[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 101 (Tuesday, July 20, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H6118-H6124]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
30-SOMETHING WORKING GROUP
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Hensarling). 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, once again, it is an honor to
address the American people and also Members of the U.S. Congress, and
there are so many issues to talk about tonight.
As many of the Members know and the American people know, once a week
the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the Democratic leader,
has allowed the 30-something Working Group to come to the floor to
share with the American people issues that are facing not only young
Americans but Americans in general. We have 14 Members in our working
group, and we work throughout the week and here in the Congress to make
sure that we give voice to issues that are facing Americans throughout
our country.
I must say that being from Miami, Mr. Speaker, I just want to share
with the Members and the American people, we are so glad that the
people of Los Angeles allowed for the Miami Heat to be able to receive
Shaq. We look forward to the Miami Heat going to the NBA not only
finals, but championship this upcoming season. Shaq is going to bring a
new flavor to Miami, and all Miamians are very proud to have him there
and also his family; and we welcome them all. We look forward to a
successful Eastern Conference playoff and even regular season, and I
will tell you, not being a season ticketholder myself, I look forward
to saving up my money to get an opportunity to see him in the Magic
City.
{time} 2200
Mr. Speaker, let me share for a moment with the American people that
week after week the 30-something Working Group has had an opportunity
to come to the floor to speak to the American people about the issues.
This week we had a visit from the WWE, which is the World Wrestling
Entertainment Association. These are wrestlers that came to the U.S.
House of Representatives to talk about their initiative that they are
working on throughout the country.
Everywhere the WWE is going, they are registering voters, and they
are working with the democratic way of making sure that every vote
counts in this upcoming election. We know that many Americans, many of
them are young; a lot of issues facing Americans right now are issues
that are working towards our future. It does not matter what age you
are, but especially for young people. I commend WWE for the work they
are doing. They were here Monday night at the MCI Center registering
voters. Their number is up to a million voters who have already
registered for the upcoming election.
I am very excited about Americans who have not had an opportunity to
vote in the past that are taking an opportunity to vote this time; and
wrestlers, entertainers are telling them it is important that they
vote. There are issues facing the economy, the environment, the war in
Iraq; and we are glad they are there.
I have a picture, if I may, of three of the WWE wrestlers that came
to the Capitol on Monday. This fine gentleman is myself. I wanted to
wrestle once upon a time, but I do not think I can hang with these
guys. We have Maven, who is an outstanding young man. We had an
opportunity to hear his views on voter suppression.
This is Hurricane. We had an opportunity to see him Monday night. He
is a very popular young man and has a bright future in the wrestling
entertainment world. And then we have Chris Nowitski, who is a Harvard
graduate. He graduated from Harvard and now wrestles in the WWE. They
all have a voter consciousness. And here is our very own, the gentleman
from Ohio (Mr. Ryan), who wanted to have a lights-out cage match with
these gentlemen. He said as long as he has his track shoes on, he will
be okay.
Mr. Speaker, we want to commend these men for coming and helping to
get out the word about democracy and making sure every voter takes
their American right and has an opportunity to vote so their voices are
heard. It was good. We had an hour-long meeting, and we opened it to
the press to allow them to come in and hear these fine gentlemen. I am
glad they have taken time out to share in a bipartisan and nonpartisan
way the importance of voting.
Mr. Speaker, I must share the issue of voter suppression. This is
going on throughout the country, and I must say to many of those
students that are going to return to colleges and institutions and even
to those parents that are sending their kids off for the first time to
a college in a city that they have never been in before, many of those
individuals have registered in high school through their social studies
programs and government classes. We do it in Florida, and in many
locations throughout the country the same thing happens. We want to
make sure that these young people know they can register.
In November, November 2, they are going to be at the location where
they are going to school. We started getting reports of young people
going to register to vote before they recessed for the spring, and now
in the middle of August they are going to return for the fall semester;
but they were told they were not eligible to vote because they did not
live in that particular city. Taken from my good friend, David
Letterman, and hopefully I will get out of here in time to be able to
catch the show, if you live in Sioux City, Iowa, and you are attending
university in Akron, Ohio, you should have the opportunity to vote
there. The Supreme Court said in 1979, if you are a registered student,
going to school there, you have a right to vote in that location.
Mr. Speaker, there is also rhetoric that is being shared with many
students that want to vote at their college campus, if they register,
they will lose their out-of-state or in-state aid they will receive, or
their scholarship will be in jeopardy because they were brought in as
an out-of-state student.
[[Page H6119]]
That is not true, and there are no repercussions to take part in our
democracy. We want to make sure we get that word out to all Americans.
I think it is important for every parent and grandparent, for the
grandparents that have given their hard-earned money to make sure their
bloodline has a better opportunity than what they had, that they have
the opportunity to educate themselves, and they have also an
opportunity to share in this democracy. They have feelings, too. As it
relates to growing and skyrocketing tuition costs, they have to be
heard on that. They have to be heard on the environment. A lot of
things that are happening that were not happening years ago, they have
to be heard on that. They have to let it be known that we want
alternative fuel sources in the United States of America. If they are
not heard, it may not happen.
They have to be heard on the issue of student loans, of skyrocketing
costs of college tuition, and that they are graduating in debt. We want
them to take part in the American Dream. That is what it is all about,
to buy a home and get a piece of the rock. And we want them to have a
credit report so that they will be able to be eligible to get a loan to
buy a house.
So for 18 to 30, young people being able to have an opportunity to
vote, if we can raise the level in that demographic, what we call it in
the political world, we will have a better America. We will have a
safer America, a cleaner America, and a healthier America. I think that
is very important.
That is the reason why the 30-something Working Group formed itself
under the leadership of the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi),
because she believes in a better America. She believes if given the
opportunity to be Speaker of this House that we will be able to top-
shelf many of the issues that are facing young Americans. So not only
now but post-election, we will be coming to the floor to share these
philosophies and issues with the American people.
Also as it relates to voter suppression, we want to make sure if
anybody wants to find out more information about it, go on the
rockthevote.com Web site and find out more information on voter
suppression, or you can take the opportunity to contact us here in the
House of Representatives. We are going to give voice to those
individuals that may run into problems.
This is our Web site here. We have our e-mail address,
[email protected]. Also our Web site, we have
democraticleader.house.gov/30something. I will share the Web site and
the e-mail address again later on. You will have an opportunity to be
able to allow us to fight on your behalf. We are not talking about just
Democrats; we are talking about Independents, Republicans, Green Party,
what have you.
We feel to be able to have a stronger America, safer and healthier
America, it is important that our entire country takes part in the
electoral process. If one does not take part in the electoral process,
we will not bring about the kinds of change that everyone cares about.
That is what we are about. We are about making sure that everyone, and
I mean everyone, not just folks from Florida or Ohio or the
Californians or Texans, we want to make sure that everyone participates
in this process. We want to make sure that everyone can have their
voice heard, and that is why it is so very important.
Tonight we are going to talk about several issues. One we are going
to talk about is our breach in intelligence. We are also going to talk
about many issues facing Americans. And guess what, we even have a top
10 list tonight that we will give birth to tonight so when we return
after Labor Day, we will continue on with our top 10 list.
I have been joined by the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan), who is an
outstanding Member of the House of Representatives.
Mr. Speaker, I just want to say to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan)
that I shared our picture on the Capitol steps. I talked a little about
how you wanted to have a lights-out cage match, and as long as you had
your tennis shoes on that it would be okay.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, did the gentleman explain that I was
not the man with the green hair in the picture? Was that clarified?
Mr. MEEK of Florida. I think it is obvious. The man with the green
hair has more muscles.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. That hurts me.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. It is love.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. The Hurricane is in the green hair, along with the
Maven. I have not watched professional wrestling since Jimmy Superfly
Snuka and the Wild Samoans. And so to now meet the next generation, and
I am sure the gentleman touched on this, how great it is that they are
taking part in trying to reach young people to get out the vote. They
have registered over a million kids already.
Did you get into the voter suppression?
Mr. MEEK of Florida. We talked about, but it would not be complete
without your views.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. That was really the issue yesterday when we were
here. There is a huge voter suppression issue where young college kids,
and I talked about it last week, how young students who live in college
towns are going to register to vote at the local board of elections or
supervisor's office, and they are being told they cannot vote there
because they are not a permanent resident. Or if they do register to
vote in that town, they will lose their financial aid, they may be
prosecuted for fraud, lose their health care coverage. There are issues
which have dissuaded young college students from actually registering
to vote.
Once we started hearing about this, we went back and did some
research. The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) did most of the
research. He found a Supreme Court decision back in 1979 that said that
even if you live in a dorm, you can register to vote in that community.
We have just been getting flooded with e-mails from people all over
the country, young students who have tried to register to vote in
certain areas and have been denied. They have been told that the local
prosecutor would prosecute them for fraud or that they would lose their
financial aid. So if you tell a young student that they are going to
lose their financial aid if they register to vote, they are not going
to vote.
Then we turn around and say why do young people not participate in
the process? So to have the Hurricane and the Maven here was special.
It was special.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would yield,
everyone forgot about us. Walking through the halls, they wanted to
touch the Hurricane and the Maven. They said these guys are just
Capitol regulars.
Mr. Speaker, athletes nine times out of ten get a bad rap for being
about business. This is a capital city. These gentleman could have been
doing anything. They could have been somewhere relaxing, kicking back,
doing what they wanted to do. They were doing what they wanted to do.
They wanted to make sure that not only young people but wrestling fans
throughout the country could just pause for a moment and realize the
seriousness about their vote and about their voice being heard. This is
serious business.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Big time.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. We are at war.
If I can say, 897 American troops are not coming home. We honor them,
but they are not coming home. That means 897 individuals will no longer
see their family members ever again.
{time} 2215
That means that 5,394 American troops, not coalition troops, American
troops, injured, dealing with the war in Iraq, just Iraq. This is not
talking about Afghanistan, going after the Taliban and 9/11. Do not get
me started.
The real issue is serious. We have to make sure that the men and
women that follow the WWE, and that is what these gentlemen are trying
to do, let your voice be heard. They are not telling them how to vote
or who to vote for. They are just telling them that they have to get
registered and that they have to get out the vote.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. What is interesting is that after having
discussions, both of those gentlemen, they were in Cleveland a few
months ago, maybe last year some time, and they came to Kent State
University to have this discussion. We had a chance to talk a little
bit. One, and I will not say which
[[Page H6120]]
one, is a Republican. The other is a Democrat. And so it is a very
bipartisan issue of just getting kids registered and getting them out
and engaged in the process.
Last week, since you brought it up about the soldiers, and then I
want to quickly move back to the voter suppression because I have
someone who wrote in, e-mailed in from Ohio State University after
hearing me last week talk about voter suppression.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. I must say, the gentleman from Ohio does that
well. He reads the e-mails. He gives the Web site. I gave the Web site
out earlier. I want to apologize to the gentleman from Ohio for giving
the Web site out because that is what he does.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I practice reading these e-mails. I do not just
come to the floor and expect myself to have the rhythm. I practice.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. The gentleman just wants to make sure that the
individual who e-mails, that he does not skip a word. Every word is
important. Every little nuance is important. We are not here to talk
about travelogues or footlockers. We are here to talk about serious
business.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Let me read this since we have come back to it.
Here is a young kid, a young student, a graduate of Ohio State
University, still residing in the 12th District in Ohio. She was told a
few years ago by the local Franklin County board of elections when she
registered herself to vote, told by someone in the office that if she
registered in Franklin County she could lose access to college funding
because her parents were of another voting district. On and On.
Currently I'm an assistant manager for a bookstore across the street
from the Ohio State campus. In March I went to the Franklin County
board of elections office on Broad Street in Columbus to pick up 500
voting registration forms to set on display for the many students that
walk through our doors each day.
So here is someone who wants to go out and try to recruit people to
make sure they get registered to vote. Put them on display. The lady at
the office that provided me with the registration form asked that we
warn students that their financial aid could be affected if they should
choose to register in Franklin County. Being that this information was
consistent to what I had heard when I was a student, I assumed this was
accurate information and placed a warning sign near the applications.
After watching Representative Ryan on C-SPAN last night, I have
realized that what I was told may be erroneous, illegal information and
this really upsets me because I have noticed that some students have
been hesitant to pick up the application. I would like to know if this
is indeed a case of voter suppression. If not, I would be glad to help
fix the problem.
So here is a student that not only wanted to vote for themselves,
they were willing to go and get 500 applications, set them down at the
bookstore, and say, let's register to vote, let me get these young kids
involved in the process. She actually was so confused that she put up a
sign saying they may lose their financial aid.
The gentleman from Florida and I are here tonight to tell the Speaker
and everyone else who is listening that that is not true. The Supreme
Court ruled in 1979 that students can register to vote on campus even
if they live in a dorm or off campus. They can register wherever they
want in most States. Do not be deterred. Do not let anyone tell you
that you cannot sign up to vote. I am 31 years old. The gentleman from
Florida is 37 years old. I know this is probably going to be the
biggest election of my life. And there are people who are 60 or 70
years old that are telling me that this is going to be the biggest
election of their life. Do not let someone tell you that you cannot
register to vote. We have the 1979 Supreme Court decision. We have the
WWE wrestlers. If you have a problem at the local board of elections,
we will call up the Hurricane, we will call up the Maven and we will do
what we have got to do.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Nowinski, also. We cannot leave him out. Our
Harvard grad.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. We cannot leave out the Harvard grad.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Who is a wrestler.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I have had conversations over the past couple of
weeks with some people in the entertainment industry whom I think also
are going to be willing to take this and promote it to their fans as
well. This is something that is really catching on that I think we
really need to make sure that everyone knows, ride the wave out and let
them know. If you have a particular story like the gentleman who heard
us on Friday from Columbus, Ohio, send us an e-mail to
[email protected]. Or you can also e-mail our friends at
smackdownyourvote.com. You can e-mail them or studentsuffrage.com,
also, a new organization.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Studentsuffrage.com. They have good information
about voter suppression. I just want to from that e-mail let you know,
we have to remind the American people and Members of the House, this is
not the 30-something report. This is not the Representative Tim Ryan
report nor the Representative Kendrick Meek report. This is for real.
People who would think we are joking, it is unconscionable for someone
to even put a sign out as much as we are trying to encourage young
people to come out and to take part in this democracy, that anyone
would say that you would suffer financially from voting. Leave alone
from voting, from registering to vote. I am from Florida. Do not get me
started. I am just going to say that when we look at individuals taking
part in this democracy, we are not talking about Democrats only. Let us
make sure we are straight on that because we will get some folks who
come in on the other side of the aisle, the 30-something Dems, they
have Dems on the back of 30-something, they are only fighting to make
sure the Democrats have a right to vote. That is not true. We want
Republicans to vote. We want independents to vote. We want democracy.
We want to make sure that their voices are heard. We want to make sure
that we have a better America as we move forward. If we do not have a
voting America, then we are not going to have a better America. If they
are not turned on or turned off about what is going on, we need
individuals like WWE. We need them to have a fair shake when they go to
register to vote. And for someone to a student, think of a student, and
I am sorry, I am getting a little wound up here, think of a student
that would even take the prerogative to register to vote when they have
all of these issues to worry about, exams, term papers, making sure
that they get registered in their classes. They want to do what they
are supposed to do, what their parents have done, and that is register
to vote. We want kids, we want parents. Parents, if you are listening
to us here tonight, even Members of the House, if you have children
that are attending, or of the other body or even of the Bush
administration, I must add, if you have children or, I must say, let us
just be bipartisan, if you work for Senator John Kerry or Senator
Edwards or what have you, we want you to be able to call your kids and
make sure that they have an opportunity to vote. The bottom line is
that we have to crush this. We have to crush this right now. We want
people to let us know. We want to fight on behalf of those individuals.
We want to make sure that they know that they have a voice, even here
in the U.S. House of Representatives, that they have a voice. For all
the folks who stand up here and say, I support the troops. No, I
support the troops more than you do. No, you don't support the troops
as much as I do. I support the troops even more. I have a tattoo
saying, I support the troops.
Let me tell you something, we want some folks enthusiastic here in
this House and in this democracy, I must add, here in the United States
to be supportive of democracy. There may be some individuals that are
actually scared that people may very well vote in this country and if
they vote, they may no longer be here. But that is the price we pay for
being public servants in this process. I am saying, bring it on. Allow
Americans to vote, especially young people. My goodness, I am taking
out my deficit chart here. $477 billion in Federal debt and this is
using the Congressional Budget Office. The number is probably higher.
$477 billion. That means children at birth already owe the Federal
Government money. This is serious business. This is not a joke. This is
$477 billion, the highest
[[Page H6121]]
deficit in the history of the republic. So for those of us in this
House that want to drape ourselves in the flag and talk about how we
support the troops and I am more American than you are, you look at
this number. This is nothing to be proud of. I have two children. I
have a 7-year-old and a 9-year-old. I do not want them asking the
question, what were you doing when this was going on? Why don't we have
Social Security now? To my uncle who is a Korean War veteran, why do I
have to wait 6 months at the VA to see an ophthalmologist? Why don't I
have health care, for the 43 million Americans that are working. These
are not individuals that are sitting at home, looking at cable and
saying the job situation looks sad. These are people that are working
every day. So how are we going to resolve those issues that are facing
everyday Americans? $477 billion, that is not a small number. We are
knocking on the Bank of China and Japan every 3 weeks saying, guess
what, we're the United States of America. We need money to pay down the
debt.
So this voter suppression issue, some people may say, it's just
rhetoric. This is for real. These are the individuals that are going to
have to pay this. That is why we need them engaged. Everyone that comes
to Capitol Hill, we have a lot of young people walking through the
Capitol. We see them in the hall. They come. They identify with us.
They want to talk to us. They want to talk to Members of Congress. But
when they get back in the fall, do you think that it is going to be a
lower tuition rate there? I do not. Why? Because of this. $477 billion
because we do not have the money to be able to help State governments.
State governments do not have a credit card with a U.S. Treasury here
and, I must add, we are not in control. News flash to Members of the
Congress and the American people. They cannot say, well, you know, the
Democrats, tax-and-spend Democrats. Hey, guess what, ladies and
gentlemen, the last time that the budget was actually balanced in this
House, the Democrats had control. And we passed a balanced budget
amendment in this House without one Republican vote. Without one. Maybe
two or three could have come over. Without one. When we start talking
about this issue of spending and the deficit, we need to talk to the
hand. You cannot talk to me about that, because the real issue is that
the Republican Congress put us in the situation that we are in now.
Believe me, there is a good argument for it, if someone was to mike
up on the Republican side of this House and some of them are very good
people. Some of my best friends are Republicans, okay? I am going to
let you know that right now. I will tell you that many of those
individuals feel the way that we feel, fiscal conservatives, concerned
about the Federal deficit. They have children, too. And they are
concerned, too. And every time someone from the other side of the aisle
tries to step out and say I am going to do the responsible thing and
make sure that we spend within reason, make sure that we invest within
reason, that I will not give a tax break that I know that we cannot
afford, that I will no longer send States that are over $87 billion in
deficit right now, because States do not have a credit card. They pass
that cost on to State universities. They pass that cost down to local
governments and they have to pay the bill. So this voter suppression, I
say to Members of this Congress, members of the Bush administration, I
hope they are listening. This is serious business. Yes, we know
November 2 is going to go and come but this deficit will be here, for
our children and in many cases our grandchildren to pay the cost. Even
seniors now will pay the cost. Prescription drugs, they will pay the
cost.
{time} 2230
Adequate health care for every American, will pay the cost. For
everyday working Americans that know what it means to have a 15-minute
break in the morning and a solid 30 minutes and not-a-minute-over lunch
break, and 15 minutes in the afternoon, they know what I am talking
about. So those are individuals that we are trying to represent. That
is why their children have to have an opportunity to vote, and that is
the reason why the 30-something Working Group wants an opportunity to
fight on behalf of that individual that sent the gentleman from Ohio
(Mr. Ryan) that e-mail to make sure that they have a right to not only
vote but, guess what, a right to register.
Goodness gracious. I am from Florida. We talk about voting in
Florida. Now we are having in the United States an opportunity to talk
about just registering. So when we look at that, it is important that
we fight. Now, the National Secretaries of State Association, which is
a bipartisan organization, not a Democratic organization, but a
bipartisan professional organization, has joined in this effort with us
to make sure that these individuals will have an opportunity to vote.
So I want to apologize for my being a Congressman just for a few
minutes because it is a great amount of frustration.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman does not have to
apologize. Let us go, after that passionate display, over to our e-
mail, [email protected]. If there is some kind of voter
suppression going on where people are telling them they cannot register
at their local board of elections because it is on a college campus or
because they are a student or because they live in a dorm, I ask them
to give us a call. We will help them negotiate the waters with Smack
Down Your Vote, with Hurricane and the Maven and our guys from WWE who
are helping us out; we will be happy to help them.
I know I just sent around a letter last week contacting all the local
members of Congress in the State of Ohio. We are going to send a letter
off to the Secretary of State in the State of Ohio. I know the
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) is going to do that in Florida. So we
start contacting the Secretaries of State in these different States.
The National Secretaries of State Association is going to help us also
communicate to their local board of elections to let them know that
this is something that can really happen with young people. So
[email protected], send us an e-mail.
One of the issues that the gentleman from Florida was talking about,
about how this is their future, the future of the country is at stake,
and how we need young people to participate in the process, and I will
tell my colleagues why. Not because young people are just inherently
great, but young people have certain qualities that this democracy
needs, and they have a way of replenishing the system here with some
new ideas, and so in a way they are great. We need new ideas in this
institution. And we are in the process of creating a new economy, and
we need them.
And the disagreement they have with many on the other side is that
they consistently have chosen to give tax cuts to people who make
millions of dollars a year and are not invested in the Pell grants, not
invested into low, low, low-interest student loans, not invested into
the States to allow them to reduce the costs of college and reduce the
tuition costs that a lot of these kids will face as they go back to
school in the fall. And the gentleman said, You know how I know they
are going to have higher tuition? Well, you know how I know? Because
they have already said in Ohio State it is going up 13 percent. In
Akron it is going to go up 10 percent.
So I want to share this, and we did this earlier. We had an Ohio
working group that was out here earlier, and I shared some of these
graphs, but I want to share these with the people watching here. One of
the greatest threats to the United States of America, Mr. Speaker, is
China. China. And give me a minute here because I am going to have to
segue into making my point.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I further yield to the gentleman
from Ohio (Mr. Ryan).
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate that. He is a generous
man. I am getting choked up here with the gentleman's hospitality.
Exports from China. And I went over this about an hour ago here, but
I want to do it again just in case we have some new people watching.
This is out of Wired Magazine, and Ryan Keating on my staff ran across
this, and I want to thank him for his insight into these particular
issues. Top five exporters of
[[Page H6122]]
electronics, countries: China in 2002, $8.8 billion in exports of
electronics; United States of America, $2.5 billion. Let me repeat.
China, $2.5 billion; United States, $2.5 billion exporting electronics.
So China is cleaning our clock. Top five exporters of telecom
equipment: China, $36.4 billion, United States $21.6 billion. Getting
our clock cleaned in the telecom equipment industry.
We will go over here to the green. Top five exporters of assembled
computers, when we signed all these trade agreements and we said we are
going to compete with all these countries, we are going to have to have
the high-tech jobs. That is what everyone always told us. Top exporters
of assembled computers: China, 3.8 billion; USA, 2.4 billion. Getting
our clock cleaned by China for assembled computers.
Here is the point I want to make with this pie chart and two other
graphs here. Top five sources of engineering graduates, if we want to
get the new economy going, if we want to make sure that our economy can
compete in this very competitive global economy, one of the things we
need to do is we need to have engineers who are creating, finding
better ways of doing things, finding more efficient ways of doing
things. Engineer grads in 2001: United States, 59,000; China, 219,000
engineers in 2001, graduated from China. 59,000 in the United States of
America.
And I ask the gentleman from Florida, the Speaker, and everyone else
who is listening here tonight, how are we going to compete in the
global economy when we have 59,000 engineers graduating, China has
219,000, European Union has 179,000, Japan has 104,000, Russia has
82,000, and the United States of America has 59,000? How are we going
to compete in the global economy when we do not have enough engineers
out there creating the new economy?
And we have talked here before, Mr. Speaker, about the space program
and how the goal for the United States was to go to the Moon; but that
was the sexy, glamorous part. We are going to land on the Moon and
everyone can see it and it is great. But the idea was to make sure that
we are educating mathematicians, scientists, engineers, chemists,
people who are going to be able to participate. There was a goal there
to go to the Moon, but all that was to make sure that we were educating
people in the process of getting there. Yes, it is great to get to the
Moon. Yes, we can do experiments up there. But imagine all those people
who got educated in those specific sciences and never ended up working
for NASA. They ended up in the private sector driving our economy.
Let me share two more charts here; and I do not like to get too
statistical because, one, it makes me nervous, but we have got to wake
up and smell the Starbucks. Other countries emphasize science and
engineering education. This is the percentage of first degrees awarded
in the natural sciences and engineering.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is important. Natural sciences,
engineering.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Natural sciences, engineering. And I am not saying
I was the sharpest knife in the drawer when I went through college, but
what I am saying is I know enough and the gentleman from Florida (Mr.
Meek) knows enough, and I think the American people know enough of what
we need to do to compete. So look at this chart. Percentage of first
degrees awarded in natural sciences and engineering: China, 73 percent;
Japan, 66 percent; Germany, 59 percent; South Korea, 45 percent; United
States, 32 percent. So China is at 73 percent. We are at 32 percent.
And how do we expect to compete with all these people if we do not have
enough people participating in the sciences and in engineering?
One final chart. These are people entering graduate school and
engineering, physical sciences, math and computer sciences in U.S.
institutions. The green line is U.S. students and permanent residents,
59,000, roughly, as I stated earlier. The red line is foreign students
at U.S. institutions, almost 83,000.
I do not want to get bogged down in the numbers; but my point is that
because we are not investing in education, because this administration,
this House, this Senate, this Congress, has chosen time and time again
to give tax breaks to the top 1 percent while we have 250,000 students
across the United States of America who are college eligible but will
not go because they cannot afford it, we have a problem.
And we have a problem that we can fix, and this is why I am here at
almost 11 o'clock at night. This is why the gentleman ran for Congress.
This is why we spend long hours going to parades and shaking hands and
working here late at night during the week, because we believe that
there is an answer to this problem that is going to make the United
States stronger. And what we have been arguing here on the Democratic
side, and many Republicans have been arguing this as well, but the
leadership, the President, the leadership in the Senate, has not been
responsive, the Pell grant now only accounts for 40 percent of one's
college tuition. In 1973 or 1974 when the Pell grant was started, the
Pell grant would take care of almost 80 percent of a student's college
tuition. We had a commitment to education. We had a commitment to make
sure that we could keep driving this economy by having engineers and
scientists out in the private sector pushing it along, starting a
business, working for a business, making it grow, helping it grow time
and time again.
We did not have the banks involved in the student loan business. Why
do the banks have to be cut in on the whole deal? I have nothing
against banks. They own my house right now; so I do not have anything
against them. But they do not have any business being involved in a
student loan. We cannot help them make profits. We are trying to get
kids educated, and that is what this country needs to do. We need to
make it a priority, and I think this is something that has got to come
from the President of the United States. I love John Kerry's plan. He
wants to double the Pell grant. He wants to give $25 billion to the
States that has to be spent to lower tuition costs. He wants to help
kids get low-interest loans. He wants scholarships for math and science
students. These are things we need to do.
And I went off and I apologize, but the frustrating part is that this
is solvable. These are solvable problems, and that is the beauty of
this system. And we can fix this. I think we have to fix it because
really the future of the country is at stake. When we look at trying to
compete with China and they are cleaning our clock in electronics,
telecommunications equipment, assembled computers, and the United
States workers are losing their jobs and scrambling over to see if they
can get to Wal-Mart, we have got a real problem. And I think if we made
this a national commitment, and I hope President Kerry would make it a
national commitment, but if we do that, I think we still have some time
left. And the scary thing is the clock is ticking.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from
Ohio (Mr. Ryan) for sharing that with the American people. I know he
needed those charts to make sure that he can show the picture, but he
was kind of brushing against kind of like a Ross Perot kind of feeling
there. I started thinking he was going to say in a minute, You are not
listening. But I think it is important. We try to make this not normal
C-SPAN watching for the viewing public and for the Members of Congress.
We want to make sure they hear what we have to say. But if we are going
to compete, guess what, we have to have players on the field that are
the numbers. It is almost like football. One cannot line up with five
people and expect to beat a full defense there with five people on
offense.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek)
is a former football player.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. That is correct.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. What position did the gentleman play?
Mr. MEEK of Florida. I played a little defensive end. That was when I
could legally hit someone. But we will leave that out here because
there is no hitting in the Congress, I must add.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. That saves lives.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. That saves lives.
Mr. Speaker, we are going to talk a little bit about intelligence for
a minute, if we can.
[[Page H6123]]
{time} 2245
Then we are going to get into our top 10 list after intelligence. I
am just going to talk about that for a minute, because the American
people are going to get an opportunity to hear more about intelligence
as the week gets a little older.
We know that there has been a lot of talk, that there has been a
Senate report released. The Senate Intelligence Committee put out a 511
page report, which is a bipartisan report. It gave a pretty good
picture of what was going on in the CIA, of what possibly went on in
this administration as it relates to intelligence analysts that were
subject to political pressure.
There is going to be a second tier to this report, and guess what? It
is going to be after the election.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Absolutely.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Wow. Is that not a news flash?
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. If the gentleman will yield, we are trying to
engage young people here in the voting, participating in the process,
and they hear this garbage that ``we are not going to tell you until
after the election. Then, you know, then we will give you the truth.''
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Once again, this is not the gentleman from
Florida (Mr. Meek), the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) and/or the 30-
something Democrats working group report. This is a report from the
Senate, or the ``other body'' Intelligence Committee.
I must say that the Democrats on that committee did file a dissenting
view, basically saying intelligence analysts were subject to political
pressure.
I will say this: We had some very honorable Members whom I respect
and, we are both members of the Committee on Armed Services, I am also
a member of the Select Committee on Homeland Security, and this is
serious business. We have men and women right now getting sand in their
teeth over in Iraq right now based on intelligence.
Right here in this well, right above the gentleman from Ohio (Mr.
Ryan), our Commander-in-Chief shared with us information that we know
now is false, or was given bad information.
This is serious business. This is the reason why we have got to deal
with voter suppression. This is the reason why everyone who has a voter
registration card or will become eligible to get a voter registration
card should make sure they let their voice be heard at the polls.
I for one and the gentleman for one and the 30-something Democrats
for one are not scared of American people voting. Democrats,
Republicans, Independents, Green Party, whatever party you are a member
of, we want you to vote, because in this democracy things will happen
better for our future.
This report will be coming out. There will be a lot of rhetoric about
who did what, who did not say this. We know the CIA director, Mr.
Tenet, resigned. We know that there are others that should resign.
No one gets fired from this administration, I must add. For all of
the issues that have gone on in this country, no one has been asked to
resign. Everyone has done a superb job.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. They have not made a mistake.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. They have not made a mistake.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. The first administration in the history of the
United States of America that has not made one mistake.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. I will tell you this: It would be good for
politics. But, do you know something? I have to go back to the numbers.
The numbers speak for themselves.
The reason why this is serious business and the reason why week after
week we come back and the reason why we have a Committee on Armed
Services, hopefully that will have hearings that would hold the higher
echelons, and I mean the secretary and undersecretary and everyone over
at the Pentagon that is wearing a shirt and tie and suit that is
appointed, that are calling the shots for men and women. They say well,
you know, we wait to hear from our commanders in the field. We do not
make those decisions.
Mr. Speaker, I remember a day when everyone at the Pentagon took
credit for what was going on. Now it is like, well, we are waiting to
hear from this general and this other general, and, until we hear from
the field, we are not going to do anything.
Mr. Speaker, 897 and climbing. A coalition of troops that one may say
is over 132,000 American troops, enlisted, Reserve, National Guard.
And, guess what? Over 6,000 individuals that did not say, hey, I am
ready to go. They were called up and sent. And also 4,000 troops were
relocated from other parts of the world that we need them to go to
Iraq.
The last I checked on 9/11, it was all about the Taliban and al
Qaeda. And, guess what? They are in Afghanistan doing what they want to
do.
Yes, we commend the troops. Do not get me wrong. I do not know a
Member in this Congress, I have not encountered an individual out on
the street, either here in Florida or Washington, D.C., that says I am
not with the troops. So we can just put that debate aside.
I think it is important that the American people understand that we
all support the troops. For anyone that spends 30 or 40 minutes talking
about how he or she supports the troops, we need to focus on other
things about the intelligence of why we are in Iraq in the first place.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. We want to protect the troops.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. And protect the troops, and making sure that
Reservists who signed up to protect this country, they will fight for
20 years if this country asked them to fight. That is not the question.
It is about decisions that are being made here inside the Beltway. It
is about the individuals that are being driven around with tinted
windows in black cars and Suburbans with police escorts. We are talking
about those individuals.
Guess what, I say to the gentleman from Ohio? The U.S. Congress and
the Committee on Armed Services are the individuals charged with making
sure that those individuals are held accountable. We have the
leadership of this House on the other side of this aisle here that
says, oh, we do not need to bother the Pentagon. They have a lot work
to do. We do not need to ask the Secretary to come down here. He has a
war to fight.
Well, guess what? The last I checked, we need some help, and we need
some oversight.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Article I, Section 1. The people govern.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. So I want to move on, if we can. If the
gentleman from Ohio would, he can remove that e-mail address. We want
to make sure the American people get an opportunity to see it. He is
going to help me out here.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. This is unbelievable. This is unprecedented.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Unprecedented. We want to make sure that people
know that we are here, that we mean business.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And I am not Vanna White. I want you to know from
right now, I am not Vanna White.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. No one is calling the gentleman from Ohio (Mr.
Ryan) Vanna White. No one wants to.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Are we ready? I do not know what to do here. I just
pull this off?
Mr. MEEK of Florida. What you do at the top, you start at the very
top.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I am nervous.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. I want to let you know, this is the top 10
reasons why young Americans need a change in leadership. I just want to
make sure our viewing public has their eyes on this, or our friends at
C-SPAN have their eyes on this chart here, because it is important.
The top 10 reasons why Americans need a change in leadership. Can you
take number 10 off.
At the top, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan), look at that.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Oh, yes.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Not sure how you will be able to pay your share
of the $2.9 trillion deficit and afford Outcast tickets. That is
important there. The Outcast tickets are important.
I want to add to the American people that the Congressional Budget
Office says that is the next 10 years. It will be $477 billion, which
is the current deficit for this fiscal year. That is right now where we
stand. That is number 10.
Number 9.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Here we go.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Look at the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan). The
[[Page H6124]]
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) is about to get a contract here in a
minute.
New dorm rooms run by Halliburton overcharge you by $900,000.
That is possible. I want to let you know that is very possible. That
happened.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. If you think your college tuition is high now, wait
until we privatize your dorms and turn them over to Halliburton. Then
you are in trouble.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Let us go with number 8.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I am ready.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. We have to get moving here.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I am nervous.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Because young people cannot get sick, 30 percent
of young people do not have health insurance. That is an important
issue. That is number 8.
The top reasons why young Americans need a change in leadership.
Go ahead with number 7.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I like this number 7. I had a chance to peek.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. You can talk about it later.
Young people concerned over the prospect of another Cheney swearing
in. Oh, wow, that is interesting.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. That is because when he was in the Senate with
Senator Leahy, he keeps swearing.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Let us go from there.
Number 6: MTV spring break coverage lacking. Only 15 students able to
afford the Cancun getaway. Worse teen unemployment since 1949.
That is very serious.
Go ahead. We have got a couple more here. Number 5: Students dismayed
that 10 Crackerjack box tops now worth the same as Bush's Pell Grant.
Go ahead, number 4: Because John Ashcroft has got to go.
So, number 3, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) has got to move
faster. Number 3.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I know help me out.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. A draftee is not what you meant when you said
you hope the Bush policies would help you find a job.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) has got to
give me a chance to drop the thing.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Just drop it to the floor. We will clean it up
later.
Number 2, cannot buy self-help books titled ``I am da bomb'' in fear
that the homeland security officers will investigate you under the
Patriot Act.
Number one, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) is doing a fine job:
Because this is your country and what is at stake is your future.
And that is very, very important, that the American people understand
that that is important, and that goes for everyone and every age group.
We want to make sure this top 10 reasons why young people need to
change leadership in America is all in being able to frame this issue,
to let them know what the issues are. We know that we put a little
humor to it, but, at the same time, it is very real, it is very
accurate.
We need to give folks our website. We are running out of time. We
have probably a minute or so left.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. We have 2 minutes.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. And make sure we give them the web site so we
can continue to communicate with Americans.
To the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan), I must say he is going to have
the last word tonight and close this out. That it is a pleasure being
here with the gentleman and a pleasure working with the 30-something
group. We look forward to hopefully a democratically-controlled House
when we return back here after November so we can talk about offense
and not defense.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. [email protected]. 30 as in the
number, [email protected].
I agree. We are wrapping things up this week. This will be our last
30-something probably until September. We will be here for a few weeks,
and then off to the elections. So, hopefully you can send us an e-mail.
Let us know what you think.
But part of what we are trying to do here is share with the American
people what we are learning while we are down here and just present the
facts. It has not been partisan, but we have, I think, illustrated
tonight and over the past few weeks kind of what we want and the
direction we think the country needs to go in. So I appreciate the
opportunity to be with the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) here. The
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) does a fine job, and I am happy to be
his wing man.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, this is the conclusion of the 30-
something working group. We appreciate the opportunity to address the
American people and the House of Representatives.
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