[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 17, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H649-H655]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       30-SOMETHING WORKING GROUP

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) is 
recognized for 60 minutes.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to come before the 
House once again.
  As you know, the 30-Something Working Group, we come to the floor to 
share not only with the Members but also the American people the great 
things that are happening here under the Capitol dome and some things 
that Members should be informed of that could happen under the Capitol 
dome if we were able to work in a bipartisan way.
  But I am so happy, Mr. Speaker, today because we are on the floor 
today, and we have a number of issues that we want to share with not 
only Members but also the American people. I am excited about all these 
bipartisan votes that have been taking place over the last 90-
something-odd hours that have taken place.
  I am glad to have good friends from all over the country. We are 
going to have the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Altmire) that is 
going to join us, and also the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Murphy) 
is going to join us tonight.
  I think it is important for us to really reflect on some of the 
things that have been happening.
  Mr. Speaker, if I may make an inquiry, how much time do we have, sir?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ryan of Ohio). The gentleman from 
Florida has 58 minutes remaining.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I just wanted to verify 
that time check there.
  In the 58 minutes we have left, I just want to talk about a few of 
the bipartisan votes, and then we will talk about this whole 100-hours 
agenda.
  I was having a conversation before I came to the floor, and I was 
stopped by one of the outstanding staffers that are here. They said, 
Congressman, it is just interesting to see Democrats and Republicans 
voting together on major issues for a change.
  Today, Mr. Speaker, we had a vote on the College Student Relief Act, 
and I am proud to say that not only did we have every Democratic Member 
that was in attendance today voting for it, but we also had 124 
Republicans that voted for it. This was to take the interest rates down 
from 6.8 to now 3.4, and it is going to help 5.5 million students be 
able to afford college.
  But I definitely love for my colleagues to chime in, because this is 
a good day of accomplishment whenever you can come to the floor and 
vote and be successful on something that you talk about when you are 
running for office; and now to see this legislative accomplishment in 
such a very short time is something that you should be excited about. I 
know that all our constituents are, too.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. I yield to the gentleman from Connecticut.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, to Mr. Meek and to Mr. Ryan, 
I am very pleased to be standing in the normal place of Ms. Wasserman 
Schultz.
  I know that because as a candidate for office and as a student of 
American politics I have had the honor of watching you stand here and 
really speak for the American people, for the last 4 years in your 
case, Mr. Meek, and for the three of you, for the last 2 years. I have 
been able to serve in the State legislature and now obviously have just 
a unique opportunity to be here and advocate on behalf of those people 
with all of you.
  If I could start by saying a tremendous and unconditional thank-you 
to what you have been able to do. Those of us in the political world 
and nonpolitical world sometimes do not get to turn on the TV until 
late at night. I will tell you, and speaking especially for a lot of 
the younger people in the State that I am from, Connecticut, who are 
interested in this process either as their profession or simply as an 
interested American, the work that you have done in talking about the 
agenda that was so badly needed, that was reaffirmed by the American 
people this November, made a difference, made a difference for me. I 
think I stole a lot of your lines over the course of my work this last 
fall.
  So let me just say, by means of introduction, that it is a privilege 
to be able the stand here with you as a new member of the 30 Something 
Caucus. There are a few of us that came down here, and I think that 
speaks to the agenda that you have put forth that said the American 
people need change. We need change.
  We especially heard it in our generation those of us who are looking 
at not just the next 10 years, but the next 20, 30, 40 years and want 
to make sure that things are happening here in Washington, D.C., 
whether they be on the 100-hours agenda or whatever we do for the next 
2 years is looking to the future of our children and grandchildren, and 
that's what the 30 Somethings have been all about.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. While we were down here, you were probably running 
through bingo halls and bowling alleys; and Mr. Altmire, who is just 
across the border from me in western Pennsylvania, I think the impact 
that you have already had on Congress, you have all spoken on the 
floor. You all did and have done numerous press events representing our 
party, and I think you have done a tremendous job. So it is good to 
have you here with certain expertise, whether it is health care or 
labor, whatever the issue may be. We have got a very talented freshman 
class.
  The reason we are still down here and we just did not quit when the 
elections were over is that this is about more than just the 100 hours, 
and we are going to hammer this 100 hours home and get it through and 
do what the American people asked us to do. But kind of the new energy 
and spirit that you guys bring is going to move us well past that 100 
hours into something that is going to be very special.
  So I would be happy to yield over to my friend from Pennsylvania 
right across the border, the same media market.
  Mr. ALTMIRE. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to talk about what we did today. 
We have had a fantastic couple of weeks with the 100 hours, and we are 
going to talk a lot about that, but today specifically we did something 
that is going to impact just about every American with children in this 
country. We cut the interest rate on student loans in half. And 
currently interest rates are 6.8 percent; we are going to cut them down 
to 3.4 percent, and that is going to have an impact on people all 
across the country.
  I wanted to take a few moments today and talk about what this is 
going to do for students in my district and for the impact per college 
in my district.
  I have a college called LaRoche College where I served on the board 
of trustees for two terms. It is in my district. It is a private 
liberal arts college, and for students who are entering this year, over 
the lifetime of their loan, they are going to see savings of $2,120 
over the time of this loan. And because this is phased in over 5 years, 
for students in 2011, for those parents who may have children that are 
going to enter college in 2011, over the lifetime of their college, if 
they go to LaRoche College, they are going to save over $4,000. On 
average across the country, it is over $4,500, and I think that is 
something we can be proud of in this House of Representatives.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I just want to make a point, and we try to 
distinguish our party from what the previous party has done in that we 
are getting some feedback from the other side, that we are phasing this 
thing in and it is not immediate, and we are not doing everything that 
we could possibly be doing. We are doing a heck of a lot more than they 
have done. We have done more in the last 3 hours today on the House 
floor than they have done in the previous 14 years in running this 
place for average students.
  So we are not going to take it. We are doing more than they have 
done, and you know what, if they did not have us at a $400 billion 
deficit, we would be doing a heck of a lot more. The only constraints 
we have are the fiscal mess that they left us.
  Mr. ALTMIRE. I would say to that criticism, and we all heard it today 
on the other side, that there is an immediate reduction. We are not 
cutting it in half immediately, but there is a reduction for students 
who are going to

[[Page H650]]

go into college this fall. You are going to see a reduction in your 
interest rates for student loans, and if you are a parent of children 
who are deciding where to go to school, maybe entering high school 
right now and they are deciding to go to college in the year 2011, the 
interest rate is going to be half of what it is today, and that is 
because of the action we took in the House today. And I was proud to 
cast my vote.
  In Pennsylvania, we have the fifth highest cost of tuition in the 
entire country as a State, and we have some great State universities 
like Penn State. Everybody knows about Penn State. There are 32,000 
students on student loans at Penn State University who are going to 
benefit from what we did today, and the ones who are entering school 
this year have a $2,250 lower payment over the course of their loans. 
Students who enter Penn State in the year 2011 are going to see a 
reduction in what they pay over the lifetime of their loans of $4,360.
  That is real savings, and there is nobody on the other side who can 
say that we have not taken strong action here today. So I am proud of 
what we did today, along with all the other action we have taken in the 
last 2 weeks.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I agree 100 percent with the gentleman, except for 
the fact that everybody knows Penn State. In Ohio, we do not barely 
recognize them.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. I am glad just to echo what everyone else is 
saying about this outstanding day on the floor of the House of 
Representatives.
  The thing that I have been dwelling on in the last segment of the 30 
Something Working Group is the fact that we have these bipartisan 
votes, but we still have the Republican leadership that is voting 
against, voting the opposite way of many of their colleagues in their 
caucus.

                              {time}  2000

  I wouldn't say that the Republican Caucus are joining us, I would say 
that they are representing their constituents. And we talk about 
bipartisanship, my constituents talk about it. I know that all of our 
constituents would like to see it, because this vote, Mr. Speaker, 
today was for America, for America's future. It was for kids like these 
and others that were here on the opening day of the House. We are 
fighting on their behalf. And when we fight on their behalf, we fight 
on their parents' behalf, their grandparents' behalf. Because no matter 
what religion that one may practice, they want their children and 
grandchildren to have a better opportunity than what they have had. And 
with the whole devolution of taxation, Mr. Speaker, that was passing 
here with out-of-control spending here in Washington, D.C., sending a 
lack of funding to the States that they have to balance, many of us 
come from State legislatures, we know we have to balance. It is not 
like the Federal Government, they can put it on a credit card.
  One of our first actions that we took here on this House floor was to 
pass the pay-as-you-go rules, of saying that if you are going to spend 
money, then you have to show how you are going the pay for it, not just 
saying that we are going to borrow from foreign nations and allow them 
to own a part of the American apple pie.
  But today I want to talk about this vote again: 71 Republicans on 
that side voted against it. Amongst the Republican leadership, every 
last member of the Republican leadership voted against it.
  Mr. Speaker and Members, what is important here is the fact that this 
bipartisanship is what America has been waiting on. They have been 
waiting on it. Let's not do it as some sort of slogan. Living proof is 
the vote that took place here today on this floor. 124 Republicans 
voted on behalf of their constituents, not just the Republican 
leadership saying, well, we want you to vote this way, you know, don't 
worry about it. It is some mighty tall ladder to climb to say that, 
well, go back home and say I voted against interest rate cuts for your 
kid to go to school. I don't know, I wouldn't be back if I was to go 
home and tell my constituents I voted against it because it didn't 
happen fast enough in my opinion.
  Well, the Republican leadership and the Republican Congress on the 
other side last session took this money away from students and 
families, and raised the interest rate to give special interest tax 
breaks to the super, super, super plugged in here in Washington, D.C. 
the way it used to be. Now, today, we were like Robin Hood. Those 
Members that voted on behalf of their constituents and voted on behalf 
of America's future put their special interests love aside and said 
that we are going to vote on behalf of America's future.
  So I am excited about it. This is a day that educators and parents 
and grandparents who want to see their children educated will see this 
day as a momentous day. And I am speaking from proof, Mr. Speaker. My 
wife couldn't have gone to law school. She came from a family that they 
just didn't have the money to do it. If it wasn't for her being able to 
get student loans, this bill isn't going to be able to help her but it 
will help kids like her, and she is a judge today. She wouldn't be a 
judge if she obviously didn't get a law degree. So I think it is 
important that we give face and voice to this day because this is about 
the future of our country.
  Mr. Ryan, I will yield to you at this time.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I appreciate you being so gracious with your time. 
You mentioned the number 356-71. 71 people in this Chamber voted 
against cutting student loan interest rates in half. That is the 
extreme of the extreme in politics today, and that is why I guess you 
two gentlemen are here joining us, part of the reason anyway, is 
because that is the kind of extremism, Mr. Speaker, that was running 
this Chamber for 14 years, and we brought just a wee little bit of 
sanity to this place.
  And then a beautiful segue into what we are going to do tomorrow: 
Tomorrow we are going to start repealing the Big Oil subsidies that 
have been doled out by the same Congress, and I would guess that you 
are probably going to get another 70-some Members on the other side 
that are going to be against repealing these major subsidies tomorrow. 
Major leases that these folks were getting, one of them gave, Conoco-
Phillips gave $106 million back in 2005 as it enjoyed profits totaling 
$13.5 billion.
  So you are voting against cutting student loan interest rates in 
half. You are the ones who plugged in the super wealthy and the super 
plugged in into a Tax Code that is going to save you $106 million when 
you are making $13.5 billion.
  So I am excited about what is happening here because this is a great 
time where the American people are starting to wrestle back the power 
that the American people have given us, and we are doing it on behalf 
of them.
  I want to yield to the young new Irish Member of Congress.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I am coming off of my first 
weekend back in the district after having spent a glorious first 1\1/2\ 
weeks down here getting sworn in and starting to work the 100-hour 
agenda. And people back in Connecticut are just so enraptured by the 
idea they have their House back, they have their House back in their 
hands.
  You talk about the bill we are going to vote on tomorrow. Last 
summer, as those oil prices and gas prices rose through the roof and 
people started to make those terrible decisions about whether they were 
going to afford to pay for their family's basic needs or they were 
going to fill up their tank, they looked at their government which was 
giving away more and more tax breaks to oil companies, allowing these 
excessive royalties to go on in the Gulf Coast, and they just wondered 
who was in charge down here. They wondered who was in charge.
  And that went for student loans as well, as they were crying out, 
clamoring for more assistance to try to get their kids to school, as 
students were asking, ``I need just a little more help to finish this 
degree.'' Congress said the opposite. In fact made it harder for them 
to get that degree by raising student loan interest rates.
  There was just this sense out there, almost a sense of disbelief, and 
you all felt it I know as well that we had lost control of the people's 
House here. And what I felt when I was back in the district this week 
was just a sense of euphoria, that the people's agenda, just regular 
middle class families' agenda was finally being heard in this place.
  And you are very right, Mr. Ryan, when you said that it certainly 
doesn't end with the 100 hours agenda. This is

[[Page H651]]

just a preview of whose priorities are going to be heard here, and it 
is an exciting place to be.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I think the gentleman's constituents are probably 
glad to see him back in the district, too. And you would generate a 
state of euphoria for many folks back home, and yield to our friend 
from Pennsylvania.
  Mr. ALTMIRE. Absolutely. And I was also back in the district this 
weekend and I heard the same things that we are talking about. There is 
a sense of excitement, that it really is a new day in America and this 
Congress has instilled a sense of confidence that has not been seen in 
this country in a very long time.
  And if you look at what we have done here over the past 2\1/2\ weeks, 
as the gentleman from Ohio said, some would argue that is more than the 
previous Congress did in the past 2 years or maybe longer, and we have 
done that in the first 100 hours of business here in this Congress, and 
we are going to keep going when this is over. And I am excited that 
tomorrow we are finally going to complete that first 100 hours agenda, 
and then we are looking forward from hearing from the President 
thereafter.
  But what we have done, no one should overlook the fact that this is 
extraordinary. What we have done here in the beginning of a new 
Congress with a turn in the leadership and a new group leading, we have 
taken right from the beginning when we looked at the lobbyists and 
special interests and took away the meals and the travel and the golf 
outings and the gifts that have been prevalent here in Congress over 
the past several years, and then we moved right into the pay-as-you-go 
where we had a system where 6 years ago we had come off four 
consecutive budget surpluses.
  That seems like an extraordinary thing now. We had surpluses as far 
as the eye can see in the year 2000, and now you look back, the 
President is going to give us in a couple of weeks his seventh 
consecutive budget that is out of balance, running a deficit, and that 
is unacceptable. And the reason that has happened is because they 
allowed pay-as-you-go budget scoring, which is what we all do in our 
home checkbooks. You have to have money on one side of the ledger to 
pay for it out of the other. That is what all the families do at home, 
that is what I do, that is what we all do. But that is not what 
Congress has done. Congress has just been able to spend freely without 
having a revenue source on the other side.
  So we are going to make the necessary cuts to balance the budget, 
which is something that fiscal responsibility has not been a part of 
the congressional landscape over the past several years. We did that on 
the very first day.
  We followed that up with implementing the 9/11 Commission 
recommendations. Who can argue that we need to implement the 
recommendations to make this country more secure? Well, they had 
languished in the previous Congress. We took care of that the first 
Monday when we got back after the weekend.
  Then we moved on to minimum wage. We raised the minimum wage for the 
first time in 10 years. Is there any other group of citizens that 
didn't even get a cost of living adjustment let alone a pay raise over 
the last 10 years? We did that with a bipartisanship vote. As the 
gentleman from Florida pointed out, these are not things that the 
Democrats are supporting on their own and ramming it down the 
Republicans' throat. These are issues that get bipartisan support.
  We moved on to embryonic stem cell research; then we did Medicare 
prescription drugs; today we did student loans. These are issues that 
affect every American and working families across this country.
  So I would yield back to the gentleman from Florida for him to 
continue this, but I just want to reemphasize how proud I am to have 
been a part of this historic beginning of a new session of Congress.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. I just want to let you know how much I 
appreciate you yielding to me. And you and Mr. Murphy, this must be an 
outstanding moment for you, because it is better than what Mr. Ryan and 
I experienced when we came in the 108th Congress. We didn't have the 
opportunity to do even a quarter of the things that we told our 
constituents we would do if they gave us an opportunity to serve them 
in this great body.
  And what you just talked about is exactly--you can run for five 
elections on what you just mentioned that we did in the last 2 weeks. 
Unfortunately, it has been so backed up to the fact that now it is like 
excitement, it is electric here in Washington, D.C. And these 
bipartisan votes, anyone who wants to say anything about partisanship, 
they have to look at what has happened over the last 2 weeks and say, 
this is what we are talking about. They want it.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. They want it.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. They need it.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. They need it.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. They asked for it.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. They asked for it.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. And I just, again, as we go along, because, Mr. 
Speaker, I am just going to keep saying the same thing because the last 
109th Congress, the gentleman from Connecticut and the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania and Ohio, we pulled this chart out. I know the Clerk's 
office here has seen it, they probably could close their eyes and tell 
you what is on it because they have seen it so many times, and I know 
that the Members on the Republican side and the Democratic side. But 
this is what has been happening, $1.05 trillion. We are going to have 
another chart because I am pretty sure that number has gone up of out-
of-control borrowing from foreign nations, higher than 42 Presidents, 
224 years prior to, $1.01 trillion. That is a real fact. And we kept 
saying and kept saying it.
  And what I am going to say again is the fact that we have the 9/11 
Commission recommendations implementation making America safer, Mr. 
Speaker, bipartisan 9/11 Commission. Anyone can go on Yahoo and get a 
copy of this, the 9/11 Report: 299 yeas. Every Democrat on the floor 
that was in attendance that day voted for it and 68 Republicans voted 
in the affirmative. That is bipartisan.
  Minimum wage, we talked about it. On that day, there were 315 yeas. 
Here is the record here with everyone that voted for it and against it. 
Every Democratic Member in attendance, 233, 82 Republicans voted for 
it. That is the bipartisan spirit.
  Stem cell research, that was mentioned earlier. We have 253 votes; we 
have 216 Democrats voted for it and we have 37 Republicans voting for 
it. That is a good number.
  Also, you have the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act, 
which is 231 Democrats voted for it, 24 Republicans voted for it. And I 
think it is important that you take a look at that and pay well note to 
the fact that we were able to vote in a bipartisan way.
  And I gave the vote out earlier and I want to direct the Members and 
all the Members to the vote counts. You can go to www.house.gov to get 
those vote counts so that you can share them not only back home in your 
district with your constituents, but the American people, Mr. Speaker, 
can go on www.house.gov and get this information and share it with the 
people that have been asking and polling and saying that they want 
bipartisanship in this House. We know there will be a point where there 
won't be bipartisanship on some votes, but we are going to try to 
encourage as much as possible. And I want to continue to say that. And 
I say that in Democratic circles and I say it in Republican circles 
with my Republican colleagues.
  But we are so glad to be joined by another Member that has joined us 
in the 110th Congress, the distinguished lady from New York.
  What we are doing here is kind of going around, and everyone is 
pretty much sharing what their experience has been over the last 100 or 
so hours or 90-something hours. We are going to hit 100 tomorrow. But 
talking about this governing in the way that we should be governing. 
And the American people are excited about it. So how is it for you?
  Ms. CLARKE. Mr. Speaker, it has been extraordinary.
  To the gentleman from Florida, I would like to thank you for 
welcoming me and all of my colleagues with open arms, and just to say 
to you that it is very clear that the winds of change are

[[Page H652]]

blowing here in the House of Representatives. And I find it just sort 
of ironic that the rhetoric does not necessarily match the outcome. We 
do see bipartisan voting taking place right now, and I think the 
American people need to know that this 110th Congress in the first 100 
legislative hours today alone by a margin of 356-71 voted for cutting 
interest rates in student loans.
  Now, if my recollection is clear, in the 109th Congress I doubt that 
that would have ever occurred. And I think that we need to give credit 
where credit is due, and credit is due to the winds of change that the 
people of the United States have made clear through their votes in the 
November election. We have heeded that very significantly in the first 
96-odd hours of the 100 hour agenda, and we have done the American 
people good. We have done them good.
  So I am excited about it. I am just a freshman from Brooklyn, New 
York, but I am trying to make my way, and I see that we have heeded the 
call and that we are active in pursuit of the mandates that the 
American people have set forth for us.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Just if you would yield, please.
  Ms. CLARKE. I would like to yield.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Let me just say the fact that in the 30-
Something Working Group we are so glad that not only have the 
gentlewoman from New York, but also the gentleman from Connecticut and 
also from Pennsylvania joining us, and of course Mr. Ryan from Ohio.

                              {time}  2015

  The fact is that we come to the floor to share with the Members what 
is actually happening here, because I think some Members may say they 
don't understand, but I think we were pretty clear last Congress about 
the facts.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to make sure, I was actually corrected on the 90-
something hours; it is 68 hours. Because we like to give out good 
information here. Even when we may sometimes by mistake give the wrong 
information out as it relates to the 100 hours, we correct ourselves 
here on the floor. So we give good information to the people so 
everybody knows exactly what is going on and how it is going on.
  Congresswoman, you are going to add not only your experience, but 
also a good representation on behalf of your constituents and the 
people of America. By the fact of us being elected, our constituents 
have federalized us to deal with these issues that are facing the 
country right now.
  Mr. Ryan, I yield to you.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I appreciate that, and I welcome Ms. Clarke, the 
gentlelady from New York. We are going to have some fun. You, gentlemen 
and lady, have brought some energy and excitement to this Congress. The 
100 hours is exciting. It is boom, boom, boom, we passed the ethics. 
And then we are coming back with the minimum wage, and now we are 
getting into student loans, real meat-and-potatoes stuff that you all 
campaigned on, and that we talked about on this floor for hours on end 
for the last 3\1/2\, 4 years. Now we are actually delivering.
  Tomorrow is going to be another stellar performance on behalf of 
Speaker Pelosi and the leaders of the Democratic Congress. Tomorrow we 
are going to close tax loopholes for oil companies. We are going to 
close a loophole that gave ConocoPhillips $106 million in 2005 when it 
got profits of $13.5 billion.
  Profits of $13.5 billion. They didn't, you know, take it in and then 
have to dish it out. That is their profit.
  We stepped up and had the guts to say, and I would like to take more 
because they are making so much money, but we are going to take $106 
million and pay for student loans and health care for young people. We 
are going to move forward on this agenda.
  There are a lot of other things that we are going to be able to do. 
We will do the tax loophole thing. We will roll back the energy bill 
tax breaks for geological and geophysical expenditures. These are 
things that may get too technical, but the bottom line is this: The 
bottom line is that the American people are going to get the kind of 
representation they need.
  If you know you are going to go and dig, if you know you are going to 
go and drill and you know you are going to make enough money, no tax 
incentive is going to make you want to do it, especially when you are 
drawing down profits of $15.5 billion.
  Mr. Speaker, $100 million of public subsidy is not going to make that 
happen.
  And then you get into the five royalty relief provisions, this is 
beautiful, from the 2005 energy bill. This measure will strike the 
energy bill provisions, suspending royalty fees from oil and gas 
companies operating in certain deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
  The interesting thing about this is, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. 
Grijalva), a great Member of this body, offered an amendment to strike 
this provision on April 21 of 2005, and it was defeated by 203-227. We 
have been trying to do this, and tomorrow is our day where we get to 
step up and actually deliver on behalf of the American people.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. I yield to Mr. Altmire.
  Mr. ALTMIRE. I would welcome the gentlewoman from New York as well, 
who has become a good friend.
  This is an issue I hear about every day. It is an issue that we get 
calls about in our office every day. Mr. Murphy and I were discussing 
earlier the fact that we had been back in our districts for the first 
time this past weekend. I have to tell you, everywhere I went, this 
issue resonates with people because they see it every day. When they 
drive past the gas station and they see the price, and of course it is 
winter season now and we are having a little bit of a cold spell where 
I come from in western Pennsylvania, and I know New York and Ohio and 
Connecticut, as well, but probably not in Florida, Mr. Meek's area. But 
this is an issue we hear about because home heating is a big part of 
this as well.
  So it affects everyday Americans and it affects working families. I 
think it is appropriate on the last 100 hours as we hit the finish line 
that we are going to address an issue, like the others that we have 
discussed, that really has a day-to-day impact on working families all 
across this country.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. I think one of the things that makes a lot 
of what we are doing attractive, we are not just talking about pay-as-
you-go, as Mr. Meek stated, we are doing it in almost every piece of 
legislation that has been brought forward.
  Today, for example, the reason we saw such support for the student 
loan interest rate is because that program was paid for with 
efficiencies within that program. That is at no cost to the American 
taxpayers.
  Tomorrow, when we go forward on our new energy policy, that is not 
even going to be PAYGO, that is going to be pay-it-forward. We are 
actually going to take the savings from all of the programmatic changes 
that Mr. Ryan talked about and we are going to put it into a fund, a 
strategic investment fund, that we are going to be able to use down the 
line as we start to change our energy policy towards renewable and 
alternative energy.
  We are exercising on a daily basis that kind of fiscal restraint that 
was lost for so long here, and I think that is why you see a real 
coming together of people in this Chamber, and why people were so 
excited back in our districts. Not only do they see things that are 
helping average families, on education, on energy policy, but they are 
seeing it done in a really fiscally sound way.
  And tomorrow we will continue to do that by taking that money that we 
are going to save through repealing those tax breaks and repealing 
those very bad royalty policies and putting it into a fund that we can 
then use to promote clean energy and use to promote conservation, all 
of the things that have been so dearly lacking in this country for a 
very long time.
  We are doing the right things, and we are doing them in a way that, 
as Mr. Meek has talked about so often, are true to the fiscal restraint 
that really should be the hallmark of this Congress.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. It is nothing like, and I just keep breaking 
this down to what my cousin would understand, who has nothing to do 
with government. There is nothing like being a Member of Congress and 
telling people what you would do if you had the opportunity to get 
elected, and then coming and actually doing it.
  Mr. Speaker, that is a paradigm shift. That is a paradigm shift here 
in

[[Page H653]]

Washington, D.C. We said we would do what we are doing now, and it is 
actually happening. This is not something that somebody wrote in an 
article or an op-ed to your local newspaper, saying it would be 
wonderful if Congress could come together in a bipartisan way and raise 
the minimum wage.
  It would be wonderful if we could start really diving into stem cell 
research in a way that would be responsible and along the lines of 
being able to cure many of the ailments that so many Americans have.
  It would be wonderful for us to be able to take those super giveaways 
and loopholes and take $13 billion of those dollars and put them into 
energy innovation, making sure that we look at an efficient way to 
conserving not only energy but investing in the Midwest versus the 
Middle East. It would be wonderful, Mr. Speaker.
  These are all of the things that people have been talking about, and 
I am glad to be a Member of the 110th Congress.
  I was so happy, this last King holiday I had an opportunity to give a 
couple of speeches. I shared with folks; I told them what I had done 
over the last week and a half. They were, Wow, Congressman, we weren't 
ready for all that. We have been reading about it and we are so excited 
about it. It passed the House; and yes, it is on its way to the Senate 
and hopefully the President of the United States will sign it.
  Our work is not done here. The Members' work is not done. America's 
public work is not done at this time. The American public has to 
continue to voice their opinion on these issues that we are passing off 
this floor.
  I want to also let Members know that I will be down here tomorrow as 
a member of the Committee on Ways and Means, talking about the 
importance of the passage of this legislation. Being able to pass this 
legislation and turn these loopholes and great giveaways to special 
interests and turn them into something that the American people can 
wrap their arms around; and we can be innovative here, in the American 
homeland, to be able to hopefully save America.
  I look at this as a national security issue. I was on Armed Services 
for the last two Congresses. I can tell you, I am not a Member of 
Congress with a conspiracy theory, but I know that if we start to 
invest in what we have here, our natural resources here, our 
alternative fuels that we can look at, be it E-85 or what have you, we 
will be able to do better.
  I can tell you what is going to stop, Mr. Speaker, and we are going 
to make sure that the gentleman from Connecticut and the gentlewoman 
from New York and also the gentleman from Philadelphia, you will get 
your set of charts as you move along, to be able to show these great 
illustrations that I usually do. Mr. Ryan and I have a plethora of 
these charts.
  I just want to say that it is important----
  Ms. CLARKE. The gentleman is from Pittsburgh.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. I am sorry, did I say Philadelphia?
  I am sorry, Mr. Altmire, from Pittsburgh. I got a little excited.
  Mr. ALTMIRE. I accept the gentleman's apology.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Thank you so very much. You can say I am from 
Georgia at least once.
  Let me just say this: It is the same media market that you are in 
with Mr. Ryan. I was listening.
  Like, for instance, here is an actual pump of ExxonMobil. Here is E-
85 that is here, and these are the other fuels that are there, need it 
be unleaded, regular, what have you. You see here ``cannot use your 
Mobil credit card'' to buy this ethanol which is something that is 
produced here in the United States. This is a part of innovation. This 
is a part of trying to roll back the clock on global warming. All of 
these things that have taken place, they have been allowed to do it.
  What we are doing tomorrow is taking away some of those super 
giveaways that they didn't even ask for and the Republican Congress was 
so happy to give to them. And I don't blame the oil companies. Don't 
get me wrong. They can only do what we allow them to do.
  And while they are making record profits and still have the taxpayer 
dollars to do what they wish to do, we are going to turn that around 
and we are going to invest. That is just the beginning. That is what I 
am excited about.
  I yield to the gentlewoman from New York.
  Ms. CLARKE. I thank the gentleman from Florida.
  I just wanted to pick up on all the excitement. I think the velocity 
and the momentum that has been built in the 110th Congress is something 
that is reverberating around the Nation.
  As I went back to my district over the King holiday weekend, the 
enthusiasm and just the whole buoyancy of how people feel about the 
work we have been doing, it is uplifting, quite frankly. I think we 
need to capture that and make sure we use that as a motivation to 
continue along this path.
  Just think about going home to New York City and people talking about 
real homeland security. We passed legislation that directly impacted on 
the town from which I am from. And certainly as someone whose father 
was in the World Trade Center in the 1993 attack, we recognize how very 
serious it is to reapportion the formula based on risk.

                              {time}  2030

  And just last week we were able to make that adjustment. We were able 
to organize things so that we can address port security and first 
responders in a meaningful, tangible way based on risk. And that says a 
lot about how we are going to operate as a body.
  Everyone in New York saw the formulas before as just some of the most 
overt political pandering that you could possibly do. But now we have 
restored to them the faith that we can do what we have been sent to do, 
which is to create policy that protects and that uplifts our Nation.
  And so my hat is off to the leadership, Speaker Pelosi, and everyone 
who has really tapped into the pulse of the American people. Because 
when you talk about a minimum wage raise in a city like New York, where 
the cost of living has been something that has created such a gap in 
people's lives, where raising the minimum wage just enables them to get 
by, is extraordinary for the rest of our Nation. It is extraordinary 
for all of us.
  And we have an obligation to continue along this path, in making sure 
that everything that the American people have demanded of us, and I 
think the 6 in 2006 has really made it tangible, addresses that in a 
forthright way. I feel really great about where we are right now, and I 
look forward to working with all of these gentlemen in a movement to 
really move our civil society to where it needs to be, to make that 
paradigm shift and focus us as one of the greatest nations of 
humankind.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. I thank the gentlewoman. Again, being a new 
Member of Congress and to be able to go home and say that you actually 
have done what you said you would do should make your constituents feel 
good and should make even your family feel good and you feel good as a 
public policy maker.
  Mr. Ryan, I yield to you at this time, the gentleman from Niles, 
Ohio.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Thank you. Yes, right over the border from 
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
  As I was listening to you talk, and everyone kind of mentioned some 
different issues. But if you are the average person sitting home and 
you have all these politicians, Mr. Speaker, making all these political 
promises and then actually delivering, that in and of itself is a 
monumental occasion for many people to celebrate.
  But as I was listening and just thinking, if you are home, it is not 
just that we have accomplished this, but what the actual effects are 
when these legislative acts get put into law and signed by the 
President, if the President, in fact, signs them. He said maybe he was 
going to veto the minimum wage and the Medicare, but just look at what 
we have done.
  We have raised the minimum wage. That is maybe a couple thousand 
dollars raise for most people. We can talk about the student loan 
issue, whether it is $2,000 over the course of the loan or $4,000 or 
$5,000 over the course of the loan, depending on when you get in 
school. You are talking about maybe $5,000, $6,000, or $7,000 a year 
that the average family is now going to have at the table that they 
didn't have a couple years ago when they were trying to

[[Page H654]]

do the math and trying to work out their checkbook.
  Then there is the prescription drug bill. Once that gets implemented 
and we actually reduce the cost of prescription drugs, that is going to 
have another significant impact. So they may be working a minimum wage 
job, or someone in the family may be working a minimum wage job to 
contribute. You are going to have the student loan rate lowered, and 
then a reduction in the cost of prescription drugs. That is 
significant.
  It is great that we actually did what we said we were going to do, 
Mr. Meek, and I couldn't agree with your eloquence any more. But the 
act itself, right down to the kitchen table, Mr. Speaker, this is 
making a difference.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. It is making a difference.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. It is making a difference to average families.
  And over the King holiday, the great thing is to go back and start 
reading some of the old speeches and the letter from the Birmingham 
jail where he talked about a sense of urgency. You know: Don't ask us 
to wait. What are we going to wait for? You go wait.
  Well, I think that is the attitude Speaker Pelosi and our leadership 
took, and we didn't wait; we actually implemented this stuff. And when 
it is all said and done, I think no matter where any of our careers 
end, whether it is in the next term or retirement or some higher 
office, we are going to be able to see in our scrapbooks that my Aunt 
Rita keeps for me, I have a little Aunt Rita who cuts out my clippings 
and puts them in a little book, but we will be able to look back at all 
we have done throughout our careers and say, I was here when this all 
happened. I was in the United States Congress when this all happened. 
That is special, and that is why we are all so very excited.
  So I will be happy to yield to my friend from Connecticut.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Mr. Ryan, thank you for yielding, and I 
think you are right, this is kitchen-table type of stuff we are doing 
now, and I think you are absolutely right, this is going to affect the 
lives of all the people in our districts.
  I would go one step further. Before I came down here, I had the 
chance to go to my friend Adam Garner's elementary class at Highland 
Elementary in Cheshire, Connecticut, in my home town. And I looked at 
those kids, and we had about 50 kids in that place, and I thought about 
what their impression is of Congress, what they think happens in this 
place. And all they see and all they have read about for the last 10 or 
12 years is bickering between the two sides. All they have seen is 
special interests and lobbyists giving untold millions to campaigns and 
having their business be brought before the House of Representatives.
  So I thought, what kind of world are they going to grow up in, in 
which they think their government is for sale, where they think their 
leaders care more about arguing with each other than getting work done.
  And you are exactly right, Mr. Ryan, this is going to mean money on 
the table for people who have very little to work with. This is going 
to mean a better quality of life for families.
  I think of my little friend, Adam Garner, and his friends in 
Cheshire, Connecticut, and what this says to them about their faith in 
government. That is what, in the end, is our greatest legacy. Not just 
the fact we raised the minimum wage and not just the fact a few more 
kids get to go to college, but what we are doing here, and I think you 
are very right in this historic moment, is in some small way about 
restoring faith in the process of government.
  The hundred hours is so brilliant because not only does it mean real, 
tangible results for people, but it means, I think, as Ms. Clarke said, 
a paradigm shift, a paradigm shift that will be noticed by people who 
pay attention and watch C-SPAN late at night, but might also be noticed 
by those little kids who haven't thought much of their government over 
time.
  I think the 30 Somethings being on this floor trying to expose what 
has become of this place, Mr. Meek, has been part of that healing 
process.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Well, you are 110 percent right. I am so glad 
you mentioned this faith in government and the opinion prior to the 
election. We would watch the news, and they would talk about the 
American public and what they thought about the Congress, what they 
thought about elected officials.
  I can tell you, and this is going into my 13th year of public service 
in the Florida House and the Florida Senate, now here in the Congress, 
I have never had a 2-week period like I have had.
  And let us not take it lightly. This is something that should be well 
noted, and it is something that I am excited about as an individual. 
But I know the American people are excited about it as well, because my 
constituents are very excited about it. They have never seen this. So 
let us not take this lightly.
  I know we have about 5 more minutes left, and we want to go around 
and make sure we all get an opportunity to make closing comments, but 
look at the vision of this Congress from this point forward. Just think 
about it. Think about the committee work that is going to take place. 
Think about the oversight that is going to finally take place. Think 
about the way we are going to look at the President's budget when it is 
presented later on, when the President comes here and gives his State 
of the Union speech. Think about the response to that and how we work 
with the President on some of those issues and move it forward, not 
jammed up here in Congress.
  Because the American people want action. They want it right here, 
right now.
  We are going to give it to them, Mr. Speaker. And I am glad we have 
the leadership in place, with Speaker Pelosi and our entire Democratic 
leadership that is here. We also have some leadership, I believe, on 
the Republican side of the aisle, the Republicans who want to vote on 
behalf of their constituents. We are going to give them that 
opportunity.
  Folks talk about bipartisan. There have been Republicans on the other 
side of the aisle who have been wanting to vote for this stuff, for 
these things. I am going to say this stuff, using Mr. Ryan's analogy, 
which is good. Because we don't want to speak over the heads of anyone. 
We want to make sure that we communicate with everyone, and that is 
what it is all about. That is what it is all about, communicating. And 
that is what we want to continue to do. Whether it is good or bad, we 
are going to come to this floor and be committed to it, and I am glad 
you are all here tonight.
  Those are my closing comments, so we will roll all around to the 
Member from Pennsylvania.
  Mr. ALTMIRE. Well, one of the things that has struck me in our first 
few weeks here, and I'm sure my new colleagues would agree, is that 
these are issues that, as we discussed, should not be controversial. 
Somehow, 71 Members on the other side voted against cutting the 
interest rates on student loans in half. Somehow, Members on the other 
side voted against raising the minimum wage for the first time in 10 
years.
  As I said during the debate on the floor last week, how could anyone 
vote against or even argue against allowing Medicare the right to 
negotiate group discounts on behalf of their 40 million beneficiaries 
to lower the cost of prescription drugs for every Medicare beneficiary? 
How can anybody be on the other side of that?
  So what has struck me is, yes, we are getting bipartisan support, and 
we should all be grateful for that, but there are still folks on the 
other side who are arguing against these things. And what is amazing to 
me is, how is it we are able to pass these with such bipartisan support 
now, 300-plus votes today on the student loan bill, when in the past 
they couldn't even come up for a vote. Wouldn't even bring them up on 
the floor for a vote. Now, in the first 100 hours, we have done all 
these things.
  So I just can't say enough about the new leadership in Congress and 
how well the entire Congress, including the other side, has worked 
together to make these things happen, and I just look forward to 
continuing my service over the next 2 years and working on these 
issues.
  It is such an exciting time, and I am grateful to the gentleman from 
Florida for allowing me to join him this evening, and now I would yield 
for closing remarks to Mr. Ryan.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And I would yield to our good friend from 
Connecticut.

[[Page H655]]

  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Thank you, Mr. Ryan, and let me just add 
my thanks not only for allowing us to come down and join you this 
evening, but for everything you have done over the past 4 years, in 
particular over the past 2 years, to help us get here and be part of 
this healing process, which I think this week and a half has been.
  You will hear some acrimony from the other side, but when you look at 
the votes, as Mr. Meek ran through, in the end, there is a lot of 
healing that happens here because we are working on things that benefit 
both sides.
  I tell you, all of us new Members, and there are 50-some odd new 
Members, we all may have certain different issues that were accentuated 
to a greater or lesser degree in our races, but we have found in 
talking to each other these first few days that what binds us is the 
sense our constituents sent us here to get this place working again, 
get it working again for the right people.
  I know from our side of the aisle we will do that with whoever it is. 
If you are liberal, conservative, Democrat, or Republican, we want to 
make this a place where we work together again. That is maybe why that 
sense of euphoria in my district that I talked about in the beginning 
is maybe due in part to the issues, to the substance that has happened 
here; but in part it is due to the sense they have that this place is 
back at work in a way that it hasn't been.
  So I am just so grateful for what Mr. Ryan and Mr. Meek have been 
able to do for everyone, us and all of our constituents, over the past 
4 years, and grateful to have a few moments.
  I yield to my friend from New York.
  Ms. CLARKE. Thank you very much to the gentleman from Connecticut for 
sharing that, because I can only say ``ditto.''
  We are, I believe, doing what needs to be done for the future of the 
Nation. While we see the immediate impact because we were campaigning 
and there were certain issues that had come before us, when I look at 
the fact that 8th graders, who will be entering college in 5 years, 
will be paying half the interest rate that current college students are 
paying, we are making a substantive difference in people's lives. That 
could encourage that one student who was saying there is no way my 
family can afford it to say, you know what, I can make it. And that is 
what this is about, future generations.
  I want to thank the leadership, Mr. Meek, Mr. Ryan, for giving us 
this forum in which we can reach out to the American people to come 
together in common cause with our colleagues, and even some of those 
folks on the other side of the aisle, to really do the work that is 
needed to be done for future generations. We have been doing it in the 
first 100 hours, and I look forward to doing it even more so as we move 
forward in the 110th session.
  I yield to you, Mr. Ryan.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I thank the gentlewoman.
  Again, raising the minimum wage, cutting student loan interest rates 
in half, and repealing the corporate subsidies to the oil companies so 
we can pay for some of this stuff. We are doing some great stuff for 
the American people, and I want to thank Leader Pelosi.
  I will kick it to my friend from Pennsylvania to give us the Web 
site.

                              {time}  2045

  Mr. ALTMIRE. I wanted to, Mr. Speaker, remind my colleagues that are 
here with us tonight if they wanted to share with their constituents, 
our website for this working group, it is www.speaker.gov/30something. 
Or they could send an e-mail directly or have their constituents send 
an e-mail directly to 30somethingdems@mail.
house.gov. And at this point I would like to yield back to my friend, 
the gentleman from Florida.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Well, I can tell the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania, you just had a great honor, because that is usually, for 
the last 4 years, that has been Mr. Ryan's honor, and he has now passed 
that on to you, so that means when you are here on the floor, the 30-
something Working Group, it is your responsibility to give the website 
out and the e-mail address out. So consider yourself a friend, I guess, 
because since you all share the same media market, he thought he would 
be nice to you.
  Let me just say in closing, it is an honor being joined here by my 
colleagues here in the House. And I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, even 
when I first came here to this House of Representatives, the good thing 
about being a Member of this House, when we take our voting card out, 
that is one vote. We all equal the same one vote. And that is very 
significant here in this Chamber.
  We are going to take some tough votes, Mr. Speaker, and we are going 
to need Members to step up to the bat and be Members and be leaders on 
behalf of their district and on behalf of America.
  And with that, we would like to thank the Speaker for the time to be 
here on the floor. Also, our Democratic majority leader and our 
Democratic whip and chairman and vice chairman for everything that they 
have done.
  And with that, Mr. Speaker, we would like to yield back the balance 
of our time. And it was an honor addressing the House.

                          ____________________