[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 11 (Friday, January 19, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H764]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        100 HOUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, it is interesting to hear the Republicans 
belittling the 100 hours, say, well, we really didn't do much. It is 
low hanging fruit. Well, if that is so, why in the last 12 years did 
the Republicans not raise the Federal minimum wage? In fact, they 
didn't even allow a vote on raising the Federal minimum wage in the 
last decade, and they would belittle that because they don't care about 
working people in this country.
  They said a year ago, their leaders in face of the Abramoff scandal 
which enveloped the Republican Party, that they would have ethics 
reform on the floor and passed before the end of February. Well, 
February came and went. We got it done in January, a year later, after 
we took control. They couldn't even clean up their own mess. And they 
belittle what we are doing.
  A year ago, they jammed through legislation to raise the cost of 
student financial aid to pay for tax cuts for wealthy investors, to 
extend those tax breaks from 2008 to 2010. Yesterday, we passed 
legislation to cut the costs of interest and student financial aid in 
half. We took on big banks, and we will take on the wealthy investors. 
There is a big difference in this Congress, and the Republicans are 
whining.

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