[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 100 (Wednesday, July 26, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H5946-H5950]
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 the remaining time until midnight as the designee of the minority
leader.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to address the House
tonight. The 30-Something Working Group is always prepared to come to
the floor not only to share with the Members but the American people
about some of the issues that we would love for the entire Congress to
work on, Mr. Speaker, if we worked in a bipartisan way.
My friends on the other side of the aisle who just finished talking
about Iraq, the beautiful thing about our democracy is that we have the
opportunity to voice our opinion in the way we see it.
I think it is also important for us to realize what the reality is
not only here in America but in Iraq and the Middle East and what is
going on right here in the Midwest, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, or what is
not going on as it relates to investing in the Midwest, making sure
that we invest in America, using coal for energy, innovation, and also
making sure that we can work with our farmers here in the United States
so we don't have to depend on Middle East oil and we don't have to send
our men and women into harm's way to make sure that we are able to put
gas in our tanks here in the United States.
As you know, in our innovation agenda and also energizing America
agenda, in our new direction for America, here in this side of the
aisle we are for investing in the United States, we are for making sure
that we can cut our dependency on Middle East oil so that we don't find
ourselves in the middle of these conflicts that we are in right now.
As you know, we have been talking for several weeks about our new
direction for America. I am glad Ms. Wasserman Schultz is here again
tonight, as she always is, and it is great. It is like old times.
We have been working together for I know 12 years since I have been
elected. You have been an elected official for 14 years. I met you when
I came into the Florida House of Representatives. Mr. Speaker, Ms.
Wasserman Schultz was the chair of the Education Committee when I
showed up in Florida legislature, and I know that she is going to have
a bright future here in the House of Representatives.
But I can tell you what the good news is. It is that we have the will
and the desire on this side of the aisle to stand up on behalf of the
American people, making sure we raise the minimum wage for working
families and those that go to work every day, punch in and punch out,
know what it means to have a 15-minute break in the morning and a 15-
minute break in the evening.
{time} 2330
For those individuals that are working the midnight shift, we are
with those families. We want to make sure
[[Page H5947]]
that they are making a livable wage, and when we raise the minimum
wage, that means that those individuals that are making over the
minimum wage, those that are making $8 or $9 or $10 an hour, those
individuals in big corporate America are going to have to look at what
they are paying them, Mr. Speaker, if we raise the minimum wage.
That is not what is going to happen, and I think as long as the
Republican majority is in place that is not going to happen.
If I can, before I yield to my good friend and colleague and a true
good friend, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, our districts are right next to
each other in the State of Florida, we work together, like I said, Mr.
Speaker, for a period of years, of giving the American people what we
have received.
What we received on this floor and what we call, well, we the
opportunity to give ourselves raises. We do not have to petition the
Congress to receive a raise. The American people want a raise, those
hourly workers that are out there. They want a raise, and hopefully, we
can talk a little bit about that tonight and a number of issues they
are facing.
We are going to talk a little bit about Iraq and the realities of
Iraq. Members can come to the floor, God bless them, and give their
opinion or their view of what they think is going on in Iraq and in
other parts of this world, but I think it is important for us to, just
as simple as picking up the paper or watching the news or talking to
our constituents, they are saying, Congressman, Congresswoman, my son
is going off to war on his fourth or fifth deployment or my daughter is
going to off to war on the fourth or fifth deployment and you are
saying on the majority side, and from the White House, stay the course,
stay the course. To do what? And where is the plan?
But let me just get back to what I was saying about how we give
ourselves raises here in this House. The Republican majority has made
it abundantly clear that they do not have the will nor the desire to
give the American people what they have given themselves, and the good
thing, Mr. Speaker, about this side and the reason why I can speak
truth to power and that I can come to this floor with a straight face
and all of my colleagues, Republican, Democrats and one Independent we
have in this House, I can boldly say here on the floor of the U.S.
House of Representatives that veterans have fought for us to salute one
flag. Those individuals that are in Arlington Cemetery right now, that
all we have is their memory and their commitment to this country, that
if we have the audacity to give ourselves raises, Republican majority
leading the effort to give raises to Members of Congress and vote
``no'' to allow individuals that are working for $5 and pennies every
day, punching in and punching out, with all of the gas prices, all of
the issues of the price of milk, the price of bread, the price of
college tuition, we are able to do better for our kids and our families
because the Republican majority said, hey, that is fine, we can give
ourselves raises, but let not us give it to these others folks.
Let me say this to those other folks, the American people. Since 1997
there has not been a Federal increase in the minimum wage. Here are the
facts, and that is why we come to the floor, Mr. Speaker, to just give
the facts to the Members.
This is a Congressional Research Service report April 18, 2006. Any
Member of Congress, Democrat, Republican, Independent, American, that
is paying attention to what we are saying right now can go on
housedemocrats.gov and get this information.
1998, Members of Congress received $3,100 in a raise; minimum wage
workers, zero. 2000, Members of Congress, $4,600 raise that the
Republican majority has given Members of Congress; minimum wage
workers, zero. 2001, $3,800 for Members of Congress, pay increase, what
we call cost of living, that is a nice way to dress it up; minimum wage
workers, zero. Members of Congress in 2002, $4,900 increase, just got
in 2001 remember a $3,800 raise, $4,900; minimum wage, zero. 2003,
$4,700; minimum wage workers, zero. 2004, $3,400; minimum wage workers,
zero. 2005, $4,000, Members just received a $3,400 raise; minimum wage
workers, zero. 2006, $3,100 in the present year; minimum wage workers,
zero.
The Republican leadership has pretty much said over our you know what
body we will not give minimum wage workers an increase. Meanwhile, here
in the House, there are plans that are already drawn for Members of
Congress in 2007, if the American people allow it to happen and not
evaluate every Member of Congress, because even if you do not make the
minimum wage, you have to have a conscience about, well, we have
individuals that are out there. Gas prices have gone up. If you make
$8, $12, even $18 an hour, you have to have a conscience about these
individuals that have to pay the same price you have to pay for gas,
have to pay the same price you have to pay for health care. If you are
struggling, imagine what someone that is making $5 and pennies have to
go through.
So I think it is important and it is very pivotal that we are here at
11:37 eastern standard time after other Members of Congress have gone
back to their homes, either resting with their families, in their
office working, what have you, we are here on the floor carrying the
water on behalf of the American people.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. That is absolutely right, and we are here
because it is imperative that we move this country in a new direction.
Americans are begging us to take us off the course we are on now.
It is such a privilege to be here with you. We have been good friends
for more than a dozen years now. It is just a privilege to share a
community with you, to share constituents who really have been
clamoring not just in south Florida where we live but all across the
country. You and I travel the country talking to Americans in so many
places, and it does not matter. What I found and I know you have, too,
it does not matter what walk of life they come from. It does not matter
whether they are wealthy or middle class or lower income. No one that I
have spoken to says, Debbie, yes, yes, you know, let us keep it right
the way we are going, you know, just keep going in the same direction
because everything is great. It is almost laughable to say that.
The minimum wage is a perfect thing to highlight in terms of the
example that we need to throw out there to show where our priorities
would be if we were in control, and we know we are not, versus where
the Republicans' priorities are. We try to use third party validators
so it is not just the Kendrick Meek, Tim Ryan, Bill Delahunt, Debbie
Wasserman Schultz show. We want to make sure we use legitimate
references to demonstrate and back up the things we say.
Many time what we talk about here can seem like inside baseball. The
terminology we use can seem a little esoteric so we try to boil it down
for folks.
Let us take the minimum wage. You talked about the minimum wage
historically and what it means in terms of real dollars today. Let us
talk about the minimum wage and the fact that it has not been raised in
9 years, what that impact is on the average family in terms of the
difference of what things cost in the last 9 years.
So, if you take a look at this chart, this is what real economic
change under President Bush has been like. While we have not increased
the minimum wage since 1997, as you referred to a few minutes ago,
there are plenty of things that have increased in cost.
Over on the left-hand part of the chart, the minimum wage has not
increased at all, yet whole milk has increased 24 percent since 1997.
Bread, 25 percent. A 4-year public college education has increased 77
percent. Health insurance has increased 97 percent, and that is if you
can even get it because there are 46 million Americans that do not have
health insurance and millions of small business employers who have
dropped their insurance coverage for their employees because it has
reached the point of unaffordability, with upwards of 15 percent
increases every single year.
Let us look at the price of regular gas. It has gone up, while the
minimum wage has not, 136 percent. And so what does that mean?
Sometimes people cannot get their mind around percentages and what
those mean.
So let us take a look at what Americans are paying for in terms of
gas prices. The Americans now are paying 100 percent more for gas than
when President Bush first took office, and he
[[Page H5948]]
has the nerve to stand in this chamber and to give speeches across this
country talking about how he thinks that America is addicted to foreign
oil and we need to get a handle on how we are going to expand
alternative energy resources. Really? With what funding? Where is the
initiative? Where is the proposal? Where is the legislation? Because
all of it just gets rubber stamped here. When we propose any of those
things as a solution as a Democrats, what do Republicans do? They vote
``no.'' No, no, Mr. President; yes, Mr. President. Just the bobblehead
Republicans do whatever is asked of them, and it is certainly not to
expand the opportunity to invest in the Midwest in terms of our energy
resources versus the Mideast.
So, if you look at the price of a gallon of gas, when President Bush
began his term, January 20, 2001, the average price of a gallon of gas
was $1.45 and today, it is $3.01.
Now, what I attribute that to, and what I attribute the seeming
indifference on the part of the Republicans and their leadership here
towards this problem, it has got to be because there is no other
explanation that they are not filling their own gas tank. It has really
got to be that they are not the ones that are actually putting the gas
in their car themselves because, if they were, they would realize that
now, instead of pennies, remember when we were younger and our parents
would fill the gas tank and the fastest number that scrolled on the gas
tank itself was a penny? Well, now, it is dimes because that is how
much prices have increased in terms of gas.
The only thing I can think of, Mr. Speaker, that I can attribute the
indifference of Republicans towards the energy crisis and the gas
prices that Americans are facing is that they have not filled their
cars with gas since gas pumps looked like this.
This is a gas pump or at least an example of a gas pump and what one
looked like in the 1950s, and perhaps it is just that it was so long
ago that they filled their gas tanks themselves. I am not sure who is
filling their gas tanks. Maybe they all have drivers. They really only
focus on the needs of the wealthy. So perhaps people are driving them
around. That really, for me, is the only explanation.
I really fail to understand why they continue to allow oil companies
the ability to not pay royalties to the Federal Government in exchange
for utilizing our oil reserves, the ability and the right to drill into
the ocean floor and draw up oil that is on land owned by the Federal
Government. They are supposed to pay subsidies and royalties. We have
passed legislation on at least two occasions since I have been here,
and I am only a freshman, that have essentially forgiven those
royalties and given mutli-millions of dollars back to the oil companies
and into the pockets of the CEOs and the wealthiest few people. It is
absolutely mindboggling to me.
We, as Democrats, have the priorities of the American people
straight. We understand that we need to move the country in a new
direction, Mr. Speaker. We need to make sure that we expand access to
health care. We want to make sure that we actually invest in
alternative energy resources so that we can truly, within 10 years,
become independent of foreign oil resources and invest in the Midwest
instead of in the Middle East.
We want to make sure that we can get a handle on this deficit. You
and I have young children, and right now, if we stay the course and
continue in the direction that this President and this Republican
leadership has taken us in, our children and our children's children
will be saddled with the deficit and the Nation's debt that this
President has mired us in, all by himself, and by his Republican rubber
stamp colleagues that we work in this chamber with.
If something is not done, our children, I fear for the world that
they grow up in, not just in terms of foreign policy but in terms of
domestic policy.
{time} 2345
What is going to happen to our kids when they grow up in a world
where we are underfunding education, where they do not have access to
health insurance, where gas prices are so out of control and there is
no mass transit for them to use as an alternative so that they can get
to work? What are they going to do in a world where the deficit is
continuing to skyrocket and we are going further and further in debt to
other countries? What are they going to do?
Hopefully, we are going to be able to get this country back on track
after the November elections.
I yield to my friend.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Well, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, I talk to my
constituents, and I talk to the American people that are walking
through the halls of Congress. You know, this is the summertime, Mr.
Speaker, and, as you know, we have a number of visitors that visit the
Capitol of the United States here. We wear these congressional pins.
And last night when we left at 12 midnight there were Girl Scouts out
front.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. That is right.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. You are a Brownie Troop leader, or a Girl Scout
leader.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. No, I am a Brownie Troop leader.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. I used to be a Boy Scout Troop leader in Scott
Homes some years back in Miami. But those little girls were at the foot
of the steps taking pictures of the front of this Capitol of the United
States, the Capitol of our great country. And, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, I
have children, you have children, but this is really not about our
children, because they are going to be okay, Mr. Speaker.
Ms. Wasserman Schultz's children have names that end with Wasserman
Schultz. They will get into the schools they need to get into. They
will get the access they need for education. Doors will open for them
that would not open for other children in our districts.
My children's last names end with Meek, and they will be treated
differently than other children, need it be Johnson or Hermanowski, or
what have you. They will be treated differently than them.
So this is not about our children. This is about the folks that
elected us to come here to this U.S. House of Representatives to
represent them. This is about making sure that they have a fair chance
at life, just like our children.
Members of Congress, a number of them in the House and Senate, our
children are going to be okay. They are going to be okay because their
last names end with the names of Members of Congress. But what about
those individuals that woke up early one Tuesday morning to vote for
representation? What about those individuals that walk in here as
employees into this Capitol, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, to serve the
American people? Will they get the same access that we have? Will they
have the same access that Members of Congress have as it relates to
health care? Will someone open the doors for them?
I will answer that question. No. And I am not saying every person
should be treated the same as Members of Congress. But the way things
are going now, if you are a Republican, a Democrat, an Independent, and
you are thinking of voting in the next election, you have to be
concerned.
Mr. Speaker, there are prominent Republicans that are referring to
their colleagues as ``they.'' The former Speaker of this House is
referring to his Republican colleagues in Congress as ``they,'' because
he doesn't want to be associated with them. I will tell you why, Mr.
Speaker. And I am going to break out this chart again. And you know
something, I can break this chart out every 5 minutes of the day, every
5 minutes of the day, because it is so revealing and it takes it home
as to exactly what we are talking about.
This is why I am here a few minutes before midnight. That is the
reason why I think it is important we continue to share with the
American people what is going on, and with Members of Congress. I have
my colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle that say,
Congressman, that little red, white, and blue chart you break out every
day, aren't you tired of it? And my answer is, no. It is the hard
reality of what is going on in the republic, as we stand now as a
country.
We have other countries that are looking at us in a different way.
And, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, everyone looks at the United States of
America, and just because the Republican majority says that everything
is fine doesn't
[[Page H5949]]
necessarily mean that it is. Because here are the hard facts.
The hard facts are these, Mr. Speaker. President Bush and the
Republican majority has borrowed $1.05 trillion, $1.05 trillion, from
foreign nations. Historic. And my next chart tells you who we are
borrowing it from, and they are owning a part of the American apple pie
not because they had to pay $56 to fill up their F-10 pickup truck, not
because of their indiscretions, but because of the indiscretions of the
Republican majority.
We have 224 years of history in this country, with 42 presidents
before this President, and they were only able to borrow $1.01
trillion. Those are the facts. That is from the U.S. Department of the
Treasury. It is not the Kendrick Meek report or the Debbie Wasserman
Schultz report or the 30-something report because we think it works
towards our position and not leveling with the American people.
I can tell you without looking at this chart, Mr. Speaker, I can tell
you exactly what is on it because I have read it so many times to so
many groups and here on this floor.
Who are we borrowing it from? Who is owning a piece of the American
apple pie? Japan, at $682 billion; China, at $249.8 billion; the U.K.,
at $223.2 billion; the Caribbean, at $115.3 billion; Taiwan, at $71.3
billion; and the OPEC nations, that I can go on and talk about these
countries that we have issues with, Iran, Syria, oil-producing Middle
Eastern countries that we are borrowing money from that we have issues
with. They own a piece of the American pie at $67.8 billion; Germany,
$65.7 billion; Korea, $66.5 billion; Canada, $53.8 billion.
These are the countries that are buying our debt. And it is not
because of what the American people have done but what the Republican
majority has allowed to happen. They have rubber-stamped everything the
President of the United States has sent to this floor. And that is not
what article one, section one of the U.S. Constitution calls for.
We use the Constitution as guiding principles on behalf of this
country. I am not here on behalf of the House Democrats. I am here on
behalf of the American people, and Ms. Wasserman Schultz is here on
behalf of the American people. There is a reason why prominent
Republicans are saying that they are totally lost at what the
Republican majority has done, Mr. Speaker, and that is that fact that
that the American spirit will rise up out of partisan politics.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Will the gentleman yield?
Mr. MEEK of Florida. I will definitely yield, Ms. Wasserman Schultz.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Thank you. Because with everything that we
have laid out here over the last 20 or so minutes, what is clear is
that we are moving in the wrong direction. The priorities of the
Republican leadership here are completely out of step with the
priorities of the American people. So, instead, what the Republicans
here have attempted to do is to shift the focus and attention away from
what is really going on and engaging in the politics of distraction.
Now this that I have in my hand is about to become a scarcity. It is
a social studies textbook, an American history textbook, which, Mr.
Speaker, I would argue that in our high schools will soon be obsolete.
We won't have any reason to use these any more, particularly the
section on how a bill becomes a law. Because last week we actually
brought a bill to the floor that was defeated in the Judiciary
Committee, a bill that related to court stripping, stripping the courts
of the right to review cases related to the Pledge of Allegiance and
whether under God was constitutional or not.
Now that question can be debated all day, and there are varying
degrees of opinions on that subject. But we teach our children in
public schools the concept of how a bill becomes a law, as created by
our Founding Fathers, this system of checks and balances and the
separation of powers. And because the Republicans are moving this
country in the wrong direction and don't share the priorities of the
American people, they have had to deflect attention away from what is
really going on here and focus on things like the Pledge of Allegiance,
gay marriage, and flag burning.
Today in Judiciary we literally spent, Mr. Meek, 6\1/2\ hours on one
bill and one amendment related to the separation of church and state.
Now, Mr. Meek, when you go home, do your constituents, does the father
of four who leaves for work in the morning, when you see him on the
street, does he stop you and say, Kendrick, I really want you to go to
the Congress and focus on the Pledge of Allegiance? Or do you think it
is more likely, and in your experience, do they tell you, you know, I
just wasn't sure how I was going to fill my gas tank today?
Or how about the parents of kids who are fighting over in Iraq? Do
you think they are really worried about whether we amend the
Constitution to ban gay marriage? Is that at the top of those parents'
list, or is it more likely that at the top of their list that their
baby comes home to them?
What is going on here?
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Will the gentlewoman yield?
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Absolutely, I would be happy to yield.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. I think what is important here, at least when I
go to speak to the American people, and even in my own district, and as
you know we travel. We defeated the privatization of Social Security,
to allow individuals on Wall Street that were looking forward to
receiving over $500 billion under the President's plan to privatize
Social Security. We had over 500 town hall meetings throughout this
country. You had town hall meetings in your district.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. We had over a thousand.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. A thousand. Okay. I am glad you corrected me,
because we want to make sure we give facts, not fiction.
I think it is important, Mr. Speaker, that we make an important note
here, and I am asking the Members and the American people, Mr. Speaker,
to vote principle over politics. You have to vote principle over
politics.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Meek, from what I have seen here, that is
impossible for these people.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. I just want to make a point here, Ms. Wasserman
Schultz. This is to the Members, to place on their conscience what the
American people may very well think
Let's say I am a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat, and I am a voter, and I
am paying more for gas. There is a war going on that my leaders are
telling me we are going to stay the course, but no plan, and energy
independence and innovation is not a priority.
If we were in the majority, let's just say for instance that we are
in the majority and this is not happening. Let's say I am a veteran,
and I have to wait in rural America for the clinic that is only open 3
days a month, then I have to think about the principle over politics.
Maybe I am going to vote for the other person this time because my
family is suffering. Maybe my kids are not getting what they need as it
relates to education. Maybe that is not in line with the principle of
what we are talking about here.
So I think it is important, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, as you point this
out, that Members of Congress and the American people will have to
think this time. I told you I have given up on the Republican majority.
They have had all the time in the world to do what they have to do.
Look at what we are paying on the debt because of the irresponsible
spending of the Republican majority and giving tax cuts to billionaires
and millionaires. Look at the debt we are paying because we have
borrowed all that debt from foreign countries. Look what we are doing
on education. Look how far down it is for every teacher, for every
mother or grandmother or grandfather, what have you, who wants to see
their generation of children and grandchildren have a better
opportunity than what they have had.
Look at what the Federal Government is investing in their education.
Look at what is happening in homeland security. Republican Members of
Congress on the majority side can burn all kind of jet fuel, at
taxpayers' expense, flying down to the border talking about how we are
going to get tough on immigration. But look at what they are doing for
homeland security and look at veterans.
Hello! We are saluting one flag, and I talked about this earlier,
those that have made the ultimate sacrifice, those that are away from
their families.
[[Page H5950]]
Look at what the Republican majority is investing in their future and
what they have promised in terms of providing health care and other
benefits. Look at what they are investing versus what we are paying on
the debt.
So just because, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, as I yield back to you before
we close, just because they say it doesn't necessarily mean it is true.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Four months, Mr. Meek. Less than 4 months.
This may be the last evening that we spend as the 30-something Working
Group until we come back from the August recess. The 30-something
Working Group has an opportunity each night to talk about the direction
we want to move this country on behalf of Democrats and the next
generation.
All of the charts and information that we have talked about tonight
are available on our Web site, www.housedemocrats.gov/30something. We
appreciate the privilege that the leader gives us each night to talk
about the priorities of the Democratic caucus and the American people,
and it is a privilege to be here with you once again.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Thank you, Ms. Wasserman Schultz. It was good
coming back to the floor with you.
As you know, in the 30-something Working Group, we not only come to
the floor but we meet every week. We have staff evaluate things for
factual purposes, and I am glad that we are coming to level with the
American people about what is going on.
Mr. Speaker, before closing out, we would like to honor Tim Frieman,
who has worked here in the Democratic cloakroom for 30 years. We
appreciate his contributions and all that he has done. We had a great
reception, Members, bipartisan, went down here in the Capitol and
honored him. We appreciate him and his family for their contributions
____________________