[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 110 (Wednesday, July 11, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H7651-H7653]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
30-SOMETHING WORKING GROUP CONTINUED
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 18, 2007, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) is recognized for
16 minutes.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to share some of
those minutes with my good friends who are here, and I just want to
kind of go on the point that Mr. Murphy was making.
We have a situation now where everything that we've done I think is
going to help average folks, middle-class folks, lower middle-class
folks, poor folks, upper middle-class folks. Think about a family who
in July is going to get an increase in the minimum wage, struggling to
get by, looking to get a little boost, and they get the boost because
of a new Democratic Congress and the priorities of the Speaker that
we're going to implement.
And then you have a kid in school or you have young kids that need
health care, and you're going to now be able to access the SCHIP
program. You're going to be able to go to more community health clinics
because there's been an increase of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Some more people are able to be covered.
{time} 2345
Then, if you are in a State like Ohio, where the Governor, Governor
Strickland, used to be a Member of this body, signed a budget that has
a zero percent increase in tuition costs this year and next year, that
used to be 9 percent on average in Ohio.
Now this same family has an increase in the minimum wage; they have a
$500 increase in the Pell Grant. They have student loans they are
taking out that will be cut in half from 6.8 to 3.4 percent. If they
have young toddlers, they will be covered under SCHIP. This family now
will be a healthy, educated productive family in the United States of
America, so that the 300 million people we have in this country can all
be on the field competing against China for us, competing against 1.3
billion people in China for the United States, competing against 1.2
billion people in India for the United States.
Now, isn't that a good thing? Aren't these good, smart, targeted
investments? I would say they are, and the benefits that we are going
to yield from these investments are going to serve us for generations
to come. We did a study in Ohio years ago; I think the University of
Akron did the study. For every dollar the State of Ohio invested in
higher education, they got $2 back in tax money, because those people
made $40,000 a year instead of $20,000 a year.
Now, this is a good investment. These are good investments for us to
make. Long term, they are going to make us more competitive. When you
look at what we are doing, what we are trying to do with stem cell
research, what we are trying to do with alternative energy research,
this is good stuff.
Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Just a quick point. During the May break,
I went back and spent most of the week visiting with manufacturers and
businesses in northwestern Connecticut. I could imagine what I heard
was the same thing from what anybody who makes that trip will hear.
It's all about workforce, workforce, workforce, that our economic
salvation as a region in the Northeast, but also as a country, is not
going to necessarily be, in terms of how cheap we can turn out the
rubber balls, it's going to be about the quality of our product, and
the quality of our production capacity.
That's all about training the new generation of workers. I mean, this
money that we are talking about, it doesn't just go for students who
are going to a 4-year Ivy League school. This is also money for kids
that are going to community technology colleges that are being trained
to be tool-
[[Page H7652]]
and-die makers, that are being trained to be computer technicians at
the shops and the manufacturing centers of the next decade and the
decade beyond.
If we are going to compete as a Nation, as you say, against China and
everyone else who is undercutting us, it is going to be because we have
the best trained and the most productive workforce in the country.
That's what our manufacturers are screaming for, and that's what you
address when you talk about putting money into higher education.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. We are trying to compete with 1.3 billion people in
China, 1.2 billion people in India. We only have 300 million people in
the country.
So it seems to me that these investments that we are making are very
wise, targeted investments. There is no tax increase. But what we are
saying is, is it better to make sure that the banks have an increased
inflated profit margin, or is it better for us as a country, the
public, to make those investments in the families and basically give
these families a tax cut? These middle-class families are getting a tax
cut.
If you are taking out a loan, and you have two, three, four people in
your family, you have a couple of kids going to school, both parents
work, you are making 60 or $70,000 a year, and you are taking out a
student loan, and last year if you took it out it was 6.8 percent and
if you take it out this year and it's 3.4 percent, that's a tax cut for
that family. When you go to file for the Pell Grant next year, and
there is an increase of 4 or 5 or $600, that is a tax cut for a middle-
class family.
What we are saying is we have a totally different philosophy from the
Republican Party. They are cutting taxes in half over the past 6 or 7
years for the top 1 percent of income earners in the country.
We are saying, and the American people will make a judgment on this
in the next election, would they rather have their Congress give a tax
cut to someone who makes $1 million a year, or would they rather have
us make the investments in the Pell Grant, in SCHIP, in community
health clinics, reduce and cutting student loan interest rates in half
and investing in alternative energy? Because that's what we are saying.
We would rather make these investments. We haven't raised taxes on
anybody at all. That's the beauty of this whole thing, is we are just
shifting our priorities. Instead of $14 billion going to the oil
companies and corporate welfare, we are investing that money in
alternative energy research. Instead of having billions of dollars go
to the banks, we are investing that money into kids and giving them
more access to college education, raising the minimum wage.
The American people, and many people are seeing, we all are seeing
the numbers of Congress right now. We are not good, we understand that.
But when these budgets hit, and the American people file their taxes
next year, and they see there has been no increase, but yet they go to
file for a Pell Grant and they see an increase in that and they see the
student loan rate has been cut in half for the loan last year they had
to take out for their kids and they get a boost in the minimum wage,
and we are hiring thousands of scientists to do research and
development through the energy bill that we passed last week, or that
we will pass this week, these are the things that the American people
will recognize, will understand and will see and these are going to
yield long-term benefits.
One final point, the Republican Party has had their opportunity over
the past 6 years to fully implement their whole agenda. They had a
Republican House, huge majority, Republican Senate, Republican White
House. They implemented the extreme neoconservative domestic agenda and
foreign policy agenda, and the country has never been in worse shape.
Their philosophy, there is no more debate, what are we going to
debate? They have had the chance to do it. They have done it. It's
over. They have implemented it.
We have got the chart you showed, all the money borrowed from China,
you know, all the money borrowed from foreign interests, the wages
stagnant for 30 years, a foreign policy that's an atrocity right now,
not a friend in the world.
So they have had a chance, and the American people have been kind
enough to give us a chance, and they are going to be very proud. I
understand that they may not all have felt yet what is going to come
their way, but I believe that early next year, when our budget is
implemented and they are having a chance to actually experience what we
have done, they are going to say they are the Democrats again, and we
are glad they are back in power.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. I started off the last hour talking about the
fact that tomorrow or the next day that Democrats, Republicans would be
able to show their true colors as it relates to the redeployment of
troops, something we have already voted on and the President vetoed.
I think it's important that Members point to H.R. 2956 that will be
on this floor in the next 48 hours, that will say responsible
redeployment of troops. Embodied in that bill will be recommendations
made not only by military advisers and those that are not longer a part
of this, because as you know in the Pentagon, you say something
different than what the Secretary under old Secretary Rumsfeld, back in
the days, when all of those things took place and you made a career
decision, if you had an idea that makes sense, and said, excuse me,
sir, I know you think you have all the ideas.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. That seems like 10 years ago.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. But it's alive and well. What we are learning
more than ever now, having hearings on Iraq, people coming forth with
some of the things that have us in the situation where we are now,
mounting evidence of failed policy is the justification for this
redeployment of troops.
Also, the issue, as it relates to the surge again, the Democratic
Congress passed a nonbinding resolution saying that we disagree with
the escalation of troops, that we need an escalation in diplomacy. We
needed to think smarter.
We talked about the lack of coalition just a few minutes ago. We used
to hear about the coalition. It got down to the single digits. It got
outright embarrassing for the administration, so they stopped talking
about it.
The mounting criticism of the failed Iraq policy, not only by Members
of the military, but also the American people and Members of this
Congress and some Republicans in the Senate and some Republicans here
in the House and definitely a number of Democrats and retired general
after retired general calling for a new direction. So this is what it's
going to come down to.
It's going to come down to Members taking out their card that we vote
with, and they are going to have to take it out. They are going to have
to find one of these meters or machines here, and they are going to
have to put it in there. They are going to have to vote ``yes'' or
``no.'' Do they want to vote for staying the course with the President
and all of the slogans that they come up with and that they poll, or
are they going to vote for a new direction and doing exactly what the
American people wanted us to do? That's the question.
I look forward to coming back to the floor, not only with Mr. Murphy,
but also with Mr. Ryan, talking about the issues that we are facing.
The good thing about being in the majority, and I can tell you from
someone that has been in the minority before in this House, is that we
can bring ideas to the floor and actually see them voted on that we
have not had before.
Mr. Ryan came up with a very important point, the fact that
Republicans had a number of years to do what they said that they want
to do. No one stood in their way. They could have done it. They didn't
do it. They had the opportunity to do it. We have asked them to be a
part of that opportunity that we are working on.
I am glad we had 16 additional minutes so we would have an
opportunity to get this information out.
Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. If I was one of those high-priced
political consultants and a prospective candidate came to me and said,
listen, this is what I want to be for, this is what I want to be known
for, I want to stand with the President every turn, make sure we stay
in Iraq for as long as we can. I think I am also going to be against
children's health care insurance. I am going to try to defend the
[[Page H7653]]
status quo on our health care system. I think it's about right, I think
we got it right.
Also, I think I also want to be against affordable college. I think I
also want to fight against increases in Pell Grants and Stafford loans
and all the rest. If I was that political consultant I might sort of
look at my watch, look at my date book, and, you know, take a pass on
that one.
You know why? It's not about Republicans or Democrats. It's what the
American people are asking for; it's what the American people have been
crying for. They want a new direction in Iraq. They want help with the
cost of getting by every day, which certainly includes the cost of
health care and college affordability. They want a place that is
listening to them again instead of listening to the White House and the
banks and everyone else that has had the run of this place for a while.
It will be another good week here, and I hope sooner rather than
later some of our friends across the aisle join us in standing up for
what the American people have been crying for for a real long time.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I think that is such a poignant argument to make.
Our friends on the other side are basically saying we are against the
minimum wage, we are against increases in the Pell Grants, we are for
higher interest rates for students to take out loans to go to school,
we are against stem cell research. We are against research in
alternative energy. They were for offering amendments to cut the budget
for all the increases we were making, instead of giving the money to
the oil companies to put in alternative energy. They were offering
amendments to cut that.
When we offered earlier on to strip the oil companies of the $14
billion in corporate welfare they were getting, our friends voted
against it, the extremists in their party. So you are exactly right.
What are you for? What are you for?
I think we are quite clear as to what we are for on this side: lower
student interest rates, more money for grants to go to college, higher
minimum wage, focus on alternative energy, secure the country, 3,000
more Border Patrol agents in this country, technology to monitor
biological chemical weapons on our ports, more funds for police and
fire interoperability through the walkie-talkies, and able to talk and
communicate with each other.
I mean, we have got a real agenda here.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. I am done. I just want to thank you and Mr.
Murphy for coming down tonight. I look forward to the next 48 hours,
what kind of leadership will be shown on the minority side of the ball.
We need them to be a part of this change in the new direction that we
are moving in. But as the Democrats, with the slim majority that we do
have, we are going to give the American people what they want, and that
is leadership.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I appreciate it, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Meek, Mr. Pallone
who was here earlier, any emails from our colleagues who may be up
right now, at [email protected]">[email protected] or www.speaker.gov/
30something.
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