[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 44 (Wednesday, March 14, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H2547-H2553]
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 18, 2007, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. MEEK. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to come before the House here, 
the 30-Something Working Group. I am glad that we are here tonight to 
have an opportunity to really talk about the accomplishments under the 
110th Congress, and also issues that we are going to be working on in 
the very near future.
  But as you know, Mr. Speaker, day after day I have been coming to the 
floor sharing with the Members and the American people on the fact that 
we have really worked hard to make sure that we run a house in a way 
that all the Members can feel comfortable about voting on the public 
policy that comes to this floor, especially major public policy.
  The Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act that passed this floor 
today is a piece of legislation that is going to assist not only the 
public knowing more about what happens here, but to make sure that we 
protect those that are trying to protect us.
  As we start to head down the road of fiscal responsibility, as we 
start to have oversight hearings and Federal employees and others that 
are involved in Federal action, and just average Americans will be able 
to come forward and to share with this Congress and other agencies of 
accountability and oversight about waste, they will be able to come and 
share concerns or speculation of corruption, they will be able to come 
forth with recommendations without receiving the repercussions that 
they would have received prior to the passing of this legislation 
today.
  One other thing that I think is important when we start looking at 
this legislation, the fact that there were 102 Members on the other 
side of the aisle that voted in the affirmative. The vote on this floor 
just moments ago was 331-94. And I think that will go right in line 
with other pieces of legislation that have passed this House floor in a 
bipartisan way on a major bill. I think we have a chart here that I 
think will be helpful for the Members to take a look at.
  Implementing the 9/11 Commission recommendations, H.R. 1, passed 299-
128, with 68 Republicans voting with the Democrats.
  Raising the minimum wage passed 315-116, with 82 Republicans voting 
along with Democrats.
  The funding for enhanced stem cell research, H.R. 3, 253 Members of 
the House voted in the affirmative, only 147 voted against. But as you 
know, Republican votes, 37 joined Democrats on that vote.
  Making prescription drugs more affordable for seniors, H.R. 4, passed 
255-170, with 24 Republicans voting with Democrats.
  Cutting student loan interest rates in half, H.R. 5, 356-71, with 124 
Republicans voting for it with all Democrats.
  Creating long-term energy initiatives, I think it is an important 
initiative, H.R. 6, 264-163, with 36 Republicans voting with Democrats.

                              {time}  1845

  Now, Mr. Speaker, why is this important? Why are we talking about 
bipartisanship so much when we come to the floor in the 30-Something 
Working Group? We are talking about it because this has not been the 
culture here in the House. Major pieces of legislation, from H.R. 1 to 
H.R. 6, and even today when we passed off of this floor the 
Whistleblower Act, H.R. 985, to see bipartisan votes on these major 
pieces of legislation goes to show you that we have been waiting; and 
when I say ``we,'' Members of the House have been waiting for a very 
long time to have the opportunity to vote on commonsense legislation 
that is going to assist the American people in their everyday lives, 
will assist this Congress in bringing about the kind of accountability 
that the American people voted for and hoped that we would, hopefully, 
enact one day.
  I think it is also important to look at three House bills to shed 
light on public records. I think it is very important that the American 
people understand that we are going to open the Federal Government up 
to allow them to be able to receive public records in a timely manner. 
Of course, we are going to protect national security issues. Of course, 
documents that are not ready for public consumption will not be given 
to the public or anyone that may endanger Americans abroad or here in 
the United States. But there are so many documents by the White House 
that have been deemed secret when it wasn't necessary for them to be 
deemed secret. This piece of legislation and the three bills would deal 
with that issue, to be able to have a little more openness to the 
process so that we can do our jobs here on Capitol Hill.
  I think it is important to continue to stick with the watchwords that 
we have been talking about here, the 30-Something Working Group, on 
accountability, oversight, new direction, and fiscal responsibility. I 
think it is important that we pay attention to what is happening right 
now, Mr. Speaker, when it comes down to Hurricane Katrina, Abu Ghraib, 
9/11 Commission recommendations, which I must add that 10 Republicans 
and the Senate joined Democrats in passing the 9/11 Commission 
recommendations. All of these reports, as we look at good government, 
are taken from bipartisan commissions.
  We are talking about governance here. We are talking about 
accountability here. Some may say, well, 9/11 Commission 
recommendations, that is a Democratic work product. No. That is just a 
Democratic leadership bill, that we said that we would fully implement 
the 9/11 recommendations even though the President has threatened to 
veto them. Even though it was a bipartisan commission, Mr. Speaker, 
chaired by a Republican Governor, former Governor, still the President 
and Republicans are saying that there is not a need to implement those 
recommendations.
  I think, as we start to reflect, before I start talking about the 
supplemental appropriations bill that is being marked up in the 
Appropriations Committee this week, since Democrats have taken the 
majority, Mr. Speaker, Walter Reed, the misconduct was exposed by a 
newspaper here in the Washington area, The Washington Post. Democrats 
took action, making sure that we had hearings going immediately, not 
after, not 2 or 3 weeks later, saying we are waiting on the 
administration to see what they are going to do.
  In kind, the administration started working very vigorously to take 
some action, and I commend the President on appointing two very 
outstanding Americans, Ms. Shalala and also Mr. Dole, to lead a 
commission to look at that.
  The firing of U.S. District Attorneys became exposed recently, within 
the last 48 hours. Information that we received here in Congress was 
inaccurate.

[[Page H2548]]

And now Democrats, in control of the House and Senate, are immediately 
going into hearings dealing with the Justice Department, asking the 
tough questions because no longer are we going to allow politics to run 
public policy in this country.
  And I think it is important for the Members to understand that we are 
here as board members of the largest corporation on the face of the 
Earth, if one wants to call it that. I am just using that as an 
example. We are the board of directors here in the U.S. House of 
Representatives. One of the Members of our caucus during a caucus 
meeting made this analogy, with the President's being the chairman of 
the board or President/CEO.
  When you start looking at the President/CEO of any corporation and 
you start looking at the mismanagement and you start looking at the 
political overtones, it is important that the board respond to whom? 
The stockholders, in this case, the American people, because it is 
their tax dollar that we are appropriating. It is their tax dollar that 
we have oversight on. And they have sent us, made us members of the 
board of directors to watch out for their interests. And that is using, 
once again, the word of accountability, the oversight.
  We talk about a new direction. We also talk about fiscal 
responsibility. But those are not just catchwords. They mean something, 
and I think it is important that we pay very close attention to that.
  I pointed out in this whole issue at Walter Reed last week, Mr. 
Speaker, and I felt very proud as a Member of Congress and someone that 
voted for the continuing resolution because the Republicans did not do 
their work in passing all of the appropriations bills. We had to clean 
it up when we came into the 110th Congress by passing a continuing 
resolution.
  All district projects that Members fought for in the appropriations 
bill were taken out, and we had to then take those dollars and we put 
$3.6 billion into the veterans' health care system. And I am so glad we 
did that because when the Walter Reed story came out and the media 
started to focus on the lack of resources to take care of our veterans 
and take care of those that are still enlisted on the health care side, 
and this was actually the front cover here with the specialists of 
Newsweek, it gave the American people an opportunity to see leadership 
in action and also see a policy response to what has been unearthed by 
the media. And I think that is important because there has been a lot 
of foot-dragging around here and there has been a lack of the majority 
in the past of having the will and desire to do the right thing. And I 
am glad we did it in that case.
  I am so glad to be joined by my very good friend, Mr. Ryan, from 
Niles, Ohio. They have a saying in Niles, Ohio, Mr. Ryan--well, in 
Ohio; I don't if it is necessarily in Niles. But it goes something like 
this: Remember that the field mouse is fast but the owl sees at night.
  I yield to Mr. Ryan.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's yielding 
and his comments about the field mouse and the owl. It is very 
important for us to remember that wisdom that he gives us.
  And I appreciate your running over here, hustling over here. I 
actually wasn't going to come. I have got some meetings tonight that I 
have to get at, but I saw you over here out of breath, and I thought I 
would come over and sling-shot you in.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Reclaiming my time, when I came over, it wasn't 
like can we pause for a minute and let me catch my breath. I mean, I 
was actually anchoring this special order and sharing with the Members 
the great work that has been done.
  I talked about the bipartisan vote that we took today on the 
whistleblower legislation. And, Mr. Ryan, I did go to the gym today to 
make sure that I am in the right shape to be a Member of this House and 
serve as an example of making sure that you take care of yourself, that 
you do the right thing, and you live a long time.
  So, Mr. Ryan, thank you for being concerned about my health care 
needs and making sure that you came down and allowed me to catch my 
breath. But I am so happy to see you, sir, because as a member of the 
Appropriations Committee, I am honored just to be in the same Chamber 
with you, sir.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I appreciate that. And it is an honor for me to be 
in the Appropriations Committee, and my friend on the Ways and Means 
Committee provides the ways and the means for us to get the job done.
  One of the issues that we have talked about today a little bit is 
what the Democrats have been doing in Congress since we got here a 
couple of months ago. And I think it is very important, as we see all 
of the news stories about Walter Reed, as we see the news stories about 
the Attorneys General, we see the news stories about what is going on 
in Iraq, a year ago or 2 years ago, those stories wouldn't have even 
been possible because the threat of oversight hearings that Speaker 
Pelosi and the Chairs of our various committees have been executing is 
the exact balance of power that we were talking about prior to the 
elections last year. And the American people, very wisely, thought it 
was time for there to be some oversight.
  But I must say, Mr. Meek and Mr. Speaker, that all of the thoughts 
that we had about what was going on in a lot of these various agencies 
we thought were bad, but we didn't know they were this bad. And I don't 
think anybody would have said the level of pressure, for example, in 
the Attorneys General situation, the level of incompetence and neglect 
at Walter Reed is just absolutely shocking. And we knew about it with 
the war. We saw the lack of execution in the war. We saw it in Katrina. 
And now, because the Democrats are in power, we are now able to begin 
to fix these problems.
  The whistleblower reform strengthens protections for Federal 
whistleblowers to prevent retaliation against those who report 
wrongdoing, waste, fraud, abuse. This is how we begin to reform 
government, by allowing those people who are in the institution of 
government to be able to speak freely and to be protected and not to be 
bullied or prevented from somehow improving the institution.
  The Freedom of Information request, we had some provisions here. More 
timely disclosure of government documents, restoring the presumption of 
disclosure to FOIA, helping FOIA requesters obtain timely responses, 
improving transparency and agency compliance with FOIA, providing an 
alternative to litigation, and providing accountability for FOIA 
decisions, opening up government, transparency in the 21st century. It 
is an information-based society, an information-based economy; and the 
more we open it up and allow the information to flow, the more we are 
going to be able to improve things.
  One of the great problems we had in China several years with the SARS 
issue is that nobody knew about it and you can't fix problems that you 
don't know about. And whether you are in a family or on a team or in a 
business or running a government, you need to make sure there is free 
and open access to information.
  Now, granted, there are sensitive issues, national security issues 
that need to be protected and need to be kept in order to secure the 
long-term future of the country. No one debates that. But when we are 
talking about government documents and the execution of an 
administrative or executive branch department protecting whistleblowers 
who may have information in order to make the government improve, this 
isn't to punish anybody. This is to improve the government. And that 
means some difficult decisions need to be made.
  And I think, under the leadership of this House, we are moving down 
that road, step by step, very methodically to improve the lives of 
people in this country and to reform the institution of government.

                              {time}  1900

  That is what we are all here to do. We have had several other things 
that we had.
  But I want to talk for a minute, Mr. Meek, if you don't mind, about 
oversight. I know you had mentioned oversight earlier in the evening, 
but what is going on and what has gone on already in this Chamber, as I 
mentioned, the Walter Reed thing came because of the threat of 
Democratic oversight and the committee oversight process that has 
already been going on.

[[Page H2549]]

  For example, the war in Iraq, between the House and Senate, more than 
97 oversight hearings have looked into the conduct of the Iraqi war. 
Ninety-seven. There is the big number hearings. And more are coming.
  Tomorrow in the Appropriations Committee we are going to pass out the 
supplemental that is going to begin the exit of this war, begin the end 
of this war.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Ryan, I am glad, because you are a member of 
the Appropriations Committee. Let me just say this, Mr. Ryan. Putting 
everything to the side here that we have been talking about, again, I 
am glad, because you are here as a member of the Appropriations 
Committee.
  We actually have some Members, Mr. Ryan, that are concerned about the 
kind of leadership that this Congress is putting forth on behalf of the 
men and women in uniform and the men and women that wore the uniform 
and their families.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. These are the same people, Mr. Meek, these are the 
same people who were in charge several months ago, and for the previous 
14 years, that led to the dismal display that we see at Walter Reed, 
the conduct of some of the people in the Veterans Administration. The 
same people that had oversight then are now upset and trying to point 
the finger.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. You know, Mr. Ryan, they say when you point your 
finger, you have like three or four fingers pointing back at you.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Shake and Bake. Right back at you.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. That is right. In full effect. You have here 
U.S. Troops Readiness, Veterans Healthcare, and Iraq Accountability 
Act. Expanding funding for veterans healthcare and hospitals. What is 
wrong with that? Nothing.
  The Bush administration must meet military standards for troop 
readiness. Mr. Ryan, this is the DoD policy as it relates to troop 
readiness. The Congress had nothing to do with the policy. The 
Department of Defense came up with the policy.
  So basically what we are saying, Mr. Speaker, through this act, 
follow your policy, because it is in the best interests of the American 
people and the troops that are in harm's way.
  What is in that policy? Making sure troops have what they need when 
they are deployed. What else? Making sure we have a military that is 
ready to respond at a moment's notice when we need them. We will go 
deeper into that.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Armored Humvees. Up-armored Humvees. Kevlar vests. 
The proper amount of rest.
  I want you, Mr. Meek, to try to name me one person in this country 
that would dare send one of their own kids off to war without the 
proper equipment, that would not ride in a Humvee that was armored. And 
there are kids still getting killed in Iraq now because the Humvees are 
light armored and not heavy armored. They don't have the proper 
equipment and everything else. We are still losing kids because of 
that.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Ryan, losing kids? We are losing 47-year-old 
Reservists. We are losing granddads in some instances that are still 
serving our country, Mr. Speaker, in the Guard, in the Reserve, active 
duty.
  When you look at this, again, the Iraq government must meet the Bush 
benchmarks for reform.
  Mr. Speaker, once again, this is not what the Democratic Congress put 
benchmarks on the Iraqi government for. The President of the United 
States of America, the Commander in Chief, marched down this aisle, 
walked that way and went up there to that rostrum right under where you 
are standing, Mr. Speaker, and said if they don't meet the standards 
and do X, Y and Z, then we are not going to be there forever. What is 
wrong with following the leadership, especially when you talk about 
accountability?
  What is different this time, Mr. Speaker, is when the President has 
made those statements in the past, he had a rubber stamp Congress 
willing to do anything that he wanted them to do. But now you have a 
Congress that put forth legislation that will allow Members of the 
minority party, the Republican Party, Mr. Ryan, to vote with Democrats, 
for accountability, there is that word again; oversight, there is 
another word we use all the time; and to head in a new direction as it 
relates to Iraq. We have said that 100 times.
  I think that is important, making sure that strategic redeployment of 
U.S. troops in combat by 2008, and reforming military efforts on 
Afghanistan and the fight on terrorism. What is wrong with all of that?
  If I can, Mr. Ryan, I want to just talk about how the American people 
are way ahead of the Bush administration on this issue and the reason 
why we had this big transition in leadership here in the Congress back 
in September.
  Nearly six out of 10 Americans want U.S. troops to withdraw from Iraq 
by 2008 or sooner. That is a CNN poll of 3-13-07.
  Fifty-two percent think the United States should set a timetable for 
withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. That is a CBS-New York Times poll 
on 3-12-07.
  Sixty-seven percent of those polled by NBC-Wall Street Journal 
disapprove of the way the President is handling the situation in Iraq. 
That is an NBC-Wall Street Journal poll, 3-9-07.
  I can go on and on and on, Mr. Ryan, of how the American people are 
with us as it relates to making sure that we do the right thing.
  When we are in Congress and we are here, we are not generals, we are 
not in a forward area, Mr. Speaker. We have Members that have never 
worn a uniform, not even in school when they were coming up. We are not 
in the Armed Forces. Some of us are. Some of us are Reservists. Some of 
us are Guardsmen, Guardspeople, women, what have you.
  But we have been elected to be Members of Congress to carry out the 
things that we talked about, oversight, accountability, being fiscally 
responsible, moving the country in a new direction, coming and voting 
on behalf of our constituents and the American people.
  So, brave speeches on the floor about how Members support the troops. 
No, I support the troops more than you. No, I have a tattoo on my arm 
saying I support the troops. No, I have raised money back home.
  That is fine. That is all good and dandy. Come to the floor and say 
what you want to say.
  But when it comes down to it, where are the benchmarks as it relates 
to over $500 billion that has been spent on the war and $100 billion-
plus that is going to be authorized sometime in the very near future? 
Where are the accountability measures? They are there to make sure you 
meet the benchmarks.
  I know you can go further into that. But the 97 hearings to date, it 
is unprecedented in the past Congress and the Congress before that, Mr. 
Ryan. We have been here for the last two Congresses, and I can 
guarantee you that 97 hearings at this point in the Congress did not 
happen.

  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Not at all. We are starting to figure out what has 
been going on. Part of it, over the past few years, everyone kept 
saying 6 more months. Give them 6 more months. Six more months. Well, 6 
more months, we are 4 years later 6 more months.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Going on 5, Mr. Ryan.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Going on 5. Sixty to 65 percent of Iraqis believe 
it is okay to kill Americans, to shoot at Americans. We are in the 
middle of a civil war and we need to get ourselves out of it, not get 
ourselves further into it. So these hearings are an important component 
of that, to try to pull ourselves out of this situation that President 
Bush has gotten us into.
  I say that because--for several reasons. One is, some people say 
well, if you have an end date, then they are just going to sit back and 
wait until we leave. The problem with that theory is if we say we are 
going to stay forever, then they are never going to do their share, and 
the problem has been the Iraqi soldiers won't get trained, the problem 
is we can't get a political solution because everyone thinks we are 
just going to stay there and keep the situation intact.
  They need a goal, and the goal is, in our supplemental bill, if you 
do not have improvement in some of the benchmarks we have in there, 
political and military, if you don't have improvement by July, we are 
getting out. If you are showing some progress, we will give you until 
the end of the year, until the fall. And if you haven't met the goals 
by then, then we are out.
  You have got to meet your obligations. Believe me, I didn't support 
this

[[Page H2550]]

war from the get-go, and it kills me, it kills me, that we have got to 
spend $100 billion to get us out of a situation. That kills me.
  This last couple of weeks we have had hearings in the Labor, Health 
and Education Subcommittee on Appropriations, and you see the millions 
of dollars the Bush administration submitted that they cut from 
physical education programs, art programs. They flatlined TRIO, GEAR 
UP, Upward Bound. All flatlined, with thousands of more kids going into 
those. Head Start. Only 60 percent of the kids eligible for Head Start 
get covered. There is a $100 million cut in Head Start, and we are 
going to go spend $100 billion?
  I am voting for the supplemental, because I will do anything to get 
us out of there, and I believe this supplemental is the best step for 
us to take to get us out of there.
  But it is not only what is going on in Iraq, Mr. Meek. I don't know 
if you had a chance to see this memo.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Before the gentleman goes to the memo, you said 
this thing is not just about Iraq.
  Let me just say very quickly, again, you know here in the 30-
something Working Group, we love, we don't like, we love third party 
validators. We love it, Mr. Speaker. We can't get enough of it. It 
fires us up. We just love it.
  Here is the deal. Requiring the President to honor the standards of 
the Department of Defense set for troop readiness, training, equipment 
before sending troops into battle, 70 percent favor requiring U.S. 
troops returning from Iraq to have at least 1 year in the U.S. before 
being redeployed to Iraq. That is a Gallup Poll, USA Today, 3-6-07. It 
is not a poll we did. This is just a poll that these news organizations 
have held.
  Holding Iraqi government to the same standards for progress that the 
President outlined in announcing the escalation of troops. Seventy-
seven percent favored requiring U.S. troops to come home from Iraq if 
Iraqi leaders failed to meet the promises to reduce the violence there. 
That is the Gallup Poll-USA Today.
  This is very, very, very important. Providing urgency needed to 
support addressing the military medical care crisis at Walter Reed and 
other hospitals, 76 percent of Americans do not think the Bush 
administration has done enough to be responsible to take care of the 
needs of our men and women that are in uniform.
  Mr. Ryan, the bottom line is that this is not a political speech that 
we are on the floor giving. This is reality. This is governance. This 
is oversight and this is accountability.
  And for Members, Mr. Speaker, who feel that we shouldn't be venturing 
off into the area of leadership, maybe they didn't pay attention to 
what took place last November. I would say to some of my friends on the 
Republican side, because if this was political, I would keep it a 
secret. But you know, Mr. Ryan, we always talk about issues that may be 
detrimental to the Democratic forward progress of gaining more seats in 
the House.
  If Republican Members want to vote on being with their, quote-
unquote, leadership that has them in the minority right now, because 
they use catch words like well, you know, we don't need to make 
decisions because the President is making decisions and it is not our 
place to do it. Oh, we don't have to have accountability measures 
within the appropriations bill, within the emergency supplemental, 
because we need to leave the flexibility for Secretary Rumsfeld and 
unnamed individuals in the White House and unnamed folks over in the 
Pentagon to make these decisions.
  I am going to tell you right now, that is the road leading to the 
minority, because it is a lack of oversight and a lack of leadership 
and a lack of accountability. And I am so happy, Mr. Ryan, I am very 
happy, it fires me up, Mr. Speaker, that we have a majority that is 
willing to do what we must do to give the American people, because we 
are responsible, they are our stockholders. They gave their tax dollars 
for us to have the opportunity to appropriate those dollars and have 
oversight over those dollars in an appropriate way.

                              {time}  1915

  And by reading these poll numbers and what you just shared, Mr. Ryan, 
is more than vindication, more than third-party validators; it is 
leadership, accountability, and being fiscally responsible on behalf of 
the taxpayer dollars. I can tell you that I don't know a Republican 
that would say, ``I am against accountability.'' I don't know of a 
Democrat who would say, ``I don't like being fiscally responsible; I 
like to be fiscally irresponsible.''
  I don't know an Independent who says, and Independents came out in 
record numbers this last election. They voted for a new direction, and 
I am so glad we are giving it to them.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I would just like to make a couple more points to 
support you before I take off.
  I don't know if you have seen this. I am sure you have as a 
distinguished member of the Armed Services Committee in your fifth year 
already. The memo from the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Ortiz) chairman of 
the Subcommittee on Readiness, and Mr. Abercrombie, House Armed 
Services Committee, Air and Land Force Subcommittee, these are the 
folks in Congress on the ground. They submitted a couple of days ago 
for Members of Congress, editors, defense writers and other interested 
parties a memo on military readiness.
  I want to say a couple of things that I think are very important on 
where this war has put our military readiness, an elective war in Iraq 
as opposed to a real threat to our national interest, and the situation 
it has put us in. And our distinguished gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. 
Kaptur) who sits on the Defense Committee could probably speak better 
than I can on this.
  Short-term readiness in this memo addresses the needs of soldiers on 
the field today. Iraq and Afghanistan have been marked by a lack of 
adequate funding for equipment, from effective Kevlar vests and helmets 
to uparmored Humvees which are better able to protect our personnel 
from roadside bombs. Compounding the lack of equipment for both 
deployed and nondeployed units is the fact that if nondeployed units 
don't have the same equipment they will use in combat, their training 
is less than optimum.
  So if you don't have a Kevlar vest to train in when you actually are 
in the field and have to wear one, it is a much different scenario, and 
you may not have the proper training you need.
  Long-term readiness, military preparation for any challenges our 
Nation may face tomorrow, that encompasses everything from manpower 
training and equipment to preposition stores of military equipment 
strategically located around the world that, the Government 
Accountability Office reports, have been deeply ransacked for Iraqi 
operations.
  Check this out. Roughly half of all of the ground equipment in the 
United States Army is in Iraq or Afghanistan, nearly half the ground 
equipment that the Army owns. Since the start of the war, the Army has 
lost nearly 2,000 wheeled vehicles and more than 100 armored vehicles. 
Harsh desert climate, mountain terrain, virtually continuous combat and 
the physical weight of extra armor is wearing out equipment in Iraq and 
Afghanistan at up to nine times the normal rate.
  The Army GAO report details that the Army has not been keeping 
accurate track of what they have or what they need to reset the force, 
nor can they provide sufficient detail for Congress to provide 
effective oversight.
  The National Guard, between 75,000 and 100,000 pieces of National 
Guard equipment worth nearly $2 billion are now in Iraq and Afghanistan 
instead of National Guard armories around the U.S.; and National Guard 
units are left with about one-third of their equipment. These urgent 
equipment shortages hit especially hard on the military's ability to 
train Guard and active Army units, and they are forced to prepare and 
train for deployment with minimal equipment.
  We have a real problem where the American Army is not ready should we 
have another incident around the world, or should someone, heaven 
forbid, attack the United States, or should we have another Katrina. 
For this President to talk, Mr. Speaker, about protecting the troops 
and saving the troops and being on the side of the troops, this is 
being on the side of the troops.

[[Page H2551]]

  Mr. Speaker, I am going to yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. 
Kaptur), the dean of the Ohio Democratic delegation.
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) 
and also Congressman Kendrick Meek from Florida, two 30-somethings who 
are outstanding leaders in this Congress, bringing new energy and new 
vision. I thank them for yielding me this time.
  We will have extensive debates on the budget concerning the 
supplemental request for the war in Iraq, the global war on terrorism, 
and other related measures tomorrow and later next week. But as we are 
debating this and looking at sending another $100 billion across the 
oceans, halfway around the world, to support our troops and to try to 
reach resolution to that conflict, I want to bring to the attention of 
the American people a very serious issue here at home, one that is 
making headlines all over the United States.
  This is USA Today's headline, ``Record Foreclosures Reel Lenders,'' 
and ``Subprime Troubles Send Stocks Into Swoon.''
  The issue of mortgages across this country going belly up by the 
thousands should be of concern to every Member of this Congress. The 
stock market this week has been roiled by concerns over the financial 
health of largely unregulated mortgage brokerage institutions that have 
been irresponsibly issuing mortgages in what is called the subprime 
market across this country and much of that market targets consumers 
with less than stellar credit ratings or who are at the margins of home 
ownership in this country.
  They have been luring them into mortgages they can't afford, and as 
those mortgages adjust to higher interest rates in the third, fourth, 
fifth and subsequent years, they go belly up.
  We saw yesterday the connection between the fast rate of foreclosures 
and the health of our economy when the Dow dropped 243 points as a 
reaction to the dramatic rise in these foreclosures. As USA Today 
recounts in the first paragraph, ``The reason many mortgage lenders are 
in trouble became alarmingly clear Tuesday. The Mortgage Bankers 
Association said more than 2.1 million Americans with a home loan 
missed at least one payment at the end of last year, and the rate of 
new foreclosures hit a record.''
  Companies like New Century Financial, the Nation's second largest 
subprime lender, have quit making loans and are edging towards 
bankruptcy protection. There is a map in the article that shows certain 
States, and I am going to discuss my own now, that are far above the 
national average where we know thousands upon thousands of people are 
losing their homes.
  Ohio was the number one State in the Union to date with these 
mortgage foreclosures, three times the national average. They are 
estimating that in the next year and a half, over 250,000 more home 
mortgages will reset, and they are estimating that the financing gap in 
Ohio for this year and next year now totals somewhere between $14 
billion and $21 billion. That is just Ohio. Add to it Alabama, Texas, 
Mississippi, Tennessee, Indiana, Michigan, West Virginia. This is a 
problem of national proportion.

  There is plenty of blame to go around, but there is no question it is 
a serious issue that should be given primacy in this Congress.
  I want to compliment the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank) for 
holding hearings yesterday on hedge funds, the unregulated part of the 
financial markets that is rather secretive. We don't know a lot about 
them, but we know many times they are involved with intertwining with 
these types of loans that have been going out into the marketplace.
  We know our weak economy contributes to the situation, but also the 
failure of the past Congress as well as State legislatures to address 
predatory lending practices and to try to nip this problem in the bud 
before it became so much worse.
  There is another side to this coin as well, and that is the large 
number of campaign contributions made by these hot-shot lending 
brokerage firms that have been making deals across this country; and 
that story, unfortunately, has to come out, too, and perhaps why some 
lawmakers have been unwilling to grapple with the magnitude of this 
problem and prevent the kind of foreclosures that are going on across 
the country.
  Let me say that this USA Today article and the U.S. Department of 
Housing and Urban Development have a phone number that I urge citizens 
to call: 888-995-HOPE. 888-995-HOPE.
  This line will connect those who are concerned about losing their 
homes to foreclosure with foreclosure prevention counselors nationwide. 
That is something we can do immediately. In the measure we will pass 
next week, we will make every effort possible to put in housing 
counseling money, and I would urge the Department of Housing and Urban 
Development to target those dollars to the areas that are just bleeding 
with foreclosure after foreclosure after foreclosure.
  State and local governments could do a lot to help homeowners find 
help also, particularly in working out financing deals. I think Wall 
Street is going to have to take some losses. They ought to take them 
earlier rather than later. We ought to package some of this debt, and 
we ought to find a way to eat some of it and move some of those 
egregious profits they are making into filling the financing gap, 
because what good will it do for us to have millions of housing units 
across this country vacant? It is not going to help anybody.
  We know in these subprime markets, they don't set aside escrow money 
for property taxes, and we know this is going to have a major effect on 
local government as well.
  Mr. Speaker, I just want to say the President and his administration 
are focused on rebuilding Iraq, but somebody had better focus on 
rebuilding America and dealing with these rising foreclosure problems 
across the country. I will be the first in this Congress to put my 
shoulder to the wheel.
  I want to thank Congressman Meek for yielding me this time and thank 
him for his leadership in showing how much money we are spending in 
Iraq and how it is affecting our ability to address domestic needs here 
that coast to coast are so very serious.

                            [From USA Today]

                            (By Adam Shell)

                Subprime Troubles Send Stocks Into Swoon

        depth of damage in mortgage business concerns investors

       The ripple effect of the ``submerging'' subprime mortgage 
     market hit Wall Street hard Tuesday, with the Dow suffering a 
     243-point drop amid growing fears that home loan woes will 
     infect other companies and hurt the broader U.S. economy. In 
     another volatile day on Wall Street, stocks were battered by 
     a slew of negative news in the home loan arena, prompting 
     investors to wonder just how deep the damage in the mortgage 
     business will turn out to be.
       ``The market fears that the submerging subprime lenders 
     could drag down other companies with it,'' says Sam Stovall, 
     chief strategist at Standard & Poor's. ``Investors fear 
     credit will dry up,'' which will make it harder for people to 
     borrow money to buy homes and for companies to raise much-
     needed cash in a pinch.
       Tuesday's biggest losers were financial companies that 
     either lend money directly to homeowners or provide cash to 
     the lenders themselves. Shares of subprime and commercial 
     lenders, investment banks and brokers all finished deep in 
     the red. The top two decliners in the Dow Jones industrial 
     average, for example, were American Express, down 3.5%, and 
     JPMorgan Chase, down 4.4%.
       Pain in that sector is magnified by the fact that financial 
     services is the biggest of the 10 industry groups in the 
     Standard & Poor's 500 index, accounting for almost 22% of the 
     index's total market value.
       Still, the fallout was broad-based. The Dow fell 243 
     points, or 2.0%, to 12,076, its worst drop since Feb. 27, 
     when it plunged 416 points. The S&P also dropped 2%, with 487 
     of its 500 components finishing lower. The three worst S&P 
     industry groups were home building, specialized finance and 
     investment banks/brokerages.
       The bad news in mortgage land continued to pile up around 
     subprime lenders as New Century Financial shares lost 49% and 
     Accredited Home Lenders fell 65% on concerns their financial 
     woes will worsen. The S&P's worst-performing stock: Bear 
     Stearns, a big Wall Street brokerage with subprime exposure, 
     fell 6.7%.
       The big question now is whether Tuesday's sell-off, like 
     the Feb. 27 plunge, is just air being let out of the 
     speculative balloon, or whether more serious economic issues 
     are at play, says Nicholas Sargen, chief investment officer 
     at Fort Washington Investment Advisors. ``Yeah, we are going 
     to see a general tightening of credit standards and a 
     crackdown on subprime lenders,'' Sargen says. ``If you say it 
     stops there, that is nothing new. But, and it's a big but, 
     nobody knows for sure.''

[[Page H2552]]

       Investors will be watching what Lehman Bros. says about the 
     health of the mortgage market and if the damage is isolated 
     to subprime lenders when it reports earnings Thursday. Says 
     S&P's Howard Silverblatt: ``They will be looking to get more 
     info as to how much exposure there is and who else is 
     exposed.''

                    [From USA Today, Mar. 14, 2007]

                    Record Foreclosures Reel Lenders

                            (By Noelle Knox)

       The reason many mortgage lenders are in trouble became 
     alarmingly clear Tuesday. The Mortgage Bankers Association 
     said more than 2.1 million Americans with a home loan missed 
     at least one payment at the end of last year--and the rate of 
     new foreclosures hit a record.
       The problem is most severe for borrowers with scuffed 
     credit and adjustable-rate mortgages. More than 14% of them 
     were behind on their payments. And the worst is yet to come, 
     the MBA said. At least $300 billion in subprime ARMs will 
     reset this year to higher interest rates. Those borrowers 
     face higher payments and a harder time refinancing.
       Blindsided by the number of loans that have already gone 
     bad, more than two dozen lenders have gone out of business or 
     been purchased. New Century Financial, the nation's second-
     largest subprime lender, has quit making loans and is edging 
     toward bankruptcy protection.
       ``There's been a stunning erosion of mortgage quality,'' 
     said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com. 
     ``It's primarily in the subprime market, but the entire 
     market is weakening . . . and that adds to problems in the 
     housing market, and by extension the broader economy.'' 
     Retailers are already feeling the effect, he said, because 
     homeowners tend to spend less when they fear their homes are 
     worth less.
       To stem their losses, lenders are ending 100% financing 
     plans, requiring better credit scores and demanding more 
     proof of a borrower's income. The stricter rules are 
     squeezing first-time buyers, as well as homeowners who want 
     to refinance.
       Sellers, meantime, must compete with a rising number of 
     foreclosures at cut-rate prices. Lenders that seize control 
     of a house are usually aggressive about selling it, to limit 
     the cost of maintaining and marketing it.
       It's like a one-two punch, Zandi says. ``It means less 
     demand because many potential borrowers will be locked out,'' 
     just as foreclosures expand the supply of homes for sale.
       Some economists, such as Patrick Newport of Global Insight, 
     had been expecting the real estate market to rebound soon. 
     Now, he says, ``We probably won't see a recovery in the 
     housing market until next year.''
       In fact, sales of new homes are expected to fall 10% this 
     year, while sales of existing homes are likely to slip about 
     1%, the National Association of Realtors said Tuesday.
       States with the most job losses are seeing the largest 
     number of delinquencies. In Mississippi, Louisiana, West 
     Virginia, Michigan, Alabama, Missouri and Tennessee, at least 
     one in five subprime ARMs is in default.
       In the final quarter of last year, 0.54% of homeowners with 
     a mortgage began foreclosure proceedings--a record--up from 
     0.46% in the third quarter.
       Calls from distressed homeowners to the Homeownership 
     Preservation Foundation, a free credit counseling service 
     (888-995-HOPE or 888-995-4673), have more than doubled from 
     last summer.

  Mr. MEEK of Florida. I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio. I am so glad 
that she comes to the floor often to share with Members and the 
American people on issues that need light. It is good when we are able 
to give good information out.
  Mr. Speaker, I think it is important as we go through this week of 
accountability in Washington, D.C. I think that is what people have 
been waiting on and counting on. The leadership is being provided to 
make that happen.
  Earlier you heard me talk about the whistleblower legislation that 
was passed here today. When we start talking about ending waste in 
Federal contracting, we start looking at strengthening protections for 
Federal whistleblowers and moving to increase disclosure requirements 
for Presidential records, and also requiring disclosure of big donors 
to Presidential libraries. Providing long-term, overdue, 
constitutionally mandated oversight over veterans' health care crises 
and other Federal issues is very, very important. This is serious work, 
and there are some serious pieces of legislation that will cross this 
floor.
  Tomorrow we will be dealing with the whole issue of accountability in 
contracting. That is so very, very important, not only with the war in 
Iraq and the war in Afghanistan, but many of the contracts that are 
being executed in Homeland Security and the Defense Department. As we 
start to look at future disasters, looking at future contracting in our 
Federal agencies, it is important.
  Limited duration of no-bid contracts awarded in emergencies to 8 
months; within the emergency, Mr. Speaker, if it is an emergency, it is 
an emergency, not an emergency over the next 4 years for no-bid 
contracts. And many of the bigger companies have taken advantage of the 
no-bid contracts and have been the headline of several news articles 
about the fact that we have not provided the kind of oversight needed.
  Also, requiring large Federal agencies to develop and implement a 
plan to minimize the use of noncompetitive contracts in having no-bid 
contracts, and many of these Federal agencies have not only doubled, 
but tripled in some instances.

                              {time}  1930

  So overall within the Bush administration that has doubled under this 
administration.
  Also, requiring large Federal agencies to implement a plan in 
minimizing the use of cost-plus contracting. Cost-plus contracting are 
the type of contracts that give contractors little or no incentive to 
control costs. This is so very, very important. This kind of 
contracting has grown by 75 percent under this present administration.
  This legislation that we are passing or will pass tomorrow hopefully 
as we debate it on the floor is not for the Bush administration. It is 
for the future. It is from this point on of how we are going to deal 
with contracting, how we are going to cut out some of this waste that 
is taking place here in Washington, D.C., and throughout the Federal 
Government.
  This is really tackling many of the issues that we have right here 
under our nose, Mr. Speaker. We do not have to go off into foreign 
lands and try to figure out how we can correct. We need to correct some 
things right here in Washington, D.C., on how we do business.
  Also, requiring agencies to prepare a public letter explaining why 
they awarded a no-bid contract. Again, shedding light where we do not 
have light now. This is leadership and work. It takes work to uncover 
the fact that we must shed light on the issue of no-bid contracting.
  Also, requiring that contractors that overcharge more than $1 
million, that it is disclosed to Congress. We want to bring about 
accountability. Disclose it. Right now, contractors that go over and 
overcharge, go over the billions of dollars. When I was on Homeland 
Security Committee last year, the oversight committee, seeing all of 
the contractors that overcharged and was paid by the Federal agencies 
and Homeland Security, you charge us, you sent us a bill, we will pay 
it, no accountability, no oversight. Those days are over. It is going 
to start here tomorrow here on this floor.
  I urge all Members to vote for the legislation in the affirmative, 
and Mr. Speaker, maybe tomorrow when we come to the floor, the 30-
something Working Group, maybe we will have a bipartisan vote on this 
legislation. It is kind of hard for anyone to go home and say I voted 
for the Accountability in Contracting Act. Just the word 
``accountability'' I have been using that for the last 3, 4 weeks. We 
will see. I hope we have it.
  Also, making sure that we close the revolving door and requiring that 
former Federal procurement officers wait 1 year before seeking 
employment at lobbying and contracting firms; require that the Federal 
procurement officer wait 1 year before involving themselves in 
contracts given by the former employer.
  I think it is important, Mr. Speaker, once again, we had just here on 
this floor, we have had Members that have anchored bills, led it 
through Congress and announced retirement, in past Congresses they have 
done this, announced retirement and go into the private sector and make 
millions, but that happens under the lights of this Chamber.
  But in some of these Federal agencies, you have some folks that will 
start a project and then have an end date of when they are going to end 
their Federal employment to do what? To go out and manage the project. 
Again, I do not know an Independent, Republican or Democrat that would 
endorse that kind of activity.
  Why will the Accountability in Contracting Act be on the floor to 
tomorrow? Because the Democratic leadership has the will and the desire 
to clean up the waste in Washington, D.C., not just talking about it, 
not just

[[Page H2553]]

having boards behind us saying we believe in accountability, we hate 
waste, but actually doing something about it.
  This should be good for the private sector, too, of making sure that 
their employees and individuals that work with them and subcontractors 
that work with them on Federal contracts are accountable and that they 
make sure that they pay very close attention to what they are doing 
with the taxpayer dollars.
  So, Mr. Speaker, with that, I look forward to coming to the floor 
tomorrow, talking about the victories of this week. I believe tomorrow 
will be our last day voting here this week, and I would like to just 
recap and also talk about what is coming up next week. The reason why 
we are going through this process is because not only has the 
leadership asked for inclusion of ideas, but to make sure that no one 
feels excluded of being a part of this process and having the 
opportunity to vote on legislation.
  The bipartisan votes that I have mentioned earlier will continue to 
add on to that list, and soon I am pretty sure it will be in the high 
30s and 40s because legislation that makes sense to the people back 
home are coming to the floor of the House of Representatives in a 
record number like it has never done before.
  So I am happy that we are having these bipartisan votes. I am happy 
that we are working as though we were in the minority, hungry to 
provide leadership. I am glad that accountability is shining on to this 
floor and throughout the halls of Congress, and with that, Mr. Speaker, 
once again, it was an honor addressing the House.

                          ____________________