[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 100 (Wednesday, June 20, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H6819-H6826]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        HIGHEST DEBT IN HISTORY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Altmire). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 18, 2007, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, it's an honor to be on the House 
floor. And I must say that free speech is a beautiful thing in the 
United States of America. Our friends on the other side can pretty much 
say anything they want in this wonderful Chamber in this country, with 
absolutely no ramifications or connection to the truth at all. And I 
want to just share with the American people and I want to share with 
other Members of Congress, Mr. Speaker, and my good friend here from 
Connecticut, some facts that have been absent over the last hour and 
really over the last couple of days.
  I think it is important to just go back and piece the history 
together. Over the past 6 years there has been a Republican House, a 
Republican Senate, and a Republican White House. The gentlemen on the 
other side, fine men from fine families who have been speaking here, 
have completely forgotten about the last 6 years. They think that they 
ran up a high bar tab and that it can be fixed rather easily. The fact 
of the matter is they ran up, the Republican House, Republican Senate, 
Republican White House, $3 trillion in debt, $3 trillion over the last 
6 years.
  They just got out of office in January, and here it is June, and 
they're acting like this is ancient history. Three trillion dollars. 
They had the debt limit raised five or six times, which means they had 
to pass legislation out of here that would allow the Department of 
Treasury to borrow more money. And then 5 months after they're out of 
office, they come here, Mr. Speaker, and they talk like they've had 
nothing to do with this.
  Now, we saw our friend from Texas earlier hold up the Blue Dog 
Coalition debt limit sign, over $8 trillion, almost to $9 trillion in 
debt and act like they had nothing to do with it. But the American 
people recognized in November and asked for a change in government, and 
they got it.
  Let me clear up another fact that has been misrepresented here today 
and yesterday and over the past couple of weeks. This is their quote, 
``The Democrats are somehow going to raise taxes. It is the largest tax 
increase in the history of the United States of America.'' Not 
accurate. Not true. I ask the American people, and as I speak and it is 
written into the Congressional

[[Page H6820]]

Record, we need to ask all Americans to keep their tax forms from this 
year and hold on to them and match them to next year's tax forms. There 
will be no increase in taxes from the Democrats. None. And take the 
statements that have been said here, take your tax forms. Don't believe 
me. Don't believe Mr. Murphy or Mr. Meek or any of our other 30-
something friends who are going to come here, keep your own forms.
  Now the bottom line is this; we know how to govern. Our friends on 
the other side have had their chance. They got the keys to the car in 
2000 when President Bush won and they controlled all levers of 
government and failed miserably; $3 trillion in debt, a foreign policy 
that's a complete disaster, a FEMA organization agency that can't even 
respond to natural disasters in the United States of America. They 
can't even get the American citizens their passports. So save the 
lectures for somebody who wants to listen to them, because quite 
frankly, we don't, and the American people do not want to listen to 
them. That's the bottom line. When you can get the American people 
their passports on time, then come talk to us about worrying about 
environment and creating jobs and the economy and foreign policy. 
Enough is enough.
  My friends, Mr. Speaker, on the other side are putting all of their 
trust in Mr. Bush, our President, because he says he's going to veto 
all our bills. Well, let's just look at what the Republican Congress 
did. President Bush, Mr. Speaker, said that he's going to veto all our 
bills if they come in one dollar above what his submission was to the 
Congress. Let's look at what happened in 2005.
  This is the defense bill in 2005. The Congress spent, Republican 
Congress, $45 billion more than President Bush requested. President 
Bush signed the bill on December 30, 2005. Transportation 
appropriations bill, Republican Congress spent $7.2 billion more than 
President Bush requested. President Bush signed the bill on November 
30, 2005. Labor, Health and Education. Republican Congress spent $5 
billion more than President Bush. President Bush signed that bill into 
law on December 30th. On and on and on. And I can go through 
agriculture, military, I will submit this for the record so that all of 
America can go and check this out. Three trillion dollars in debt. Some 
of the highest deficits in the history of our country were run up by 
the Republican House, Republican Senate, Republican White House.
  Here we go. Exploding national debt under the Bush, now Mr. Nussle, 
who is joining the team, projected 10-year budget surplus of $5.6 
trillion turned into a projected 10-year deficit of $3 trillion. The 
surpluses were gone. In the largest budget deficits in American 
history, Mr. Speaker, $378 billion in 2003, $412 billion in 2004, $318 
billion in 2005.
  Now, you look at the Democratic budget, Mr. Murphy, and you will see 
that we balance the budget. Keep your 2008 forms. We do not raise your 
taxes. Just to prove what the other side is saying to us, keep them. We 
don't raise your taxes and we balance the budget. And I can't even wait 
until all of these pass and we can go all around the country, Mr. 
Murphy, and talk about what we have done. The largest increase, and I 
will be happy to yield to you in a second, my friend, the largest 
increase in veterans spending in the history of the VA. So all of the 
problems that our veterans have been having, backlogs, they don't have 
enough workers in the VA system to process the claims, all of that is 
going to be taken care of. All of our kids that are coming back and our 
adults and our soldiers coming back, there is $500 million in this bill 
for post-traumatic stress. There is money in here for amputees. There 
is money in here for prosthetics. There is money in here for brain 
injuries. There is money in here to make sure the veterans don't have a 
huge increase in their copay and user fees, as the Republican Congress 
and President Bush nickeled and dimed their veterans to death. And this 
budget that we prepared for the veterans was approved by Disabled Vets, 
Paralyzed Vets. Everyone has approved and said this is a monumental 
step.
  So we can get into energy, and I'm sure we will tonight; we can get 
into Homeland Security, which I'm sure we will tonight; we can get into 
Labor, Health and Education, which I'm sure we will tonight, and 
basically say, Mr. Speaker, that we have delivered for the American 
people exactly what they want.
  I understand what the polls say right now, but our budget has not 
been implemented yet. And when people go next year and they apply for a 
Pell Grant and they're allowed to get $700 more so they can send their 
kid to college, and their student loans rates are cut in half and they 
get the minimum wage in July, and there are community health centers 
being built all over our country so that middle-class families who 
can't afford health care can go to a clinic at least and get their kids 
care. When you have a million more kids on SCHIP. Next year this is all 
going to happen, and some will happen before that, the American people 
will recognize that it was the Democratic Congress that pushed this 
agenda. And let the President veto it, let him.
  I yield to my friend from Connecticut.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Thank you very much, Mr. Ryan.
  I think what happened here over the last 12 years, and I was watching 
it all from the outside, is that the Republicans, for a very long time, 
vastly overestimated the gullibility of the American people. They 
thought they could stand up here and say over and over again that the 
Republicans are being fiscally responsible, and that the American 
people wouldn't notice that they were racking up record amounts of 
debt, $3 trillion, up to $9 trillion now is the amount of Federal debt 
that this government has racked up. The fact that they wouldn't notice 
that every single dime for this war in Iraq and Afghanistan has been 
borrowed money. I think you give them too much credit, Mr. Ryan. You 
said they were spending like a bunch of drunken sailors. Well, drunken 
sailors spend their own money at least, they probably don't spend it 
very wisely, but their own money. These are like a bunch of thieving 
drunken sailors. They were spending other people's money, my money, my 
parents' money, my neighbor's money, all the while kind of pretending 
that we weren't ever going to have to pay it back.
  So what we've seen here tonight and what we've seen over the last few 
days is a Republican minority now that continues to vastly overestimate 
the gullibility of the American people. They think they can stand here, 
try to make disappear everything that happened over the last 12 years, 
and that once again they can stand here and talk about being fiscally 
responsible, while the very mess that we're here cleaning up is all 
theirs in the making.

                              {time}  2100

  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Now, Mr. Speaker, here is what we are 
doing. You mentioned that we have a balanced budget, in 5 years we are 
going to balance this budget. But on top of that, we are starting to 
fix some of the biggest messes they left this Democratic Congress.
  Take for example the Alternative Minimum Tax. Now, not a lot of 
people know what this thing is. You know it if you are paying it, and 
you are going to start paying it year after year. More people will 
start paying more and more. This is the biggest middle-class tax 
increase potentially in the history of this country, imposed by a 
Republican Congress. And, guess what? We are going to fix it. We are 
going to take it on.
  For the first time, legislation that comes before this House actually 
has to be paid for as we go along; the pay-as-you-go rule. Every 
spending increase that this Congress proposed has to be accompanied by 
either a revenue offset or a spending offset. That's real fiscal 
responsibility; rules passed by the Democratic majority here that are 
going to finally impose some fiscal discipline on this place.
  So the Republicans and the minority can say over and over again 
whatever they want. They can hope that if they say it often enough that 
they will believe it and maybe a few people out there will believe it.
  But what is going to happen here over the next few months is results, 
Mr. Ryan. It is going to be rhetoric matched with results: Fixing the 
AMT, balancing the Federal budget over 5 years, making sure that every 
bill that

[[Page H6821]]

comes before this House is paid for as we go along, record increases 
for veterans programs, for education programs, for the things that 
people want to have funded in their communities.
  There are finally going to be some words that are matched with 
actions here. As much as the other side of the aisle may try to make 
this disappear, they are going to find an American people that isn't as 
gullible as they used to think they were.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I would be happy to yield to my good friend, the 
Cardinal from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz).
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank Mr. Ryan 
and Mr. Murphy.
  Mr. Speaker, I am really pleased to be here with my colleagues from 
the 30-Something Working Group once again.
  Just to jump off what our good friend Mr. Murphy was talking about, 
we are in the midst of the ``New Direction Congress.'' Mr. Ryan, Mr. 
Meek and I spent the last several years on this floor railing about the 
``culture of corruption,'' railing against our good friends on the 
other side of the aisle, whose only interest when they spoke about tax 
cuts was providing those tax cuts to the wealthiest few in this 
country.
  Now, what is amazing about our ability to move this country in a new 
direction is that we can really focus on those targeted tax cuts that 
will help the average working family, the regular folks, the people who 
don't have the ability to just kick back, put their feet up on the desk 
and live on Easy Street day in and day out.
  We are talking about people who live paycheck to paycheck. Not poor 
people who live paycheck to paycheck, but people in middle America, who 
make sure that all their bills are paid, just like we are trying to do 
here with our PAYGO provision, but make sure all their bills are paid. 
But it takes every dollar they have to do it.
  Then you add to their budget the increased price of gas, which 
increases the price of food, which impacts everything that regular, 
everyday working families have to deal with. And we hit them under the 
Republican-led Congress with an Alternative Minimum Tax, that was never 
supposed to be directed at them, but ultimately scooped up so many of 
those hardworking taxpayers. And you know we listened to the garbage 
rhetoric that is so tired on the other side.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, it is like the 1992-1993 talking 
points have been taken off the shelf somewhere in the cloakroom and 
dusted off.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I am glad the gentleman jumped 
in. It is like either they have a tape recorder that is stuck on 
rewind, or maybe we are trapped in ``Groundhog Day'' and we don't know 
it, or maybe they are just tired.
  We used to be in meetings, and I have sat in many meetings where I 
have had colleagues and supporters express frustration because they 
marvel at our Republican friends' ability to come up with these pithy, 
cute, packaged messages and that ours aren't as cute and pithy and 
succinct.
  Well, do you know what? That is because we don't have purely 
simplistic solutions to complex problems. The American people saw right 
through the pithy, cute, succinct, tired slogans that the Republicans 
have been throwing at them year after year and don't believe them 
anymore. They reached the point where they won't just take what they 
say when they repeat it over and over again at face value.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, let's look at what happened here in 
the last couple of days. Right here, about 20 minutes ago, we heard two 
of our friends on the other side, Mr. Speaker, talk about a balanced 
budget amendment. They just ran up $3 trillion in debt, raised the debt 
limit five times, and it is like it never happened. Let's put on a 
balanced budget amendment, the constitutional amendment.
  It is unbelievable.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, they also talked about earmark 
reform. They were railing on and on about earmark reform.
  Who brought earmark reform to Congress? We did. Who brought about the 
beginning of the end of the war in Iraq, hopelessly mired in a chaotic 
conflict in another country? If you rewind back to pre-November 7, what 
was their cute, pithy, succinct little saying? Stay the course. We 
can't pull out. We can't cut and run.
  Who is scrambling to make sure they can protect their own political 
hides now and be supportive of making sure that we can withdraw, but in 
a responsible fashion? Well, it is they that spend plenty of time 
talking about that. We are the ones that are bringing about the 
beginning of the end of this war by putting those votes up on that 
board and bringing those bills to this floor that they refused to yield 
on.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, the beautiful thing about this is that 
for how many years they talked about the protecting the homeland, about 
homeland security, that it make us safer fighting there so we don't 
have to fight here, all their rhetoric hasn't delivered.
  So here we come, right? We come with an increase in funding so we can 
fund the ``loose nukes'' program, the Nunn-Lugar program, so we have 
more people out with more money buying more loose nuclear weapons that 
are getting spread around the world, we put hundreds of millions of 
dollars more into this program, which is going to keep us safe.
  Mr. Speaker, last week, the mother of all rhetorical contortions, we 
are passing a Homeland Security bill here, or trying to pass, where 
3,000 Border Patrol agents will be funded; technology for all our ports 
to monitor chemical and biological weapons coming in; grants for first 
responders, police, fire. We also passed 50,000 new cops for the 
country for communities who can't afford them, a lot like mine. And 
they held up the bill. They held up the bill.
  Mr. Speaker, we are trying to pass funding for 3,000 Border Patrol 
agents, and they are trying to hold up the bill. Now, who is for 
homeland security now? And on and on and on.
  But what we have shown, and this is what I love about it, is that 
when these bills pass, those men and women who get hired to be Border 
Patrol agents will know it was the Democrats. When the minimum wage 
goes in this summer, they will know it was the Democrats. When you go 
to get a Pell grant, they will know it was the Democrats.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, when we bring an energy package 
the week before we leave for the July 4 recess that really begins to 
make sure that we end our addiction to foreign oil, they will know it 
was the Democrats. When we make sure we bring about an end to this war 
in Iraq, they will know it was the Democrats. And they will say 
repeatedly, ``they'' being the smart American citizens, American 
voters, they will say to our good friends on the other side of the 
aisle exactly what they said to them on November 7, after listening 
over and over to the same tired slogans, ``Talk to the hand. We don't 
want to hear it anymore. We see through your garbage. And we are voting 
to make sure we can move this country in a new direction.''
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, let me tell you what happened 
in my district, because it happened in 40 other districts around the 
country last fall.
  All the people who are fiscal conservatives, people who were 
concerned about fiscal responsibility frankly probably voted Republican 
for a long time because they did believe that the words were backed up 
by the actions, finally saw through all that rhetoric. And all those 
true fiscal conservatives came out and voted Democrat.
  My district hadn't been Democrat for 24 years. And, guess what? It 
wasn't just the social progressives and the anti-war activists who came 
out and said we want change. It was the fiscal conservatives, the 
people who were concerned about the absolute and utter incompetency in 
this Government that came out and decided to change this place.
  And, guess what? They are seeing results here. They are seeing 
results because what they did was they saw a party that over the years 
started out as a collection of ideas that ended up just being a 
collection of special interests.
  Mr. Speaker, the words they used were still the same. Their 
allegiances changed over time. Their allegiances didn't happen to sit 
with the ideas that they held. Their allegiances sat with the lobbyists 
and the special interests and the folks that they were protecting

[[Page H6822]]

every single day on this House floor. Those voters who came out and 
voted Democrat based on fiscally sound and fiscally responsible 
principles last year are going to do the same thing 2 years from now 
because they are going to see that balanced budget. They are going to 
see the Alternative Minimum Tax. They are going to see the pay-as-you-
go rules. Those are all results. Those are going to be voters that will 
be sticking with the Democratic Party.

                              {time}  2115

  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. They are not going to see a tax increase. Again, 
keep your tax forms from this year, compare them to what you fill out 
next year. There will be no tax increase. Period, dot, Mr. Speaker. 
When you wonder why the fiscal conservatives gave the Democrats a 
chance and why we are passing balanced budgets, why we passed a rule in 
the House called PAYGO which says if you spend money, you got to pay 
for it. You got to find a cut somewhere to cut it out.
  Here is why they voted for us: This President and the Republican 
Congress, as we have stated ad nauseam on this floor, have borrowed 
more money from foreign interests in the last 6 years than any other 
President and Congress before them combined. Combined. From foreign 
interests.
  Now, look here: Japan; China; UK; Caribbean; OPEC countries, $67 
billion of our debt; Japan; China, $349 billion.
  Now, we are trying to compete with China. And one of our friends was 
up here earlier today with an amendment. We have to compete against 
China. No kidding. Well, then why did you, he wasn't here, but why did 
his predecessors before him borrow over $600 billion from China, and 
then turn around and say, hey, aren't we competing with the bank we are 
borrowing from? How are we going to work this out?
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Mr. Ryan, one of the most perplexing bars 
on that graph is the amount of money that we have borrowed from OPEC 
nations. You want to talk about why we can't stand across the table 
from the countries that are pillaging American consumers with these 
ridiculously, monstrously high gas prices?
  Guess what? We can't sit across and be an honest broker from them 
because they hold the mortgage to this country. The same can be said of 
the Chinese and the same can be said of European nations. We have lost 
so much of our ability to sit and be an honest broker in negotiations 
over energy policy and foreign policy, because they own our currency. 
They hold all of our debt.
  So beyond how terrible this is for the American taxpayers, it is also 
terrible for the American foreign relations. It has to stop.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. You stand here and scratch your head and 
wonder how it is they could allow it to get to this point. There is no 
logical, rational explanation. The only thing I could come up with is, 
A, they think we are dealing with Monopoly money here and it is not 
real money and it is not real debt; or, B, it is not really my personal 
debt, so it doesn't affect my personal bottom line, so it doesn't 
matter; or, C, which is the worst, they just didn't care.
  It just didn't matter. Their rhetoric was of the utmost importance to 
them. Making sure they could continue to pass tax cuts that benefited 
the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans, the debt be damned, the deficit 
be damned, none of that mattered to them, as long as they could keep 
their contributors happy.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Even when they did spend money, they spent 
it in such a ludicrous way as to waste the taxpayers' money on 
essential programs like the prescription drug benefit. Even when they 
chose to roll out a brand new and expensive new domestic program, they 
overspent to the tune of potentially $50 billion a year by cutting a 
deal with the drug companies so as to prohibit the Federal Government 
from using its bulk purchasing power.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Murphy, to add insult to injury, the 
administration, now that they are not in power here, the administration 
is using its ability through their agencies to try to cram new formulas 
down the throats of our hospitals so their reimbursement rate is 
dramatically impacted, dramatically cut, so that they aren't able to 
serve the people who need the most help.
  So not only are our seniors getting nailed by not being able to make 
sure that they have truly the lowest possible prices that they can pay, 
that we could negotiate on their behalf for prescription drugs, but our 
hospitals are facing major cuts at the hands of the administration 
without any input from elected officials, just bureaucrats in the Bush 
White House's administration.
  They actually have one proposed formula change that would presume 
that hospitals are just going to game the system, so they are cutting 
money out of their budgets, just because. Pretty much just because they 
think they are going to play with their numbers. Because they are going 
to make that assumption, they are going to take the money away, rather 
than prove that they do that and then take the money away.
  That is accountability? That is like what is that game that you play 
on the street, Three Card Monte. They are playing Three Card Monte with 
people's health care. I don't know. Maybe it is because most of the 
people who run this country in the Bush administration can afford to 
pay their own medical bills, so maybe it is just they have hired too 
many people who don't understand what it is like to try to pay the 
bills every month. Really, it is just beyond baffling.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. I think it was a pretty simple formula. It 
was that we were going to squeeze and squeeze the people who have the 
least in this society, and that is the hospitals that care for the sick 
and the uninsured, it is the families that have the courage to send 
their loved ones off to war, it is middle-class families who can't 
afford to pay another dime. Those are the people that are going to get 
soaked in order to fund these giant tax cuts for the people.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. It is people who need to be able tomorrow pay 
for their gas in their car and who are running businesses who need to 
pay for the vehicles their employees are operating so they can make 
sure they can serve their customers so they can stay in business and 
pay their employees. Those are the people they are not thinking about.
  I had a press conference a couple of weeks ago with Congressman Klein 
who also replaced a Member in a district that had not been represented 
by a Democrat for 26 years. We were out there with some of our small 
business owners who talked about the impact of gas prices on their 
bottom line.
  I have a constituent in Southwest Ranches who runs a repair business. 
He literally last year employed 24 people, Mr. Ryan, and now employs 
14. He directly attributes this to the fact that he can't afford the 
gas that he needs to be able to run his trucks around to the businesses 
that want to hire him to do the repair work. That is just unbelievable.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I think it is important for us to say, we know that 
the government can't do everything. We know that we can't solve every 
problem. We have got some basic responsibilities though, defense and 
what not.
  One of the things we are doing here when it comes to gas and oil in 
the bill that we were on the floor today with, the Energy 
appropriations bill, is to invest into alternative energy sources. It 
is very important for us to recognize and for the American people to 
recognize what we are doing with our budget, because we had a lot of 
amendments and ``cut this'' and ``cut that.''
  This bill passed out as a bipartisan bill on the House Energy and 
Water Subcommittee, led by Mr. Hobson from Ohio, who is a great ranking 
member and was a great chair of this committee. But, finally, over the 
hurdles of many Republicans, over the hurdles of the President, we are 
now investing into renewable energy and energy efficiency procedures 
here $1.9 billion, a 50 percent increase in energy efficiency and 
renewable energy technology. An additional $300 million was added from 
the joint resolution 2007 resolution we passed.

  We are investing in biofuels. Solar energy, hydropower, geothermal, 
new vehicle technology, new materials technology so we can have lighter 
vehicles that don't use as much fossil fuel, weatherization grants, 
carbon capture and sequestration, climate change science research.

[[Page H6823]]

  You want to talk about moving the country forward? This bill funds 
3,500 scientists.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Could I ask you a question, Mr. Ryan? We are 
both on the Appropriations Committee and the committee is working very 
hard in a bipartisan way, I might add, to produce a product that we can 
really have the American people be proud of.
  Is the President talking about signing this bill into law?
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. The President is talking about vetoing this bill, 
my good friend.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Vetoing this bill. Isn't this the same 
President that talked, again more words, no action, talked about the 
need for America to end our addiction to foreign oil in his State of 
the Union that we sat right in this Chamber and heard him say?
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Ms. Wasserman Schultz, I think in four or 
five or six State of the Union speeches in a row. Not just the last 
one.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Here we have a budget that actually funds 
scientists, funds research. There is a great report that has come out 
called Rising Above the Coming Storm, something along those lines, a 
beautiful panel of experts led by the former CEO of Lockheed Martin, 
probably not a Democrat, if I had to guess, but a very detailed report 
on what we need to do.
  One of the key components was focus on basic research in the physical 
sciences. That is what this bill does. Our friend, when I mentioned 
this the other day, I said, this is a jobs bill. This is the next 
generation of people that are going to benefit from the research money. 
They are going to get into research. They are going to partner with 
businesses and spring out in more research and development and 
manufacturing and everything else.
  He said, well, this is not a jobs bill. I take issue with what the 
Member from Ohio is saying.
  Well, I am sorry. If we figured out a way to do research and create 
jobs from it and create new industries, isn't that a good thing? That 
we were able to get a real good bang for our buck in the investments 
that we have made?
  I just think, Mr. Speaker, that illustrates the difference in 
philosophy. We have one party in this country who comes to the floor 
and says they can solve every complex issue with two words: Smaller 
government, lesser taxes, this and that.
  We have a bill that doesn't raise taxes and we are able, because we 
peeled off $14 billion in corporate welfare that we were giving to the 
oil companies last year and we put it in alternative energy research, 
we were able to make that investment without raising taxes. Don't be 
mad at us. Don't be a hater.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. I am not a hater. As a new Member, I am 
loving every minute of this, Mr. Ryan.
  Listen to me: From every standpoint it makes sense. You talk about 
the jobs that an investment in alternative energy is going to bring. 
Undoubtedly it is going to make our air cleaner. It is going to reduce 
our contribution to global warming. We know in the long run it is going 
to bring prices down. It is going to be the thing that finally breaks 
our dependence on the high prices of foreign oil.
  Also it is about national security. It is about finally breaking us 
free of dependency on the countries that produce that oil, that 
compromise a lot of our conversations in places in the world like the 
Middle East, compromised additionally by the amount of debt those OPEC 
nations hold. So, it is kind of a win-win-win-win-win-win scenario.
  So the question is why didn't it happen? Well, it didn't happen 
because the agenda here wasn't about the economy. The agenda wasn't 
about cleaning up the air. The agenda wasn't about lowering gas prices. 
The agenda was about helping a bunch of people in the oil industry.
  This is what happens when you break this place free of special 
interests. Good policy starts to happen. You get wins for everybody 
when you start making this about Main Street, right, instead of about 
the few people that get in the room and write the legislation based on 
how much money they have given to campaigns and how much influence they 
have inside the Beltway.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. You know, Mr. Murphy, what you and Mr. Ryan 
just outlined is what Speaker Pelosi always talks about when we are in 
our Caucus meetings and when I have heard her talk about the direction 
that she is helping us lead this country, and that is the budget, and 
by extension the appropriations bills, are an expression of our values.
  Mr. Ryan, you talked about our colleague on the other side, and I was 
in the Chamber when you stood up and talked about that. It really is an 
expression of our values and a stark contrast in the difference between 
ours and theirs. Their values were expressed in the energy bills that 
they passed in the 109th Congress, which gave away $14 billion in 
subsidies to the oil industry, which when we came into the majority we 
included in our first 100-hour agenda. The first six bills we passed, 
one of those was repealing those $14 billion in subsidies so we could 
responsibly use that money to expand alternative energy research. We 
earmarked that money appropriately and are holding it so that we can 
make sure we spend it on really ending our addiction to foreign oil.
  So if you look at the Homeland Security bill, the Military 
Construction bill, the Energy and Water bill, all of the appropriations 
bills that we are going through right now, they are an expression of 
our values. They show these stark and clear differences between the way 
we choose to take this country, in the direction we choose to take this 
country, versus the direction that they had us on, which was careening 
into oblivion.

  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. I think I work pretty hard. I get back to 
the district every minute I can. I see as many people as I am able to. 
But you don't have to work that hard to hear what the values of the 
American people are. I mean, you don't have to be everywhere at all 
times in your district to understand that when people were crying out 
for energy reform, energy reform wasn't giving more tax giveaways to 
big oil.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. No, but you do have to be listening. It is 
very easy to stand as a Member of Congress in front of a group of 
people, have a town hall meeting, be in a room sitting on your couch in 
your office, and you are there but you are not listening.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. All I mean by that is it makes it even 
more inexcusable that all you had to do was go out and listen a little 
bit to hear the cries from people.
  There are these sort of ``are you kidding me'' moments that happen 
out there. They happened in my district, when people are asking, 
listen, do something about energy policy. And the ``do something'' was 
let's just empower the oil companies even more.
  People are crying out for change in our policy towards Iraq, and the 
answer was we are going to commit ourselves to even more troops and 
even more money and an even greater failed policy.
  People stand there and say, are you kidding me? Did you hear anything 
I said? And for 12 years, the answer increasingly was no. We didn't 
hear anything you said. We didn't try, and in fact our ears were 
attuned to a very different set of people.
  So now, this revolution that happened here isn't terribly 
revolutionary. We are finally starting to listen to people again, and 
that means investing in alternative energy, that means setting a new 
course in Iraq, that means making it easier for kids to go to college.
  These aren't new ideas. These are ideas that people have been talking 
about in bars and in diners and pancake breakfasts and pasta dinners 
for years.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I don't want to say it is fun, because there are a 
lot of people that are still struggling, but it is so much better now 
to go back to your district and people ask you, what are you doing 
about gas prices? And we have got a great budget, and it is not 
immediate. That is the painful thing that you have to realize. People 
are struggling and people who are driving from lab to lab, they somehow 
have to use a lot of transportation, it is hard.
  But we have something here that we are passing from the House that is 
going to significantly over time reduce our dependence on foreign oil, 
and it is going to benefit the average American consumer.
  So, let's look at this in the broad sense. Of all the promises, the 
Democrats made promises, they got in, we

[[Page H6824]]

gave them a shot. We are taking advantage of this shot. One, we didn't 
raise taxes, first of all.
  But look at what we did. If you are the average person sitting out 
there, you now in July will have an increase in the minimum wage to 
over $7 an hour. So anyone who is associated with that will get an 
increase. Those people slightly above will also get an increase. 
Included in that was a tax cut for small businesses, so that those 
people who are bearing the brunt of this will benefit as well.
  Then you are getting $700 more in your Pell Grant. So if you have got 
kids in school, you are going to get an extra $700 a year grant money. 
If you are in Ohio, Governor Strickland's budget, a former Democratic 
Member of Congress who is now Governor, passed a budget where there is 
a zero percent increase in tuition in Ohio next year, zero percent the 
following year, which traditionally has been almost a 9 percent 
increase over the past 5 or 6 years.
  So if you are a student in Ohio, you are getting a 9 percent cut in 
your tuition from an increase that would have happened to zero, and you 
are getting an extra $700 Pell Grant. You are talking about an almost 
$2,000 tax cut for average families in Ohio if you go to school.
  So you got the minimum wage, you got the Pell Grant, you have 
community health clinics, about $400 million increase between the 
supplemental and what we are doing in this year's bill. There will be 
hundreds of more health clinics around the country this year. People 
can get their healthcare. We are investing in research, 3,500 
scientists will be funded through this bill in all of these different 
areas for alternative energy research. Increased funding in Head Start, 
Even Start, after school programs. This is a bill for the people.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. These are bills, because it is plural, that 
truly think about what the needs are of the average person, the person 
that we have been talking about for this whole hour that has a paycheck 
come in and has to figure out how they are going to pay all the bills 
with the money that comes in.
  The help that we need to give them to do is to make sure not that we 
put money in their pocket, because like you said, Mr. Ryan, government 
can't do everything. Government is here to provide assistance when it 
is needed, when the person doesn't have the ability to deal with the 
issue on their own.

                              {time}  2130

  Like the cost of a student loan, like making sure that they earn a 
minimal amount of money so they can pay their bills and making sure 
that the government ensures that the domestic homeland security needs 
are taken care of, that we have an appropriate number of Border Patrol 
which has been woefully and inadequately funded under the Bush 
administration.
  They spend a whole lot of time beating on their chest and saying how 
important it is that we have a strong Border Patrol. The Bush 
administration did not fund as many or even ask for as many Border 
Patrol agents as the Clinton administration did. It is just rampant 
hypocrisy. That is all I have seen in the 2\1/2\ years that I have been 
here. It is blah, blah, blah. All they do is talk, and it is hollow and 
empty behind the words.
  They have the wrong kind of transparency on their side of the aisle, 
and folks see through it. That is why they are counting on us to make 
sure that we take care of these things.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. One of the miracles of what is happening 
here, we are starting to change those priorities without spending more 
money in order to do that. You can tack onto your list of help to kids 
and families the fact that we passed legislation that could bring on 
average $4,000 in relief to students by lowering the interest rate on 
student loans. That is $4,000 back in the pocket of a young man or 
woman graduating from college, that is going to be looking to pile on a 
mortgage on top of their debt. And we did it at no additional expense 
to the taxpayers. We changed in a small way the amount of money that we 
guarantee to banks, and the banks are doing pretty well out there 
already, and we got $4,000 back in the pockets of American students and 
graduates without costing anybody else a dime. Same thing on the energy 
policy.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. When you look at why are we doing this, because we 
are competing against 1.3 billion people in China. We are competing 
with 1.2 citizens in India. Not only do we have to do that, but we have 
to put the pedal to the metal and increase the speed of what we are 
doing here. This is just the beginning of what we need to do to be 
competitive, to make sure that we have enough engineers and scientists 
doing the kind of research that we are passing bills on now, starting 
to lay the groundwork for, so more kids can afford college.
  And we have to ask all of the citizens of this country to step up to 
bat and really make sure that you are developing your skills and 
talents to the best of your ability because we can't do it for you. We 
are going to help with funding and after school. We are going to make 
sure that kids get the kind of support that they need, but we need 
Americans to step up to bat and develop the kids so we can compete.
  We only have 300 million people in the country. We are competing 
against 1.3 billion in China and 1.2 billion in India. We need 
everybody to develop to their fullest extent.
  One final point, we are creating through these bills new industries 
that will pay dividends for our country. The alternative energy is one. 
With all of the funding in research, it is going to create things and 
scientists are going to develop things and partner with the private 
sector. Ten years from now, we can't even imagine what will come with 
this investment just this year.
  In committee we had testimony that there was a blip in energy 
research, an increase in the late seventies when President Carter was 
here, and then it went right back down. In those 2 years, solar panels 
were developed. In those 2 years of that increase in funding.
  Give these bright people the resources they need. And also, we have 
been able to move stem cell research which the President has vetoed. We 
can't even imagine the health care advances that will come from that 
research.
  So we are creating new areas for young people to grow into and to 
create jobs for American people.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Ryan, you try to come up with what you can 
compare this to as far as the situation we are in and who we are 
dealing with here. It is like we are in the 21st century and we are 
negotiating with the Cro Magnon man, people who are stuck in the 
Paleozoic era. How do you even begin a conversation?
  If it is not their values, maybe it is that they are literally--maybe 
the tape recorder is broken. Maybe they are stuck in the age of 
dinosaurs. You can watch TV and see there are commercials on with Cro 
Magnon man. Maybe they have infiltrated the United States Congress.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I see a commercial here. They are going to be mad 
at you. Why are you making fun of the caveman?
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. I know, I know, I am going to offend the 
cavemen. But we work with a lot of them. People who think like cavemen. 
That is not a constituency I have to worry about too much right now. 
Really, that is what we have to deal with.
  Can you imagine sitting around the negotiating table with a caveman. 
How easy would be it to move the caveman off their view. Not very easy. 
We need the American people to help continue to communicate with our 
colleagues and tug them into the 21st century where we are dwelling.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. I am excited that we almost got to the end 
of the hour without a five syllable word until Paleozoic. That is in 
part why I joined the 30-something Working Group, to get that kind of 
vocabulary help.
  There is a lot of anger coming from the minority side right now, and 
I think there is probably reason for them to be angry. When 1 or 2 
percent of the population gets the run of the place for 12 years.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. They brought it on themselves. They have only 
themselves to blame.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. When the other 98 percent get their 
government back, I would be angry myself if all of a sudden my day was 
over.
  But let's not overstate the partisan differences here because when we 
have

[[Page H6825]]

put on the House floor good legislation for the American people, that 
student loan cut that we talked about, investment in alternative 
energy, stem cell research, when we put that before the House a lot of 
Republicans came over and supported it.
  So there is a group of leadership, that is frankly the ones that come 
down the House floor and do most of talking, but there are a bunch of 
Republicans when Democrats finally put an agenda that is sticking up 
for regular people, they are going to support us on that. The 
newspapers and the TV talk shows are filled with the Republican 
leadership who, frankly, it seems to me, after 6 months on the job, 
don't speak for a lot of people on that side of the aisle.
  I think what we are doing here over time is when you get past a lot 
of the rhetoric, a lot of the votes end up being pretty bipartisan 
because when you get beyond the leadership, you have Republicans who 
are appreciative of the fact that Democrats have finally returned this 
place to the American people.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. It is going to be interesting to watch the 
contortions with our friends on the other side of the aisle, you can 
see their strategy is to blame the $3 trillion that they ran up somehow 
on us when we weren't in charge of anything, and then they are going to 
start taking credit for things like the earmark transparency that we, 
we are in charge here, so if it passes, we have done it. What we have 
done they are going to try to take credit for.
  But it will be so much nicer, I think, next year when all of this is 
passed and the American people recognize it is the Democrats that has 
done this. And if the President vetoes it, let's go out and campaign, 
take that one to the American people and let the President defend not 
hiring 3,500 scientists in DOE to do alternative energy research. Let 
him say he is going to veto the Pell Grants. It will be easier because 
we won't have to come to the floor as much, occasionally just to remind 
the American people what we are doing instead of trying to push what we 
are doing now. I think that will be a good time for us.
  So we are happy that we do get some support. As I stated earlier, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Hobson) has been a tremendous advocate for 
putting this budget together through the Energy Department, but the 
extremists in their party which have been governing their party for the 
last 6 years, are still coming kicking and screaming into the high-tech 
research and development economy that we are in now, and somehow think 
if they cut taxes for a millionaire and that millionaire invests that 
money in a plant in China, that somehow is benefiting average 
Americans. Wages have been stagnant for 30 years. So we are trying to 
create new economies, new sectors of the economy that will grow and 
provide opportunity for most people.
  I just saw a poll yesterday, 7 in 10 Americans think the economy is 
getting worse for them. That is obviously not shared prosperity, and 
our friends come to the floor and say the stock market is doing great. 
Well, that is great if you have stocks. And even if you do, I don't 
know if it makes up for the stagnant wages and the 20 percent increase 
in health care costs.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. We need some more bipartisanship. And the Six 
in 06 agenda, the Medicare legislation to ensure that we can negotiate 
for lower drug prices, the repeal of the $14 billion in subsidies, the 
passage of the 9/11 Commission recommendations, the minimum wage, those 
bills had an average of 65 Republican votes. We are glad to have the 
rank and file Members who clearly were stymied and strangled by their 
leadership in the majority who are willing to do the right thing and 
come along with us.
  I wish we could see more of that bipartisanship and wide open eyes on 
the war in Iraq because we still have a bunch of lemmings who continue 
to just be willing to walk off the plank and not ask any questions and 
continue the same mantra. It is really startling.
  The bills that we put out on this floor to establish a timeline and 
to establish benchmarks and to ensure that we can begin to turn this 
conflict over to the Iraq government, maybe we got two Republican votes 
on those bills. And one we got one Republican vote on it.
  You know, over the weekend, because we have been waiting, and they 
all say wait until September. There are 14 who went to the White House 
and said to the President, you have until September. We are going to 
hang with you, but in September we better see some results or else.
  Over the weekend, in my papers we saw commentary from General 
Petraeus who said, you know, it is not looking like we are going to be 
able to do any significant draw down or any draw down of troops in 
September. In fact, we may need to be in Iraq for 10 years. Ten years.
  Mr. Speaker, my children will be adults in 10 years. My oldest kids 
are 8. That means we will have spent virtually because what we are 
going on, 6 years in Iraq now, that means we will have spent my 
children's entire life in Iraq. Can you imagine. Their entire childhood 
twisted and mired in another country's conflict that we created for no 
good reason or at least for a reason that wasn't accurate with an 
administration who can't admit when they are wrong. There is no 
bipartisanship there, and let's just make that clear.
  When, God forbid, when we are still twisted in this war in Iraq next 
year, we will do our best that we vote to bring those troops home and 
establish those benchmarks and some accountability. But if we don't 
have the votes to override a veto with our Republican colleagues, we 
will still be there next year, and that is what is going to decide the 
2008 election.
  It is not that I hope that happens because I don't. I want to make 
sure that the troops come home and are reunited with their family, but 
we will have a Democratic President at that point because the American 
people are done. Stick a fork in them, done.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, for all those people out 
there who came out to the polls and voted on national security or 
fiscal responsibility or competence in government, no matter what you 
hear late at night here or on the talk radio shows from the 
Republicans, pay attention to what happens here in the House of 
Representatives over the coming weeks and months.
  Pay attention to the Democratic majority's plan to balance this 
budget, to pass on tax relief to people that need it, to start 
restoring order in this world so we are fighting the right fight at the 
right time. Pay attention to what happens here.

                              {time}  2145

  As we have said over and over again, for the first time in over a 
decade, words are going to be matched with actions. From one side of 
this Chamber, from the Republican side, you're going to see words. From 
the Democratic side, you're going to see words and action to follow. As 
a new Member of the 30-somethings and as a new Member of this Congress, 
that's what makes me proud to be here, is that we're saying the right 
things and then we're doing the right things behind it. All those 
people who came out and cast their votes based on those ideas are going 
to find those ideas put into action here.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Let's reassure those soldiers and their families 
who are serving that this will not be another Vietnam when these kids 
come home. I think we've already seen that. In the VA budget, $1.7 
billion above the President's request for medical services. We have 
major construction, $3.6 billion, $193 million over the President's 
request. For medical administration, these vets have been backlogged 
for years, mental health and substance abuse, increase $100 million 
over the 07 request. Assistance for homeless vets, health care sharing 
incentive fund. A lot of money that's going to take care of them.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Two things I just wanted to add on that. For 
veterans, it means the largest single increase in the 77-year history 
for veterans health care in the Veterans Administration. What that 
means is that the people that I serve and that you serve that are 
veterans who are waiting 7 and 8 months to get their health care taken 
care of at their local VA hospitals, they're going to get taken care 
of. Actions to match words, just like the gentleman from Connecticut 
said.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Let's just remember that we're doing all this 
without raising taxes. Check your form this year, compare it to next 
year, there

[[Page H6826]]

will be no tax increase. We're reducing the budget. We balance it in 5 
years, unlike what has happened over the past 6 years with a Republican 
House, a Republican Senate and a Republican White House.
  Mr. Speaker, I think it's important to remind the American people of 
this, that they borrowed billions and billions, $644 billion from 
Japan, $349 billion from China, $100 billion in 06 from OPEC countries 
in order to begin the largest debt, $3 trillion. Our friends on the 
other side have raised the debt limit while they were in charge five 
times so they can borrow more money from Japan and China and put our 
national security at risk here and, quite frankly, not account for the 
budget in the United States like they should.
  It was an honor to be here with our friend from Florida.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Same here.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Our friend from Connecticut.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Thank you, Mr. Ryan.
  It's a privilege to be a part of the 30-somethings, Speaker Pelosi's 
working group. You can e-mail us at [email protected]. You 
can visit us on the Speaker's Web page, www.speaker.gov and there's a 
link there to the 30-something's page.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

                          ____________________