that say this institution and politics in general is
about what can be for the rest of society.
We have talked a little bit about health care, and I think there are
two ways to look at this. I think both are very valuable, but the one
is we need to cover people because it is a justice issue. It is an
issue where we all believe that every person in America should have
adequate health care regardless of one's wealth, period, end of story.
That should not be a debate that we are having in the 21st century in
America.
And as we provide health care for young people, we are beginning to
educate them on the way to behave, the way to treat themselves, the way
to be more healthy, so that when they are in the Medicare program one
day, that they are not costing us as much money as they would have cost
us had they not had the education that they had at a young age.
This should not be just about providing health care coverage. This
should also be about teaching wellness in our schools, whether it is
through Leave No Child Behind or some other Federal program that we
have, but to make sure we are teaching people at a very young age how
wellness is the best way to approach life. That is one.
And then the second reason is an economic argument. Imagine if we
were providing health care to manufacturers here today. Young kids
graduate from school. They go and they work. Maybe they do not even go
to college. They go get a 2-year degree, run the new machines, have a
technical degree, and they have health care. Imagine the burden that
would be released from those people who were owning small manufacturing
shops and the money that they would save that they could put back into
their business to create economic wealth in the country again.
So this is an investment that I think when we want the government to
invest money, we say we want to get the best bang for the buck. We get
a justice issue solved, and we also want to get economic development
and assist small businesses in a way that they have not been assisted
under the current regime that we have here in the United States.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, if I can, I just want to mention I
am so glad that the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Linda T. Sanchez)
is here and also the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Davis). The gentleman
from Alabama (Mr. Davis) represents a rural part and a very poor part
of Alabama, and I have heard him on many other occasions, not only in
the Committee on the Budget, share the stories of his constituents, and
I just want to steal from that for a minute.
I represent Miami and also South Broward County, and it is a very
urban area. I will share with my colleagues that not only with the
educational institutions that we have there, we have children or we
have young people that are gambling on health care. They do not have
health care because they cannot afford health care, and they are what I
call emergency room health care. As we speak right now, some mother or
father has to take their child into an emergency room because they do
not have health care coverage. They are working. They are not at home
eating a bag of chips and drinking some sort of soda saying that, well,
I do not want to work. They go to work every day. These individuals are
walking into emergency rooms for their health care. Then we wonder why
our health care cost is so high. Why do we have a pill in the hospital,
Tylenol, that costs $10?
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, so in essence we do have universal
health care in the country but it is through the emergency room.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I do not want to start talking, but
the first thing we instituted in Iraq was universal health care. So I
do not want to bounce back and forth, but the gentleman from Alabama is
on the Committee on the Budget, and I am glad we have a diversity
because I know the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Linda T. Sanchez)
is on the Committee on the Judiciary and the gentleman from Ohio is on
the Committee on Armed Services along with me, and I am on the Select
Committee on Homeland Security; but really where the rubber meets the
road is how we set our budget here, and then how we are setting up
future generations and even this generation for failure. Can the
gentleman from Alabama talk a little bit about that? Because I am so
glad he is here and he is knowledgeable on the issue.
Mr. DAVIS of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for raising
the issue. One of the interesting things that we often hear in this
town and we hear it from the other side of the aisle is we cannot
justify their commitment, we are told, by the amount of money that we
are spending. A lot of our colleagues and friends on the Republican
side of the aisle say we care very deeply about health care, we care
very deeply about education, we are just not spending a lot of money on
those things and one cannot judge our commitment by that.
Most American families, I think, realize that people spend money on
the things they value. They do that in their homes and they do that in
the United States Congress. We are steadily walking away from
commitments that are decades-long commitments to improving the quality
of our educational system, improving the quality of health care. We
made a commitment, or our predecessors did, because none of us were
here. Not a single one of us voted on Leave No Child Behind. But before
we got here in this institution, this House passed a bill called Leave
No Child Behind and made a commitment to improve education in this
country. That commitment has never been funded adequately. It has never
been funded to set the original vision that was laid out.
And on health care, the prescription drug bill that all four of us
voted against, incidentally, last November, this is a bill which has an
enormous price tag. It is a bill that will leave large numbers of
seniors still without prescription drug coverage. And in so many areas,
and this is what is striking I think to a lot of our constituents, they
hear about the obligations we are undertaking abroad. They hear about
the commitment that we are making to improve the lives of people around
the world. What they do not see is a commensurate commitment here at
home.
And I think we have to recognize that if we want our country to move
forward, if we want to fix a firmer and better foundation for our
people, that is a matter of resources. It is incredible that we have
run up a $521 billion deficit and we have left so many national
problems untouched. Now we know why. It is because we have made it a
priority to cut taxes by $3 trillion over the last 3 years. We know
why, because we have made a commitment to engage in so many crises
around the world when there are festering crises here at home. We know
why. It is because we frankly have not had our priorities straight in
this institution.
I strongly believe that we have to identify the unfinished business
of America, and as we move into this congressional and Presidential
election, maybe there is one very clear and simple challenge we ought
to issue to our colleagues and ideological opponents on the other side
of the aisle.
{time} 2320
A very simple question: They are fixated on fixing the world and
remaking the world. We have to be fixated on remaking America. Because
what are we fighting for abroad? If we are fighting for anything, it is
for a vision of the promise of democracy. Well, if we believe in that
promise of democracy and we believe that the promise of democracy means
expanded opportunity, then surely we have to fight for that here at
home.
All of us, I know, have a great deal of admiration for John F.
Kennedy. John F. Kennedy was a great Democratic President who believed
that we can be bold in asserting our interests around the world, but
that we can be equally bold in asserting our vision here at home.
You would almost think you could not have it both ways. You would
almost think you could not do both of those things, if you listened to
some people in this town. We have to have enough confidence and enough
belief in the better powers of our government and the better angels of
our nature to try to transform America.
I will make this last point. There is a reason, I believe, why so
many of our people are disengaged and not voting;
[[Page H2809]]
why so many young people, why so many Americans who are struggling
economically do not even want to participate. It is because they often
do not hear this institution speaking to their values. They often do
not hear their needs and their concerns being addressed.
They turn on the TV at 10 o'clock at night and hear us talking about
a fair tax that is never going to be, some kind of a complicated
esoteric tax thing that is never going to happen. They turn on the
television in the middle of the day and they hear us talking about
renaming bridges and post offices. They turn on the TV late at night
and they hear us talking about cutting veterans benefits, the day we
went to war in Iraq. So much of what they hear us say in this
institution does not resonate, it does not seem a part of their lives.
I think if we want to get people to vote, if we want to get people
engaged, then they need to hear something of themselves in this place.
They need to hear something of the echoes that are going all around
American living rooms echoing in this chamber.
It is a very real question of relevance, making the things that our
people care about a part of our priorities in setting government.
Ms. LINDA T. SANCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, I just want to make
this one observation: When I was young I played sports and inevitably
was plagued with injuries from time to time, and my mother once told me
something, and I hate to admit when my mother was right, but she was so
right.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Do not do it.
Ms. LINDA T. SANCHEZ of California. Mom, here goes. She said, ``You
do not feel it now because you are young. You have energy, you are
strong, you recover quickly and you think you are indestructible. But
when you get older, these injuries are going to come back to haunt
you.''
I do not particularly consider myself very old, but it is true. As
somebody in my thirties, my soccer ankle that I broke three different
times playing bothers me.
For young people who do not have access to health care, who do not
have access to treatments and medicines that can help prevent a minor
injury from becoming a severe injury down the road, or prevent a mild
form of a disease or an illness from becoming something full-blown, the
sole thing standing between them and some kind of chronic illness or
really devastating health problem is early access to preventive
medicine and early access to medicine and to therapies that are going
to help them.
Again, it is kind of hard to think when you are 18 years old that you
are going to be old and sick and frail one day, but if you do not have
access to health care and you cannot get a head start and make sure
that you get yearly visits so that you are checked out for any
potential conditions, that is a potential that is a very real potential
down the line.
So, for young folks, again, I cannot stress this enough. I think
sometimes we think, well, we are young, we are just starting out, we do
not have the dream job that we are hoping for, but I am working full-
time to put myself through school or working full-time right now and
have no health care benefits or very minimal health care benefits. You
deserve better. Again, you need to exercise your voice and make sure
that you are getting better.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, as we are wrapping
up here, I want to thank the gentleman from Florida, the gentlewoman
from California and the gentleman from Alabama.
I want to take this opportunity to say e-mail us, 30-SomethingDems at
mail.house.gov, and check out rockthevote.com for the voter
suppression.
I just want to read a couple e-mails real quickly that we received
last week. Melanie from Maryland said that she heard us last week. It
almost brought her to tears, that people in the Congress were actually
talking about her.
Amy from Abilene Christian University wrote. And there was also one
other student who called and said he never watched C-SPAN, but ended up
watching it for 45 minutes last week to watch ``Gregory Meeks, Tim Ryan
and one other guy.'' That ``one other guy'' was the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Meek).
We will be back next Tuesday. Drop an e-mail to us. We are going to
continue to have this dialogue and make sure that the students and 20-
somethings and 30-somethings of this country are represented in the
United States Congress.
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