[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 91 (Tuesday, July 6, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H5186-H5192]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       30-SOMETHING WORKING GROUP

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 7, 2003, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) is recognized 
for 60 minutes.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to come before the 
House of Representatives tonight and the American people and this great 
house of democracy that we serve in day in and day out. It is an honor 
to serve, and every day that we have an opportunity to serve it is 
important that we share important information with the American people 
and also with Members of the House.
  Once again, our 30-something Working Group that consists of 14 
Members on the Democratic side of the House, we come together to share 
with Americans things that are going good. We call it the good, bad and 
ugly; but at the same time, we work towards constructive change, and as 
my colleagues know, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) and I have been 
coming to the floor, along with other Members of this House, to address 
issues such as education, issues that are facing young Americans from 
the ages of 18 to 30-something. That covers a supermajority of 
individuals that are not exercising their right to vote at this 
particular time, but I believe now, because we are reaching out to 
those individuals, they will find a reason to go out and register to 
vote or to use that voter registration card to work towards good for 
their family and also for their future.
  There is a lot happening to young Americans now versus poor young 
Americans, and this is the 30-something hour that the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Pelosi), the minority leader, has organized. Those of 
us in the House that are living the 30-something right now or that 
recently went through 20-something come and give voice to those 
individuals on the floor, and I think this reaches out to even a larger 
demographic, a demographic of parents that are paying for their loved 
ones to go to college, a demographic of individuals who were not able 
to go to college immediately after high school or completion of a 
vocational training program. Some are in community colleges that are 
trying to make a way. Either they did not have an opportunity to go to 
college immediately after high school, one, they could not afford it; 
two, they had to help their family. Many Americans have to make that 
choice, and it is okay to make that choice.
  It is about family. It is about values. It is about religion. It is 
about definitely individuals that have strong morals and outright 
patriots in our country that would like to see their children and 
grandchildren have a better opportunity than what they have.
  I think it also addresses grandparents. I am not one, obviously. I 
have two children and a wife; and I would tell my colleague that I look 
forward, if God is willing, to allow me to become a grandparent one 
day. I am pretty sure my goal would be to make sure my children are 
able to provide for their children and that their children have a 
better opportunity than the generations that were before them.
  So we come to the floor to be able to share with the American people 
and give response to some of their e-mails. We welcome e-mails to the 
30-something group, and we will be giving that e-mail address out; and 
I will tell my colleagues week after week, we have received a number 
every week. We are receiving more and more e-mails. It is very 
encouraging.
  Some Americans have questions that they need answered. We try to 
provide those answers to the best of our ability. Some Americans are 
saying, hey, it is great, I am a Republican, I am glad you are giving 
voice to the issue of student loans, and the fact that more people are 
graduating from college that are in debt now than it was in the 
previous generation and the opportunity for Pell grants that were 
promised, and even those who went through college in the early 1970s, I 
mean we have less of an opportunity for financially challenged 
individuals that work every day, individuals who did what we told them 
to do, go to high school, get that vocational training, that we will be 
there to be able to assist you. There was a commitment made by the 
President to raise the Pell grant commitment a little bit up to $5,000, 
but he has not yet been able to do so. Not because the resources have 
not been there. It is because the priority has not been there, which 
then takes us back to being able to have individuals ready for the 
workforce, that small businesses and businesses need in this country; 
and it is so very, very important we pay very close attention to that 
because that is serious business, the business of making sure that we 
have a workforce ready to step up and meet the challenge to be able to 
make America strong.
  If we are going to have these individuals graduating from college in 
debt before they can invest in the American dream of being able to buy 
a home, being able to invest in this economy, it is very important that 
we do not put them in debt prior to that opportunity.
  Some believe in this Congress that we should have variable student 
loans. Well, one may argue, well, it is the lower interest payment now; 
but guess what, they will be forever paying those student loans. Being 
someone that was once on a college campus, offered a credit card, I 
will tell my colleagues I am a victim. I put my hands out. I was on my 
campus.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would yield, pull it 
out.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, well, I do not want to pull my 
credit card out. I have a couple of credit cards here, but that is 
later on in the program. We have our whole David Letterman, Top 10 
thing that we have to do, and we have to read some e-mails that we 
received in the previous weeks. We had last week off.
  I can tell the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan), I missed him.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I missed my colleague.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. We come together. We have this thing here on the 
floor. We have special guests sometimes from the 30-something Working 
Group. I like the new haircut that the gentleman has going on there.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. My wife made me get it.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, let me tell my colleague, if it was 
not for our wives, I do not know where we would be, to be honest with 
him; and I thank God. Coming up October 12, it will be 13 years for me; 
and, amen, I got married young.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. August 22 it will be 1 year for me.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Is that not something? What a country.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. God bless.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. What a country. Let me just, if the gentleman 
would start, I started out with some opening comments, just to kind of 
share with the American people and the Members of the House our purpose 
for being here.
  Once again, we pay all respect and opportunity to the gentlewoman 
from California (Ms. Pelosi), the Democratic leader, that has made a 
commitment that young people in America

[[Page H5187]]

will have a time on this floor. This is just an hour. They are going to 
have time they have not had in the past so we can raise those issues to 
the level of the national debate, have people here in this Congress pay 
respect and treat 30-somethings on down to 18 or 16 or 15, those that 
are looking to participate in this democracy that we serve under, have 
them use their power that they have as it relates to voter registration 
cards, have them use their power in talking with their Member of 
Congress, to let it be known that throughout they have issues, they 
have concerns.
  I also made the correlation between the parents and grandparents. I 
mean, obviously, parents want their children to do well. Grandparents 
especially want their grandkids to do well and make sure they are able 
to have a better and safer America for the future.
  So I just wanted to tell my colleague once again I look forward to 
this. We were talking earlier today when we were going through some of 
the subjects we are going to talk about here today because we try to be 
as factual as possible, also come out with solutions; but guess what, 
there was a great announcement today. Maybe the gentleman wants to talk 
about that.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I think all of us were very excited 
about the announcement of Senator Edwards to join Senator Kerry on the 
ticket, and I think it illustrates the kind of excitement that is going 
to be around in the fall. I mean, I think it is going to be an exciting 
election, and we have to celebrate not only what party we stand for but 
I think process in general, the fact that there is going to be a great 
election; and Americans are going to get to decide whether or not the 
President who has been in charge for the last 4 years is going to get 
rehired, or if he is going to get ``Donald Trumped,'' and we are going 
to ask somebody else to come in and take over and set us in another 
direction.
  I think what we have been trying to do here is try to articulate for 
a lot of the people, not only those people who are 30 or 20 or in 
college or in high school or affected by the No Child Left Behind, but 
also to say to other Americans who are concerned about the future of 
this country that we are going to have real debate.

                              {time}  2215

  And I think, from the e-mails we have received, and from the comments 
that we have heard and the calls we get at our office, people have 
appreciated the fact that my colleague and I are not personalizing 
this. This is not personal, this is business. This is my colleague and 
I discussing issues that we believe in and the direction we think the 
country should go in, as opposed to the direction that I think the 
Republican Congress, the House and the Senate and the Republican White 
House right now, wishes the country to go in. I think there will never 
be a clearer choice in any election as to where we want to go and where 
the Republicans want to go.
  This is our e-mail here: [email protected]. That is the 
number 30, the word something, the word dems, D-E-M-S, at mail dot 
House dot gov. We have been getting some great e-mails, from both of 
the parties.
  I listened to my colleague's opening statement and the one issue I 
think we need to touch on, there was an article today in The New York 
Times. Paul Krugman did an opinion editorial and he talked a little 
about the Bush boom and how the tax cuts that President Bush initiated 
and passed and pushed through this chamber and also through the Senate 
has peaked. And I thought it was very interesting.
  We had moments in November, December, January, February, some early 
parts of this year where we actually thought we had some job growth. 
Things were starting to come along and we thought the economy was 
starting to turn around. Now we have recognized that the job growth has 
slowed. It is still growing, but it has slowed from previous months. 
And not only has it slowed down, but the unemployment rate is still at 
5.6 percent. So it has not changed. There are still thousands of people 
who are no longer actively seeking to find work because they know the 
job market is so slow.
  So here is the point I want to make. We had two choices in this 
country after 9/11 with all the tax cuts. We had two choices: Are we 
going to try to get some short-term political gain with this trickle-
down theory of economics that was proven that did not work in the 
1980s, or were we going to continue with the Clinton-era balanced 
budget, invest in education, invest in health care, invest in the 
American people and allow them to go out and grow the economy? We chose 
the former, which meant tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts, and primarily to 
the top 1 and 2 percent of the people in the country.
  The theory was that they would begin to take those tax cuts and put 
it back into the economy. But when we look at the statistics, corporate 
profits after tax are at the highest level compared to the GDP of the 
economy than they were since 1929, since they started keeping track of 
this stuff. So if you are a major player in a corporation, you are 
doing great, sending jobs to China, move the headquarters to Bermuda, 
where they do not pay any taxes there, they pay no wages in China, and 
they take the money and put it in their pocket.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, my colleague mentioned Bermuda, and 
I cannot help but think of the largest Homeland Security contract that 
was given to an offshore company. Now, this was once a U.S. company.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And what do they pay in taxes?
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Nothing. Zero.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. So the company that gets the most money from the 
homeland security budget.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. The largest agency in the history of the world, 
Federal Government agency created by this Congress, the largest 
contract they have given out thus far has gone to an offshore company. 
No taxes, no benefit to the American people, no benefit of helping to 
pay for education, no benefit to be able to provide for alternative 
fuel sources or towards a health care program.
  Hopefully, my colleague, we can share with the American people, and 
we always say this is not the Tim Ryan/Kendrick Meek Report, this is 
facts. We spend at least 7 days prior to what we are going to talk 
about in the upcoming week getting the facts. So anyone that wants to 
line up on the other side of the aisle and start refuting or just 
saying, well, that is not true, this is not true, well, we have the 
facts. And folks who want to e-mail, we will send them the facts.
  A lot of this is hard to digest and a lot of it is hard to believe. 
And, to be brutally honest with you, we are all wrapped up in 
patriotism and we understand that we have to protect the homeland, but 
yet we give the largest contract from the Department of Homeland 
Security to an offshore company. Now, I am from the South. I am from 
Florida. We have people in South Carolina, in Florida, Georgia, North 
Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi who are sitting around not because 
they want to sit at home watching cable television. They want a job. 
They need a job. But they do not have a job because we are sending the 
jobs overseas.
  And who am I to talk, because my colleague is from Ohio.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Yes, and it is the same exact situation. We have 
given these companies free rein. We do not object to people wanting to 
make money. If you can go out in the economy and do well for yourself, 
God bless you. That is what America is all about. However, you are not 
here to manipulate the system, and that is what is happening right now.
  We have these corporations, as we said, they move the headquarters to 
Bermuda, they do not pay any taxes, they move the production 
manufacturing site to China, they do not pay anything in wages or in 
environmental. OSHA. There is no OSHA in China. There is no safety and 
occupational hazard prevention in China. That does not exist. So you 
take advantage of the workers there, you take advantage of the tax 
system here, and you reap the benefits of the profits. Then you take 
the profits and you put them into this place, into the Congress, and 
you keep getting the same kind of deals over and over and over. And who 
is losing? The average people who used to be able to make a middle 
class wage in the country. They used to be able to afford health care.
  I want to mention to my colleague a study that the Toledo Blade paper 
in Ohio, in Toledo, Ohio, has been doing.

[[Page H5188]]

They noted for the average American family, with a median household 
income of $42,409, average median income $42,409, that they have seen 
increases in their premium payments, this is a family of four, go from 
$6,348 to $9,086, which is a $2,738 increase from the year 2000.
  Now, I know a lot of companies back in my district that are now 
renegotiating their contracts and their proposals are zero percent 
increase in wages in the first year, zero percent wages increase in the 
second year, zero percent wage increase in the third year, and then 
maybe in the fourth and fifth year there will be some increase. But 
imagine if you are in a family of four that is making $42,000 a year, 
very little disposable income, and you may be trying to send your kids 
to college and over the last 3 or 4 years you have an extra $3,000 a 
year after taxes that you have to pay in health care increases.
  This Congress has done nothing to address health care. And if there 
is an issue that needs to be talked about this fall for this election, 
it is health care. We have done nothing to control the prices of 
prescription drugs. Two things we tried to do during the Medicare bill, 
and I realize this will not affect everybody, but the Democrat proposal 
was we wanted to negotiate health care prices with these big major drug 
companies. We wanted the Secretary of Health and Human Services to go 
to Pfizer and all the big drug companies and say to them, if you want 
the Medicare contract and the $500 billion that we are going to spend, 
you better sit down and talk price with us. We want a discount for the 
taxpayer, for God sake. Right? We wanted that.

  And then we wanted reimportation. Let us free trade pharmaceuticals. 
We free trade cars, textile, steel, everything in the world we want 
free trade, but when we tried to impose at 3 o'clock in the morning the 
free trade pharmaceuticals, no one wanted to talk about it. So we are 
not controlling prices, we are asking the taxpayers to spend an extra 
$500 billion, and we have done nothing in the market to somehow try to 
fix a $2,700 increase for a family of four making $42,000 a year. 
Nothing.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, that is something to be outright 
mad about, but I can tell you one thing I find comfort in. I have the 
opportunity, I am Baptist, and I have the opportunity to do something 
we call pray, and we pray for days when things will get better for real 
people, people who understand what it means to take a 15-minute break 
in the morning and a 15-minute break in the afternoon, and a solid 30 
minutes for lunch. These are people who know what it means to punch in 
and punch out. They know that if you punch in five minutes late that 
you have to punch out five minutes late. Those individuals.
  These are the individuals who come home, and I am not just talking 
about hardworking men that have the steel toes sitting next to their 
chair watching their favorite sitcom when they get home, if they can 
stay awake through it. I am talking about every day working men and 
women in this country. And also young people that are having to pull a 
little extra wait because the money is not coming in like it used to.
  So if a family tries to get health care, someone has to sacrifice. 
The person that has the lowest premiums has to pay that out of their 
paychecks. This is hard, particularly in a single-family household. And 
I will tell my colleague that I came up in a single-parent household, 
and there is nothing wrong with that. I want my colleagues to know that 
right now. I commend those single parents out there doing what they 
have to do on behalf of their children. Whatever your faith may be, 
whatever your religion, it is the same thing. The responsibility of 
taking care of one's child is priority number one. It is close to what 
we call in the Baptist and Christian faith, when you think about God, 
agape, love. It is important we do that and we practice that.
  Now, what I see, because I am not a pessimist, I am a person that 
feels that tomorrow will bring about a different day, a brighter day 
for Americans. And that means Democrats, Republicans, Independents, 
Green Party or what have you. When it comes down to health care, and 
you talk about emergency room health care, no one asks for a party 
affiliation. No one says, well, Republicans over here, Democrats over 
here, Independents over there. We are going to take the majority party 
first. They do not do that. They treat you equally. That means 3 to 4 
hours in the emergency room.
  Why does it have to come to that? Why do we not have 41 million 
Americans working? I am not talking about individuals looking at want 
ads, not even trying to get a job and saying the job situation looks 
sad. I am talking about individuals who go in and punch out or sign in 
and out every day. Those individuals who cannot walk away from their 
job, or say, hey, guess what boss, I am leaving.
  Or what about a small businessperson? These businesses that have 100, 
200 good hard-working Americans, be they citizens or noncitizens, 
working in their companies, they are not offshoring it. They are right 
here in America paying their fair share. They are the American Dream.
  I want to make sure Americans understand and the Members of the House 
understand that we are talking about super-duper corporations. I mean 
the folks who publicly traded on the stock market. I am talking about 
individuals who do not even say hello to the individuals that we are 
talking about here. And the reason why we are here, at 10-plus o'clock 
at night, taking away from our families, is to be able to say there can 
be a brighter day.
  And I am glad that even though we did not have the vision or 
foresight or power to put us on the floor for an hour every week, I 
thank God for the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the 
Democratic leader. She has been here for some time, along with the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), and they have seen this happen.
  So I can say that we have been about the solution on this side of the 
aisle as it relates to Democrats. And guess what, there have been some 
good Republicans that wanted to do it, but could not. They could not do 
it because they felt there would be repercussions for them manning up 
and womaning up and leadering it up to be able to say you are wrong. 
But, guess what? Some have said it. And the record speaks for itself.
  Once again, this is not the Tim Ryan report or the Kendrick Meek 
report. This is fact. We talked about prescription drug plan. The 
bottom line is, Americans get drugs cheaper under the Democratic 
proposal. Bottom line. I am sorry. No one can debate that or dispute 
that.
  Now we have the AARP coming out and saying we need the Democratic 
proposal. I prayed that the leadership here in Washington, at the time 
that the issue was here on the floor at 3 a.m. in the morning, would 
have said without that that they would not support it. But that is the 
past, and we are talking about the future.

                              {time}  2230

  At the same time, when we talk about folks taking money home, and 
what I would like to see and for us to continue to let the American 
people know just because we are Democrats, and there are a number of 
Americans that are out there, and they are not all Democrats, they are 
Independents, Republicans, they voted for leadership, to make sure they 
get their voices heard in this democracy in this House; and they are 
going to get it. The bottom line is if given the opportunity, if we are 
able to have as the Speaker the gentlewoman from California (Ms. 
Pelosi) in the 109th Congress, that this will happen. If we are able to 
have new leadership in the White House, this administration has had 
their chance. The Democrats did not impede them from doing what they 
wanted to do. The Democrats are not in the majority. We did not appoint 
the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Commerce. We did not 
appoint these individuals, the national security person, the Attorney 
General. The Bush administration did.
  They cannot say well, the liberal Democrats ran the deficit up to the 
highest level in the history of the Republic. They cannot blame that on 
the Democrats. That game is over.
  Or the reason we do not have health care is because of the Democrats. 
I am sorry, the last I checked at 1600 Pennsylvania, there was a 
Republican President there.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And we have to listen to some Members from the 
other

[[Page H5189]]

side of the aisle, they are talking about how the Democrats, they want 
to keep spending. The Democrats are tax and spenders, and we sit here 
and scratch our heads because if Members have been paying attention, 
Republicans took control of this Chamber in 1994 with Newt Gingrich. 
They have had the Senate and have had the White House for 3\1/2\ years. 
They are spending like drunken sailors, and all they can say is look at 
the Democrats spend; all they do is tax and spend. It is not us.
  Mr. Speaker, we were the ones trying to pass the pay-go provisions 
which mean if we increase spending, we have to raise taxes on 
millionaires or we have to find another program you want to cut. Pay as 
you go. We were trying to get that in here. It was the Clinton budget 
in 1993 that balanced the budget, that invested in the proper programs.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, that budget was balanced without 
one Republican vote in this House. I want to make sure that we are 
clear on that because 3\1/2\ years ago, we were talking about how we 
were going to spend the surplus.
  Are we going to save Social Security? And I want to say this to our 
older Americans and future Americans that will be eligible for Social 
Security, the little thing on their paycheck, Social Security 
deduction, think about that. We were go to be able to put money into 
the trust fund.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. President Clinton said ``save Social Security 
first'' from that very podium. Play it smart, do not spend money you do 
not have. I think that is one of the issues that we have talked about 
early on, and more so last year than this year, but all of these tax 
cuts that we have been given which are great, and I know a lot of 
people who have benefited from the tax cuts, and God bless them. But 
when we look at the government's financial position, we have borrowed 
that money. We did not have that money. There was not a surplus here 
that we said we have billions of dollars, let us give it back and let 
the American people have it. We went out and borrowed that money. So we 
borrowed it and gave it to primarily the top 1 or 2 percent. Then we 
have to pay interest on it. So really we borrowed it, we are paying 
interest on it and gave it to rich people who are not investing it back 
into the economy for the most part. Because we borrowed it, we have to 
pay the interest on it so there is not really a tax cut, there is a tax 
shift. So the next generation of Americans, they are going to have to 
pay this bill that we have left here.
  We have almost a $600 billion annual deficit for the past year. That 
is getting rolled into our $7 trillion debt that we have. So almost 20 
percent of our annual budget that we pay down here is interest on the 
debt that we have. So if you keep accruing this big debt, you have to 
keep taking tax money to pay it off. Who is lending us the money? Japan 
and China are lending us the money. So it is not bad enough that we are 
borrowing it to give it to the top 1 percent, it is not bad enough that 
we are borrowing it and paying interest on it, we are borrowing it from 
the Chinese and the Japanese who are taking the interest money, and 
they invest it in their factories because a lot of their factories are 
state owned.
  So the state takes the money that we borrow from them, and they 
invest it back into their company and steal our manufacturing jobs. 
Their economy is booming, and they are doing it with our tax dollars. 
It makes no sense. Until we get it right down here, we are going to 
continue to erode the middle class of the United States of America, our 
cities, like Youngstown, Ohio; Warren, Ohio; Akron, Ohio; Cleveland, 
Ohio; Toledo, Ohio, these areas which have seen their manufacturing 
base erode. They have to keep passing police and fire levies. They do 
not have the tax base. Mental health levies keep going down. We have 
people that need mental health treatment but they cannot get it because 
we cannot pass a tax.
  All I am trying to say here is let us be responsible, let us take a 
step back, look at the big picture, not self-interest but what is in 
the best interest of our society. I believe if we would have taken the 
Bush tax cut, made sure, like Senator Kerry wants to do, take billions 
of that and give it to the States where they have to use it at the 
universities to lower tuition prices, double Pell grants, this is long-
term economic planning for us. We do not have it right now. It is 
frustrating.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, let me say quickly, we talked a 
couple of weeks ago, and I want to segue into what is happening in the 
workforce, and before we leave here we have to read some of the e-mails 
that we have received so our viewers will be able to know we hear them 
and are responding to them. We get a number of hits on the 30-something 
Web site, and a lot of people are very interested in this. They are not 
just young people, they are older people, they are Republicans and 
Democrats.

  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I have one here from 40-something.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. God willing, I will be there one day.
  We talk about a devolution of taxation, and that is when the Federal 
Government cuts the Federal commitment to the States, and the States do 
not have the privilege that we have. See, here in Congress we have the 
opportunity to put it on the U.S. Treasury. Oh, we can take that credit 
card out any day of the week and we do on the minute. Then every 3 
weeks we knock on the bank of China or Japan and ask for more money to 
pay down our own interest on debt. The States do not have that luxury. 
The States have to balance their budget. How do they balance it, well, 
they do not balance it out of thin air. They raise tuition prices, 
raise fees on hunting and fishing licenses, they raise the driver's 
license fee, and simple services to local government. Then they cut 
their commitment to local governments and school districts. When they 
do that, the school districts do not have the credit card. They have to 
balance their budget. When they balance their budget, the senior 
feeding program that everyone counts on to be able to provide a warm 
meal for seniors, the after-school program for kids, and I am not just 
talking about poor minority kids, I am talking about kids in rural 
America, where families have to work two, three jobs to make ends meet, 
these sorts of things take place. The quality of life of our 
communities is just not a priority here.
  So when we say well, we are sending you a $150 check, in the final 
analysis it is going to end up being a lot more. And gas prices are on 
their way back up again. I do not want to get started on that.
  Let me mention quickly what 30 somethings will be handed if we do not 
make drastic changes here in Washington. We talk about the good, bad 
and ugly, and we will give credit where credit is due, but we will also 
point out where there is trickery in what they are sharing with us.
  On July 2, the Labor Department announced that in the month of June, 
11,000 manufacturing jobs were lost and only 12,000 jobs were created 
in June for the total population of America, less than half of what was 
widely expected. So what the Labor Department is doing, they will make 
these projections, these grandiose projections and then they will fall 
short.
  The President had to explain himself by saying we are not necessarily 
gaining jobs, but we are steady and the economy is solid. It is all in 
the words. Thank God for institutions such as the Children's Defense 
Fund which also announced that almost 60 percent of teenagers lost 
their job last month, and that is the highest June jobless rate since 
the data was first collected in 1949. The gentleman from Ohio and I 
were not even on earth in 1949, but this should not happen in America 
in 2004 as it relates to young people. I do not even want to get 
started on the minority numbers. It is 77 percent, even more. So when 
we look at it and we look at individuals that need jobs and summer 
jobs, even in Florida where you have Walt Disney World and Busch 
Gardens and Universal Studios and all of these fine amusement parks, 
there was a big thing in Florida, there was an uptick in jobs, but many 
jobs are summer jobs. Some 5,000 are summer jobs, and they provide very 
little health care benefits, if any at all. When you start looking at a 
healthy America, it is not necessarily the case.
  It is almost like some of these infocommercials, buy this and it will 
help you lose weight. You wait on the UPS guy to show up, and the 
bottle is not as big as it looked on television. I will tell you right 
now, Americans, we

[[Page H5190]]

have to understand that we have an opportunity, we cannot change it, we 
can do all we can in this great House and we give respect to this 
House, no matter what control it may be under at a particular time, but 
guess what, we are all Americans and we have to uphold the American 
dream.
  Part of that dream is a better tomorrow, and that is just the bottom 
line. If given the opportunity, and I am talking about Democrats, if 
given the opportunity, to be able to set the agenda, to say health care 
is a priority in this House, real health care; making sure that your 
child is educated, that is a priority.
  Senator Kerry says he wants to give a $4,000 education tax credit 
every year to make sure there is money in your pocket to pay for 
tuition. When we see tuition prices going up, that is a tax, in my 
opinion. That is a tax on young Americans and working Americans. I 
cannot tell you how many parents that are my age, I am 38 years old, 
that actually are having to do the prepay college deal. Oh, I have to 
put this money away because there is no guarantee that my children will 
be able to educate themselves. At the same time, they are trying to 
provide health care. We do not want any handouts, but we want to make 
sure that they have a fair shake at what previous generations have had.
  Mr. Speaker, 3 months ago at birth, a child born already owes the 
Federal Government over $23,000. So now we are a part of this Congress 
that oversees the highest deficit in the history of the Republic. I 
want to say that again. Since we have been the United States of 
America, today, this year of 2004, this Congress is overseeing the 
highest deficit in the history of the country.

                              {time}  2245

  Now, I am going to tell you I do not take any great pride in that nor 
privilege. The fact that we have men and women that are over in Iraq 
right now, sand in their teeth trying to do the best that they can and 
will fight on behalf of this country as long as this country asks them 
to fight, but the individuals that are here in shirts and ties are 
making bad decisions. So we need to make sure that we have the kind of 
leadership that is going to make the right decisions, make sure that we 
are fiscally responsible. I want to say that again, to make sure that 
we are fiscally responsible, making sure that we are spending the 
taxpayer dollar in the right way, not just saying that I have a couple 
of friends, happen to know the CEO of super mega company X, and they 
are happy. That is their constituent, their base.
  Our base is individuals who punch in and punch out every day; and I 
encourage every American, because I am only one vote, maybe I can 
influence a few others, but I am only one vote and you are one vote. 
Okay. But they have to do their part, that they have to reevaluate the 
leadership, that they have to be tough on their Congressman and 
Congresswoman and they have to be tough on their local elected 
officials. They have to be heard, because if they are not heard, ladies 
and gentlemen, you think the last 4 years was a superroller coaster 
ride, what will happen in the future when there is really no 
accountability from this administration to do the right thing on behalf 
of everyday working people?
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And this is a clear difference of opinion, and I 
think the administration has clearly articulated where they want the 
country to go. And I want to share a statistic that I think I have 
shared here before.
  When I was in the State Senate in Ohio, the University of Akron did a 
study; and the study was amazing what the impact of State support for 
higher education was. And the study came back, and it said for every 
dollar, because in Ohio we were going through the same kind of budget 
cuts as everyone else, and the legislature at that time and the 
Governor at that time, still do, are going after the big pot of money 
that is going to the universities.
  So the study came back. The University of Akron did a study. It said 
for every dollar that the State of Ohio invested in the higher 
education, they would get almost $2 back in tax money, basically 
because a high school diploma, a worker with a high school diploma 
would make about $20,000 a year average. Someone with a college 
diploma, with a BA or a BS, would make on average 35 or $40,000 a year. 
So this person who had the college diploma would pay double in taxes 
and then go on probably to get a master's or something else, and then 
you would pay even more in taxes, income tax, sales tax, property tax, 
the whole nine yards.
  So from the State's position, every dollar you invest, you get almost 
$2 back in tax money. That is a good deal. That is a good deal, because 
you are investing in the long-term growth of your economy. It is that 
person with the bachelor's degree. For the most part, there is always 
exceptions, and I am not saying you have to go to college to be 
successful, because you do not, or have a college degree to be 
successful, because you do not; but on average those people will be out 
in the economy creating jobs, being entrepreneurs, developing the new 
technology, the new economy that needs to grow, which we do not even 
know what it is yet.
  And so the best thing that we can do now is just educate a lot of 
people and let them go out into the economy, support them with business 
incubators, worker retraining, small business loans; let them go out 
into the economy and create and manage new, alternative energies and on 
and on and on and on. That is a whole other story, but my point is that 
what do you want? If you are sitting at home right now in Ohio or 
somewhere across the country, what do you want? What would you rather 
have, a government that is saying we are going to invest in you and in 
your children, in their college education so that they will eventually 
become taxpayers? Or do you want a check for $300 from the Bush tax 
cut, while your property tax goes up, while they have to pass a police 
and fire levy in your city, while your tuition increases go up. I know 
in Ohio they have gone up 9, 10 percent, 3, $4,000 over the last couple 
of years.
  And then when you look at the health care, up $3,000. There are 
certain things that we can do together as a country, as a people, as a 
Congress, that we cannot do on our own. You cannot build a hospital on 
your own. You cannot build a road on your own. You cannot build a 
school on your own. There are certain things that we need to do as a 
country, and one of the things that we need to do is to make sure that 
everybody has an opportunity to go to college, because it will benefit 
everybody, and in the long term we are all going to benefit.
  What I want the American people to know from my perspective is that 
the difference is the short-term, $300, here is your check, government 
is, you know, giving you something back, which is great and I think a 
lot of middle-income people need that, and I think we should support 
the child tax credits and eliminate the marriage penalty, my own 
opinion; but to give millionaires a hundred thousand dollars back at 
the expense of veterans, investments in education and all these other 
things.
  I mean, for example, and I am going to finish here, when we tried to 
come here about maybe a couple of weeks ago, maybe 3, 4 weeks ago, and 
we wanted to say the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Obey), the ranking 
Democrat on the Committee on Appropriations, tried to pass an 
amendment, and he is the Democrat. We tried to pass an amendment that 
would rescind the tax cuts for millionaires. The millionaire worker 
would still get $23,000 back from the Bush tax cut. So we did not 
completely eliminate the tax cut for him, but we reduced it in order to 
fully fund veterans, fully fund No Child Left Behind, fully fund 
college education, reduce the cost of tuition, double the Pell grants, 
the whole nine yards, invest in health care, provide more coverage for 
children, and it went down.
  And I think that, if there is one vote over the last 2 years for this 
Congress, that will be the vote. Were you going to stand here and vote 
for millionaires and make sure that these programs are not funded, or 
are you willing to say we need a certain percentage of that tax cut 
back, because the long-term interests of the country are at stake? And 
I think those are going to be clear votes that a lot of people will 
hear about, and I just think it was an opportunity for all of us to 
straighten up this budget, the problems that we have been having, and 
invest in our country. And we did not do it, unfortunately.

[[Page H5191]]

  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Well, there are a few Republicans that joined us 
in that philosophy, those individuals who raised their right hand at 
the beginning of this Congress.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And this is not a partisan issue.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. This is about who is for real and who is willing 
to put their future in the House on the line on behalf of what they 
believe in. That is what it is about. And guess what? We have elections 
here in this House every two years. And guess what? Any American can 
run for office when they are ready.
  And another thing that we have to do, we have to do and we have to 
live through the day, because guess what, tomorrow is not promised. As 
it relates to doing the right thing, the right thing is making sure the 
Americans get their fair shake out of this Congress.
  I am going to talk about a few statistical issues, talk about the 
voter suppression, and if you can do your e-mail thing. See, I do not 
want to even give the e-mail address out, because that is your thing. 
David Letterman has his Top 10. You have the e-mail address. You have a 
couple of e-mails after you read the e-mail address. This is what I 
like watching you do, because you do it so well.
  You mentioned something as it relates to the tax cut and really what 
it means to working Americans. Health care premiums are escalating, 
middle-class tax increase, I must add. Health care costs increased by 
13.9 percent nationwide last year, the third year in a row double-digit 
increases and the largest increase since 1990. Florida, the State that 
I am in, the Florida region health care insurance premiums have 
increased by 65 percent since the beginning of the Bush administration.
  Nationally, the increase in family health care insurance premiums 
over the past 3 years has tripled. The amount of the tax cut that is 
ongoing for middle-class income families over 4 years, now, that is 
fact. Okay.
  Also you have the college education issue. We talked about that. We 
talked about raising taxes on college. These are raising tax on middle-
class working families. Guess what? Millionaires and billionaires, they 
do not have to worry about paying for college, because nine times out 
of 10, their kids are welcomed into the university and their 
grandchildren are welcomed there because of the legacy, because they 
have given money to the institution. But guess what? Those individuals, 
I mean, we may not know their story, we are not saying that we are 
upset with them. We are just saying that we should not have two 
Americas. We should have an America that everyone has a fair shake at a 
fair opportunity towards higher education.
  When we look at the whole situation, and I cannot help but continue 
to talk about Florida, because it is the reality in many of the States 
that are out there, the cost of college education has increased by 29 
percent in Florida's region since the beginning of the Bush 
administration.
  At the same time, Republicans are refusing to increase funding for 
Pell grants and also for Perkins loans to defray the costs of higher 
education. The cost of college has increased steadily in the Florida 
region. Tuition for a 4-year public college education has increased by 
$852 over the past 3 years.

  I will tell you, this is from the college board. There are a number 
of issues that are out there, but I just want to say that it is 
important that we share this information with the American people. It 
is important that they understand that they do have a choice in the 
matter. It is important that they know that Democrats in this House are 
willing to be able to carry a bucket of heavy water on their behalf, 
because we look forward to the opportunity.
  Matter of fact, we pray for the opportunity to be able to govern, to 
be able to make a better situation and homefront as it relates to 
health care costs, health care access, making sure that we have a 
stronger America in the future, that our children when they graduate 
and they walk across that stage with that diploma, or as an individual 
walk across the stage, at a technical high school, that they are 
guaranteed a future in this America, that they do not have to move 
offshore for the job that they have trained and hopefully educated 
themselves for, that this it will be here for them and that this 
government will not have them in debt, leaving a 4-year institution and 
even those individuals that are fortunate enough to qualify for future 
student loans to get through a graduate program.
  This is about America. This is not about what the people of Iraq want 
or what people of another country want. This is about making sure what 
Americans want. I can tell you, there is no partisanship there. I mean, 
so leadership is important, and we need it and we need it desperately.
  Last point, and I want you to do the e-mail and read the e-mails and 
do the e-mail address, we want to give a big shot out to Rock the Vote. 
We are getting a lot of response from the voter suppression issue. I 
just want to share with the Americans we had supervisors of elections 
telling people that they could not register to vote if they go to 
school. Right now we have a lot of young people that are in school, 
summer school right now. The fall semester will start in mid-August.
  Ladies and gentlemen, when you go back, you can register where you 
are going to be in September or late August, and definitely in November 
you can register to vote there. There is a 1975 Supreme Court decision 
that was made saying that if you are registered in school, even if you 
are from Sioux City, Iowa, and you are going to school in Georgia, you 
can register in Georgia.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And let us be clear. Go to the board of elections, 
and they will tell you you cannot and you say, yes, I can. Do not take 
no for an answer when you go to the election board, because they just 
do not know. They are misinformed.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Rockthevote.com.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Rockthevote.com.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. That can give you more information on voter 
suppression. I want to thank those individuals that have sent us e-
mails and said, listen, we thank you for letting us know. We had one 
young man who had to go and get a lawyer to register to vote in 
America. Can you believe it?
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Well, I want to say, too, you were talking about 
college education, and we only have a few minutes left. One of the 
studies that was done here, they are calling it the ``Boomerang,'' and 
this article was on ``CNN Money.'' It says study hard, get into a good 
college. Graduate. Move back in with Mom and Dad; 61 percent of college 
seniors plan to return to their family home after graduation, according 
to a survey taken this spring by monster.com. Sixty-one percent. So I 
think that illustrates the trouble we are having with the job market, 
the failure to invest, the failure to invest in science, the box that 
this administration has put us in.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. I know you have to give the address out and then 
read the e-mails.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. You said you wanted me to say it, but now you are 
cutting me off.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. You said you were looking at the e-mails, and I 
thought you were going to read those. What you are saying as it relates 
to 61 percent, we will have more Americans writing their name on the 
orange juice at home after they graduate.

                              {time}  2300

  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Yes. Have you seen that one Cellular One 
commercial, with the first kid in their class to get a job, and all the 
other ones are home not working yet. It is a funny commercial. Pay 
attention. You need to see that.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. I will, when I have time.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. It is good. [email protected]. Send us 
an e-mail.
  I am going to read you one real quick from a Daniel Spitsburgh in 
Pennsylvania. He says, ``I saw the e-mail address on C-SPAN on June 22. 
My name is Dan Spitsburgh and I am a registered Republican. I fall into 
the 1 percent sub-class of voters who are totally undecided and will 
probably decide who to vote for immediately before the election.'' He 
is a Penn State student, considers himself right down the middle, 
``waiting for someone to go out and grab our vote.''
  They are concerned about the present circumstances in the Middle 
East.

[[Page H5192]]

``Don't forget the college voter. They are often the most spirited, 
live most densely around others and are most able to attract support. 
We are concerned that we just want the best for our country. Thank you, 
Representative Meek and Ryan. If there is any way to get involved in 
the election process or any literature, please let me know.'' Signed 
Dan.
  We also have one here, ``I am a 40-something conservative Republican, 
who watches you and I, which is interesting, is it not? A 40-something.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Some demographic.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. ``Thank you both for speaking honestly and not 
being mean-spirited in the talk about our President and other 
Republicans. The growth of Federal spending also concerns me. I agree 
in general concept with your ideas you spoke about. We all want what is 
best.'' But a Republican concerned about Federal spending.
  The one I want to end on here, ``Dear Members, this is a note to ask 
for help in getting a state of emergency declared for the unemployed.'' 
State of emergency. He is a union member. ``Talented trades and craft 
union people are proud, hard-working, well-trained people who seem to 
always have work. Things have really slowed all over the country or 
gone to low paying, no benefit, nonunion contractors. We serve 4 to 5 
year apprenticeships to learn our jobs properly as well as yearly 
updates to stay current, and we don't need to retrain.'' He says, and 
this is interesting, ``I wish you would look into this matter, as time 
is crucial. We need your support right now. We union folk are in great 
numbers and a little help from you could mean a lot.''
  These are people that are out struggling. And the CEO of Aetna, and I 
do not know if you saw this quote, the CEO of Aetna said, ``We are 
pretty sure that the jobs that are going to be created will not have 
health care benefits associated with them.''
  So talk about two Americas. I mean, literally, you are going to have 
millions and millions more than we have now of people who are going to 
be without health care. There is not a bigger stress that you could 
have as a parent than thinking, I cannot take my kid to the clinic, I 
cannot take my kid to the doctor, to the hospital, because I cannot 
afford it, and then when you do go, you go to the emergency room. That 
is no way.
  I think we do have universal health care in this country, but it is 
just administered through the emergency rooms, and that is the worst 
way to do it, it is the most inefficient way to do it, and it is the 
most costly way to do it. Instead of providing the prevention up front, 
which would save everybody money in the long run, we wait. Instead of 
going to the doctor with a cold, you go to the emergency room with 
pneumonia, and it costs the taxpayers a lot more money. It just is a 
bad way to administer. So, [email protected], wrapping up 
another edition.
  I want to say hello to my cousins that are in town, actually aunt and 
uncle, Jimmy and Tammy Schick, who are here, who took me out to dinner 
tonight, it was very nice, my wife Julie's aunt and uncle.
  So, that is it.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. There is nothing like family. Nothing like 
family.
  I say to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan), it was an outstanding 
pleasure once again. God has made it able for us to come back again to 
be able to speak to the American people and Members of the House.
  Mr. Speaker, we appreciate the opportunity to address the American 
people and Members of the House tonight.

                          ____________________