[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 81 (Monday, June 14, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H3955-H3960]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
30-SOMETHING DEMOCRATS
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Garrett of New Jersey). Under the
Speaker's announced policy of January 7, 2003, the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Meek) is recognized for the remainder of the time until
midnight.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, once again, as I always start, it
is an honor and a privilege to stand here and speak not only to Members
of the House but also to the American people. And as the Members know,
for several weeks now, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi) has
appointed a 30-Something working group to address the issues that are
facing middle-class Americans throughout America and some of the issues
that we need to work on to make sure that their voice is heard in this
democracy and this U.S. House of Representatives.
Lately, we have been having quite a bit of discussion on some of the
issues that are facing democracy here in the United States, and we have
been working with Rock the Vote in making sure that young voices are
heard throughout this country to make sure that they have access to
voting, to make sure that they know the things that they need to know
to fight to register on their campus.
There have been several reports that have been quite disturbing
throughout the country. We encourage young people to go to
rockthevote.com to find out more about voter suppression that is
happening throughout this country. We also inform young people in the
public and their parents that are also concerned about making sure that
they are able to receive good information to go on the rockthevote.com
site or the 30-something Dems site to make sure that they get
information so that they can share it with supervisors of elections
that are misinformed.
Based out of that discussion, we received several e-mails, Mr.
Speaker, of times that young people had to actually go get an attorney
to register to vote. And I think that that is very unfortunate due to
the fact that many of
[[Page H3956]]
us in this country are concerned about voter apathy, concerned about
the 18- to 32-year-olds or 18- to 24-year-olds, the reason why they do
not vote or the reason is not great enough for them to vote. We have to
make sure that their voices are heard.
And in this light, I want to share again with the American people
that are watching us right now that in 1979, the U.S. Supreme Court
spoke to this issue. It said if a person is enrolled in school and
needs to be out of state or in state, they have the right to register
where they are attending school. That is so very important.
The reason why I mention that is the fact that, as we start looking
at issues that are hindering young Americans from being able to educate
themselves, that once they leave that higher education opportunity that
they are given in their State or another State, they should not leave
that educational experience in debt. When they leave that experience in
great debt because of student loans, because the President said that he
was going to raise the Pell grant opportunities for young people that
would like to educate themselves, middle-age people that would like to
educate themselves, to $5,100 versus what we are experiencing now, a
little bit over $4,000 and some change, that is more a reality now for
young Americans than fiction. So I want to make sure that they have the
opportunity to vote.
As we cut the Federal commitment here in Washington, D.C., States do
not have what we have, the opportunity to put it on a credit card and
continue the deficit clock is running. Right now the deficit is well
out of control, and we are experiencing the highest deficit in the
history of the Republic. The States do not have that opportunity. They
have to balance their budget. When they balance their budget, they then
pass that cost on to local government and in this case to State
university systems that then ask students to pay more money for tuition
and for services that ordinarily they would receive at a lower cost or
for free.
The educational experience is quite financial these days, and I think
it is important that these individuals or the young people or middle-
age individuals, even in the community college experience, that they
understand that they have an opportunity to have their voice heard in
November; and it is very important that they are able to not only have
their voices heard in November but also during the primary season to
let it be known that they are voters too. They are our future, and it
is important that we stand with them and for them.
{time} 2320
On another point, and I am just going back to some of the e-mails we
received, I think it is important for us to talk a little bit about
what we are experiencing here today, Mr. Speaker, even though we have
seen a 6 cents or 5 cents in some areas, 3 cents in others, drop in gas
prices.
I will share with you even from my great State of Florida that this
is really putting a crunch on the middle-class. They did not receive an
additional dollar from an employer or a small business person did not
receive more dollars from a bank to be able to deal with the gas price
crunch that we have right now.
I have a chart here, Mr. Speaker, if I can just share it here with
the American people what has happened over the last 2 years in America.
In 2002, the gas prices were $1.44. This is just for regular grade gas,
the retail prices. Then in 2003 it was raised to $1.60 here. Then in
2004 it skyrocketed, and it was projected to be $1.87. Now, May 31, in
recent numbers of this year, it is now up to $2.05.
I know some Americans are looking and saying, ``I want to know where
I can find $2.05 gas.'' Before I came here to the floor, I was going to
fill up my tank, and then I hesitated and I said hopefully tomorrow
will be a better day. We cannot judge our spending based on the fact,
middle-class spending, based on the fact maybe the gas prices will be
cheaper tomorrow, and in many instances throughout America it is going
to be quite a lot higher.
OPEC has done some things that are very interesting. They have put
more crude on the market now to try to deal with the issue of gas
prices. But I will tell you that this administration has to have a
better response than to try to encourage OPEC to do something that is
short-term.
This is a real issue. We have Americans that are trying to work,
trying to get to work, trying to use mass transit, and at the same time
we are trying to find some of the solutions to be able to alleviate the
financial burden of American families at the same time we are stalling
legislation here in this House.
There is a Federal highway bill. The President has also said he would
veto it due to a bipartisan effort here in this House to make sure we
are able to give States the necessary dollars for the roads, bridges
and modes of transportation to be able to help the middle-class and
help working Americans.
I am here today as a witness from a State that we have individuals
that wake up and go to work every day, young Americans that are trying
to do the things they have to do to be able to meet the obligations of
their family. And so many of those individuals that are watching us now
with one eye open, they have to wake up. Their reality is at 6 a.m. in
the morning to get their kids ready for school and make sure they have
what they need. If they are fortunate to have transportation or can
afford to fill that tank up, take them to school, go to work. These are
individuals that know what it means for a 15-minute break in the
morning, a strict half an hour lunch break, punch in and out, and 15
minutes in the afternoon.
These same working individuals, I must add, and I am not talking
about individuals that are not contributing to our economy in the way
they should and trying to support their families, these are the same
individuals that are a part of the 43 million Americans that are
working every day that do not have health care.
I think it is so very, very important for us to take up this point,
the fact there is not a bill that is being considered in this Congress
that will see the light of day at any time in the very near future that
will be a national health care plan so individuals will have an
opportunity to provide for themselves, to provide adequate health care.
If you want to talk about a health savings plan that the President
has proposed, under these gas prices, under the strain American
families already have, there is not a lot of room about talking about
okay, we are going to save in case I get sick. They need preventive
care. They have to have it, their children need to have it, and it is
important to prioritize that.
If we are going to make tax cuts permanent for the millionaires in
this country, knowing of the unmet needs of being able to finds
alternative fuel sources here in the United States, to be able to pull
back on our dependency on crude oil, that I believe has a lot to do
with our American troops as I speak on guard in Iraq and in the Middle
East, and if we are going to be able to set forth an America that is
set for young people and families that are trying to do the best they
can to provide for their families, something has to give, Mr. Speaker.
The 30-something group is working toward solutions, not just
identifying these problems, but solutions, and continuing to put
pressure on this administration to make sure that the President knows
that it is very important that we do some of the things that American
people need.
One, we need to make sure that on this gas issue that Americans do
not have to find themselves going to a gas station and saying ``give me
$5 worth.'' Now, that is something that I used to do when I was in
college. There was a time in college when you are financially
challenged, you probably do not have the opportunity, I know I did not,
to fill my tank up every time I showed up at the pumps, but it was
something I knew was temporary in nature.
But individuals that have jobs that work every day trying to provide
for their families, they should not pull up with a child seat in the
back and say, ``Give me $5, because that is all I can afford, and
hopefully it will last me for a day or two if I do not turn on my air
conditioner.''
This is reality in America right now. We are at war now. A lot of
folks feel throughout the world we are at war because of oil and our
dependency on oil. Is there a real move from this administration to
take us off that dependency of Middle Eastern oil?
[[Page H3957]]
I think it is important for us if we are going to hold Saudi Arabia's
feet to the fire that this administration should stand up to Saudi
Arabia and stop making excuses for them. I think it is also important
for us to realize we have to find alternative ways of finding fuel and
encouraging more cleaner burning vehicles.
I think it is also important for us to realize that we have to do
some work here in America in trying to find new oil resources within
our own control, but also be very sensitive not to go into natural
environmental areas in this country that we have great respect for,
that we would turn into an example that we chastise other countries for
doing. I think that this could definitely be able to assist us in our
efforts in keeping gas prices down.
My talk here tonight is about making sure that individuals that have
children, or do not have children that are trying to make this time in
their lives from college on to 40, 45, and on, and even grandparents
that are now stepping in, or the parents of these children that I am
mentioning in this age range, that are trying to provide not only
information, but provide financial assistance to their children because
they are not able to make ends meet, it is in that vein.
I think that it is important for us to remember that declining real
wages are putting a squeeze on middle-class Americans, and that gas
prices have a lot to do with it.
I also want to share with you that in the last 3 months, average
wages in the United States increased at an annual rate of 2.2 percent,
but what is sad is the fact that during this same time, the most recent
stage of so-called Americans that actually have worked, took a pay cut
as relates to the costs they had to spend for their health care.
So in this circle of not doing anything at all, in this circle of not
passing a transportation bill that is going to help not only States be
able to stimulate more jobs or be able to help us to find alternative
ways of finding fuel outside of the Middle East, we are at a standstill
now, and we are at a standstill that Americans are actually suffering.
We are at a standstill of their voices being heard.
I think it is important that Americans understand that this Federal
Government has chosen, this administration has chosen to make sure that
millionaires receive a permanent tax cut over health care for working
Americans, over making sure that we are able to keep gas prices down so
that Americans can be able to continue doing the things that they are
trying to do and providing for their families, over a prescription drug
benefit for seniors.
So when we start talking about the middle-class and we start talking
about the 30-somethings and the 20-somethings and even those
individuals who are looking forward to getting to that particular age,
we look at all of these impediments. So our government is supposed to
be here to assist, not to hinder. I do not think that anyone sets out
at the beginning of the day saying, ``Well, let's see what I can do to
throw a log in front of young people in America.''
{time} 2330
But I think it is important for us to bring into question this
upcoming election season whose side are you on when it comes down to
the policies that are either being made or not being made in the
process.
Mr. Speaker, I wanted to just share a few other issues as it relates
to what is happening to so many young people, and as we look at the
squeeze of what is happening with the gas prices, as we look at the
squeeze of what is not happening as it relates to health care, and what
I mentioned at the top of the hour, voter suppression; and I know that
this Congress has tried to deal with that. I have to mention, when we
talked about a couple of weeks ago, the issue of Iraq, and I am going
to come back to the middle-class squeeze.
In some of these families we have troops that are serving and we have
parents that are raising children on their own. Now, they receive
correspondence, they also receive support from the spouse or the
significant other that is fighting on behalf of this country of what
they have been told to do in Iraq and Afghanistan and other areas. We
even have troops in Haiti as I speak right now trying to provide some
way of life for that country, and security. No one is giving anyone a
gas voucher to that spouse or significant other to make room for this
squeeze. They have to suck it up. So this is very, very important
business that I am talking about here this evening.
My good friend and colleague, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan), we
have been working together for some time; we had a very late night
tonight, we had a hearing in the Committee on Armed Services, a markup,
which is disappointing at best; but this may be a time that we can talk
about that. The gentleman represents Ohio, and they have been hit hard
on this middle-class squeeze. A lot of people that are around the
gentleman's age range and even above have experienced economic hard
times on top of not having a job, on top of not having health care,
even though small businesses in the gentleman's State that are trying
to provide and trying to continue to keep the workers working, they are
taking a squeeze, they are taking a hit on the gas prices. So I think
that not only the gentleman being a Member of the Congress and being a
very insightful person, that the gentleman's purpose here is even
greater to give those individuals voice, and I yield to the gentleman.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman, and I think he
is absolutely right. In places like Ohio, things are very difficult.
The $300, $400, $500 increase over the course of a year in the gas
effects people's lives. I know the gentleman from Florida is also
concerned. But, Mr. Speaker, I have been very disappointed tonight,
because several of the Special Orders tried to, I guess, address issues
and make persuasive arguments I think that really do not exist, and one
just wonders to oneself what the communities are like where these
people are living. I know in Youngstown, Ohio, and in Niles, Ohio and
in Warren, Ohio, and in Akron, Ohio, that people are feeling the
squeeze; and people are losing jobs that pay $20, $25 an hour, health
care benefits, pensions, 401(k)s, defined benefit plans, and they are
losing those jobs, and the jobs that are being created are jobs that
are paying $7, $8, $9, $10 an hour and no health care, in addition to
the gas prices, in addition to these people trying to send their kids
to school or to college. In Ohio, as I am sure it is going on around
the country, that increase in tuition is 10 percent, 15 percent every
single year.
So the reason we are here, the reason we want to talk about these
issues is because we think something needs to be done. I do not believe
that we should just sit here and criticize, although I do believe that
is part of our constitutional responsibility, to make sure that we
identify our platform where we want to take the country and we compare
that to where the country is or where the opposite political party
would like to take the country; and we try to make a comparison. I just
want to share a couple of ideas that are the Democratic proposals for
some of the education squeeze issues that people are feeling.
Senator Kerry, Presidential candidate Kerry, has several plans that
we also agree with here in the Congress. A couple of them I would like
to share with the American people here tonight. One of them is a tax
credit for $4,000 for anyone who sends their kid to school or they are
paying for their own school; $4,000 a year tax credit. Phenomenal. Not
terrible; phenomenal. I think that is the kind of direction that we
want to go in, when we can say to a young student, we are going to be
here, the government is going to be here to support you.
Now, some people may say, what is the responsibility of the Federal
Government on the issue of education, at least on the issue of college
education? Well, some of it is Pell grants where we can give actual
grants. When the Pell grant program was started in the middle of the
1970s, it accounted for almost 80 percent of a person's college
tuition. Today, the Pell grant accounts for nearly 40 percent of a
person's college tuition. So the buying power of the Pell grant program
has decreased, almost cut in half. President Bush, when he campaigned
in 2000, said that he was going to increase the amount invested into
the Pell grant program so that young students would have the
opportunity to go to college, but that just
[[Page H3958]]
was not the case. So one of our proposals is to also increase the
amount of funding for the Pell grant program.
Another specific proposal that I think is something that we really
need to look into and hopefully act on the first of next year, although
many people believe that we cannot wait, is the issue of the States not
having the money, the resources to invest. Many of the colleges in the
States are publicly funded through the State tax coffers, so the State
aid to universities in Ohio, for example, has decreased. And because
the State aid has decreased, the local universities and colleges have
been forced to raise tuition to compensate for the lack of State
funding. One of the issues that we are proposing here is to have $25
billion given across the country to the States with one provision: this
money is to go to reduce the increases in tuition; this money is to go
directly for State aid to our colleges. This will have a direct impact.
It will lower the cost of tuition for many of these universities; it
will allow access.
Since 2001, I believe the statistic is, and I will have to get it,
but I think it was 2001, 250,000 potential students, college-eligible,
qualified to attend, proper test scores, proper GPAs, would be able to
access the college system. I say to the gentleman, 250,000 have not
been able to go to school because they cannot afford it. In the United
States of America, that is unacceptable.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, that
was the U.S. Department of Education report.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Yes. This was not the Kendrick Meek Report, this
was not the Tim Ryan Report, this was not the Democratic Caucus report.
This was the U.S. agency's report. I just think it is important for
people who are listening here tonight to say is that we can do better
in the United States of America. Why would we want 250,000 people who
want to go to college be somehow prohibited from going to college
because of their financial situation? We know that if we invest in
these people; and we did a study, I say to the gentleman, when I was in
the State Senate in Ohio, the University of Akron did a study. For
every dollar that the State would invest into higher education, they
would get almost $2, there were two or three studies, but they would
get almost $2 back from tax revenues.
{time} 2340
Because you get someone who graduates from high school, goes out and
is working somewhere for seven, eight bucks an hour and paying taxes on
seven, eight bucks an hour as opposed to someone who is college
educated making 40 or $50,000 a year paying taxes on 40 or $50,000 a
year. It makes sense for us to invest. We have to get return on our
investments. That is not the reason we are doing it but we know the
societal benefits. Less racism, more tolerance for people from
different cultures, different walks of life, different religions, and
not to mention the added benefit to our economy, the entrepreneurship
and everything else. So the point is this is an investment we should
make.
The University of Akron study is applied to this particular proposal
of $25 billion. It would mean an increase in revenues to the States by
$50 billion. Each State would get $1 billion.
Now, you go to a State like Ohio or Florida and say Governor Bush,
Governor Taft, what would you do with an extra billion dollars? You
would pump it right back into education. You would pump it back into
health care. You would make sure your kids are healthy. You would be
able to fund the No Child Left Behind that is underfunded.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Let me share with you, we received a rebate in
the State of Florida of a billion dollars. And the State Governor Jeb
Bush said, let us hold it off to next annual year versus trying to
resolve some of the issues that are facing Floridians right now.
I am going to tell you nine times out of ten if it is the wrong
governor or the wrong way of thinking of continuing to way say, well, I
am here to make sure that we do the right thing with the people's
money, well, let me just say this, nine times out of ten when things
are held off it is in the kitty to justify another tax cut for
individuals and for big corporations that are not necessarily on their
knees and need it right now. They are carrying out the tax cuts because
they cannot because they need to.
When the gentleman talked about that report, basically colleges and
community colleges are not able to provide the courses for the
individuals that would like to educate themselves. Right now, I just
want to read something almost from the same report that was given to
us. The fact that we talk about the 30 percent, we talk about the
250,000 college qualified students that have been shut out of last
fall, 2003, in many cases because of cutbacks, because colleges will
have to pull their belts tighter and cut courses. They just did not
have the room to be able to adequately serve these students. Also as we
start looking at the debt issue, Mr. Ryan, I mentioned earlier that
many people are leaving the college experience in debt and right now.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Big time debt.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. We have individuals now that are ungraduate
level and just to do a comparison between what happened in 1997 to
2000, and if you move beyond that you really start getting in trouble.
But here between 1997 and 2000 the typical undergraduate debt rose 66
percent to $18,900. And more than a quarter of today's 14 million
undergraduate students will incur more than $25,000 in debt to earn
their degree.
Now, that is a good story because I know of stories that individuals
leave the higher education experience 75,000, $100,000 in debt.
Now, you mention that yes, we are here to point those issues out but
at the same time we are here to talk about solutions, and there is
legislation on this side of the aisle from the Democrats with our
fearless leader, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi) that has
served this Congress so well as the Democratic leader, and wants the
opportunity to be Speaker of this House, so to summon these issues that
are facing real Americans can rise to the top, need it be carrying out
if the American people would have it, Senator Kerry's plan which
hopefully will be President Kerry, or Members of this body that want to
be see this legislation top shelf in this House. But now we have
Republicans that are blocking legislation to lock low interest rates
in, to allow students to be able to continue to receive low interest
rates versus a variable in the long run. They will pay more if this is
not taken care of.
I will tell you that if we go to a variable as some of the big banks
want us to do, I will tell you right now they are not talking to me
because they know they will be wasting their time because I am all
about being on the side of the individual who tried to educate
themselves, and unfortunately had to go beyond the call to pay for that
education. It will cost those individuals $5,500 over time. That is
real money. That is while you are trying to buy a house. That is while
you are trying to provide for your family.
I will tell the gentleman right now this is a real issue. We talk
about the dollars and cents. This is a Democratic proposal. Lock it.
Make sure the individuals have what they can be able to have, more
money in their pocket versus more money out of their pocket.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. The official Democratic proposal says that the
Democrats would double the maximum petroleum grant to $11,600. Now, for
many people that will cover pretty much most of your college
television.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. That is correct. Right now we are experiencing
the highest deficit in the history of the republic. And you would
assume that if we have the highest deficit and it was Democrats that
balanced the budget. I just want to remind the American people of that
in this Congress, it was not the Republicans, it was not the Republican
President. It was the Democrats in this House that balanced the budget.
Just 3\1/2\ years ago, the discussion was on the floor on what are we
going to do with the surplus. Now the discussion is, can I take my
credit card out? This is a big number.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. It is a big number.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. A big number. And I will tell you right now if
we had a little ticker here these zeros would be moving to a higher
number as we speak. So the experience now that the American people have
to witness and
[[Page H3959]]
this is the U.S. Treasury credit card here, and we have Republican
Congress there. What we are experiencing now is that every 3 weeks we
are knocking on the bank of China saying, can you loan us money to be
able to pay down on the debt? So as we look at that, more money in the
American people's pocket versus out of their pocket.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. We are talking Democrat and Republican. And there
are several Republicans I think who have taken a very courageous stand
on this particular issue. If you had an opportunity today to read the
New York Times, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Petri) I believe had
a marvelous, marvelous letter to the editor, or op-ed today. It was
phenomenal and I cannot say enough about it.
It basically said that the Federal Government should be directly
loaning money to students. We do not need the banks involved in this. I
do not think the banks are inherently bad people, but why would I give
money to you for you to give it to somebody else and then you charge me
more and I give you a little bit more so you can make a profit and then
you give somebody else the money? We insure your loan. We guarantee
you. So the Federal Government gives the money to the banks or we
guarantee it to the banks so the banks takes no risk at all. Why not
eliminate the banks, directly lend to the students, and give them the
money and tell them to go to school and tell them that we are going to
give him or her and many students like him or her around the country
$25 billion. And when it is all said and done, we are going to make $50
billion on the deal.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Is the gentleman actually suggesting that we do
something that will actually help the students? Are you suggesting
that?
Mr. RYAN of ohio. I am working on it. I do not want to be so bold but
we need to start peeking in that direction.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. I have a Bachelor of Science Degree, and I am
not an economist, but one would argue, well, if we take the banks out
of it, what kind of effect will it have on the economy? And I think
very little. If any of us that have gone to banks knowing the kinds of
praying at the alter, at the end of the day to be able to get money,
for them to trust us enough to pay them back, it reminds me of the
pharmaceutical companies in the prescription drugs.
I think the pharmaceutical companies are doing good things in
America, in research, things of that nature, but when you look beyond
the blankets of all of that we are paying, it is subsidized research.
With the banks we are guaranteeing their loans.
{time} 2350
So the real issues for that individual that is trying to educate him-
or herself, this feeds also to the parents that we are talking 30-
something, but individuals that are 50- or 60-something, high 40s, they
are picking up the slack, and they are paying the interest 9 times out
of 10 for young people because they cannot afford it.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Because the Federal Government guarantees the
loans, now the banks have no real incentive to go capture somebody who
defaulted on their loan. Why would they? They are going to get
reimbursed anyway from us. So, actually, the Federal Government, if we
eliminated the banks or removed the banks from this process, we would
lend the money directly, and there would be more incentive for us to go
and capture people who defaulted on the loans that we gave them. We
would want there to be incentive because we would get the money back.
The banks are going to get their money one way or the other. They are
either going to get it from the student or the Federal Government. So
there is no real incentive.
Again, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Petri) was phenomenal today
in his op-ed, and I cannot say enough about his courage to say if you
are a conservative, if you do believe in the private, free markets,
this kind of government intervention with the banks and playing all
these games is no way to do it. It was very articulate, and I commend
him for doing that and having the courage to do that.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is all depending on the kind of
leadership that we will have come November, and I, for one, believe
that the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), who believes in some
of the things that we are talking about here tonight, making sure that
children or young people receive the opportunity that they need to be
able to move in the direction, that they would like to move in to make
this country strong, also making a decision like you just mentioned,
what will be best for the American young person or the American family.
I mentioned early in our time here tonight the crunch, the squeeze on
the middle class, the gas issue, and you have the gas chart there. We
talked about voter suppression, also. We did a little cutback on that,
but I think it is important when we talk about the middle class squeeze
that folks say, well, you know, I received a $35 check in the mail and
I am so glad or $100 back in my middle class tax cut, but I will tell
my colleague, this gas thing is very real.
This is not the Tim Ryan report or the Kendrick Meek report. We
actually do a little homework before we get to the floor. We spend the
week making sure we get this information so that we are factual and we
are sharing it with the American people, the good, bad and ugly, but
according to the Forbes Magazine, it says the gas price increase since
the beginning of this year cost Americans $35 billion. That is a big
number, much more than the 15 to 20 billion middle class consumers got
from the Bush tax cuts this April.
I think it is important for us to continue to bring these facts to
the table because it is money in one pocket and it is more money out of
the other pocket. I will tell you right now that is playing with the
economy of families and will continue to do so, and it is important
that we share this information with them.
We are asking on this side of the aisle the opportunity to lead, an
opportunity to cut the deficit, an opportunity to be able to make sure
that young people have greater opportunities in the future to make
America strong and investing in U.S. jobs here versus overseas.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would yield, with
regards to what you were just talking about in the middle class
squeeze, and I do not know if you had an opportunity to talk about this
or not, but I think it is so fundamental to everything that we are
talking about tonight.
CEO wages average $8.1 million, 300 times that of the average worker
in the United States of America, 300 times. Now, we are not begrudging
those people. God bless them. You are in America. Make as much money as
you possibly can. Unfortunately, taxes on wages earned average almost
24 percent. So if you are out working 40, 50, 60 hours a week, make a
wage, 24 percent. Taxes on income from investments like stocks and
bonds average less than 10 percent.
There is a shift in our tax code, our tax system, where we are moving
the burden to wage earners. We are reducing the burden for those people
who make money on stocks and bonds that has begun to divide the
country, and there is this gap that is being created for the people who
have a lot and the people who do not have too much.
I think it is dangerous, and I want to share with my colleague a
conversation I was having last week with an old school Republican,
moderate, conservative, fiscally balanced budgets. I will not mention
his name, but he was saying how this kind of system that we are running
right now, where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and the
middle class gets squeezed and tax burden goes on to those people who
earn wages and the taxes are reduced for those people who make money on
stocks and bonds and everything else, when we have a trading system
that removes the good jobs to other places like China and India and
they are not replaced by good paying jobs, where there is no health
care, where people cannot find good employment, we begin to jeopardize
the whole system. We begin to put the whole system at risk because we
lose the stability that we need to have, and poor countries have
revolutions because the poor get so poor that they just take up arms.
Now, I am not suggesting we are at that point, but we are beginning
to move in a direction where the very rich donate money to this place.
They get the laws they want, the free trade agreements that they want,
the tax
[[Page H3960]]
structure that they want, the cuts in government that they want, the
investments in government that they want, defense spending and
something where the big companies can make a lot of money. There is no
stabilizing force, and that is what the government is here for. We are
here to stabilize this democracy and stabilize this country, and we
have always been that country where people can look and say here is the
middle class, the average people have an opportunity, average people
are going to get educated, average people are going to have health
care; everyone is going to have health care; everyone is going to have
an education.
I think we take a step back and we look how the government and what
we are talking about, the investments that we are talking about, have a
stabilizing force on our society as a whole and allow us to be that
kind of example that we want to be for the rest of the world.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I just want to say I do not think
anyone on this floor could have shared in a way that the gentleman just
summed it up and what he just shared with the American people. It is
choices that one has to make.
I believe that people are going to make the right choice this
upcoming election season. I have said it before. President, commander-
in-chief, I do not envision him as what you might say a textbook
Republican. I think he is something else. I think he is trying to take
the country to another level, to where a number of Members of this
House are not, and I think some of them are on the other side, and I
think that they have gone to see the wizard to get courage and heart to
be able to speak out against the present administration. So while we
are trying to tell the rest of the world how a democracy works, it is
going to be up to the American people ultimately to be able to stand in
judgment of this Congress, Democrat and Republican, and also this
President of making sure that we move in the next 4 years towards a
safer, sounder, more job generating America, an America that is
healthy, that has health care, so that we do not have literally
millions of Americans experiencing emergency room health care.
With that, I would say that we should try to run to catch the back
end of David Letterman's monologue tonight and come back next week with
solutions to problems but also pointing out the good, bad and ugly so
that we can come clean with the American people so they can be able to
make a sound judgment in a letter or e-mail that they may send to their
Member of Congress or the President of the United States.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. That would be great. I will be here. Would you like
for me to share the Web site?
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Do that Web site real quick. Then we are going
to take this back to the Speaker.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Send us an e-mail if you would like, to
[email protected]. We would love to hear any personal
stories or opinions on the topics we discussed, and I would like to
thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) for all his leadership.
____________________