[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 156 (Wednesday, December 7, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H11199-H11205]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
30-SOMETHING WORKING GROUP
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Dent). Under the Speaker's announced
policy of January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) is
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to come before the
House. We would like to thank not only Democratic leader Ms. Pelosi but
the entire Democratic leadership, Mr. Hoyer, Mr. Menendez and Mr.
Clyburn, our vice chair of the Democratic Caucus.
Mr. Speaker, as you know, the 30-something Working Group comes to the
floor to share not only with Members but also with the American people
about what is happening good here in the Capitol and also what is
happening bad here in the Capitol, and hopefully through a bipartisan
effort we can move towards positive change here in the Capitol.
Mr. Speaker, it saddens me to report the fact that this Congress,
need it be whatever poll you look at, the American people by 33 percent
think that we are doing a good job. Thirty-three percent of the
American people feel that this Congress is doing a good job. I would
tell you that if it was a grade system, Mr. Speaker, I would assume
that, and Members, I would assume that that would be a failing grade.
I have two children that attend school. And if their grades were
based on a 33 percent performance, I do not think that they would be
moving to the next grade. And I think it is important, Members of
Congress, Mr. Speaker, as we start to look at our responsibilities to
the American people, not just to our constituents in our districts, but
to the American people, because by them sending us to Congress they
federalized us to come up here and run this country in the way that it
should be.
Mr. Speaker, I also want to remind the Members that this is the
people's House. It is not my House. It is not Mr. Ryan's House. It is
not Ms. Wasserman Schultz's House. Mr. Speaker, all due respect, it is
not your House. It is the people's House.
In the Senate, I must add, and we must let all of the Members, we
must remind them in the Senate someone can be appointed to the Senate.
Of course they have elections. But in a time, let us just say, Mr.
Speaker, like in New Jersey, the Governor of New Jersey, the new
Governor of New Jersey has the opportunity, who was a U.S. Senator, to
appoint someone to be the new U.S. Senator from the State of New
Jersey.
But in the House, with a seat being vacated, let us just say someone
from New Jersey is appointed to be the Senator. He cannot appoint
someone here to the House of Representatives. He would have to set a
special election for that seat to be filled constitutionally. So this
is the people's House. And so when we start talking about the people of
the United States of America, we are closer to them than any other, I
think, than any other branch of government.
I would like to say that on the heels of President Bush's speech
today on Iraq's economy, I could not help, and Mr. Ryan and I just
returned from Iraq. We visited three cities in Iraq and we went to the
infamous Green Zone and Baghdad visiting our troops. Many of them were
members of the Army, soldiers. Some, Mr. Speaker, on their third
deployment to Iraq.
I could not help but pay attention, and I got a copy of the
President's
[[Page H11200]]
speech and he released a 35-page, 32 pages if you look at glossy cover
and all, 35 pages of his strategy for victory there in Iraq.
But he talked about the economy today in Iraq. But I cannot help but
say, Mr. Speaker, and to the Members, that it would have been good if
the President could have talked about our U.S. economy. I think the
reason why he did not talk about the U.S. economy is the fact that we
have record deficits, some 3.5 trillion over the next 10 years'
deficits. That is not the Kendrick Meek report. That is not the Tim
Ryan report. That is not the Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz
report. That is reality.
We are record-breaking as it relates to borrowing money, Members,
from foreign countries. This President, along with this Republican
majority here in the House and in the Senate, has achieved $4.5
trillion in borrowing money from foreign nations, more than 42
Presidents before him. They were only able to, among all of those
Presidents, I mean all of them, I am talking about since we became a
country, $4.1 trillion that have been achieved. And I want to correct
myself. I am sorry. I have so many numbers here, Mr. Speaker. I want to
correct myself. I am glad Mr. Ryan brought this over. $1.05 trillion by
this President. I said four and I will correct myself right now because
in the 30-Something Working Group, Mr. Speaker, we believe in third-
party validators and sharing with the American people and the Members
the truth about what is happening here in the Capitol. So maybe 4.05
might have sounded a little better, but we believe in making sure that
we give good information. 1.05 trillion, this president, the last 4
years, 2001 to 2005; and he is not done yet. 1.01 trillion, 42
Presidents in the history of this country, Republican, Democrat, and in
their lifetime for some of them very early on were members of the Whig
Party. From 1776 to 2000, 224 years, Mr. Speaker. And this is from the
U.S. Department of Treasury. This is not from the National Democratic
Party or anything like that. We just want to make sure, Mr. Ryan, that
we have our third-party validators here.
Maybe the President, Mr. Ryan, could have talked about the fact that
health care costs increased over 60 percent for small businesses over
the last 5 years. Major companies are cutting jobs, and not only their
pension plan that they promised, but they are following our lead here
under this Republican majority, Mr. Ryan, by the fact that we are not
only increasing copayments and the wait for our veterans once they
leave the military, they are following our lead. Companies like GM,
Delphi, Merck, Verizon and now Ford are now ``reprioritizing.'' That
means cutting jobs. That means cutting back on promises that they
promised their employees from the beginning.
The average family right now in the United States as relates to
natural gas are paying three times more than they paid in 2001. The
President could have talked about that, but he did not. He wanted to
talk about Iraq because he needs to explain himself. Republican
majority, they need to explain themselves.
Sixty percent of Americans, Mr. Speaker, if we like it or not, do not
believe that our leadership as relates to leading our effort in Iraq
has a sound plan in getting us out of there. So we are going to talk
about some of these things tonight. We are going to also talk about,
Mr. Speaker, this ongoing culture of corruption and cronyism and
incompetence. This is not the Kendrick Meek report. This is just
today's papers. This is just today that is outlining a culture of
corruption and cronyism and incompetence. So when historians look back
on the 109th Congress and the contributions that we made, they are also
going to look at the void in leadership and leading this country in the
way that they should lead.
We used to give speeches here on the floor, Mr. Ryan, and you know
full well about putting burden on future generations.
{time} 2015
Well, I can tell the Members right now, Mr. Speaker, and this is not
me speaking. They can check with any of the Federal agencies that do
the reports or the auditor generals that put out reports on an annual
basis. We are putting this generation in the present in jeopardy.
So I am so glad that we have the opportunity tonight to come to the
floor, and I am so glad that the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) is
here, and I am glad that we have a level of consistency for the
American people to come to the floor and share this information.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to
me.
And I think he is absolutely right. That is the most startling
statistic that he has shown us with the money that we have borrowed
from foreign interests because we come to the floor nightly, sometimes
for a couple hours a night, to talk about the future of the country.
And there is no more important part, no more important aspect, of the
country than our fiscal stability. And right now we have a Republican
Congress, House and Senate, and the President, who are borrowing money
consistently from foreign interests, and to have one President do in 4
years what 42 Presidents could not do in 224 years is absolutely
outrageous. And for anyone to stand up and somehow defend this fiscal
policy that we have is an outrage, and it offends me, to be quite
honest, because not only are we borrowing money which we have to pay
interest on, we ran a $500 billion deficit, or close to $500 billion.
We are not factoring in the war or anything else. We are spending $1.5
billion a week in Iraq, which is a lot of money, and we are close to
over $200 billion already there. But to have this money and spend it is
one thing, but to not have the money and have to borrow it primarily
from the Chinese, the Saudi Arabians, the Japanese, to borrow that
money to plug our holes here in the United States puts this country at
risk, and it weakens our country.
And we do not come here because we do not have anything better to do
tonight. We come here because we take a constitutional oath and we
swear our allegiance to the Constitution of the United States.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Article I.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Article I, section 1 of the Constitution creates
this House. The first part of the United States Constitution creates
this House. So we have an obligation for oversight. We have an
obligation to balance the budget, and we have an obligation to protect
the future of the United States of America. What more basic fundamental
part of our jobs is there other than making sure this country is
fiscally stable? And to go out and borrow over $1 trillion, I mean I
think it is--this is very important for us to make this point again. In
224 years, 42 Presidents borrowed over $1 trillion from foreign
holdings, from foreign interests. Over $1 trillion in 224 years. This
President and this Republican-led Congress has borrowed over $1
trillion in 4 years from foreign interests. That weakens our country.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, can the
gentleman say that again because I just want to make sure that the
American people and not only the American people, but the Members who
represent them on both sides of the aisle understand what is going on.
This is unprecedented. This is not something that happened 4 or 5
years ago. This is not something that happened 20 years ago. This is
not something that happened 40 years ago. This is not something that
happened 200 years ago. This is something that is happening now to this
country, the first time in the history of the Republic. So when folks
say, well, we have to do this, that we have a war going on and we gave
unprecedented tax cuts to millionaires and we had 9/11, you know
something? Forty-two Presidents had World War I, World War II, had
Vietnam, Korea, the Great Depression. I mean, they had a number of
issues thrown in the face of this country that we had to deal with. And
now under this Republican majority, under the President we have in
office now, we are breaking records. We are not breaking records as it
relates to our economy and growth. We are breaking records as it
relates to putting this country further in debt and borrowing from
foreign countries.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And, Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will continue to
yield, people say what does the 30-Something
[[Page H11201]]
Group have to do with all of this, what does our group have to do with
all of this? Listen, this is the future of our country. There is no
greater issue for the 30-somethings or the 20-somethings or those kids
in school right now or those college students right now. There is no
greater issue because the money, we do not just borrow it from the
Chinese. We have got to pay interest on it, and our national debt right
now is $8 trillion. So who is going to pay this and who is going to pay
the interest on it? And I think it is $300 billion a year we are paying
just in interest on the debt that we have. $300 billion. So just
imagine if we could get to a position where we were in the late 1990s.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. MEEK of Florida. I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, I think that is a very important statistic
to discuss during the course of our conversation this evening. The
interest payments that the American taxpayers are required to make
every single year amount to some $300 billion on the debt that has been
accumulated because of the policies of this White House, this
Republican House of Representatives, and this Republican Senate.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
Mr. MEEK of Florida. I yield to the gentleman from Ohio.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, the Republican majority tomorrow is
going to extend or reinstitute tax cuts for the wealthiest people in
the country.
Mr. DELAHUNT. And how are they going to pay for them?
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Up to $70 billion, they are going to go to the
Chinese, to the Saudi Arabians, Mr. Speaker, to the Japanese
governments.
Mr. DELAHUNT. To the Koreans.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. To the Koreans, and they are going to borrow the
money. There is no one, Mr. Speaker, that could possibly hear this
argument, no Member of Congress that could possibly hear this argument
and not think to themselves why would we cut taxes by $70 billion for
the wealthiest people in the country and have to borrow the money from
the Chinese to pay for it?
Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will continue to yield, I
think it should be rephrased. Why should we borrow more money from
foreign governments and from foreigners who invest in this country to
pay wealthy Americans money? This is not a tax cut. This is a welfare
program financed by nonAmericans, to a substantial degree, to provide
more disposable income to the most affluent among us. I dare say this
sacrifices our national security.
We hear many in this Chamber, particularly on the Republican side,
express concern about China. We are in the position now where we need
China to fuel our economy. We need many of those Middle Eastern nations
who are not democratic to fuel our economy. As Mr. Ryan and Mr. Meek
pointed out, in excess of $1 trillion has been borrowed from foreigners
to pay for tax cuts for the most wealthy of Americans.
This makes no sense, Mr. Speaker. It makes no sense from a national
security perspective. If we have concerns about China and China's being
a potential adversary, why do we continue to borrow money from the
Chinese communist regime? Why, Mr. Speaker? It is a question I would
like to have somebody answer.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I am not sure, quite frankly, if there
is a good answer. I mean, what could possibly be the good answer? And
the rhetoric that we get from our friends on the other side is that the
tax cuts are stimulating the economy. The tax cuts are creating jobs.
And this is laughable. Where? Where? In the Delphi Corporation? Ford
just announced they are cutting 30,000 jobs. General Motors? Who is
creating the jobs? And I heard our friend on the other side say a
little bit earlier he had a company in Texas that went from two jobs to
four jobs.
I mean, that is laughable. Ford cuts 30,000, and the argument coming
from the other side is there is one company in Texas, Mr. Speaker, that
went from two jobs to four jobs. Now, that is economic growth.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, here in the 30-
Something Group, we believe in third-party validators. We believe in
making sure we share with the American people and also with the Members
of this House, Mr. Speaker, because sometimes there are a lot of things
that are said. Some folks come to the floor and try to make sure that
they provide information that somebody might have told them or they may
say ``they said,'' but we are actually giving good information, third-
party validators. Some are U.S. Government agencies. Some are groups
with great credibility.
I can tell Members right now and every American knows because they
just pick up a newspaper or turn on the news, Mr. Ryan mentioned just a
few companies, but GM, Delphi, Merck, Verizon, and now Ford just to
name a few, Mr. Speaker. So when we start talking about the tax cuts,
we can go down memory lane to just a month ago. There is so much
happening to the American people versus for the American people that we
do not have enough time to share it all. We just do not have enough
time to share it all.
I mean, we would have to take 10 hours on this floor daily just to
report to the Members of the House what is going on in this House. We
could not look at another Congress and say, well, that happened in the
101st Congress or that happened in the 93rd Congress or that happened
in the 3rd Congress. No. We are setting a new chapter in the record
book as it relates to not governing in the way that we should. And I do
not want to say ``we,'' Mr. Speaker, because it is the Republican
majority, and I just want to make sure Members understand. Folks talk
about what the Democrats are doing? What we are doing? Somebody said
something about what the Democrats are going to raise. We cannot even
bring our proposal to the floor. Do my colleagues know why? They say
Democrats are lazy, that they do not want to put anything together.
Guess what. We have a number of plans to put this country back in order
and make sure that we clean out this deficit spending that the majority
is doing, and they will not allow us in the Rules Committee to come to
the floor and put our proposals on this floor and let us do it on an
up-or-down vote. What they are doing is they are borrowing from this
generation and future generations.
Just a few weeks ago, what was it, 14-something billion dollars they
took from students, they took from parents that are trying to educate
their children? We are getting our clock cleaned by China that, I must
add, we are borrowing money from to give billionaires and millionaires
tax cuts. We are borrowing money from them. They have more engineers.
As a Member of Congress that represents a father or mother that wants
to see their daughter become an engineer, forget about it. Unless they
are a millionaire or a billionaire, that is the only way she is going
to get to college so that she can be able to make this country strong.
We are weakening this country and giving subsidies to companies that go
overseas, Mr. Speaker, to have a better deal than they are going to
have here on U.S. soil, to have better opportunities for our young
people.
No Child Left Behind, Mr. Speaker, was a piece of legislation that we
all thought at the beginning that could be a bipartisan work product
that we can fund to help our future generations and present generation
so we can compete against other countries. No. What we are doing now is
we are making it easier for U.S. companies to go overseas, send our
jobs overseas, and have GM, Delphi, Merck, Verizon, and now Ford lay
off workers here. This is not the Kendrick Meek report, Mr. Speaker.
This is reality. This is not Walt Disney World. This is the U.S. House
of Representatives.
{time} 2030
It starts here. We are the People's House. The Republican majority
has allowed this to happen. Now, if someone is a Republican or an
Independent, or, you know, Libertarian, Green Party, and says I am not
a Democrat, I do not subscribe to that, you must subscribe to it,
because it is dealing with your household. This is not just Democratic
households that the Republican majority cut $4 billion plus out of
student loans and student aid. That is going to increase, increase the
cost to send your child to college.
So I would say, gentlemen, for the Members that are in their offices
right now, for the Members that are paying attention to us on the floor
right now,
[[Page H11202]]
they have to put in their newsletter to their constituents that you
need to look at that college fund that you are setting aside for your
child, because, guess what? You need to increase it. Because we just
made life harder for you.
Why do we make life harder for you? We made life harder because we
had to make sure that the oil companies had their subsidies while they
are making record breaking profits. We had to make sure that the
millionaires and billionaires get their tax cut.
It is not just our report. Just pick up the paper. Just take a look
at what is going on in this Congress right now. It is not that. It is
not the fact that, oh, well, we had to cut the student loan and student
opportunities, we had to cut Medicaid and we had to instruct the
Veterans Affairs Committee to cut out of their budget millions for
veterans to make their lives longer, to make those health care clinics
for veterans, have them have fewer hours.
Gentlemen, in some areas of this great country of ours, there are
clinics that are only open for 1 day a week for the veterans. One day.
So now we have instructed, or the Republican majority has instructed,
because we all voted against it, to then cut over $600 million. So that
means that maybe they will be open for half a day, Mr. Speaker.
And the President today wants to talk about the economy in Iraq.
Wants to talking about what we have done with Iraqi contractors.
Please. Why do not we talk about what we have done in U.S. cities?
Mr. DELAHUNT. If the gentleman will yield for a moment. You know, how
about building some roads here in the United States? How about
rehabilitating schools and constructing new schools with taxpayer
dollars generated at the Federal level.
Rather than doing that for the United States here, what about our
fellow citizens who were ravaged and are expressing frustration ever
every single day in the national media in the aftermath of Katrina, and
Rita, and other natural disasters, who are living in cars. What about
doing something here, Mr. President, for Americans, rather than
assuming the cost of nation building in Iraq?
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I think the President needs to recognize, and I am
not saying this facetiously, he is not the President of Iraq. He is the
President of the United States of America. And I do not say that to be
flippant. I say that because this President's sole focus throughout his
first term and into the second term has been Iraq.
And to give a speech today as Ford announces that they are cutting
30,000 jobs in the United States of America, as Delphi is in
bankruptcy, as General Motors is having great difficulty competing, he
is giving a speech on the Iraqi economy. It is like we are having a bad
dream. I mean, come on. At some point, should not someone around the
President or somebody in this Congress tug him on the shirt sleeve and
say, hey, Mr. President, we need you. We need your help. This country
needs a domestic economic policy.
Borrowing money from the Chinese to subsidize tax cuts for the top 1
percent is not a domestic agenda
Mr. DELAHUNT. At a minimum, the American people deserve a debate.
They deserve a debate. They deserve a debate about the implications,
not just in terms of our national security, but the implications for
the economic future particularly of your generation, by virtue of the
costs that are being borne by American taxpayers, let alone my sons and
daughters and your generation with their blood in Iraq.
I mean, from what we can infer, since the American taxpayer is
bearing almost the entire burden of nation building in Iraq, let us
have a debate about the concept of nation building as a key critical
ingredient in the foreign policy espoused by this White House and
embraced by this Republican Congress.
Because that, I would suggest, Mr. Speaker, is a marked
transformation in traditional Republican principles. We have heard,
even in the course of the campaign in 2000 and from previous
Presidential campaigns, a denigration of nation building in terms of
our foreign policy. And yet, what we have done is we have embarked upon
a nation building exercise as part of our foreign policy, as part of
our international relations. It is being borne by the American
taxpayer.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. The problem with this whole situation, this whole
scenario, is that as we are spending $1.5 billion a week in Iraq, and
we are borrowing money from the Chinese, over $1 trillion in the last 4
years, not investing in the United States, not investing in education,
not investing in research and development, not fixing our health care
issue, we are weakening ourselves as a country.
Now we all as Americans want to say we want to be good to other
countries. We want to be helpful to other countries. But if you are not
strong at home, what good really are you to the rest of the world? We
need a strong America, because if America is not strong, you are going
to see a communist China rear its ugly head.
And talk about having a debate about an issue. It was in today's
paper and on the news last night and today. Osama bin Laden. There is a
name we have not heard for a while. Osama bin Laden is still alive
leading the jihad.
Why are we not having the discussion about where is Osama bin Laden?
This is the man who coordinated and organized the attack against the
United States on 9/11. And we are having this huge debate about Iraq
and what we should do and when we should leave and how it should go.
What about Osama bin Laden?
Mr. DELAHUNT. Let me ask you this. Was al-Qaeda in Iraq prior to the
invasion of Iraq?
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. No.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. This working group that we have plays a very
important role in making sure that the Members know that we in the
minority party here in this House know exactly what they are doing and
what they are not doing.
And I can tell you that it is just so powerful, and it serves, to our
benefit politically if the country did not have to suffer. You know, as
an American I must say, gentlemen, that politically we could just say,
well, let us go home. Let us not come to the floor, Mr. Speaker, and
share with the Members about what they are not doing and what we should
do. Come to the floor and share our proposals from the Democratic side
that will fall on deaf ears on the other side, because they do not want
to hear our ideas, gentlemen, they just want to criticize what we are
trying to do to save this country of ours.
The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) mentioned earlier that all they
are doing is weakening the country. Now, the facts are, like it or not,
Members, on the Republican majority side, like it or not, the bottom
line is is that the
9/11 Commission put out a report card. And the Republican majority gets
a big fat F because we have been, and as ranking member of oversight on
the Homeland Security Committee, we have worked time after time again
and put forward proposal after proposal to make sure that U.S. cities
are prepared for a terrorist attack.
Interoperability. Mr. Speaker, I want to break that down for the
Members. That is making sure that first responders can talk to one
another, which we learned from 9/11, that firefighters could not talk
to police officers, police officers could not talk to firefighters,
they could not talk to the port authority, they could not talk to
others as it relates to helping Americans get out of those buildings.
And guess what? Lives were lost. Lives were lost.
Mr. DELAHUNT. From September 11 of 2001 to today, has anything
changed in terms of our preparedness for a major terrorist attack such
as we experienced in New York and here in Washington? Has anything
changed according to the 9/11 report of any consequence, of anything
substantial whatsoever?
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Well, do not ask me. I mean, look at what the 9/
11 bipartisan commission said. I was watching Tim Russert, one of the
respected reporters here in Washington, DC, at NBC. And he had the
chairman, who is a Republican, past Republican governor, and the vice
chairman that was a Member of this House, respected Democrat, on both
sides of the aisle they respect him.
And they both said that the administration, present administration,
Mr. Speaker, and the Republican majority, gets a big fat F. They did
not want to grade. Well, let me just put it this way. They did not want
to grade it, but they
[[Page H11203]]
said that it is low. Okay. And I think it is important that we
understand that interoperability that was a big issue that first
responders asked for, they could have saved not only first responder
lives, but American lives if they could have talked to one another,
because they could not, because they did not have the ability.
Okay. You would assume that we would run out and get that done. No.
We did not get it done. The Republican majority did not get it done. It
was not prioritized. Yes, the money went there, but guess what? There
is a bunch of politics that is going on as it relates to the money and
the execution of making sure that U.S. cities have what they need.
Now, Americans again, another example, looked at what happened in
Katrina. The Coast Guard could not talk to the police officers. The
police officer could not talk to the military. The military could not
talk to fire departments that came down to help. Fire departments could
not talk to game and fish that were on boats trying to rescue people.
Why? Because the interoperability is not there. We mandate highway
dollars. I used to be a State trooper in the State of Florida. I can
tell you right now, sometimes we used to be told, you need to write
those seatbelt tickets. Why? Because the Colonel of the Florida Highway
Patrol says so? No. Because if we do not write seatbelt tickets and we
write speeding tickets to folks not wearing their seatbelts, we will
lose our Federal money.
You think that if this Congress did that as it relates to making sure
that we have interoperability that would save lives if a terrorist
attack was to happen? Now it is not a secret. Wherever Americans are
living now, Mr. Speaker, first responders could not talk to one
another, because the dollars have not been prioritized as it relates to
making sure that it happens on behalf of U.S. cities.
I want to make one other point, a couple of points if I may, and I
will be quick. Failure to secure the materials for weapons of mass
destruction in the national priority. We still do not have HAZMAT
uniforms for many of our first responders that are out there.
Failure to improve air cargo inspection as a priority.
{time} 2045
We want to shake down people at the magnetometers when they walk
through the TSA. Meanwhile, we have containers being placed on these
commercial airlines that are unchecked.
Failed to implement an airline passenger prescreening program based
on consolidated terrorist watch lists. Still, you have the
administration, you have the majority that has failed to do that. We
have proposals to do that. I am on Homeland Security. Take it from me,
it is on a partisan vote and it goes down if it is heard at all,
especially not on this floor.
Failed to review and make changes in the congressional intelligence
oversight process. I am going to tell you right now, there are some
things that we should have great oversight over but, I hate to report,
there are things that we don't even have an opportunity to have a
hearing on. I just want to make sure the Members of the House
understand, the majority rules here. They set the agenda. They say when
something is going to happen. I mean the Republican majority. They set
the agenda. They make sure that we have these hearings and they denied
hearings as relates to this.
For Republicans to say, well, the Democrats are stopping us from
doing certain things, we cannot stop them right now, Mr. Speaker, the
Republican majority. That is something that the American people have to
do. I can tell you right now, it is not political rhetoric. This is
reality. I want to be proven wrong. But this is the report card. The 9/
11 Commission has said it and we have been on this floor time after
time asking for a Hurricane Katrina independent commission. The State
of the Union that is coming up, I don't represent anyone in New Orleans
or in the gulf States, but I asked a person that is a victim, an
evacuee of that storm, to take my gallery pass for the State of the
Union. I want her to be here, to look at the President and this
Republican majority and all of us when he marches in here on the floor
and talks about how great things are. Meanwhile back at the ranch in
New Orleans and in the gulf coast, some areas don't even have power.
And they are asking Louisiana and they are asking Mississippi to carry
the weight on the cost of recovery. Meanwhile, we have people walking
on this floor with a straight face coming here talking about we need
tax cuts to help the economy and my constituents need a tax cut,
because of the millionaires and billionaires that are getting it.
I want to thank my colleagues for allowing me to get these points out
because it is important that we share this information.
Mr. DELAHUNT. They are excellent points. I think your idea about
taking your one ticket and allowing a victim of Katrina and the natural
disasters that befell our gulf States, invite them to come and sit in
this gallery is an excellent concept. We as a group ought to consider
asking our colleagues on both sides of the aisle to allow these seats
to be filled by American citizens who have had their lives disrupted
and their futures placed in doubt and listen to this President tell
them that things are good in America and that their government is
helping them. Maybe that might prompt some action, Mr. Speaker. Because
just recently, 2 nights ago, there was on one of the networks a story
about Americans living in cars waiting to go into trailers. How long do
we expect our fellow citizens to endure that kind of an existence? We
can feel sorry for those all over the globe that experience poverty,
that experience tragedy in their lives, but our first obligation is to
our own citizens.
When we speak of nation-building, Mr. Speaker, let's start building
America again. That is where we should begin. In terms of your points
regarding our lack of preparedness for a terrorist attack, let's be
very candid. Those levees that were breached in Louisiana, they were
breached because of natural forces, forces of nature. They very well
could have been breached by a terrorist attack. And what did we see? We
saw a lack of preparation, Mr. Speaker, that offended every American
and really, I would suggest, shook the rest of the world because they
saw an America that they did not realize existed, an America that was
ill-prepared to take care of its own people.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I think that the key point to this whole thing with
the Katrina scenario is that the President ran on he was going to make
the country stronger, that he could protect us better than his
opponent, which is fine. Katrina happened. It was not a surprise
attack. It was not a surprise that Katrina hit the gulf coast. This
hurricane was on the Weather Channel for 5 days. And we say, were we
really ready? Unfortunately, as Mr. Hamilton and Governor Kean said,
that there will probably be another terrorist attack in the United
States. We don't want that to happen, of course, but we are not going
to have 5 days to prepare for a terrorist attack in the United States.
You are not going to be able to turn on the Weather Channel and they
are going to say, a terrorist attack is coming for New York City and
you have 5 days to prepare for it. That is the number-one
responsibility that we have. Article 1, section 1 creates this body and
we have an obligation to protect this country. We are not going to have
forewarning. We are not going to be tipped off by the Weather Channel.
And if we cannot do it with 5 days' preparation, it frightens me at
what stage we are at right now and the job we are not doing because we
are so focused on all these other things.
I would be happy to yield to my friend who just strutted in from
wherever she was.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. I can tell you I just strutted in from helping
my first graders with their homework. Just so you know, I have my
priorities straight.
I spent a couple of minutes listening to your exchange and cannot
help but chime in here and express my deep concern which I know my good
friend from Florida (Mr. Meek) shares as well. We had our Governor and
FEMA represent our delegation in advance of Wilma. You have got Katrina
and we all are very familiar with the lack of preparation clearly and
the aftermath of Katrina and the disaster literally of the aftermath of
Katrina but then you fast-forward a couple of months to Wilma when we
had 2 months that
[[Page H11204]]
FEMA could have learned from some of those mistakes and dealt with the
preparedness issues that they were really poor on and the aftermath
response issues that they received incredibly poor marks on. You would
think that they would have fixed it. But in our case, our Governor and
FEMA represented to us that we were the model State. I say this not to
be too specific about any one State's preparation, but FEMA and the
Florida government represented that our State was the most prepared.
We can tell you that if our State and their response to Wilma is the
pride and joy, is the model for preparation in disaster response, then
we should all be deeply concerned about the other 49 States and their
preparedness and potential response for a natural or a man-made
disaster like a terrorist attack.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I think this goes right to the point that our
friends on the other side, as much as we like some of them, are unable
to govern. They just don't know how to do it. There is just total
incompetence, from the economy, from the poverty levels, the
macroeconomic situation, balancing the budget, lack of fiscal
restraint, fiscal recklessness in borrowing $1 trillion from foreign
interests over the past 4 years. They just are unable to govern the
country. They have had their chance. They have controlled the House and
the Senate and the White House, one party, they have had a chance to
implement their agenda, and nothing seems to be going right.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. You are absolutely right. On top of that,
because we are about third-party validators and it is not all about
just what we say, you have Governor Kean and Mr. Hamilton who the other
day gave them a list of Fs on almost every major aspect of preparedness
and what we should be doing in terms of response to a potential
terrorist act. It is just one more example of their lack of caring, of
their lack of competence, of the cronyism, of the corruption. Find a C
word and this Republican leadership and the administration absolutely
fit the bill.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Can the gentlewoman please elaborate on the C
words?
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. We have got the first C word which is
corruption. It seems like every day we have yet another example, a
tragic example, it wrenched my heart to hear that we had a colleague of
ours, the former gentleman from California, who pled guilty to bribery,
so we have got corruption. We have ethics charges, some which are just
accusations, some which have been validated, up and down the ranks of
many of our Republican colleagues. That is one C word. Then you shift
from corruption to cronyism. There is rampant cronyism throughout this
administration. You have only Michael Brown, Brownie, to use as an
example. When the President would put in place someone whose claim to
fame in terms of his qualifications for being the lead expert on
disaster preparedness and response was being the president of the
Arabian Horse Association as opposed to having a deeply long resume in
emergency preparedness, that just smacks of cronyism. What was his real
quality in terms of being hired for that job? He was James Allbaugh's
roommate. That was the real qualification when he got that job. You
have Mr. Savavian, who was the procurement director in the White House
who now has been fired because he was accused of wrongdoing.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. He had the opportunity to resign and then the
next day he was indicted. Go ahead.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Thank you just for the filling in of the
facts. The list goes on in terms of the cronyism that is rampant
through this administration. So you have corruption. You have cronyism.
Then you have, as the gentleman from Ohio just described, the total
lack of competence. Example after example. The proposal on Social
Security. The way they handled Katrina. The way they handled Wilma. The
deficit. We have an $8 trillion deficit.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Iraq.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Iraq. You have an $8 trillion deficit now. We
have got corruption, cronyism, competence.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. It is a culture.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. It is a culture.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. This is not a one-time event.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. I must say that never before in the history of
this country has there been leadership, all of these issues of cronyism
and corruption, never before at these levels in the history of this
country. It is not the Kendrick Meek report, the Debbie Wasserman
Schultz report, or the Tim Ryan, the Bill Delahunt report.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. This country deserves better than that. That is the
point that we are trying to make. We do not have to settle for a
dictator like some people do in some countries. We are allowed to have
high expectations for our leaders in the country.
Mr. DELAHUNT. I want to acknowledge the presence of a good colleague
and a good friend and clearly a solid Republican, Steve King from Iowa.
Let me pose a question to him. The gentleman from Iowa is down here on
a regular basis and is an ardent advocate of his point of view. I know
we are running out of time.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. I hope he yields to us for the time we are
yielding to him because we only have about 6 minutes left.
Mr. DELAHUNT. I think we are coming back for another hour, so we will
get him on the other side here.
I will just make this statement and ask for his comment. We have been
at war for almost 3 years. It will be 3 years this March. We have not
had a single oversight hearing on Iraq in the committees that I serve
on, including the House International Relations Committee. Not one.
{time} 2100
There are so many questions that the American people have. There are
so many questions that we all have, and yet, I would submit that we are
not exercising our constitutional mandate to serve as a check and
balance on the executive branch. I mean, we do have these allegations
of an order of magnitude of corruption that is ongoing in Iraq today.
Let me just quote you from the Washington Times, not a liberal
journal. I think you will grant me that.
Mr. KING of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would yield, I will.
Mr. DELAHUNT. This is a quote from October 28, a column by Bill Gertz
and Rowan Scarborough, again, people that would not agree with me or my
colleagues on this side of the aisle. Here is what they said: Defense
officials tell us the scandal involves massive corruption in Iraq
related to the United States and international funds meant for
reconstruction efforts and the failure of the administration to control
these funds.
I am ranking member on a subcommittee that has requested for months
an oversight hearing just simply on these allegations, and I am met
with silence. Let me tell you that is wrong. It is a disservice to the
American people. It is a disservice to the institution, not a single
hearing in 3 years.
Mr. KING of Iowa. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would yield, I thank
my friend and the gentleman from Massachusetts and colleague on the
Judiciary Committee.
I have been to Iraq for the express purposes of oversight of those
construction projects, about $12.5 billion administered by the Army and
the balance of that $18.5 billion by other entities, the sea bees. Yes,
I actually faced a number of questions from the people in Iraq. I did
not get to the bottom of that. I do not know that they are in a
position to actually have oversight on this in that fashion, but your
point that you have made is one that is somewhat new and fresh to me. I
have done due diligence, I think, to an extent to see where that
money's been spent there. I would very much like to sit down with you
and have this conversation so that we could bore into this.
Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, but the American people have a right of
transparency and watching and hearing from these people. You make that
effort and I understand that you do and you ask questions, but we need
to do this in the light of day. There is pervasive corruption ongoing
in the rebuilding of Iraq. It is offensive, and this comes from
conservative columnists as well as our own military personnel and from
multiple, different sources. Yet, the leadership in this House is
denying the American people the right to hear.
[[Page H11205]]
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Just a few examples of what you are talking
about, we are talking about the role of the White House in promoting
misleading intelligence when it came to how we got into the war and the
Iraq's weapons of mass destruction or lack thereof. We are talking
about the responsibility of senior administration officials for the
abuses at Abu Ghraib. We are talking about the role of the Vice
President's office and the award of Halliburton contracts, no
information on that, no accountability. The role of the White House in
withholding the Medicare cost estimates from Congress. The identity of
the energy industry campaign contributors that met with the Vice
President's energy task force.
We could keep going about the corruption, the lack of information,
the lack of competence, and in fact, when we come back at our next
opportunity in our next hour, we will continue to go on about that.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. How about the gentleman, I cannot remember his
name, a couple of weeks ago came up who had $87 million worth of
contracts in Iraq he was in charge of and he was stealing money,
hundred of thousands of dollars. In the 1990s he was convicted of
fraud, but yet, this administration hired him again. That is
incompetence. That is cronyism. That is an inability to execute the
proper role of government.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, we just got back from Iraq. We are
not even a week out of Iraq. We visited three Iraqi cities, and it was
my second trip. I can tell you this, that when you hear uniformed
personnel say, well, you know, some of the money, I mean it is like you
know people take some of the money for themselves; it is something that
happens here in Iraq. This is an accepted kind of thing. This is the
U.S. taxpayers' money, and we are just saying, oh, well, you know, that
is the way things happen over here.
Let me tell you, when the auditor general really starts to report
what is happening with the money we are giving, that is being taken
away from U.S. cities and the U.S. taxpayer, meanwhile the majority
says, oh, let us govern, we will make sure that we are fiscal and we
are responsible, well, when we come back in the next hour I want to
talk about being responsible. I think it is important we do that. We
will be back in an hour.
I just want you to give the Web site out before we close.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. [email protected].
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Mr. Delahunt,
Mr. Ryan, Ms. Wasserman Schultz and to thank the Democratic leadership
for allowing us to have the hour. We would also like to say it is
pleasure and honor to address the House of Representatives.
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