[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 82 (Thursday, June 22, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H4503-H4510]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       30-SOMETHING WORKING GROUP

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 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, I want to start by commenting about 
a

[[Page H4504]]

previous 5-minute speech given by Mr. Taylor of Mississippi, and I want 
him to know how much I appreciate his representation of his district 
and sharing with the House some very vital and important information. 
As he mentioned, we will be considering legislation that will be 
dealing with the issues that he pointed out.
  Mr. Speaker, again, we are glad to be here, the 30-something Working 
Group, to come to the floor with the help of so many of our colleagues. 
Tonight we have a special guest, Mr. Ryan.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Tonight is a great night. Tonight is like super 30-
something night. This is like great stuff. I mean, I am excited. I may 
need to sit a couple plays out tonight, because not only do we have the 
chief Blue Dog, we are hoping that at some point during the course of 
the night that he will deputize us as maybe Blue Pups tonight. I want 
to be a Blue Pup tonight.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Well, reclaiming, sir.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Please.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. I am glad to be with Mr. Tanner and also his 
colleague from Ohio, Mrs. Stephanie Tubbs Jones. Mr. Tanner of 
Tennessee has really been the leader in the House as it relates to 
accountability, as it relates to working with Mr. Spratt on pay-as-we-
go. He was around when we balanced the budget and we did some of the 
things that we needed to do on behalf of this country.
  So we are so glad he is here tonight to share with the 30-something 
Group and also with the Members of the House on what we should be doing 
versus what we are doing right now.
  I yield to Mr. Tanner.
  Mr. TANNER. Well, I thank you, you fellas. The 30-something Group is 
rendering great service to our country. It is about the only way I know 
to turn the clock back and be youthful again is to associate with the 
30-something hour. I want to speak for all of us who admire your work 
here and thank you very much for what you do to try to alert the 
American public and your generation to what I believe will be 
disastrous consequences for our country and our citizens if we continue 
on the course that we have embarked on for the last 60 months or so.
  I wish I was making up what I am about to say, because when I tell 
people about the financial mismanagement and irresponsibility here in 
Washington that has gone on for the last few years and is continuing, 
people have a hard time comprehending that.
  When I tell them that the GAO, the General Accounting Office, reports 
that 19 of 24 Federal agencies can't produce an acceptable audit, in 
other words they can't tell you what happened to the money that the 
Congress involuntarily removed from the taxpayers' pockets and 
appropriated to the administration, 19 of 24 Federal agencies can't 
tell you what happened to it. They can't produce an audit. People are 
amazed.
  It is a function of the Congress to oversee the monies appropriated 
to any administration, and this Congress has abdicated that 
constitutional responsibility to the American people. I mean, no 
private enterprise in this country would tolerate what all of us are 
tolerating in our public lives. Can you imagine a private company, a 
CEO, or just anyone going to the treasurer or to the comptroller and 
saying, here is an expenditure of $10,000, do you know what it is for? 
What happened to it? And the answer is, well, I don't know, I can't 
find it, I couldn't tell you.
  Nobody in private enterprise in this country would put up with that, 
yet that is exactly what has been going on here in this one-party 
political town. You have a compliant Congress, a friendly 
administration, and so not only is Congress not asking the 
administration what happened to the money, if they ask them, they can't 
tell them.
  So what we have done is introduced House Resolution 841; that 
basically says what all of us believe ought to happen in our own 
private businesses and what happens here in our public business that 
affects everybody. It simply says this: When an Inspector General 
report comes back from any of these agencies and says either, number 
one, we can't find the money that has been appropriated; or, number 
two, this program, in government talk, is a high-risk program, and what 
that means really is that this program is not working like Congress 
intended for it to when it passed it to begin with, when those two 
things occur, House Resolution 841 provides that by law Congress must 
hold a hearing.
  Right now these Inspector General reports are just gathering dust. 
There are no hearings on what has happened to the money. So we are 
putting into law, hopefully, if we get enough votes to pass it, we are 
just telling Congress you ought to do your job. You ought to oversee 
this spending that is going on.
  I mean, I can't imagine anyone who would argue that it is not a good 
idea that we audit the books every now and then and see where the money 
is going that is being removed involuntarily from taxpayers. Who would 
be against finding out where the money went? I just can't imagine.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. If you would yield a moment, Mr. Tanner, I can 
tell you right now that there are a lot of things we should be doing, 
or the Republican majority should be doing but they are not doing, and 
we don't have the opportunity to do it because we are in the minority.
  Again, it is good having you and Mrs. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, 
especially from the Ways and Means Committee, talking about the 
accountability and the ways and means of doing things. I am glad that 
you have this bill filed. And I am happy to know about it, because I am 
writing here a note to my folks that I need to be a part of this, 
because that is what we are talking about here almost every night, 
accountability, with these Inspector General reports stacking up.
  As you also know, Mr. Tanner, the head person of the GAO has this 
working group moving around the country talking about what is happening 
in this government, the lack of accountability, the lack of oversight. 
Mr. Ryan and I met with him in the office. And this is bipartisan 
conservative and ``liberal groups'' going around. They have come 
together on behalf of the country because all this money is being spent 
with very little accountability.

                              {time}  1930

  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I am happy to be on the floor with 
the 30-somethings. I am 30 plus almost 27. I am proud to admit that I 
am 56, and I think I am doing all right. I am glad to be here with my 
sons, as I call Kendrick Meek and Tim Ryan, an my colleague on Ways and 
Means.
  The most interesting thing is, if you think about it, remember when 
the Iraq war began, and there are millions of dollars that they can't 
account for. They said it was so crazy over there, they couldn't figure 
out where the money went. And the most recent reports about FEMA, about 
moneys that should have gone to help Katrina victims, they can't 
account for.
  So I am with my colleague, Mr. Meek, saying Mr. Tanner, great piece 
of legislation. Keep on pushing it. We are going to help you make sure 
that the Members of Congress, both Democrat and Republican, say to the 
people of America, we are going to account for the dollars. The Ways 
and Means Committee, we raise the means to do things, and here we have 
people messing with the dollars we have expended. I am pleased, Mr. 
Tanner, to be here with you tonight.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. The point I would like to make, and this is why I 
am such a big fan of Mr. Tanner, I think this helps us convince the 
American people and shift our party into a direction that says we don't 
want to go and tax people. We know that they struggle with health care 
and gas prices, college tuition, all of the costs we review here every 
night, increased by 40 and 50 percent.
  What Democrats in 2006 are saying, following the lead of the Blue 
Dogs, is that there is waste in the government. We need to audit and 
find out where that money is so we can take that money and invest that 
money in education and invest that in health care and invest that into 
all of the programs that we believe in, our priorities.
  This is for me, personally, 32, 33 years old and a new Democrat in 
many ways, this is a beautiful thing because this is the vehicle, your 
piece of legislation, that I think changes our party in 2006 and gets 
us ready for the next century to say that we don't want to tax anybody 
any more than we need to run the government, but we can never go back 
to the taxpayer until we first

[[Page H4505]]

say we are spending your money responsibly.
  Mr. TANNER. Mr. Speaker, people say all the time why can't government 
run more like a business? As I said earlier, no business would tolerate 
what we are tolerating here with this abdication of Congress' 
responsibility to keep up with the money. The very least the American 
people should expect from Congress is for Congress to oversee the money 
they remove from people involuntarily through taxes. The very least we 
ought to be able to do is tell them what happened to it.
  The other part that this resolution addresses is, one, when they 
can't tell us what happened to the money; two, when the program is 
identified as high risk, that means it is not working; and three, when 
the auditors disclaim the audit report.
  I want to read what the auditors said when they tried to audit the 
Department of Defense. ``We are unable to give an opinion on the fiscal 
year 2005 DOD financial statements because of limitations on the scope 
of our work. Thus, the financial statements may be unreliable. 
Therefore, we are unable to express and we do not express an opinion on 
these financial statements.''
  That is on the first page of the audit. What they are saying is we 
don't know whether what you are about to read is true or not.
  Listen to this from the Department of Energy. ``Audit work performed 
by the contract auditor identified significant deficiencies in 
financial management and reporting controls related to the Department's 
fiscal year 2005 consolidated financial statements. Specifically, the 
Department was unable to correct previously described weaknesses and 
could not provide a number of supporting documents required for 
audit.''
  What they are saying is here is this report, but read it at your own 
risk, we don't know whether it is true or not.
  Homeland Security. ``Unfortunately, the Department made little or no 
progress to improve its overall financial reporting during fiscal year 
2005. The auditor was unable to provide an opinion on the Department's 
balance sheet.''
  If that were in private business, the CEO of those businesses would 
be going to jail under the SEC rules if their stock traded on the 
exchange.
  This is not rocket science. The least the American people ought to 
expect from this Congress or any other Congress is to be able to 
account for the money that we take away from the citizens in the form 
of taxes. These people are not doing their job. This is replete.
  I have gone through some of these reports, it is unbelievable. There 
is not a hearing from Congress. There is nobody being subpoenaed up 
here saying, what happened to the $10 million that is here that the 
auditor said they can't find? Nobody is asking those questions. 
Congress is not asking it. If they asked it, they couldn't tell them. 
That is wrong. It is wrong to the taxpayers. It is wrong for this 
Congress to allow this to continue to go on.

  I hope we can get H. Res. 841. The gentleman from California (Mr. 
Cardoza), another Blue Dog, has H.R. 5315, and he says basically in 
that bill that when a Cabinet Secretary's department cannot produce an 
audit after 2 years, they have to go back before the Senate and be 
reconfirmed. In other words, you are in charge of this department; what 
happened to the money that was removed from the taxpayers' pockets and 
we gave it to you to spend? Where is it?
  I can't tell you.
  The second time he comes up here and says, ``I can't tell you what 
happened to the money,'' he has to be reconfirmed because he is 
obviously incompetent because he can't do his job, or her job.
  This is just basic good government. It has nothing to do with 
politics, it has to do with running the government's business like we 
would run our own. That is what people send us here to do, and that is 
what is not being done, and that is why it is so wrong.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. I am reminded of one of the hearings in the Ways 
and Means Committee where then-Secretary Snow was before the committee. 
This was before we actually got into the Iraq war.
  I said, Mr. Secretary, you used to run a business. Tell me what 
trustees or board of directors of any business would say to you that 
you can have a supplemental outside of the budget that would increase 
significantly the deficit, and you don't have to include it in the 
amount of dollars we are expending?
  He said to me that the President doesn't want to go to war, so it is 
not part of the budget.
  I said, wait a minute. I know that there are tankers over there, 
there are men and women over there, there are arms over there, and we 
are spending dollars to feed and clothe them. That ought to be part of 
the budget. The American people should know what kind of money we are 
spending and not have it off side.
  That is what this administration has been so good at in all of these 
supplementals. Many of us vote for the supplementals because we want to 
support the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, but it is bad budgeting. I 
know if Secretary Snow ran his business like he ran the government, and 
he is gone now, but he would be put out of business if he ran a 
business like this.
  Mr. TANNER. If the United States of America were a business, it would 
be classified as a failing business enterprise, and I hate to say this 
about my country. We are now in a structural deficit situation. In the 
business world where I come from, you can handle a cyclical deficit. 
That is if you have a bad year, if you had a bad year and so forth.
  Under this scenario of this regime running the Congress and running 
our country and running the White House, we have a structural deficit. 
It never balances. Anybody in business knows that is unsustainable. 
That will not go on forever. Unless they figure out how to repeal the 
laws of arithmetic, we are in a structural deficit situation that 
cannot continue.
  What does one do when one takes over a failing business? The first 
thing one does is find out where is the money coming from and where is 
it going. The first thing I want to do, we know we can pretty well 
figure out where the money is coming from from Treasury because they 
can tell you who is paying taxes. We can't tell where it is going. That 
is why we need this bill. We need accountability, and we need this 
bill.
  When we appropriate money to anybody, any administration, if they 
can't tell us what they did with it, they ought not to get it next 
year. That is what you would do in your private business; that is what 
we ought to do as Members of Congress with the public business.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Tanner, I am pulling this information from 
the Heritage Foundation, which is one of the most conservative 
foundations in Washington, D.C., if not the leading. In fiscal year 
2003, $25 billion of taxpayer money went unaccounted for according to 
the Department of Treasury, again a third-party validator.
  Basically they are saying that $25 billion can fund a full year at 
the Justice Department, according to the Heritage Foundation. So this 
is real money that is missing. Taxpayers dollars can go into funding an 
entire Justice Department, which has a number of employees and is 
charged with carrying out a great deal of responsibility on behalf of 
the American people.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And what is the end result of all of this wasteful 
spending? I think it is important to point out what the long-term 
effects are.
  When President Bush took office, our debt limit was $5.9 trillion. As 
you can see, and these charts are on HouseDemocrats.gov/30something, in 
June of 2002, it increased by half a trillion dollars.

  May of 2003, another debt limit increase. November of 2004, another 
one. March 2006, another one. The budget this year for 2007, the budget 
resolution will raise our debt limit to $9.62 trillion. By 2011, the 
debt limit under the Republicans will almost double from when President 
Bush took office.
  Now we are trying to say that we want to audit the government and 
save money and make sure that we invest it properly into our priorities 
that will lead to economic development, and it is clear that the 
Republican majority, which controls the House, Senate and White House, 
has been fiscally irresponsible not only with the way they lack 
enforcement, they don't audit and pay attention to where the money

[[Page H4506]]

goes, and then they turn around and borrow it from China and Japan and 
OPEC and all of these other countries and run us into this huge 
structural debt that hurts the economy long term.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Ryan, there is a chart which shows the 
priorities of the majority, and I wish you would share that chart.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. This is the interest payments on the debt. This is 
the 2007 budget of what we are going to pay. It is about $230 billion 
just on interest on the debt. So all of those numbers we were showing, 
this is big time.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. It is like a bad credit card bill.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. To make a point, when we were talking about what we 
have control over in our own government and how we can streamline and 
do the audit and make sure that everybody is held accountable, I bet we 
know exactly where every single one of these dollars goes. There is 
someone in China on the other end saying, you owe me another 10-, and I 
want it here right now. They are not waiting around to say where did 
that $10 million go? We know where all of this $230 billion went.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. I know this is along the line of accountability, 
and I think this chart is a testimonial to the lack of accountability 
and the spending that has been going on in this House by the Republican 
majority. I think it is important when you say a charitable House of 
Representatives as it relates to the policies coming out of the White 
House, this is what happens. $1.05 trillion has been borrowed in the 
last 4 years, which is record-breaking in many ways, and historical in 
the wrong ways as it relates to what the President and the Republican 
majority has done.
  And the $0.1 trillion over 224 years borrowed from 42 Presidents, 
that is all they were able to muster up. World War I, World War II, a 
number of other conflicts, the Great Depression, still record-breaking 
and borrowing money in an irresponsible way.
  Mr. Ryan also mentioned who is buying all of this debt. I am not 
blaming the American taxpayers. They don't have a voting card. They 
have representatives up here, but they don't have a voting card. Japan 
has borrowed $682.8 billion of our debt and counting. They own a piece 
of the American apple pie, and it pains me to see these countries over 
the silhouette of the continental United States, but this is exactly 
what's happening, and this is the way we need to break it down.
  China, $249.8 billion of the American apple pie, not because of the 
American people, but because of the Republican policies.
  Mr. TANNER. If you add Hong Kong, that is over $300 billion that 
China controls of our paper.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. I am glad you are here to share that 
information, and you are 110 percent right.
  The U.K., $223.2 billion.
  The Caribbean, $115.3 billion.
  Taiwan and counting, $71.3 billion of our debt.
  Again, this is not the American taxpayer, this is what a charitable 
Congress has done with the President's policies.
  And you let some individuals tell it on the other side of the aisle, 
they will say we are doing great.
  For the first time in the history of the country, these countries 
have had their hands in the pockets of the American taxpayer, and 
having us pay with interest. Like Mrs. Jones mentioned, it is like 
borrowing on a credit card.
  OPEC nations, you are talking about Iran, Saudi Arabia, a number of 
the countries that many Americans have questions about, oil-producing 
countries, they are in on the game. Not only are we paying through the 
nose for petroleum, they own $67.8 billion.

                              {time}  1945

  Germany, $65.7 billion; Korea, $66.5 billion; and Canada, just north 
of us, $53.8 billion. They are in on this feeding frenzy. And the 
reason why we have this silhouetted Continental United States and the 
American flag, we want to get back to this.
  Mr. Speaker, we are the only party here in this Chamber, including, 
we would add, the one Independent that actually votes with the 
Democrats on this side. If we want to get back to a debt-free America, 
then we have to go on pay-as-you-go policies, which just today, just 
today, just today, Mr. Tanner, just today, Mrs. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, 
there was a vote on this floor to move in a pay-as-you-go policy, and 
the Republicans voted against it. United voting against paying as you 
go. That means if you are going to spend the money, you have got to 
show where you pay for it. And still that policy is not in place.
  And, Mr. Tanner, I know that you have worked day in and day out. I 
have watched you here on this floor. I watch Mrs. Tubbs Jones in Ways 
and Means talking about, if we are going to do it, what are the means? 
How are we going to do it? And it is continuing to be placed on a 
credit card.
  We usually use old charts, but today I think it is important for us 
to say that just today, on this floor, Republicans continue to move in 
the direction, I would say the leadership, continues to move in the 
direction of allowing these countries to have their hands in the 
pockets of the American taxpayers.
  And it goes simultaneously with the two pieces of legislation that 
you have shared with the Members and the American people today, House 
Resolution 841, that you have offered and also Mr. Cardoza's 
legislation as it relates to House Resolution 5315, that talks about 
this kind of accountability, forcing the Congress to carry out section 
1, article I of the U.S. Constitution, which is boiler plate.
  Mr. TANNER. Well, I am going to have to go, but I want to thank you 
all again for letting an old guy like me pretend I am 30-something 
again. It is a real thrill to do that, because your generation, I have 
two children in their 30s, and I have two grandchildren, one on the 
way. And when I see this country in an unsustainable financial downward 
spiral, I feel great remorse from my generation's standpoint, because 
we are not doing what our forebears did. To allow a situation to go on 
where there is no accountability, where Congress is not asking any 
administration, this has nothing to do with politics, it has to do with 
good business principles in the public sector, which I think all 
citizens of this country not only expect but deserve, and that is, this 
Congress ought to, at a minimum, be able to tell the American people 
what happened to the money. And they are not even asking this 
administration. And if they did, they couldn't tell them. That is just 
plain wrong.
  And these bills, I hope some of our Republican colleagues will sign 
on. It seems to me like they would want to audit the books as much as 
we do. I mean, I just hope that this is the first step of 
accountability into the public sector so that when we get an audit from 
any Department, the auditors can identify what happened to the money, 
whether or not the program is working, and so we don't get these 
disclaimers that say, everything you are about to read in this audit we 
have no idea of. We don't know whether it is true or not. Go ahead, be 
my guest and read it, but we can't vouch for any of it because we don't 
know, and they can't tell us. That is just, it is not only grossly 
irresponsible for this Congress to let that go on, it is really a 
generational mugging. And you 30-something guys, I appreciate you and 
your group, because you all will ultimately bear the terrible 
consequences of continuing down this road of no accountability in the 
Federal Government. And so I thank you again for allowing me to be 
here.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. I am laughing, Mr. Tanner. Remember when we had 
the IRS hearing, and the IRS decided that they were going to go look 
for waste, fraud and abuse in Earned Income Tax Credit instead of 
looking for waste, fraud and abuse in the larger corporation and what 
they were doing with the Tax Code?
  I am not against business. Democrats are pro-business. We know that 
if we have business, people have jobs. But the reality is when you want 
to look for waste, fraud and abuse, you don't look for somebody that is 
paying a dollar in taxes. You look for somebody who is paying a whole 
bunch of dollars or who is getting a whole bunch of dollars from the 
American public to do a job and they don't do the job.
  Mr. TANNER. You can look around. I could hit a driver and a 3-wood 
most of these places. They could start right here in this town just 
trying to find

[[Page H4507]]

out what did you do with the money we gave you.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. That is probably a driver, a 3-wood and a 7-iron 
for you.
  Mr. TANNER. And a pitching wedge to boot. Thank you all.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Thank you, Mr. Tanner. We definitely appreciate 
your contributions. And I like this whole generational mugging piece. 
You are going to hear that again. That is a great one. And it is so 
good, Mr. Ryan, to have Members of the Ways and Means Committee here, 
because they hear this constantly, and the policies are passed through 
that committee as it relates to how we tax Americans, corporations, 
what have you. And to see the waste on the other side of the ball, on 
the government, which we are supposed to oversee, and make sure that 
those dollars that are being collected from the American taxpayer or 
the American corporation or whatever it may be, that it is spent in an 
appropriate way and that we are accountable for it.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Would the gentleman yield?
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Sure I would yield.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. We had a wonderful, and I am going to share this 
with the Speaker and the House, we had a wonderful conversation about 
three weeks ago with Alvin Toffler, who wrote ``Future Shock,'' and 
then wrote this new book, ``Revolutionary Wealth.'' And he goes into 
how civilization during the Industrial Age was much different than it 
is now.
  He used the example of 9/11, about how this decentralized, 
information-based, cells popping up al Qaeda, basically a private 
group, moved money and information around the world on cell phones and 
very decentralized, attacked us. And our response was to build a 20th-
century pyramid bureaucracy called the Department of Homeland Security 
because that is what we know how to do. We know how to build these 
bureaucracies. And how we are living in an age that no longer 
represents, those kind of bureaucracies no longer address the needs of 
the American people.
  So this audit and what Mr. Tanner and Mr. Cardoza are trying to do is 
squeeze this government, squeeze these bureaucracies, get the fat out 
of them and find out where we can gain resources and invest them into 
the new programs, the new technologies, the new ways of doing things. 
And Democrats are for this. And I am excited about this summer and this 
fall for us to go around the country and talk about this new approach 
that we have because people say, oh, the Democrats aren't going to do 
it.
  We are experiencing the implementation of the neoconservative agenda 
right now. They haven't done anything. They are spending like drunken 
sailors. We are running huge budget deficits. We are spending $230 
billion a year, just paying interest on the debt. We are borrowing 
money from China and Japan and all of these other countries and funding 
these long-term structural deficits that we have.
  We need an opportunity to take over this government, and let us start 
auditing this thing. This is a new Democratic Party, Mr. Speaker, that 
wants to squeeze the fat out of this government.
  The Republicans had a lot of good talk in 1994. But even their own 
leader, Mr. Gingrich, Speaker Gingrich is saying now they are in 
charge, they are seen as in charge of a government that can't function.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. Perfect example was today when we started talking 
about the estate tax. And there are different views on the importance 
of the estate tax. But reducing the estate tax puts in place, how do we 
pay for what was covered by the estate tax? And how do we pay for it? 
They don't even account for it. They just reduce it or get rid of the 
estate tax and say, okay, I am going to leave you to fend for yourself 
as to how you cover it.
  Pay-as-you-go, they fussed at us. Well, if you want to increase 
college loans, or if you want to increase money for Social Security, or 
if you want to increase money so that seniors can get a prescription 
drug benefit, or you want to increase it so seniors can be covered with 
Medicaid, pay for it. But they don't ever talk about paying for it and 
a reduction of taxes.
  And there are a lot of Democrats who certainly believe that we should 
not reduce taxes. But regardless of where you are, pay-as-you-go is 
language that everybody understands. My father used to say, if I have 
$5 and beef costs $5, I am going to buy me a pound of beef for $5.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Ryan, I think, and also Mrs. Tubbs Jones, I 
think it is important that we look at this issue of the 
irresponsibility of the Republican majority. They are being very 
irresponsible. And to say that that is fine, we will give you what you 
want, of course, Mr. Speaker, I think we are going to see more of that 
kind of action by the Republican majority to say that, oh, we are with 
you, even if we are running the country into the ground.
  We know better. We know that we have foreign countries that we are 
borrowing from because we can't even borrow from ourselves anymore 
because we have done such a bad job. We know we have raised the debt 
ceiling time after time after time again. Meanwhile, we come to the 
floor and say our policies are working.
  We know that there are things we should not be doing because you are 
working every day or you are running your business every day. You may 
not be paying attention to everything that is going on. Not only are we 
elected but we are paid to watch out for your best interest and also 
for future generations' best interests. And they are doing it.
  And I think that the paradigm shift as it relates to the American 
people paying attention to what they are doing in a way, from a fiscal 
way, I think, will take place between now and November.
  And so what is so unfortunate about this whole situation, Mr. 
Speaker, is that we are supposed to be responsible policymakers on a 
bipartisan basis. And that is not happening right now. That is just not 
happening. The American taxpayers are getting mugged, knocked down and 
kicked by this Republican majority and the rubber stamp, or the rubber-
stamp Congress, Republican majority that is here.
  Now, one other thing I want to mention here, which I think is very, 
very important, just today, Mr. Ryan, Mrs. Tubbs Jones, we don't have 
to go back, Mr. Speaker, to weeks or months or 2 years ago or 3 years 
ago. We had a pay-as-you-go provision here. Individuals decided not to 
take it up.
  We had an opportunity to raise the minimum wage on behalf of the 
American taxpayers. The Republican majority rejected an opportunity to 
raise the minimum wage for everyday working Americans.
  As a matter of fact, Mr. Ryan, one of the Republican leaders said, I 
haven't voted in 25 years, Mr. Speaker, to raise the minimum wage. And 
if he would have had his way, the minimum wage would still be $3.35 
versus $5.15.
  I am so glad that my State joined 21 other States in raising the 
minimum wage. Meanwhile, we are still here with chisel and hammer in 
hand as Neanderthals on the Republican side of the ball and saying, oh, 
we don't have to raise the minimum wage. We are so indebted to the 
special interests that we don't even want to bother them of having an 
American public that is able to pay the rent or pay for their house 
mortgage or to be able to put gas in their tank. We are so invested in 
the K Street Project, we are so invested in so many other things that 
we are willing to allow these individuals to suffer.
  But guess what? Those are the same individuals that are making 
America America. And there are millions of Americans that are there.
  And so what is very, very unfortunate here, Mr. Speaker, is the fact 
that the Republican majority is still boasting about, you know, we are 
in charge. We are going to continue to keep our foot on the necks of 
everyday Americans that are going in, punching in and punching out 
every day, 5 days a week, sometimes 6, because they have to work 
overtime; those Americans that know what it means to take a 15-minute 
break in the morning and a 15-minute break in the afternoon, and a 
solid 30 minutes of lunch, if they get that, and they better not be a 
minute late. Those kind of individuals, I think, are going to go to the 
polls this November and say, no more. They are going to go to the polls 
and say, we are willing to fight for the kind of accountability that we 
need from this government.

[[Page H4508]]

  I am so proud, Mr. Speaker, of the 30-something Working Group and the 
Members that come down here and the Democratic Members that file 
legislation on behalf of the American people, not on behalf of the 
Democratic Party, not even on behalf of the Democratic Caucus, not on 
behalf of our leadership, but on behalf of the individuals that they 
represent who woke up early one Tuesday morning and voted for 
representation in this U.S. House of Representatives, and I must add, 
Mr. Speaker, the only Chamber that you have to be elected to, that you 
can't be appointed to. All due respect to the Senate, but Senators can 
be appointed by Governors. If a Senator was to say, hey, you know, I 
have had enough. I want to go home, I want to take care of my 
grandkids, a Governor can appoint a Senator.
  But in democracy, in this Chamber, in the U.S. House, if one Member 
were to say, hey, I want to take care of my grandkids, I want to spend 
more time with my kids, they have to run for office. They have to run 
for office, and they have to be replaced by the people.
  So we have a greater responsibility. We have a greater responsibility 
than the White House, than the Senate or the Supreme Court, when you 
look at the three branches government, to the American people.
  The oversight, House Resolution 841, and Mr. Cardoza's legislation 
that calls for the calling in those administrators that are not 
accountable to taxpayers' dollars, these are the kind of bills that we 
must pass.

                              {time}  2000

  One thing I can say, Mr. Ryan, which is so very important on our side 
of the ball of saying we want to take this country in a new direction, 
is the fact that we said we will increase the minimum wage. We will 
make our country more energy-independent within 10 years. We will 
implement the 9/11 recommendations to be able to make sure that we can 
fight terrorism here and make sure that local communities have what 
they need.
  These are not ``if'' or ``if we get around to it'' statements. These 
are statements that we said wholeheartedly that we would carry out.
  The last point, anybody who wants to get this information as it 
relates to an innovation agenda: housedemocrats.gov. Right here, this 
is what it looks like. You can download this information. Again, 
safeguarding, making sure that we have the real security here in 
America, our Democratic plan: housedemocrats.gov. And, again, here as 
it relates to the working group that we have dealing with investing in 
the Midwest versus the Middle East: housedemocrats.gov. Mr. Ryan said 
all of the charts that you see here tonight you can get on 
housedemocrats.gov/30something.
  Mr. Speaker, I do not even waste my time anymore, as a Member of this 
House, talking about working in a bipartisan way because the only way 
we can work in a bipartisan way, Mrs. Tubbs Jones, and you know because 
you are the most senior Member on the floor right now, is that the 
majority allows it to happen. The majority calls the conference 
committee, and this happens a lot in the Ways and Means Committee.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. A whole lot.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. A lot in the Ways and Means Committee. They will 
have about tax law, about accountability or what have you, trying to 
find the ways and the means of bills that come through that committee, 
and the Democratic Members are not even called. A conference report 
comes to the floor, and they have not even seen it. Not that they 
weren't willing to sit down with the Republican majority, saying, We 
want to work with you and see how we can work in a bipartisan way. They 
don't even get the notice for the meeting. So the meeting takes place, 
it comes to the floor, and the rules that are in the House rules, it 
smacks the theme of the rules and also the spirit of the rules and the 
rules, period, about the minority party's being informed about these 
meetings.
  So one thing that our leader has said: When we take control, there 
will be a bipartisan spirit in this House, and we will work together 
with the Republican minority, if the American people see to it.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Because it is not about us. It is not about the 
Democrats; it is not about the Republicans. It is about fixing the 
problems. I mean, we have got real problems in this country, serious, 
structural problems. And we do not have time to be nitpicking with each 
other to say, Well, that is a good idea, but you are a Republican, so 
forget about it. Give us all the ideas.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. It is very important to understand that there are 
41 members on the Ways and Means Committee. As a result of that 41, 
there are 24 Republicans and 17 Democrats. And the Democrats, 17 
members, beginning with our ranking member, Charlie Rangel, and going 
on to Pete Stark and on down the line, are people who can bring 
leadership and knowledge to a discussion about legislation. But, 
unfortunately, as the committee is currently constituted, we do not 
have the opportunity to sit at the table and truly legislate. Even one 
day the police called on us, trying to pull us out of the Ways and 
Means library room.
  The reality is that we are willing and ready, ready and able, to 
provide import to the legislation on taxing and raising revenue for the 
United States of America. But, unfortunately, we do not have the 
opportunity. Unfortunately, we, as Democrats and Republicans, do not 
have the opportunity to sit at the table, talk it over, figure it out, 
and come to the floor with legislation that can make a difference on 
behalf of all Americans.
  If you look back in history, every year we were in, there was 
legislation that really worked for America. It was legislation that was 
done on a bipartisan basis. This chairman talks about being a member of 
the willing, something like the Iraq war, if you weren't a member of 
the willing and you didn't go to war, you do not get counted in. We 
are, hopefully, not at war right here in the House of Representatives, 
although some days I think that we are, that we can have the 
opportunity to sit at table, legislate, and make a difference on behalf 
of the people of America. The people of America expect it from us. They 
do not send us here to argue back and forth with one another about 
issues. They want us to work it out, and that is why we were elected as 
representatives.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Do you know what this comes down to? This is just 
boiling all this down, regardless of the issues that you are talking 
about: What do we believe in as a country? What do we want our country 
to be? The great thing about being an American is we get to decide. We 
do not have 30 or 40 people in the upper echelons of government telling 
us what we want the country to be like. We get to vote on it, and the 
American people get to express themselves at the ballot box and decide 
what we want this country to be like.
  Now, what we have had here over the past 5 years with a Republican 
House, Republican Senate, and Republican White House is tremendous 
deficits, borrowing more money from foreign interests in the last 4 or 
5 years than we have borrowed in the last 224 years.
  Do you believe in a government that should put everything on a credit 
card? Do you believe in a government that should give tax breaks to 
millionaires and then never raise the minimum wage? Do you believe in a 
government that should have a $1 trillion prescription drug benefit and 
not do anything to contain the cost because the pharmaceutical industry 
may not like it? If you believe in that kind of government, then you 
want to continue with what we are doing right now.
  But if you believe in a government that is for the common good and 
the common defense and uses common sense, then you want to vote for the 
Democrats. If you want to raise the minimum wage by a couple bucks an 
hour, then you want to vote for the Democrats. If you want to reduce 
the cost of prescription drugs by using the bargaining power of the 
United States Government and the Medicare recipients, then you want to 
vote for the Democrats. If you want to take some of this money that we 
are going to squeeze out of the government because we are auditing and 
finding the waste and abuse in our government and invest that money in 
the Pell Grants, then you want to vote for the Democrats.
  I mean, this is very simple. They have their beliefs; we have our 
beliefs. And we need the American people to affirm those beliefs at the 
ballot box.

[[Page H4509]]

And I believe in November, Ms. Tubbs Jones and Mr. Meek, that the 
American people are going to affirm the beliefs of the Democratic Party 
because we are ready, willing, and able. We have the will and the 
desire to go out and lead. Put us in coach. We are ready to rock and 
roll.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Reclaiming my time, it is very interesting. And, 
Mr. Ryan and Mrs. Tubbs Jones, I think you hit the nail right on the 
head in talking about the reality of serving in this Republican 
majority right now, what is not only happening to the Members of this 
body on the minority side and the one Independent that is a part of 
this House, but also what is happening to the American taxpayer. And 
accountability is on our side. We balanced the budget. The bottom line 
is there wasn't a deficit. There were surpluses as far as the eye can 
see when the Republican majority took over. And now we find ourselves 
in a fiscal crisis.

  And I want to share this information and make sure, Mr. Speaker, that 
all the Members, hopefully, go back to their districts and, before they 
see an increase in the interest rates of student loans, to share with 
their constituents, and we are sharing it with our constituents, to 
consolidate their loans before July 1, because afterwards they are 
going to be paying, I believe, a 2 percent increase in interest rates 
and climbing, not because the companies said they want to go up on the 
interest rate, but because the Congress allowed these companies to go 
up on the interest rate, meanwhile providing more tax breaks for the 
superwealthy Americans that are here.
  So as we continue to speak, we are not here speaking into the 
Congressional Record, Members, just to say we want to be on the record 
about what is happening to America. We are saying that we are ready, 
set, go. We have our chinstrap buckled and our mouthpiece in. Since 
football season is coming up in August, let it be known that we are 
ready to hit the field. We are ready to hit the field on behalf of the 
American people; not willing hit the field on behalf of Democrats, not 
willing to hit the field on behalf of just children, but on behalf of 
all the American people. That is Republicans, Independents, Green 
Party.
  If you are not even voting, and you are so mad, and you are tired of 
this mess here in Washington, DC, we are doing this for you. We want to 
make sure that this democracy that some talk about that we are fighting 
in foreign lands to guarantee a democracy over there, we want to make 
sure that we can celebrate a democracy right here, making sure that 
individuals do not have to find a way out of no way, and making sure 
that we come up with ways that we can become energy-independent and not 
just running around here saying, well, we need to go to war in foreign 
lands to be able to attract oil when we have resources right here.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. If the gentleman would yield, you know what is 
interesting as we debate on the floor, let us talk about, just for a 
moment, the minimum wage. And there is always the discussion that the 
people who pay the most tax ought to get the most return on their 
taxes. And I cry and scream on behalf of the unemployed in my district: 
Give them a job, and they will gladly pay taxes. Give them a job and a 
living wage, and they will be glad to pay taxes. They will be able to 
take care of their families. They will come off of government rolls.
  But the reality is most people working at $5.25 an hour cannot be 
successful. They cannot be part of the American dream because they 
cannot buy milk, $3 a gallon of gas, and take care of their families. 
And the reality is that the Democratic Party is the only party talking 
about raising the minimum wage.
  And there has been an argument that we do not want to raise the 
minimum wage because it impacts business, but there is statistical 
information very recently that just came from Ohio that says if you 
raise the minimum wage, businesses are doing better. It is not that if 
you raise it, they will go into debt. The reality is that if you have 
got a better worker making a better salary, then you have got a better 
business. And that is what we need to have happen in Ohio and across 
this country.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, the last time the minimum wage was 
raised, it was a zero impact on businesses. Zero impact. So when folks 
are saying if we raise the minimum wage, people are going to go out of 
business, please. Okay? And when folks start talking about, Well, I am 
here to protect the business community, the last time I checked, there 
were individuals that went to vote to elect me and everyone else here 
to the United States Congress, to the House of Representatives. I 
didn't see major corporations going up with a voting card saying, I am 
representing corporation one, two, three, and I am here to vote on 
behalf of Kendrick Meek for Congress. There were individuals that voted 
for us.
  So, Mrs. Tubbs Jones, I think you are 110 percent right, just not on 
behalf of the people of the great State of Ohio, but on behalf of the 
American people. People are working every day, but they cannot even put 
gas in their tank. How can you live?
  Oprah just did a story on this as it relates to individuals that are 
making minimum wage. And they put individuals who were making above the 
minimum wage on a minimum wage, and they could not survive.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. They say that if you look at inflation and apply 
it to minimum wage, the minimum wage today should be $9.08. And even in 
our proposals we are only asking for $7.25.
  Give people an opportunity to make a living and be proud of 
themselves making a living wage.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And whatever business you have, your customers are 
going to have more money to go and spend. This is the basic difference 
that we have between what the first President Bush called ``voodoo 
economics,'' which is the current system we are in right now, the 
implementation of the neoconservative agenda. That is what is happening 
right now. And if you are happy with what this system is yielding for 
you and your family, then you need to continue to vote for the 
Republican Party. But if it is not effective for you and your family, 
then you need to look for alternatives, and that is what we are doing 
here.
  But the Democratic Party is saying raise that minimum wage and give 
these small businesses more customers to go out and purchase their 
products.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. I was just looking for this, and I am so glad 
that I found it because I think it is important to be able to share the 
facts where they are. Third-party validators, Mr. Speaker, once again, 
there is just a line of them as it relates to the things we bring up.
  This is a message from my Democratic Caucus Chair, who is James D. 
Clyburn, that is talking about priorities of the Democratic Caucus. It 
is not talking about something we just came up with a couple days ago, 
but the priorities of the Democratic Caucus and the American people. 
Five dollars and fifteen cents is the minimum wage. Fifty years, the 
last time the minimum wage has been this low as it relates to the 
inflation that you just spoke about. It should be $9 and some change. 
1997 was the last time that the Congress raised the minimum wage. That 
is almost 10 years ago. It is about to be 10 years ago. Six point six 
million people, the number of people who would benefit from an increase 
in the minimum wage. Six point six million individuals, roughly three-
quarters of minimum-wage workers, adults over the age of 20, many of 
whom are responsible for half of their families' income. One day it 
takes to be able to make money to buy one tank of gas working on the 
minimum wage.
  Again, Mrs. Tubbs Jones, a zero jobs loss. Studies have shown that 
there is no evidence of jobs lost after passing a minimum wage 
increase.

                              {time}  2015

  Here is another one. Eighty-six percent of the American people 
support an increase in the minimum wage, and I must say 22 States have 
already headed in that direction through constitutional measures or 
legislative measures to increase the minimum wage to help their State's 
economy, because they know these individuals are consumers and these 
individuals that are on minimum wage will help their State's economy.
  So I just wanted to share that information, because it is important 
that we share that. But again, the Republican majority is saying no. We 
are saying if we become the majority, if they become the minority come 
this

[[Page H4510]]

November, it is not ``if we can, we may get around to it.'' It will be 
one of the first things that the Democratic Caucus does. A done deal. 
We don't even have to talk about it, that the American people will see 
an increase in the minimum wage.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I would like to make a point, because when you 
raise the minimum wage, you raise the wages for all people who are 
participating in the labor market.
  Let's take for example our friends at Wal-Mart, okay? If you raise 
the minimum wage, now, if you don't work at Wal-Mart or somewhere else 
of that caliber of a store that hires so many millions of people around 
the country, they are all going to get a boost. So instead of companies 
like Wal-Mart making billions and billions and billions in profits, 
some of that money will make its way back to the workers, so all the 
workers will get a couple dollars more an hour, which means you are 
going to have consumers with more money in their pocket so they can 
pull it out and go buy more goods, which will stimulate the economy.
  The American people right now are feeling they are not benefiting 
from what is happening. I think a raise in the minimum wage would do 
that, it would accomplish that, it would give demand a spark, which is 
obviously what we want to do.
  Then, like we have talked about here, investing in sewers and roads 
and bridges and infrastructure and get this country back where it needs 
to be with our infrastructure, so that we could build industrial parks 
and roads and bridges and increase commerce in the United States, 
extend broadband. All of these things will stimulate the economy here 
in the United States of America, educate our kids, get information into 
the households, and, at the end of the day, you have got a strong 
country.
  Mrs. JONES of Ohio. I know that my good friend Kendrick Meek is going 
to close out on a New Direction for America, but I want to talk again 
about the minimum wage.
  Consider that if the minimum wage had increased with inflation, it 
would be $9.08. Well, think about it like this. Family health care 
insurance is up 70 percent. The increase in minimum wage would help 7.5 
million. Gas prices have doubled. So if the minimum wage doubled, it 
would be $10, and we would be able to do it. Record surplus has been 
turned to record deficits. And then college costs are up. There have 
been $12 billion in student aid cuts under this administration and 
Republican Congress.
  It is time for Democrats to take control of the House so that we have 
an opportunity to serve the people and put America in a new direction.
  I yield back to our leader.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Let me just say this. You can go ahead and give 
the website out, sir, and I will close out.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Are you talking to me?
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. I am talking to you, sir, Mr. Ryan.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I appreciate you letting me do this. 
Www.housedemocrats.gov/30something.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Thank you, Mr. Ryan.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Thank you, Mr. Meek.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. I want to thank Ms. Tubbs Jones and also you, 
Mr. Ryan, and Mr. Tanner and Mr. Taylor, who was here at the beginning 
finishing off his 5-minute speech for joining us tonight.
  As Mrs. Tubbs Jones mentioned, as Democrats, we want to take this 
House in a New Direction for America. I think it is important, and we 
will let it be known that we will implement on day one, or days within 
being in the majority, if the American people see fit, a real security 
plan that will implement the full 9/11 Committee report, work on 
affordable health care, to fix not only the prescription drug law, but 
a series of seniors' issues as it relates to health care and also 
health care for the American people, from GM down to the small mom and 
pop business. Also make sure we have good paying jobs and stop sending 
jobs overseas and raising the minimum wage. Reversing all the things 
that the Republicans have done to Americans as it relates to higher 
interest rates for students and making college affordable. Also with 
tax deductions, and also energizing America by making sure we have 
investment in the Midwest versus the Middle East. And ensuring dignity 
as it relates to no privatization of Social Security.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, it was an honor addressing the House. We 
would like to thank the Democratic leadership for the time.

                          ____________________