Congressional Record, Volume 152 Issue 47 (Wednesday, April 26, 2006)

[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 47 (Wednesday, April 26, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H1836-H1842]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

30-SOMETHING WORKING GROUP

The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Foxx). Under the Speaker's announced
policy of January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) is
recognized for 60 minutes.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Madam Speaker, it is an honor to come to the
floor once again. As you know, night after night, and even earlier
tonight, Madam Speaker, during the first hour, we had members of the
30-something Working Group on the floor talking about plans that we
have on the minority side here in the House of Representatives and
assisting not only Americans, but also those that are in the industry
of providing energy to this country, who are also Americans and some of
them are foreign companies, to be able to provide cleaner burning fuel
and also alternatives that Americans will be able to hopefully enjoy
for years to come. Energy independence is something that we have
embraced for a very long time.
And the debate this week has been about energy, the debate this week
has been about ethics, the debate this week has been about a budget
vote that we are all waiting to take. But it seems that on the majority
side, Mr. Speaker, that the votes are just not there to pass the
budget, the Republican-led budget, which I must say that a number of
Members on both sides of the aisle have issues with, apparently.
In the 30-something Working Group, we want to thank Leader Pelosi for
allowing us to have this hour once again, the second hour of tonight on
the Democratic side, and also Mr. Steny Hoyer and Mr. James Clyburn,
who is our chairman, and Mr. Larson, who is our vice chairman, and all
of the members that go to committee meetings and fight on behalf of the
American people.
Madam Speaker, I believe that we are all on one team until it comes
down to what the special interests want and what the American people
want. I think that is where the divide comes in. As we start looking at
what is happening and the conference calls that I have had and the
constituent meetings that I had when I was back in my district during
our work break, of just outrage about what is happening in this country
as it relates to gas prices, I think that it is very important that we
pay more attention than what we have paid to energy and alternative
fuels here in this Congress.
One may say, well, we have already passed an energy bill; where were
you? Well, there was an energy bill, yes. It was an energy bill that
was passed, but for whom? For the special interests, or for the
American people?
I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, that the evidence is overwhelming, the
fact that right after Hurricane Katrina, and even before, Democratic
amendments were voted down here to do exactly what some Members on the
majority side, the Republican side, have said that we need to do now,
making sure that we put forth penalties to companies that price-gouge
the American people. And I am talking about serious penalties, criminal
penalties and fines up to $3 million.
We have ExxonMobil executives and oil executives making $150,000 a
day in a pension; a day, not a year, not a week, not a month; in a
pension with record profits and investors in these corporations that
are making money hand over fist, and we have constituents in our
districts and Americans throughout this country who cannot even afford
to put a quarter of a tank in their car because it is outside of their
budget. They cannot afford to take their kids to school. Even when they
have a carpool, they cannot afford that.
In rural America there are stories throughout the papers today that
are saying, yes, we carpool, but when you are in rural America and you
have to drive to the nearest school, that is now a $30- or $40-a-day
proposition.
So we look at alternative fuels and we look at penalties that will
not allow these oil companies to be able to get away with what they are
getting away with.

{time} 2145

Mr. Speaker, I think it is also important for us to understand that
the President comes out and he says, well, things are going to be the
way they are, and prices are going to be high, and it is what it is,
but what we are going to do is relax environmental standards to bring
the price of gasoline down.
It is almost like a firefighter saying, I know the house is on fire,
and it is hard for me even to come up with a metaphor, Mr. Speaker, to
describe what the President has done and what the Congress has allowed
him to do. The house is on fire. We are going to put a little water
here, but not totally put it out, even though we could have prevented
that by putting smoke alarms in and other things in to bring attention
to all of us as it relates to making sure we keep the house from
burning.
I think it is also important for us to pay attention to the fact that
the 30-something Working Group and also on the Democratic side, we have
put forth proposals in the past that could have avoided this spike in
prices right now. There was a press conference today, and a reporter
asked me, well, Congressman, are you representing to us that the
Democrats, that you all have a plan that will take gas prices down
right now, right now, like tomorrow?
No. But if amendments were adopted that were offered here on this
floor that Republicans voted down to provide criminal penalties for
executives and price gouging, $3 million fines for individuals that
knowingly price-gouged Americans to make sure they can have a return
for those individuals that are investors, the Federal prosecutor would
be in the middle of this.
The situation we are in now is that these oil companies are saying,
well, what is the penalty, and who is going to enforce it? The Federal
Trade Commission is saying, well, you know, we are not sure if we have
jurisdiction.
Now we have the leaders on the Republican side in the House and
Senate saying, well, Mr. President, writing him a letter, maybe you
want to have these folks look into it, and maybe we need to take back
the tax cuts we just gave the oil companies, over the objection of many
of us here in this House.
Then you have some Members say that, well, we did it because they
needed money more for more exploration. Well, some of that may be true,
but when you have oil companies that are beating some countries in
revenue and beating all companies on the face of the Earth in profits,
and still saying, well, I know you have all this money, and it is
heavy, and you can't carry it around, but can I give you some of the
taxpayers' money? Maybe, just maybe, you will go out and find oil or go
out and drill in some environmentally sensitive place to be able to
push up profits.
What it is going to be very disappointing this time, Mr. Speaker and
Members, is the fact that we know that when companies present their
quarterly reports, it will be another record-breaking quarter for oil
companies.
Now, don't get me wrong. Profits are good. It is not a bad word. But
I do take issue with the fact that if individuals are making profits,
and it is on

[[Page H1837]]

the backs of everyday Americans, Democrats, Republicans, Independents,
and even those that cannot vote yet, and individuals are making record
profits on the backs of them with the help of their government, I think
that is the reason why the latest polling indicates that individuals
are ready for a change.
Just so Members don't feel this is a Kendrick Meek report or just
something the 30-something Group came up with, September 28, 2005, a
motion by Congressman Stupak from Michigan giving the Federal Trade
Commission and also the Justice Department authority to investigate and
prosecute oil companies for price gouging. Republicans, 226 voted
against it; 195 Democrats voted for it. That is roll call vote number
500, H.R. 3402. That actually happened here on this floor. That is not
fiction, that is fact.
October 7, 2005, amendment by the same Member, Democratic Member,
allowing the Federal Trade Commission to enforce and ban price gouging
and set tough criminal and civil penalties, up to $100 million, on oil
companies, and allow the President to declare an energy emergency when
he needs to. Republicans killed the amendment; not Democrats, not
Independents, but the Republican majority killed that amendment, 222 to
199, roll call vote number 517, H.R. 3893.
Time after time after time, Mr. Speaker, the majority has proven when
it is time to go on this board and vote on behalf of the American
people, that it is whatever the industry wants, they get.
I am so glad to say, Mr. Speaker and Members, that on this side of
the aisle, Democrats have said on behalf of the American people, not
just on behalf of the Democratic Party and not just on behalf of
someone that served here long ago in the majority here long ago when
the Democrats were in charge, but on behalf of the American people,
that we have come to the floor and we are here to talk about the
record. We are here to talk about what we would do if we were in the
majority.
Those two votes that I just named a year ago would be law today if
Democrats were in the majority of this House. If Nancy Pelosi was
Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, without any hesitation
this legislation would be in place, and we would challenge the
President. When he makes decisions, and the Republican Congress rubber-
stamps those decisions, rubber-stamps those decisions by saying, Mr.
President, whatever you want, so shall it be written, so shall it be
done, has gotten us in the situation where we are now.
The same amendments that I just pointed out would have provided
relief also to consumers facing skyrocketing home heating costs by
expanding the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program that would have
been paid for, Mr. Speaker, and I think this is very, very important
for the Members to understand, would have been paid for not with
dollars borrowed, and, Mr. Speaker, I am going to talk a little bit
about that, too, not with dollars borrowed, but a pay-as-you-go
philosophy.
Even when we are dealing with enforcement of energy companies, where
there is evidence and also a very strong concern by the American people
of how in the world individuals can be paying $3 and change a gallon,
and saying it is an issue with production and flow and all of these
different examples and explanations and excuses to the American people
that no one can really put their hands around, their arms around, and
look in the paper and find these companies are making money like
countries, these oil companies are making record profits.
Now, pay-as-you-go. I am going to read that again. It dealt with
providing consumers facing skyrocketing home heating costs to expand
the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program through the fines from
price-gouging companies; not we are going to pass a piece of
legislation and just borrow the money.
Mr. Speaker, just to talk about borrowing the money, I want to talk
about responsible governance, and I also want to talk about what has
happened.
You want to talk about borrowing the money? Some folks say the
Democratic plan, they don't necessarily have ways to pay for things.
Well, in every piece of legislation that we are putting forth, a
supermajority of the legislation that we are putting forth, we are
using the pay-as-you-go philosophy. Why do we do it? Because it is the
right thing to do on behalf of this country.
I can't help, Mr. Speaker and Members, but think about the fact that
there is someone right now, a he or she or someone's mother or father
or son or uncle, grandchild, nephew or niece, that are not celebrating
what we are celebrating right now. They have been asked on behalf of
their country to go to war. They have sand in their teeth, and they
probably haven't been able to take a shower like most Americans have
been able to take a shower in the last couple of days or this morning
or last night or whatever the case may be, so that I would have the
opportunity, Mr. Speaker, to come to the floor in this great democracy
of ours to talk about what we would do if given the opportunity to lead
and to share with the Members and the American people what is happening
here in this Capitol.
I will tell you, this chart alone is self-explanatory. Never before
in the history of the Republic, I am going to say that again, never
before in the history of the Republic, has this country been in the
fiscal shape or disrepair that it is right now.
Some folks may say we have our challenges. Yes, we have our
challenges, but guess what? There were Congresses before this, the
109th and the 108th and 107th, and Congresses going back 100 years,
that have had challenges, too. It is something we called the Great
Depression. Another challenge was World War I and World War II. Another
challenge was Vietnam and Korea. You name it. Another challenge was
times that we had fuel crises. Other challenges have been natural
disasters. I know Americans and the membership are very familiar with
that.
But when you look at history making, borrowing from foreign nations,
$1.05 trillion, $1.05 trillion borrowed in 4 years by the Republican
majority and the President, I guarantee you the President could not do
it by himself, in 4 years he accumulated more than 42 Presidents and a
number of Congresses before them that could only borrow $1.01 trillion.
You want to talk about fiscal responsibility? You want to talk about
who is spending or who is borrowing the money?
I just want to bring this chart up. Here in the 30-something Working
Group we try to break this thing down to the lowest denominator. I want
my 8-year-old son, I want my 11-year-old daughter to get it, because it
is all about them, and it is all about right now.
We used to, Mr. Ryan, say the future generation, this, that and the
other. This generation, we all owe $26,000 and change because of this
ever-growing debt. But this is something that I think Members should
pay very close attention to. We have divided the debt that this country
and this Congress has put on the backs of the American people. We went
from surpluses to this.
Japan. Japan, $682.8 billion of our debt. Let me just break that down
for you. I am going to take this. This is actually my debit card, but
we will say it is a credit card for right now. What the Congress has
done, and what the Members on the majority side have done, and what the
White House has done with the rubber-stamp Republican Congress, what
they have done is said we can have tax breaks that we cannot afford.
Swipe the card. We can have a war without a plan and without an exit
strategy. Swipe the card. We can spend money, because we weren't
prepared for a response to natural disaster in this country without any
accountability, without any restraints and no-bid contracts. Swipe the
card. We got it.
Oh, no problem. If we want to have government waste on all levels
with very little enforcement, and want to give tax breaks to oil
companies in the time they are making record profits, and we want to
give the top 1 percent tax cuts that they are not even asking for, that
is fine. Swipe the card.
By swiping that card, we have now given Japan the power. Japan said,
fine, we will buy your debt. Guess what? They are buying a piece of the
American pie, $682.8 billion.
China. Red China. Some folks had some concerns. We just had a state
visit from the Chinese President. But guess what? He came here knowing

[[Page H1838]]

that he owns a piece of the American apple pie at $249.8 billion of our
debt.
Did Japan or China come over here and make us overspend? Did they put
the credit card in our hand and say, let me force you, Congress and
President? Okay, we will buy it. No, they didn't do it.

{time} 2200

It is the irresponsible spending and borrowing that the Republican
majority has that has put this country in this posture. The United
Kingdom, $223.2 billion. This is the truth. This is not fiction.
The Caribbean. Many of you know I am from south Florida. Many of you
come through our airport going through. The Caribbean, $115.3 billion
of the American apple pie. Taiwan, $71.3 billion of the American apple
pie, buying our debt.
OPEC nations. Well, Madam Speaker, let us just talk for a moment
about OPEC nations. Who are they? Well, Iran. I think we are pretty
familiar with Iran right now. Iraq. We are definitely familiar with
Iraq. Saudi Arabia. Oh, definitely heard of that. The United Arab
Emirates, UAE, owns a part of this OPEC debt. And I think it is
important for people to understand that. And guess what? We are paying
through the nose for gas. 67.8 billion.
Germany, $65.7 billion of our debt. Korea, $66.5 billion of our debt.
Canada, just north of us, $53.8 billion of our debt.
Now, I am holding this map up empty, Mr. Ryan, and the reason I am
holding this map up is because this is the way it looked before
President Bush became President, because it was a surplus. This is the
way the map looked, Madam Speaker, before the Republican majority
became the rubber-stamp Congress.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And the Democrats time and time again have tried to
put provisions in place that we call PAYGO to try to limit the spending
of the Republican Congress. They run away. They spend. They charge on
the credit card. Many, many instances over the past few years.
Mr. Stenholm from Texas tried to put provisions in as we were
raising, as the Republicans were raising the debt limit. He tried to
put these PAYGO provisions in saying if you spend any more money,
saying you have either got to raise taxes for somebody to pay for it or
cut a program so we can balance the budget. Representative Moore from
Kansas tried to put this provision in through an amendment to try to
limit the spending. We have Members on the Democratic side who time and
time again have tried to limit spending in the Congress so we do not
keep borrowing from the Chinese, so we do not keep borrowing from the
Japanese, the Arab countries who we are also buying our oil from, oil-
producing countries.
We are trying to limit spending, but it is the Republican side who
continue, Madam Speaker, time and time again to waste our money. The
tax money that comes into this country time and time again goes out as
corporate welfare for the oil companies, corporate welfare for the HMOs
and the health care industry, time and time again.
And I want to share with the Members, Madam Speaker, a chart here
that is based on the 2007 budget of how much interest, net interest, we
are going to pay on the national debt. So all the money that Mr. Meek
was talking about, all the money we are borrowing, we have got to pay
interest on this money, Madam Speaker.
This is not a free ride. This is like a bank. You go to the bank, you
buy a house, you borrow money. Then you have got to pay interest on it.
You buy a house for $200,000. Well, you end up paying $300,000 for the
house over the course of the years. It is the same thing that we are
doing.
If you look at this chart, the big red tower that we have here is the
interest, the net interest that we are paying on the debt. Almost $240
billion of the 2007 budget will be spent on interest on the debt. We
are not paying it down. This is just interest payments.
And when you compare that to what we are spending on education or
what we are spending on homeland security or what we are spending on
veterans benefits, it pales in comparison.
So, Madam Speaker, the folks at home, Members of Congress have to ask
themselves, would you rather have your tax money going to pay interest,
which makes its way back to the Communist Chinese Government, the
Japanese Government, OPEC countries, or would you rather have your tax
dollars that come down here? Nobody likes to pay them, but it is like,
well, if you are going to pay them, where do you want them to go? Would
you not rather have that money invested into the educational systems in
the United States of America? Would you not rather have that money
focused for Pell Grants? Would you not rather have that money for Head
Start?
We are not saying that we do not need reforms in the education
system. We do. We admit that. But if you are spending money, and you
are asking an American taxpayer, Madam Speaker, you make the decision.
Mr. Meek, you make the decision. Would you rather have your tax dollars
go to pay interest on the debt that will make its way back to the
Communist Chinese Government, or would you rather have that money
invested for educational opportunities for your kids, for you to pay
less in tuition costs because we are able to fully fund the Pell
Grants?
I remember going to school. I remember looking and seeing what my mom
got back or got grant money that we got from the Ohio Instructional
Grant, from the Pell Grant. That was a good deal of money to defer the
costs of my college education. And because of that, Mr. Meek, we, my
brother and I, we were able to go to college.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Ryan, you know I would be a little
concerned, just a little, if the validation by the American people,
Madam Speaker, was not so strong. I mean, the American people are
saying, Congress, what are you doing? Let me just back up. The
Republican Congress, what are you doing? It is almost like the
Republican majority got elected, started a football game, and at
halftime switched jerseys.
I mean, some of the folks who are running down here on the floor
having press conferences, you know, fiscal conservatives, fiscal
responsibility, we believe it is your money. Well, Mr. Ryan, what you
are talking about, what we just talked about here is exactly what is
happening here.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Meek, it is their money. It is the American
people's money. They do not want it sent to Communist China to pay down
the interest on the debt. They want it invested in the United States of
America. They want this money put into our country, not put off and
sent to the Communist Chinese Government so that they can start state-
owned companies and basically take work from the American people.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Ryan, you could not say it better.
But, Madam Speaker, let me just back up, because I want to say this
before I talk about why the Republican majority should be alarmed. It
is almost unfair, and I said it last night on the floor.
Being in the minority, if someone would have told me at the beginning
of the 109th Congress, at the beginning of the 108th Congress, that the
cards would be laid out on the table the way they are laid out now, I
would say that, wow, that is a lot of work to have the American people
understand what is going on here in the Capitol. But guess what? They
are getting it. And they got it.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. The constitutional amendment in 1994 was a part of
the Contract with America.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Well, Contract on America, because that is what
it turned out to be. And that we would have Republican and Democratic
States suing. And I am talking about Republican and Democratic
Governors suing the Federal Government because Leave No Child Left
Behind is so underfunded, and that we would have individuals running
around here saying, what do you mean we do not have a plan? What do you
mean you do not want to talk about how we should take the training
wheels off the Iraqi Government and share with them that we cannot be
there forever?
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I want to say that this government run by the
Republican majority is in complete disarray.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Can I give you a third-party validator right
now?
Madam Speaker, this man has to look familiar to the Republican
majority. He has to. Newt Gingrich was the man that came to the floor
night after night and talked about what the Republicans would do if
they were able to

[[Page H1839]]

take control of the House. He talked about all of the things that, you
know, he was talking about that just good government. All right.
Now what is Newt Gingrich saying? They, talking about the Republican
majority, are seen by the country as being in charge of a government
that cannot function.
Madam Speaker, they. Not, my Republican colleagues; not, my good
friends in Congress. They. Here is a major Republican that served as
Speaker, the first Speaker in a number of years to serve, Madam
Speaker, as the Speaker of this House, calling his former colleagues
and the people that he worked with, and his office is right down the
hall, they.
Because if Newt Gingrich is saying that this Republican Congress
cannot function, cannot run the country like it is supposed to be run,
cannot oversee the finances, cannot make sure that Americans have
health care and small businesses are able to provide health care,
cannot give guidance and oversight to the Department of Defense and
Secretary Rumsfeld, cannot make sure that we let oil companies know
that we are here to represent the American people and not their special
interests, not their profits, and not their CEOs that will retire to a
pension making $150,000 a day, not because they are that great, it is
because we have taken the taxpayers' money and we have given it to
them.
And now we have Republican leaders saying, well, maybe we need to
take the tax cuts back you just gave them. And then you read something
else. No, we should not take that tax cuts back because, guess what,
the oil companies have representation in the Republican majority,
period.
As I said last night, a black man with a conspiracy theory. But, Mr.
Ryan, I believe, and I know, and it is documented that the Vice
President and others sat down with these oil companies and put this in
motion long ago.
So Members walking around here were having press conferences talking
down this. I do not know what happened. I do not. I did not see it
coming. What do you mean you cannot enforce prices? It is just insane,
Mr. Ryan, for us to be the country that we are, and for the Federal
Trade Commission to say, well, you know, we think we have power, we do
not have the teeth that we need to really find out what is going on
with those oil companies.
But I will tell you this. I believe that these oil companies have
been a part of writing this legislation in the way to where that is
hard to prosecute them, and it is hard to get to the bottom line of who
is doing what. And guess what? When there are no penalties, it is
almost like having a house full of kids saying there is no time out,
there is no discipline whatsoever, do as you may. And everything in the
house will be broken, and every picture will be ripped off the wall.
That is what these oil companies are doing.
Now, I do not fault them. I fault the Republican majority. And like I
said last night, Mr. Ryan, I am not going to ask them to lead anymore.
If they want to work in a bipartisan way, we are ready to go. We have
been ready to go. And if the American people see fit for us to be the
majority party in the 110th Congress, Madam Speaker, and they will see
an opportunity, we will be able to work in a bipartisan way.

{time} 2215

There will be a number of Republicans, that I do know. Some of my
friends, Mr. Ryan, and we do know them, a very small number on the
other side of the aisle see things the way we see it and the way the
American people see it. I know the reason why the poll numbers are what
they are right now.
The President is not running again, but the Congress and this House,
every 2 years we go before the voters. Like I said last night, Mr.
Ryan, Madam Speaker, I do not care if it is a local Republican
committee chairman, he or she has to have a problem with the borrowing
that has been going on in this Republican majority Congress.
He or she must have a problem with the fact that no one can answer
the questions on intelligence and the outing of CIA agents. He or she
must have a problem if there are Republican committee persons at the
local level and on the State level, with the fact that the K street
Project, Madam Speaker, was allowed to operate under this dome by
individuals that wore congressional pins that say, yes, we do have a K
Street Project; and, yes, if you are not on this list, you don't get
access to this government.
Guess what? That was okay. We talked about it, Mr. Ryan. The good
thing is, it is almost like showing up somewhere at the scene of an
accident and saying, time and time again, we went to the police
department, we went to the city hall and said we needed a stop light
here. Now, look at this fatality.
I used to be a State trooper. I can see it all the time. Report after
report. We didn't get the traffic light out there in time and people
died because of it.
Well, guess what? The people were beat down by this Republican
majority as it relates to good government, because, not what I am
seeing and not what you are seeing, Mr. Ryan, here is what Members on
the Republican side of this House have said: Yes, we have a K Street
Project.
Then we have a gentleman who admitted you don't have to call the
jury, you do not even have to assign a courtroom. I am guilty, I did
it. That is what this Republican lobbyist said. Not only did I do it,
but I am going to help you go after some Members of Congress that were
part of it. I am going to help you identify other lobbyists that were a
part of this great operation, the K Street Project.
Then the Republican majority, after he said what he said, and the
Federal prosecutors, Madam Speaker, did what they did, said we
denounce, no longer, K Street Project. We don't know what you are
talking about. We will no longer condone it, the K Street Project.
Well, Mr. Ryan, it sounds like when the President says, well, I don't
know quite what we can do about gas prices, but I do know that
Americans are addicted to oil, come on. The President and the Vice
President were part of putting this thing into motion. The Republican
Congress rubber-stamped, Mr. Ryan, everything that this administration
said they wanted.
Mr. President, you want tax cuts that you cannot afford so that we
can put ourselves in debt and allow foreign countries to own more of
America. Fine. Mr. President, the intelligence on Iraq is kind of
shaky, but we have to do what you want, and anyone who goes against you
or says anything against you is unpatriotic, and we will have
Congressional hearings to humiliate those individuals.
Mr. President, pay-as-you-go. I know the Democrats are there talking
about maybe we need to pay as we go right now, since we are in so much
debt. You want to continue to borrow and spend? We got your back, Mr.
President, because we are the Republican Congress, and we are going to
allow you to continue to drive this country in the way that special
interests want to drive it. Because you know something? When all the
resources are gone, and when all the opportunities are gone, and when
it is American taxpayers that are in debt, where will the special
interests be? That is the question.
Will they help bail this country out of the debt that this Republican
Congress has delivered to them? No. That is the reason why, Madam
Speaker, that Members, if they are in their offices, or they are
walking around this building, and if they are at home right now, they
need to sit up in bed and say, you know something, I need to go to work
tomorrow with a new attitude. I need to make sure that I fight on
behalf of my constituents. I need to have the same kind of drive that I
had the night that I was elected, doing all of those things I said I
would do. All of those things, all of those plans, everything I talked
about in the campaign, about representing whatever district they may be
running from, in my case, the 17th Congressional District. They call
that being born again, Mr. Ryan, and a Baptist term, being born again
to public service.
I am excited by the fact that the American people, they are not
getting it, they got it. They got it. Then we will continue to get it,
because time after time, Mr. Ryan, this Republican Congress has proven
that they are, their allegiance, and I do not want to generalize
because there are a few that I know of and you know of, Madam Speaker,
that walk up to Mr. Ryan, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Delahunt, and say
you all are doing a

[[Page H1840]]

good job, keep doing what you are doing. Because if you all are not
pointing out what this Republican majority is doing, these are
Republicans, then they will continue to do it, Mr. Ryan, and that is
the word that they use.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Inexcusable incompetence, my friend. Inexcusable.
If you look, and I do not want to dwell on this, but if you look at
Katrina, if you look at the lack of preparedness in FEMA, if you see a
storm coming 5 days in advance, and you have the complete lack of
competency to deal with the problem, that is an issue that this
Congress needs to look at and needs to fix. If you look at all the
promises before the war, day in and day out, we are going to use the
money for reconstruction, we are going to be greeted as liberators,
this is going to reduce the costs of oil.
All of these things that were promised never came to be. The Medicare
prescription drug bill, the costs never came to be. It ended up being
almost half a trillion dollars more than what the Republican Congress
told us it was going to be. Time and time and time again, the tax cuts
were going to create all these jobs.

None of this has happened. And now when you look at what is going on
here with the gas prices, if you take what has happened since 2001, and
you see that there has been no comprehensive energy policy in this
country, and you see the end result 4, 5 or 6 years later, that is
higher gas prices, reduced supply, which increases the cost for the
average American consumer, when you add all this together, you see that
the Republican Congress, as stated by former Speaker Newt Gingrich, is
incapable of governing the United States of America.
They are too ideological, they are too tied to the special interests.
They have the country going in the wrong direction, and it makes it
more and more difficult for us to fix the problem.
Now, I think it comes down to one thing, my friend, and I appreciate
your help. I think it comes down to one thing. It comes down to
leadership. The Republican Party controls the House of Representatives.
The Republican Party controls the United States Senate. The Republican
Party controls the White House. They have been in charge of this
government, this House, since 1994. Their leader, who led the
revolution for them to come into power, is now saying they, calling
them ``they,'' as my colleagues stated, they don't know how to run the
government. It is total incompetence.
But, and I agree with you, I am excited too, Madam Speaker. I am
excited because the American people are beginning to understand. Like
you said, they got it that this country needs to go in another
direction. We are borrowing money from foreign interests left and
right, selling off pieces of the American dream, piece by piece. And
average people in Youngstown, Ohio; Warren, Ohio; Akron, Ohio; and in
Miami, Florida, it is harder now for them to go to work. Their budgets
are getting squeezed. Their health care costs are up. Their gas costs
are up, their fuel costs are up. Natural gas, whatever it may be, up,
up, up, up, up; tuition costs, up. Everything is making it more
difficult for families to make ends meet.
So the Democratic Party, we have a bushel full of plans now. I have
noticed that we have got so many plans in our caucus that we have a
bushel now, full of them, on homeland security, on education, on
technology, and energy. You can go to our Web site that we will show
later and find all of those charts, Madam Speaker. Members can look at
all of the plans that we have.
I want to make one final point before I kick it back to my friend.
This comes down to leadership. After September 11, and I am sure we all
remember those difficult days, after September 11th, this country was
united and the world was united behind the United States of America.
Even in Europe, at that point, there were European op-eds saying that
even in Europe, my friends, they were saying that today we are all
Americans. Today we are all Americans. We are such a far cry from that.
But the important part was that our President at that point, Madam
Speaker, had an enormous amount of political power, and the world was
looking at our President.
If he would have asked us to walk to work, if that President, if our
President would have asked us to ride a bike to work because we have to
reduce our dependence on foreign oil, we would have all done it. We
were sending checks to every nonprofit organization because we wanted
to give money. We were giving blood until the Red Cross said we do not
need any more blood. The American people wanted to give, Madam Speaker.
We needed at that point leadership. The best our President could come
up with at that critical juncture, the most important moment in the
history of the United States of America, was go shopping, Madam
Speaker, go shopping. That is leadership? Give me a break.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. And buy duct tape.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Buy duct tape, get your plastic. Go shopping. That
moment, if there was leadership in this country, that moment, Mr. Meek,
we could have converted our economy over into all kinds of different
alternative energy sources, and we could have done it in the next
decade. But we lacked the leadership at that critical moment in this
country's history, and that is a shame. That is something that you look
back on and you regret that we didn't have the proper leadership at
that time, and this Republican Congress was a bobble-head. Yes, Mr.
President, yes, yes, whatever you say, yes, yes, yes. No leadership.
I am saying, Kendrick, that 5 years later when we see these increased
gas prices, and the President stood here just a few weeks ago and said
to the American people, we are going to reduce our American dependency
on foreign oil by 50 percent by 2025.
Now, let me just suggest that if we can go to the Moon in a decade
that we can certainly convert our economy over and become energy
independent in a decade. It is not going to take 20 years. We can do it
in 10 years. We need the leadership of this Congress, Mr. President, to
do it. And it is obvious that you are offended, and I call them our
friends, because they are on the other side of the aisle, are so tied
to the special interests in the oil industry, the most profitable
industry, that they are even giving them billions of dollars of
corporate welfare, that they refuse to put significant resources and a
significant commitment into alternative energy.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Ryan, it is not personal, it is just
business. That is the bottom line.
Madam Speaker, I would kind of, when I walk through the halls of
Congress, walk along the walls if I felt that we were coming to the
floor, saying things that just were not true. But the sad part, Madam
Speaker and Members, that everything that we are sharing with you is a
fact, not fiction. It is sad. Like I was saying to Mr. Ryan, if I was a
political consultant, I would say, wow, do you mean to tell me not only
do we have to work with the fact that Americans do not have health
care, small businesses cannot afford to buy health care, we owe foreign
countries money that we have never owed them before in the history of
the country?
We don't have a plan in Iraq as it relates to a leave-alone coalition
in Iraq? We have troops dying every day. Do you mean States that are
red States and blue States are suing us at the same time for the
underfunding and the mandates that we put on them of Leave No Child
Left Behind Act? You mean White House individuals are outing CIA agents
that might, some of this outing might have gone as high as the highest
office of the land maybe?
Do you mean to tell me that individuals, contractors, have no-bid
contracts in war and in natural disasters, without accountability, and
American taxpayer dollars are being spent without anyone having any
real concern on the Republican side?

{time} 2230

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Where is the oversight?
Mr. MEEK of Florida. You mean to tell me that anything that the
President of the United States says that he wants, that the Republican
Congress would give it to him; even if it is bad policy, even if it put
this country into a record-breaking deficit in a period of 4 years? You
mean to tell me, and without naming at least eight other things, Mr.
Ryan, that I have all of that to work with, to share with the

[[Page H1841]]

American people? I will start with independence. I will start with the
Republicans, and I will also share it with some Democrats that may have
some concerns.
I tell you this, Mr. Ryan, Democrats will, not maybe, not if we get
an opportunity to do so, not we will say it now but we won't do it
later, we will, Madam Speaker, work from day 1 taking control of this
House.
And someone may say, you know, why is this thing about being in the
majority so important? Well, I can tell you the reason why, and I want
to make sure everyone understands. It is important because Democratic
Members that are putting forth amendments in committees that are being
voted down on a partisan vote, like my committee today and homeland
security, dealing with this port security, bipartisan bill we are
working on of 100 percent container check, Mr. Ryan, versus whatever we
can come up with in a year using a ``steady'' kind of philosophy to try
to get to some sort of container scan phase-in thing. Now, I am going
to tell you, a partisan vote down the line. A 100 percent container
check lost, Madam Speaker and Members, by two votes.
If Democrats are in control of this House, for those individuals who
are objecting to a 100 percent container check, and I want to be sure
we are clear on this, some businesses may say, well, you know, it may
slow down the process of trade. It will back up supplies. We are not
ready for that.
You know something? We will never get there, because we have allowed
the special interests to stand in front of the will of the 9/11
Commission. The Republican majority has allowed special interests to
dictate how this Congress will legislate. That is stomach-turning that
we would allow individuals, based on their salary, based on their suit,
whether it is a Brooks Brothers or a Saint John's, to walk into the
office of a Member of Congress and say, this is the amendment language
we want.
And individuals go to committee ho-hum and read right off that piece
of paper, Madam Speaker. I am talking about what I know. And the
American people around here are counting on us to protect them.
Now, I am going to tell you something, Mr. Ryan, and I am going to
say it just as clear as my name is Kendrick Meek. We get a container
that ends up blowing up in one of these major ports or while it is in
transit going to where it needs to go to, I guarantee you Republicans
will be running: Where is that amendment for the 100 percent container
check? We need to do that. Madam Speaker, file this. Madam Clerk, can
we do it?
You know something? I bet they will be looking out in the hall
looking for the special interests who were telling them they couldn't
do it, and they will be nowhere to be found. I didn't see the special
interests standing around on 9/11 at the end of those buildings saying,
what can we do to dig these people out and give them their lives back?
I am not blaming it on them, but I am just saying that kind of attitude
gets us in the position that we can't do something. And we're the
country that says we can. We are leading this country.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. What you are saying is it is an issue of
priorities, and why do we continue to focus down in Washington, D.C.,
Potomac fever, the Republican majority continues to focus on how do we
get corporate welfare to the oil companies? How do we subsidize the
health care industry, all our friends who donate us billions of
dollars? How do we give tax cuts to the wealthiest people?
If you made $10 million in 2003, Mr. Meek, you got a million-dollar
tax break. That is where the focus is. And what we are trying to say
here is that we need to focus on port security. So instead of giving a
man or a woman who made $10 million in 2003 a million-dollar tax break,
we want to spend that money protecting our ports.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Ryan, the million-dollar tax break came on
behalf of, and I am just going to grab China here, this is the million-
dollar tax break right here.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. You have Japan.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Oh, Japan. I'm sorry, I didn't even look. It was
red, so I just assumed.
Let me just say this, Mr. Ryan. Japan. Little Japan. This is what
gave that $10 million person their tax break.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. That is right.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Not money we had in surplus. Not money that was
there and we had it to spend. This was based on a credit card.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And it was another example of lack of focus, lack
of leadership, lack of priorities. And look what our friend says again,
our guy, Mr. Gingrich, who I like.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. The former Speaker of the U.S. House of
Representatives.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And the father of the Republican revolution. He
said, on March 31, ``He noted that a congressional watchdog agency
recently smuggled a truck carrying nuclear material into the country to
test security. Mr. Gingrich says, `Why isn't the President pounding on
the table? Why isn't he sending up 16 reform bills?' ''
This is the father of the Republican revolution asking the President,
why are you not a good leader? That is what he is saying. Why aren't
you leading the country? Focused on oil subsidies? Focused on corporate
welfare? Focused on subsidizing the energy companies? Not focused on
Katrina. Not focused on the war. This administration has attention
deficit disorder of immense proportions, Madam Speaker. They can't
focus.
Get this country on the right track. Let's focus and let's get the
country moving in the right direction.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Ryan, talking about the right direction, I
spoke to the fact that we are calling for energy independence from the
Middle East in 10 years by developing emerging technologies that work
to be able to provide energy for our country, energy alternatives; also
to make sure that we make a substantial investment in research and
development that is critical in creating cutting-edge technologies that
will allow us to develop clean, sustainable energy alternatives that
capitalize on America's vast renewable natural resources.
This is what we are talking about, Madam Speaker. We are willing to
make the investment as relates to innovation.
Mr. Ryan, you have the Web site, sir.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Www.housedemocrats.gov/30something. All of the
charts that you have seen here or have seen in the past will be
available on the Web site.
But it is important, Mr. Meek, and I appreciate your vigorous defense
of what the Democrats have done and what we want to do because we do
have an agenda. We have a bushelful of ideas over there that we want to
implement, and we need to state this pretty clearly.
Article I, section 1 of the United States Constitution creates the
House of Representatives. We are directly elected. You cannot be
appointed to this body by anybody. So the American people speak here.
When we get in, we will balance the budget. We will get rid of the
deficits over time by restricting spending in certain areas,
eliminating the corporate welfare, and asking someone who made $10
million in 2003 to actually pay their fair share.
We don't believe that profit is a dirty word, but we also don't
believe that we should go borrow money from China to give the
wealthiest people in our country a tax credit.
We will invest this money into reducing the cost of higher education.
We will make sure that the least among us have health care and have a
roof over their head and have food, which is a pretty basic necessity.
And let me just say, before I kick it to you for one last comment, if
we are going to be able to compete with 1.3 billion people in Communist
China and over a billion people in India and billions of people around
the world, we have to have all 300 million of the citizens in our
country on the field playing. Right now we are going on with about a
quarter of the team, and they have got the referees and 1.3 billion and
1 billion.
We need to make investments in America. We need to put America first.
And we need to make sure at the end of the day that we are guardians of
the public tax dollar, and so we need to invest that money back into
the United States of America that will yield us value for generations
to come, just like the GI bill did. The greatest investment we ever
made was the GI bill. Let us do it again and get the country on the
right track.

[[Page H1842]]

I yield to my friend.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Ryan, you are talking fact, not fiction.
Anyone who wants to talk about balancing the U.S. budget, the Democrats
are the only party in the House, Madam Speaker, that have a right to
say that we have done it. We have actually done it.
You have a lot of folks saying, well, we are going to try to cut it
in half, and maybe we will get it to a quarter or whatever on the
Republican side, the Republican majority with all the power, control of
the House, control of the Senate, and control of the Presidency. It
should be a smooth-sailing process.
If someone wants to call Democrats names and point fingers, call the
former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives a name. Call him a
liberal. Call him someone who is irresponsible, if you want to name-
call. And I challenge Members to come down here and talk about what is
good about owing foreign countries money, not because they did
something to us, but because this Congress gave the whole country a
self-inflicting wound of debt. They have been saying we are going to
spend your money irresponsibly, and then we are going to allow these
other countries to own a piece of the American apple pie.
Mr. Ryan, you did an excellent closing. I want to thank you, sir, for
coming down to the floor.
Madam Speaker, I want to thank the Democratic leadership for allowing
us to have this second hour.

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