[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 55 (Thursday, March 29, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H3343-H3349]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THIRTY-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 of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to address the
House. As you know, the working group, we come to the floor to share
good information with the Members and make sure that we are all
informed on what is happening in this new-direction Congress. Also, for
us to understand our future, we have to go into our past. We try not to
dwell on that too much, but when there are examples of leadership and
courage, we want to identify and illuminate the leadership that many,
that the majority of the Members of the House have already taken.
Today's vote with passing this budget resolution by the House is a
perfect example of our priorities as we move through the process. As
you know, there will come a time when the Senate and the House will get
together in conference and we will send our budget to the President,
and hopefully we can all come to common ground on behalf of not only
domestic priorities, but also international priorities and how we are
seen in the world.
This is a Friday for us here in Congress because this is now the
close of legislative business, and we are going to be off for the next
2 weeks from Washington, DC. But we will be back in our districts
working very hard, talking with our constituents.
Many Members will take this opportunity to share with the members of
their community and their district the accomplishments that they have
been able to make in the last 2 weeks, and they have been quite
historical. I think with the emergency supplemental, even going back to
that, since that is a week old and something we have already voted in
the affirmative in a bipartisan way, I think that is a testimonial to
what this 110th Congress is going to be about and what we continue to
work very hard in making sure that the American people have a chance to
see exactly how hard we have been working.
I think I am going to have to get my chart that talks about the days
we have worked, the resolutions we have passed, the suspension bills we
passed compared to previous Congresses. I think it is important when
people look at their Members of Congress and they say, well, are you
actually working on my behalf. I am hearing from the 109th Congress
that there were times that you spent more time out of Washington than
you spent in Washington. And many of our Members are hungry to see
their constituents because we have been here the majority of the weeks
working on a 5-day workweek.
{time} 1530
Out of that 5-day work week, there has been a lot that has been
accomplished.
So I am going to talk about not only the resolution, but I am going
to also talk about the effort of bipartisan votes that have taken place
here on the floor and on the accomplishments of being here in
Washington, DC, and having hearings. I think that is important, and I
think that the American people need to be fully aware.
We talk about Iraq in the same light that we talk about the work. On
the 29th, which is today, the total deaths in Iraq, 3,243. That's as of
10 a.m. That's 10 a.m. numbers. Wounded, returned back to duty, 13,473.
That number continues to change, Mr. Speaker. And wounded not returning
back to duty is 10,841.
Why do I give those numbers out? I give those numbers out to make
sure that all of the Members understand that this work is very, very
serious.
This number is changing because just today in the Armed Services
Committee we had a hearing on Guantanamo that has a connection to the
efforts against terrorism throughout the world. But oversight
accountability hearings on Iraq are at 104. That is the last documented
number I know. When we get back from the break, this calendar will be
updated.
Also, we had issues of cleaning up Washington, DC, and making sure
that
[[Page H3344]]
America is safer; hearings that we've had making sure the American
dream is possible for everyone. We have had a number, Mr. Speaker, of
bipartisan votes here on this floor that really meant a lot to
Americans.
When we started looking at the issue of minimum wage, when you have
82 Republicans voting under the ``New Direction Congress'', under a
Democratic-controlled Congress voting for an increase in minimum wage,
that means that there has been a will and a desire to do so over the
years, but they haven't had the opportunity to do it, and it took
leadership to move in that direction. Also, making college more
affordable. When you look at votes that have taken place, 124
Republicans have joined Democrats in voting in the affirmative as a
unit, and I think that is very, very important.
When we start looking at the Iraq resolution, we have to look at the
courage and the insight and the vision of this ``New Direction
Congress'' in allowing Members of this Congress to vote on something
that will be beneficial to their constituents but also meets emergency
needs of the country and Iraq and Afghanistan.
I think it is very, very important that we understand that when we go
on break there is going to be a lot said because we won't be here in
Washington, we won't have the opportunity to come to the floor. Of
course, the administration will have 2 weeks of an opportunity to speak
from a podium without a response, an official response, outside of
Members sending press releases out. But when you look at this
resolution, it makes sure that, in dealing with the veterans issues, we
have in place making our commitment as it relates to defending the
homeland.
I used to be on the Homeland Security Committee, and we started
talking about making sure that the levees are in place and that we
never see another Katrina in our lifetime, not under our watch; and
holding our commitment to the men and women in the gulf coast. I think
that is very, very important, and something that we have to continue to
work on.
Another piece of legislation we passed within the last 2 weeks is the
Wounded Warrior Assistance Act, a response not only to the scandal at
Walter Reed but also to make sure we can ensure the troops and veterans
that they will receive quality care. This is a bipartisan piece of
legislation, something that we should be very proud of and the American
people should be proud of. We will continue to move in that direction
of being aggressive on these issues.
When you deal with the issue of U.S. troop readiness, I met with the
command sergeant major of the Army Reserves just today, Mr. Speaker, in
my office. He talked about the number of issues that are still not
being addressed on behalf of reservists. But I can tell you that the
refreshing part of that conversation was that I could go to the Wounded
Warriors Assistance Act of 2007 to say that help is on the way. I was
able to point to the concurrent resolution that we passed, our first
action in January, that we put $3.6 billion into veterans health care
so that when he goes out in the field to speak to the soldiers, he can
say a new day is coming.
I talked about the budget resolution prior to this budget resolution
passing here on the floor, the largest increase and investment in
veterans assistance, health care assistance in the history of the VA. I
was able to talk to him under those terms and under that flag of
accountability, oversight and making sure that we are accountable to
the men and women that serve our country. I can tell you that it was
received with great appreciation from him.
I think it is important that as we start looking at the action of
growing the economy that is in this budget that it is going to be very,
very helpful to us all, making sure that our economy is moving in the
right direction and will be here for all levels of economic classes.
We start looking at children that are being assisted through this
budget. As we continue to march through this process, as you know,
there will be a House and Senate conference, there will be Members
pulling in different directions to make sure that the priorities are
met, but when it is all said and done, children are being protected. I
know the Speaker will be having a summit on children that is coming up
pretty soon that will allow us to even further look into the needs of
children in the United States of America.
What does this mean to the economy, Mr. Speaker? It means an awful
lot. It means if you have healthy children you have fewer days of
parents having to take off work and take them to the doctor, or to stay
home to try to, what I call, drugstore medication, going to see what
they can buy over the counter to help their children rebound from
whatever health ailment that they may have.
With this budget that we passed, we are making sure that every child
in the United States of America has an opportunity at universal health
care, something that is very, very important. I come from a State where
over 12 percent of the kids are without health care. I think it is
very, very important that we focus and stand behind our commitment to
America's children in making sure that we provide the funding to make
sure they all have universal health care. It is going to be good for
our economy, it is going to be more days that children will be in
school. We will have healthier children, we will have healthier
families, and we will have a healthier economy in our society. I think
it is important that we move in that direction.
When we look at the State Child Health Insurance Plan that we have
here, we call SCHIP, you look at the investment of what we have just
made on this vote here on the floor. In 2008 to 2012, you will see in
the billions of dollars that the President's budget is a $2 billion
increase up until 2012. But then, if you look over a little further,
you look at the budget resolution we just passed, and that is with a
$50 billion increase as we move into 2012.
So we have already laid out that we have the will and the desire to
do so and that we are ready to do it; and we will be finding the
necessary resources to do it without going into deficit spending. That
is something that we have passed in the pay-as-you-go. If you are going
to propose it and you are going to pass it, you are going to definitely
have to show how we are going to pay for it.
I think it is also important, as we look at the agenda, and we have a
number of third-party validators that have endorsed this budget. We
even have committees outside of the budget. But we have a Select
Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming, a panel created to
inform Congress and the public on energy independence, climate change
as well as developing policies and initiatives to assure progress made
to reduce dependency on foreign oil. This is so very, very important,
Mr. Speaker. Not only do we have this select committee out there, in
this budget it reflects our values in investing in the Midwest versus
the Middle East. It is a lot cheaper, believe me.
And those numbers that I read out at the beginning of how many men
and women will never come home to their loved ones, how many of our men
and women that won't be able to return back to battle, I think it's
important for us to understand that we not only have to conserve but at
the same time make sure that we put our money where our mouths are when
it comes down to protecting our Earth, because we only have one.
I think it is also important, Mr. Speaker, just for us to step back
for a moment and just reflect on what not only happened just a few
minutes ago but what happened last Friday. I continue to come back to
that since the President is saying that he wants to veto the emergency
supplemental. I think it's important that we just look at that just a
moment.
I was on the floor last night, and Mr. Ryan was here. We had an
opportunity to talk about what the President really meant when he said
that he wanted to veto the emergency supplemental for our men and women
in uniform. I couldn't help but reflect on the President's history on
vetoes, and I started looking. I would ask my staff, and then I started
just kind of doing a personal evaluation. Have I ever heard the
President say he is going to veto something?
In 6 years of him being President, since I have been in Congress, now
going on 5 years, I have never heard the President say I am going to
veto something. I wonder why.
Well, we just left the 109th and the 108th Congress, which was better
[[Page H3345]]
known as the ``rubber stamp Congress.'' The President sends it to the
Hill, it will be followed to the T, and that it will be ``so shall it
be written, so shall it be done.'' Members will make other Members vote
for the President's priorities. The majority was on the Republican
side. And in November, the American people said, I no longer want that
kind of democracy. I no longer want the President's original thoughts
to be carried out by the Congress without review.
We have another chart, and I want to make sure that we get that
chart, the one that talks about how many bills we've passed. I had it
here last night. It may be in the back or something, if staff can grab
it for me. It was from the Clerk's office. It talked about the days
that we've worked to this point and the bills that we've passed until
this point, because I think it will be very, very revealing.
The Congress last session did very little. And when I say very
little, they had very few hearings on many of the issues that are
before the Congress. We are taking a lot of time, not only Members of
Congress but also the staff here in the House of Representatives on
both sides of the aisle, because the days have been accelerated and the
fact that we are actually having two or three committee meetings in a
given day, leave alone subcommittees. And I think it is important, if
we are going to have an active and functional and informed government,
that we have to go through the steps and making sure that we are making
sound decisions. That's okay when you are looking for others to tell
you what you should be doing.
This is my new favorite chart, Mr. Speaker, because, as you know, in
the Working Group, we love third-party validators; and we love to give
accurate information out. I personally love to give accurate
information out. I don't ever come to the floor and share with staff or
a friend, ``How can I go to the floor and give inaccurate information?
Please help me do that.''
Some of the debate that took place here on the budget, I was really
shocked by the fact that some Members would come to the floor and say
something that we all know is not true. But this is true. This comes
from the Clerk of the House. This is the Record. Bipartisan office,
it's the Record. I love everyone in the office, and I appreciate the
work that they do.
But this is the 107th Congress, the 108th Congress, the 109th
Congress, and this is the 110th Congress. This was known as the ``do-
nothing Congress.'' That was what the media called it. And the ``New
Direction Democratic Congress'', that's what we call it. It has nothing
to do with the third-party validator.
When you look at roll call votes to this date, March, 2005, during
this month, as we close out this month, there were only 90 roll call
votes that were taken. As we close out this month, there will be 189
roll call votes that were taken under this Congress, under this
working, very functional, very informed Congress. Because the fact is,
Mr. Speaker, that we have taken the time to go to a committee, to have
staff research and to have witnesses come to us and share with us where
we're going wrong and what we're doing right, and that is important.
{time} 1545
We look at suspension bills, another form of bills that we vote on,
26 in the 109th Republican-controlled Congress, 72 that we voted on
Democratic-controlled Congress. And then it goes on and on and on. And
I think it is important even days in session, 26 compared to last year
under the Republican-controlled Congress, 48 under the Democratic-
controlled Congress.
Why is this important? We have two wars going on. We have children
without health care. We have veterans that are waiting 6, 7 months to
be able to see a specialist at a VA. We have VA clinics that are open
only once or twice a month.
Why is this important? This is important because we have small
businessmen and women in America trying to find a Congress that is
going to stand on their behalf as it relates to free trade. And I
believe that trade is good, but not when it is at the cost of U.S. jobs
and the outcome measures of building our economy are based on
hypotheticals.
It is important for us to be here, Members, to understand these
issues. So as I speak on the importance of what we have done and what
the President is talking about in vetoing the emergency supplemental
bill and saying that, oh, well, it is those folks in Congress that are
holding it up, no, we have done our work. You will have the bill on
your desk, and I urge you not to veto it on behalf of the people that
are counting on us to stand for them.
It is not us and them; it is all of us. We are all Americans. And if
there are some things in the emergency supplemental that the President
disagrees with, then that is fine. State those disagreements, but don't
hold up the necessary resources from the men and women that are in the
forward area, especially in Afghanistan.
If this was a political conversation, I would say, Mr. President,
veto it. You have to lie in that bed; and those that voted against the
emergency supplemental would have to lie in that bed, too. But I would
be speaking as some sort of hard-core partisan, which I am not. I am a
Member of the U.S. Congress, and I think it is important that we look
at it, Americans look at it the same way. It is not an issue of if you
are a Republican or an Independent saying, well, the Democrats. No, no.
The people that will suffer the most by the President saying that he is
going to veto are going to be the men and women in uniform, the
veterans that have been waiting on accountability out of this Congress
and it is at an emergency level.
Those Americans that have been waiting because of natural disaster,
they are an emergency state. They are ready for their economy to kick
in so that they can start providing for their families. It is going to
be those individuals that are going to suffer. So let's take the
personalities out of it. You have to be for the emergencies that are
facing this country.
Emergency supplemental is very, very important to this country and
should not be allowed to be used as a political football. So I would
ask for the President to reconsider his original thoughts vetoing the
emergency supplemental.
I think soon that there is going to be a discussion, Mr. Speaker, as
it relates to the budget resolution we just passed. There will be
threats and rumors of threats about what the President won't stand for.
But there has to be a paradigm shift, because the American people have
made a paradigm shift in November. You had Republicans and Independents
voting for Democrats because they wanted accountability, they wanted
oversight, they wanted to move in a new direction, and they wanted to
make sure that they had a government that was going to balance with the
present administration. But apparently that message has not gotten to
the White House yet.
And I am so glad that the leader of the Senate and also the Speaker
of the House sent the President a letter saying, you know, it is not
personal, let's just calm down and let's work together in making sure
that the men and women of our Armed Forces and the veterans, I have the
letter right here. This letter is from Senator Reid and also Speaker
Pelosi. And it talks about both House and Senate bills contain
important provisions rejecting the present policy that has been pursued
for more than 4 years.
Now, let's just say this very quick. And this is the closing of this
letter because we can go on from the beginning. But we entered this
into the Record last night and there is no need to do it today, but I
think it is important that everyone understand where we are headed and
where we have been.
We know the past 4 years that there has been, not one, two escalation
levels of U.S. troops in Iraq, and we know a third one just took place
recently, an escalation in troops. And every last escalation has shown
the same, very little as it relates to making sure that Iraq is a safer
place to be. And it is still a very dangerous place. The President is
asking for more time. But usually when you have three strikes, you are
usually out.
But as we start looking at this, it is important that the Members pay
very close attention to this and the American people. And it goes
furthermore to say that the provisions are based on statements by
General Petraeus and
[[Page H3346]]
other senior military leaders that there is no military solution in
Iraq. No military solution in Iraq. So to say that 140-plus thousand
troops, 200,000 troops, we are going to get to the bottom of this; the
more, the more the better, that is not necessarily what the military
commanders have said.
What did the Iraq Study Group say? They said that we have to find a
diplomatic solution and that we have to find some sort of redeployment
plan of U.S. troops. Great Britain has already said that they are
pulling out. Others of the coalition of the willing, that I must add
you would assume that Great Britain would be the second largest
coalition in Iraq right now.
No, it is actually U.S. contractors that is almost being led by
Halliburton who said that they are going to move their headquarters
overseas to Dubai. The U.S. taxpayer dollars are all intertwined in the
Halliburton Corporation, and there are several investigations on
Halliburton as it relates to their accountability of making sure that
they billed the American taxpayers appropriately.
This goes on to say that their collective judgment leads to the
conclusion that U.S. forces should not try to contain a civil war, but
rather a bipartisan majority in the House and Senate believe strongly
that the U.S. mission should be transitioned to a counterterrorism
force protection, and training and equipping the Iraqi security forces
and phased redeployment of U.S. troops should commence.
That is what this letter is saying, and that is what we must do.
And I think it is very, very important that this message is loud and
clear. And I don't think that the will or the desire of the majority of
the Members of the House and the will and the desire of the majority in
the Senate will change on this issue, because polls have indicated, not
only the poll that was taken in January because that was all about Iraq
and some other issues and accountability and ethics, but the poll that
was just taken over the weekend of how the American people felt about
the action of this Congress, they are with us. They are saying, what
took you so long? Well, the thing that took us so long was not
necessarily this Congress. It was the rubber-stamp Congress.
So someone, please, I implore you and beg you, call the White House
and tell the President, just because you say it, doesn't necessarily
mean the American people are going to follow you.
I was watching the President on the television just the other day,
the press conference after the Senate took its action, and you would
have assumed that something really bad happened. The President was
saying, You know, I am going to veto it. He kept saying this, And they
are holding money. Do you think the American people are going to
believe for one minute when you have an emergency supplemental with
accountability measures in it, of following what? The Department of
Defense deployment rules and regs of men and women when they circulate
out of theater. You have bureaucrats right now in the Pentagon that as
soon as enlisted Reservists and in some instances National Guard return
back home, they are returned back home within 150 days and going back
into theater for another 12 or 15 months if they are a soldier, 7 to 10
months if they are a marine. If they are in the Air Force, it may go
from 3 to 4 to 5, or maybe up to a year, not because someone believes
that that is the case. And here is the President on the front page
trying to play the blame game and point fingers. That is not what this
is about.
And the reason why I am speaking in a very firm voice on this issue
is that this is not politics. This is saying, let's work together,
let's make sure that this is not about a stare-down, who is going to
flinch first. It is not about flinching, it is not about who tucked
their tail under their legs and who won. Because we all win when we
give the men and women what they have to do.
So this has accountability measures in it saying that troops will not
be deployed outside of the Department of Defense's own rules and
regulations. Obviously they have been bending those rules. How do you
say to a soldier or a marine, an airman or a sailor that we are going
to bend the rules when it works to the benefit of the Pentagon or the
administration, but when it comes down to what you are supposed to do
we are not bending anything? We are going to hold you to the nine of
what you are supposed to do. That is not American. That is not fair.
So this Congress has stood up on behalf of those individuals and said
that we are going to hold not only the Department of Defense's feet to
the fire, but also the administration's feet to the fire on this issue
in law in this emergency supplemental. If you are going to spend the
money, these are the rules you are going to live by.
It also goes on and talks about the whole issue of readiness, making
sure that our men and women have what they need when they go into
theater. Well, some may say, well, Congressman, why are you talking
about readiness? We are not sending anyone over there unprepared. The
real issue is there is training that is involved that needs to happen.
Again, I told you that I met with the sergeant major, the highest
enlisted man or woman in the Army Reserve just this morning, and he was
sharing with me the level of training that his men and women in the
Reserve units have not received because of the fast rotation and the
lack of emphasis on training and readiness. This is fresh information.
This is not fresh. We already knew this, but he just validated it even
more by just coming and saying this is an issue.
We just passed this budget. So if the President doesn't want to move
in a new direction in making sure that our men and women have what they
need and they are trained, that is something that we need to talk to
him about. We need to talk to him about it. We don't need to say you
are wrong or do it, we want to watch, we want to see you do it; because
if you do it, it is going to cost you politically. We are far beyond
politics right now.
It goes further into increasing the VA and assisting those men and
women that are coming back. And it also looks at, states, that kids,
the children, we reflect in our budget what we want to do. But with
children, the money will run out for children's health care in certain
States here in this country if this emergency supplemental doesn't go
through. And I think it will happen prior to the next budget act when
the bill is up.
I know Mr. Ryan came down and he was getting ready to join me, and I
don't want to move into the segment that he shared with me that he
wanted to share with you. But as we start continuing to look at the
present and hopefully moving into the future, I want to make sure that
the Members know exactly why this budget was very, very important. The
budget that we passed doesn't raise any taxes whatsoever, and I know
Mr. Ryan is going to talk about that and I am not going to take his
thunder.
But as we start to look at the interest payments on the debt, of what
has happened in the past and where we have to have the paradigm shift
and where this budget resolution starts to move the numbers and the
reality of what has happened in the past, what was the reality in the
109th and 108th Congress.
Here is the interest that is paid on the debt right here, in the
billions. And this is what Congress invested in education. Interest,
education.
{time} 1600
Next to that investment in veterans in the billions, the very low
billion, under a hundred billion versus the debt.
Homeland security. You have a lot of chest beating going on down here
on the floor about homeland security, protecting the homeland. That is
one of those things that comes in behind ``I love the troops.'' Protect
the homeland. Previous Congresses and previous budget chairmen and
committees did not set their priorities there, but they made good
speeches.
Look down here, homeland security, that is the investment that is
made in homeland security versus paying down the debt. Why is this
chart important? It is important because our priorities are now
changing to no deficit spending, pay as we go. That is going to be
painful.
Mr. Speaker, I already feel the pain. It is going to be painful. But
if we are going to make sure that we do what we are supposed to do as
Members of Congress and we hold to our word as Members of Congress, I
am talking about all
[[Page H3347]]
Members of Congress, we will pay. Because the foreign debt that this
administration and the Republican rubber-stamp Congress previous to
this Congress put on the backs of this country will have other
countries looking at us in a different light.
Mr. Ryan, I probably borrowed $20 from you every now and then.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I wish it was just $20, Mr. Meek.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Let's say I was to say hypothetically, Mr. Ryan,
can I borrow $100?
Sure, Kendrick.
And I will pay you on Friday, payday, at the end of the month. And I
see you 2 weeks after that payday and I come up to you. You are
thinking, hold it, you owe me money when you see me next. You're not
thinking about what I want to talk about.
Where is my chart on foreign debt held? We love charts here. I can
tell you, on the foreign debt held, there are countries like Japan,
China, OPEC countries, Mr. Speaker, that we borrow money from. Iran is
in that number. So how are we going to be viewed on the world stage and
how do we rebound from that?
Here is my chart. We keep the chart people in business.
China, Japan, leading the pack there. The U.K., the Caribbean, OPEC
countries that include Iraq, Iran, Venezuela. You look at Korea, Hong
Kong and Germany.
Again, Mr. Ryan, how do we look these countries in the eyes and say
we want you to do this a certain way when we owe them money? How do we
get out of that? We get out of it by passing this budget resolution
that we passed today.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I am trying to pay attention to you, but I'm
thinking to myself, you do owe me money.
I'm kidding.
For the record, Mr. Speaker, that was a joke.
As we listened to the debate over the past couple of days, we heard a
lot from our Republican side, this is about the kids and you have to do
this for the kids. I am thinking to myself as I am listening to the
debate that it was the Republican Congress since 1994, post-Bill
Clinton, when it got out of control in the last 6 years with President
Bush, Republican House, Republican Senate and Republican White House,
that garnered almost $3 trillion more of debt for our country, as you
just pointed out.
Now, if you are concerned about the kids, the first thing you don't
want to do is leave them in a worse position than even you were in.
Quite frankly, if we keep going down the same road that the Republican-
led Congress and President steered us down, that is a road of debt and
deficits and borrowing money from China and Japan and OPEC countries
and some of our best competitors.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. You are making a point, and I just want to
slingshot that point in.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Slingshot it in.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Here's the issue. The President is now saying, I
am going to veto the emergency supplemental bill for Iraq and
Afghanistan and for our veterans. I'm going to veto it.
That is something he has never said before, Mr. Speaker. All the
while all of this debt was being built up on the future generations of
Americans and our children and grandchildren that are children of
Republicans and Democrats and Independents and those who are thinking
about voting, the President never once said I am going to veto it.
As a matter of fact, every bill that was passed in the rubber-stamp
Congress, the President was saying, I'll sign it. I am going to sign
that bill. Record spending, I am going to sign that one.
Mr. President, that bill will run the debt up. We will have to borrow
money from foreign nations, some that we have issues with. I'm going to
sign it.
As a matter of fact, he signed so many bills, can I have another pen?
I ran out of ink.
Now to say I am going to veto something that has accountability
measures in it, the problem is not additional dollars for the emergency
needs of Americans, the problem is the fact that the Congress has said,
after 4, now 5 years in Iraq, that we are no longer going to be the
say-nothing, hear-nothing, do-nothing Congress, that we are going to
have a say in it, and we are sitting here and federalized by the people
of the United States of America to make sure that they have a voice and
we have accountability.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. One of the other critiques we heard last night and
today about the Democratic budget is: More government spending. They
want the government to spend the money instead of the individual.
Well, I'm sorry, I don't know how you expect to fund veterans' health
care if the government is not going to do it. Who do they want to do
it? Wal-Mart? Home Depot?
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Did you say the Congress or did you say The
Tonight Show?
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Congress.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Okay. I thought you were joking.
I yield back.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I appreciate that.
And $3.6 billion from the resolution, continuation resolution from
last year, for veterans' spending. That increase is government
spending. Because we have to fund health care for veterans because it
was the government that sent the veterans out.
Now, I am not saying that every dollar the government spends is good,
but I remember last year under the Republican budget and the year
before under the Republican budget passed by a Republican House and
passed by a Republican Senate, signed by a Republican White House, that
gave $14-15 billion in subsidies to the oil subsidies, that was
government spending; and our friends on the other side of the aisle
weren't very critical when public tax dollars were going to corporate
welfare for the oil companies when they were making the greatest
profits they have ever made. That is government spending.
What we are doing, not raising taxes, the same revenues as the
President's budget had, we are going to reprioritize that money and we
are going to take that money and spend it on our veterans and invest it
in education and increase the Pell Grant almost $4,600. We are going to
take that money and cover thousands and thousands and thousands more
kids under the SCHIP program, the State Children Health Insurance
Program. That is the difference between these two budgets.
When the President says he is going to veto this supplemental bill
that is going to get us out of Iraq, you know what else he is vetoing,
$1.7 billion increased over the President's recommendation for
veterans' health care. That is in the supplemental bill that he says he
is going to veto.
Also, $1.7 billion above the President's request for defense health
care for our soldiers. The President says he is going to veto that.
There is $500 million for post-traumatic stress disorder for soldiers
coming back. The President says he is going to veto that.
There is $500 million in there for brain injuries; and we have both
been to Walter Reed visiting the soldiers with the level of brain
injuries that we have never seen in combat. So $500 million, the
President says he is going to veto that.
Almost a billion dollars in the supplemental for children's health
insurance, and the President says he is going to veto that. That is
what the President is saying he is going to veto.
We hear a lot about government spending, and we hear a lot about the
kids. You can't send these kids off to war and, in many instances,
adults off to war, and then when they come back your argument is we
don't want government to spend money. That doesn't cut it.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Ryan, I am glad you are here to make that
point, because we talked about it earlier.
Mr. Speaker, I think it is important for us to understand exactly,
and I can see if it was a different President, Mr. Ryan. I can see if
the administration has changed from the last Congress to this one. But
it is the same President that celebrated a Congress that was willing to
follow through his original thoughts.
During our watch on the 109th Congress and the 108th Congress, the
President signed bills with billions of dollars in special interest tax
breaks and subsidies to big oil, to a number of other high-level,
connected, plugged-in, I-know-them kind of folks, and direct access to
the Capitol and direct access to the White House, signed a bill and
didn't even blink an eye.
[[Page H3348]]
And in this emergency supplemental which is a true emergency, our men
and women need what they need now in the field, not in 2 or 3 weeks,
now.
The real issue is we are helping and correcting the lack of
oversight, the lack of will and the desire to correct the issues at
Walter Reed Hospital which, when our troops are injured in the field,
some of them, and Mr. Ryan and I have been through the whole track of
what happens to our men and women that are injured in the field. They
are dealt with in the field hospital, then shipped over to Germany.
They spend some time over there, and then they are medevaced over here
to Walter Reed Hospital. The last thing they need to see is a broken-
down, lights-out, insect-infested Walter Reed Hospital. We responded.
As a matter of fact, it makes me feel so good with this new
Democratic Congress that we have here now, prior to the Walter Reed
story coming out, and I need to get my chart on Walter Reed, prior to
the Walter Reed story coming out, this Congress, through the continuing
resolution that we passed at the end of January, because the rubber
stamp worked on some days, the 109th Congress did not finish the
appropriations bills, we reprioritized their priorities and put $3.6
billion in into VA health care.
Here is a specialist here. She lost her legs. She lost her legs
because this country asked her to go and fight in a foreign land, in
Iraq.
This whole story here, the Newsweek cover, and Newsweek comes out
every week, but I actually saved this. I save a number of Newsweek,
Time and other periodicals and dailies so we can archive what has
happened in the past so we can have a better future.
Right now what we are doing in the emergency supplemental is a better
future for the very people we are trying to help. For the President to
say, well, I am concerned about other things that are in the bill.
Well, he wasn't concerned when it was okay for big oil. He wasn't
concerned about that. I am so glad we live in a democracy, and I am
able to say this. I am very concerned. You know why I am concerned?
Because there are some American people who woke up early one Tuesday
and stood in line and voted for some representation.
Mr. Speaker, as sure as my name is Kendrick Meek, they are going to
get it from this Congress. They are going to get representation from
this Congress. We are going to make sure that their values are turned
into not only law but to action.
Mr. Ryan, when you talk about this issue of what is in the bill, what
is actually in the emergency supplemental, when we talk about the
accountability measures, you can't help but get passionate about it.
Mr. Speaker, if I was an intern working in a congressman's office and
if he or she voted against the emergency supplemental, my American
spirit would have to come out. I would say I love the congressman or
congresswoman, but it is the right thing to do.
So what is the problem? Maybe they need to send an e-mail. Maybe they
need to send out an e-mail under the name John Doe or something saying,
Mr. President, I love you and all of this, but please don't veto this
bill. That is where we are now.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Let's look not only at the supplemental but with
the budget the President presented. We, the Democratic budget,
increases the Pell Grant to at least $4,600 from a little over $4,000
now. As you said, we are constrained by the $3 trillion of debt that
was created over the past 6 years by our friends in the Republican
party.
{time} 1615
But this Democratic budget rejects all of the things that the
President recommended. Here is what the President wanted to do for
higher education. He wanted to eliminate the Perkins loan program. He
wanted to eliminate the Federal supplemental opportunity grants, and he
wanted to eliminate leveraging education assistance partnerships. He
wanted to completely eliminate them.
Now, we are competing with 1.3 billion people in China and over 1
billion people in India. The key component to economic growth in
America in the next decade or two or three or four or probably for the
existence of this country is to invest in education, and when you look
at what the Democrats have done in the first 100 hours, we cut student
loan interest rates in half for both parent loans and student loans,
and here we are in our budget and we raised the Pell Grant in the CR as
well, and here we are raising again the limit for the Pell Grant to
$4,600. That is investing in education.
When you look at the billions of dollars we are going to put into
children's health care to make sure that every kid in the United States
of America has access to health care, those are investments that are
going to pay off in the long term, and that is going to lead to a
strong America, a strong economic growth.
Now, our friends on the other side, and I do not want to talk too
much about this, but it has been levied against us that the Democratic
budget is somehow going to raise taxes. We have the Brookings
Institute, we have the Center for Economic Policy, and we have the
Concorde Coalition, three independent folks who have said we are not
raising taxes; and I am going to tell you why we are not raising taxes
right now.
We are going to fix the alternative minimum tax. It has been creeping
into the middle class, and we are going to provide 23 million Americans
with a tax cut because we are not going to allow the AMT to go in and
creep into their tax levels.
Not only does the budget not raise taxes; we include tax relief where
the child tax credit stays on, marriage penalty relief stays on, 10
percent bracket tax deduction stays on, and a deduction for State and
local taxes all in this bill.
I want to say one further thing on the tax issue, that the same
people claiming that the Democrats are raising taxes are the same
people that said that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
They were the same people that said that it would only cost us $50
billion in Iraq, and we are already to the $500 billion mark. They were
the same people that said we would be greeted as liberators. They were
the same people that said they would be handing roses out to the
Americans. Same people, same President that said mission accomplished,
you know, same person that said we are in the last throes, the Vice
President's comments on the war.
So they are the same people saying that we are raising taxes, and all
I want to say to the Members is this, the American people can reserve
judgment on whether or not this budget does it. We know it does it, but
they can reserve judgment. Keep your 2006 tax returns, keep your 2007
tax returns, make a copy of them, and next January and February, March,
April, when you get your taxes back, you compare your 2008 tax returns
to your 2006 and your 2007, and you will see that there is absolutely
no difference.
Then you can add those comments that we have been getting here over
the past couple of days, you can add that to the column of weapons of
mass destruction, and last throes and mission accomplished. Just take
that comment on its axis and put it in the column with the list of all
the other issues that have been in some ways misrepresented here on the
House floor and across the country.
So I am proud of this budget. I am proud that the Democratic budget
invests $50 billion to cover children. I am glad we are investing in
veterans health care, and those are things that need to be done. Those
are not things that individual families can do. Those are the things we
can only do collectively as a society, as a community.
I am so proud that you have had the opportunity to come down here and
lead this debate, as we are beginning to wrap up. I think it is
important to say that the Democrats have heard the call from the
American people in the November election. The country wanted to go in
another direction, and that is really what we have done.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. It is very interesting, my grandmother used to
say sometimes, I am so glad that I lived long enough. She used to say
sometimes, even as I go from day to day, you know they say thank God
for life. That is what she used to say, I am glad God allowed me to
live long.
I am so glad that God allowed me to live long enough to see the
paradigm shift that is now taking place here in Washington, D.C.; see
accountability;
[[Page H3349]]
see a new direction; see oversight and see us sharing in that
accountability, us sharing and making sure that we are making cuts and
having reform ourselves so that America can be better.
We used to say, Mr. Speaker, all the time in the 109th Congress, we
have the will and the desire to lead; give us the opportunity to lead.
And now that leadership is happening. So, Mr. Ryan, keep pointing it
out. Let us keep sharing good and accurate information. Let us continue
to go to the Congressional Record. Let us continue with our third-party
validators because we love third-party validators, and the credibility
and the integrity of the 110th Congress will live on in a bipartisan
way.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Well, I think the American people will be very glad
when they see this budget. They are going to be very glad over the past
couple of weeks and really over the past 100 days of all of the
accomplishments led by Speaker Pelosi and Steny Hoyer and Jim Clyburn
and Rahm Emanuel and John Larson, and really the amazing leadership we
are getting from our leadership in our caucus and the real teamwork on
behalf of our freshmen Members and the different aspects of our caucus.
I have never been prouder to be a Democrat than in the last couple of
weeks on this floor and to pass that resolution last week that is going
to get us out of Iraq responsibly, invest in our veterans, make sure
they get the kind of health care they need, the first 100 hours, where
we began to bring some fiscal discipline to the House, cut student loan
interest rates in half, repairing student loans, invested in
alternative energies, invested in the stem cell research and some great
advances, creating new sectors, raising the minimum wage, all of this
was done in the first 100 hours.
When you add to that the supplemental and the $1.7 billion and the
billion dollars for vets and the additional $1.7 billion above the
President's request for health care for our soldiers, and you add this
budget of $50 billion that is going to go to poor kids to make sure
that they get health care so they can go out and get up on their feet
and go to school healthy, ready to learn and move forward and get a
good job and pay taxes and advance their families forward, break the
cycle of poverty, these are the kind of investments that we are making,
increasing the Pell Grant to $4,600. Key investments.
So I am proud of what has been going on here, and it has been a
pleasure to rekindle this kind of debate that we have, and I really
appreciate your friendship.
With that, do you have any closing comments? I am going to wrap it up
here. [email protected]. If anybody wants to e-mail or see
any of the charts we have had, you can go to www.speaker.gov/
30something.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Ryan, it is always a pleasure coming to the
floor.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I am sorry to interrupt you, but we are leaving
tomorrow, and I will not see you till after the Final Four where the
Florida Gators and the Ohio State Buckeyes may have a rematch, and I
just want you to know everybody in Ohio is looking for some revenge.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Well, I just want to say that the past will
speak to the future, and I want to leave you with this closing comment:
remember the field mouse is fast, but the owl can see at night. It is a
pleasure being on the floor with you.
Mr. Speaker, it is always an honor to address the House.
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