[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 162 (Wednesday, October 24, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H11995-H12001]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
30-SOMETHING WORKING GROUP
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Sarbanes). 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
once again.
I share the sentiment of my colleague in recognizing Senator
Wellstone. He was definitely a cornerstone here in this building for
public service and really was a student of many of our great leaders of
the past and gave voice to health care in a way that no other can do
it.
As you know, in the 30-Something working group, we come to the floor
every day, or just about every day we are in session, to share with the
Members the things that we have to continue to work on here in the
House in a bipartisan way and also share with the Members the
importance of making sure that we stand up on behalf of those Americans
that need our assistance.
At this time, Mr. Speaker, I would like to yield to my colleague to
address the House for as long as he would wish to do so.
Mr. LAMPSON. I thank the gentleman for yielding to me and for
allowing me to take a minute or two to talk of a person who has done
something significant for our country.
Mr. Speaker, it is a distinct honor and a privilege to be a Member of
this House and to be from the great State of Texas and to have in my
district the home of American manned spaceflight,
[[Page H11996]]
the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, or JSC as it's called. The largest
industry contractor at JSC is a company called United Space Alliance,
or USA, and it operates the space shuttle for NASA and helps train our
astronauts, who also call JSC home.
For more than a decade, the head of USA has been a gentleman whose
name is Michael J. McCulley. The company's president and CEO, Mike has
led his company through some of the most difficult, and some of the
most exciting, days in the history of the space shuttle. In just a few
short weeks, he will step down from USA to begin a well-deserved
retirement. He probably won't go far away. I rise today to salute this
good man and his leadership.
Mike came to his duties at USA from the front lines of space
exploration. As a shuttle pilot, he has flown Atlantis into Earth's
orbit and seen firsthand the majesty of this planet from space. But
even before that, Mike was a naval aviator and test pilot, having
operated more than 50 different types of aircraft, flown from the
U.S.S. Nimitz and the U.S.S. Saratoga, and at the beginning of his
naval career even served aboard atomic submarines in the depths of the
oceans. That, my friends, is a true explorer of both inner and outer
space.
People like Mike McCulley show that in some of our most challenging
times, there will be those ready and willing to serve the American
people, placing their lives at risk for exploration, discovery, and
achievement. Only through that kind of courage, that kind of selfless
service, will our Nation's scientific advancement in space be assured
and be continued.
On behalf of this Congress of the United States of America, I hope
that Mike and his wife, Jane, and their family will accept our thanks
and our best wishes on his well-deserved next phase of an exciting,
all-American life. Congratulations, Mike.
Mr. Speaker, if I may continue while our colleague who has control of
the time has gone to make a critical vote in the Ways and Means
Committee, in speaking about Michael McCulley, there are two other
things I would like very much to raise as an issue. I started speaking
about space because Mr. McCulley is one of the great Americans who has
played a significant role in moving us forward technologically in this
world, and I am concerned right now that we are not moving ourselves,
as a Nation, forward in science and technology, engineering and math
studies for our youth. We are not challenged, it seems, to have the
same kind of commitment for research and development, for exploration
as we once had. And, unfortunately, other nations are stepping up to
the plate to take our place. So it is my hope that we will find a new
and renewed interest in funding space exploration and making sure that
NASA has the moneys necessary to perform the tasks that it is required
to do as a science organization for our Nation.
I find it fascinating that in the early 1960s, when we were having
difficulties as a Nation, when our Nation happened to be at war and we
were having civil strife and were having financial problems in the
1960s; yet John Kennedy, a new, young, enthusiastic President, stepped
up to the plate and challenged us to go to the Moon, doing something
that not many people thought was possible. And at the same time many of
the naysayers and doubters were saying, how can we possibly do that
financially? But we made the commitment. We put the money where it was
necessary. And our young people learned how to do it and made an
unbelievable success for us and changed the world, created new
industries.
The information technology industry has grown from our need to be
able to communicate with people in space. We have seen medical advances
to the extent that lives are now being extended. People are living a
higher quality of life because of what we have learned, what the
technological advancements have been because of our involvement in
space. All of these things changed America and, to a large extent,
changed the world.
But in the last several years, we seem to have had a continuous
slackening of the support and the commitment that we made or we saw in
earlier years in space. For example, during those Apollo years in the
1960s, when we were going back and forth to the Moon, and in the early
1970s, 6 percent of the Nation's budget was committed to NASA. Today,
that number is around six-tenths of 1 percent, 10 times less. So we
have expected a major science agency of this government to do more but
to do it with significantly less, and we can't continue to do that.
Now we are starting to see the impact of other programs that we have
learned along the way. We have critical satellite systems that fly
overhead in space that give us information about weather and about
Earth science, about the environment of the Earth. Those satellites in
many instances are getting old. As they get old and cease to operate,
we must have something to take their place, and that something must be
in place before these existing satellites die or else there will be a
gap in knowledge and information. And a gap in information, for
example, on the gulf coast, where I live and where Mr. Meek lives,
would put people in harm's way. They will not have the advance warning
of an approaching storm and be able to prepare their property or
prepare their families to get out of harm's way. Those critical areas
are important for us to acknowledge, to commit to, to believe in, and
to fund. A gap in that knowledge means that our families will not be as
safe as they were with the knowledge.
As we weaken our commitment to science and to NASA and we lose some
of the hope that these systems will continue to operate, and just think
if our information technology satellites went out of service, what
would we do without our PDAs? What would we do without our Blackberrys
and our cell phones? If they stop working, then we stop communicating,
and we communicate with the world.
So it is my hope that we will find a renewed commitment and fund NASA
to a greater extent than what we have been doing so. It is my hope that
the billion dollars that the Senate has found to put into the Commerce,
Justice, and State portion of our budget, which we will be taking to
conference very soon, will find the same kind of support in the House
of Representatives that it has found in the Senate and that we will
support this commitment so that, instead of having to choose between
doing the work for space exploration or science, we can do both because
it is the commitment that the people want us to make to give them the
hope for a better tomorrow, to keep us growing with our quality of
life, to keep us having hope that our children will go and get the
education necessary to do the things that will give us the kind of
lives that we have strived for for such a long period of time.
Mr. Meek, I appreciate your yielding to me. I got to talk about
Michael McCulley, who is a friend of mine, who has led a major space
effort for this country for a long period of time and also to just sort
of put forth some of my passion, which is to make sure that we get NASA
funded properly out here on the table so that we can continue that
dialogue.
I don't know what your topic was, but thank you for letting me butt
in, and I would be happy to answer any questions, if you have them.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. I am just very pleased that you came down at the
time that you did come down and share with us about how important the
NASA program is, especially to not only the development of the country
but to our young people and those that have contributed and dedicated
their lives to helping us along the way in the sciences, not to compete
against States but to compete against other countries as it relates to
the forward lean that we have to have.
We are going to talk about children's health care and a number of
other issues, but we are glad that we kicked off with the NASA program.
Mr. LAMPSON. The Children's Health Insurance Program is critically
important. It's critically important to giving children the opportunity
to grow up healthy enough to want to do well enough in their early
years in school so that they will have an opportunity to go off and
study math and science and engineering later on. It's a big deal for
all of us.
{time} 1545
Mr. MEEK of Florida. You're 110 percent right. And being from
Florida, as you know, we have a number of NASA assets in Florida. And
even when I was
[[Page H11997]]
in the Florida legislature, we were very supportive of programs that
gave kids a jump start in the math and sciences to be eligible for NASA
programs and other private programs that are out there as it relates to
innovation and space.
Mr. LAMPSON. Well, I thank you for your commitment. I thank you for
all the work that you have done to further the Children's Health
Insurance Program. This body has come very close to making it law, and
it's my hope that we will succeed very quickly to make sure that the 10
million children in this country who do not have access to this health
care are covered.
So thank you for your good work, and I look forward to continuing to
work with you to make it a success.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Thank you so very much. And as we speak, there
are those in the Capitol dome trying to make sure that children's
health care gets its fair share from this country of ours.
I would just like to share with the Members some of the good things
that are happening under the Capitol dome.
We have passed, Mr. Speaker, a number of measures that have been
bipartisan and major as it relates to legislation. The 9/11 Commission
recommendations are something that the House and Senate both passed,
and that was signed into law. The largest college aid expansion since
the 1944 GI Bill saved, on average for every student, I would say
almost every American because, as it relates to college loans and
student loans, the responsibility for paying many of those loans back
fall back on parents and grandparents. So that's $4,400 in interest
that the American people don't have to pay.
The first minimum wage increase in a very long time, double-digit
years, was passed by this Congress. And it was because of the
Democratic leadership and some of our friends on the Republican side
that voted for the passage of that bill that we now have an increase in
the minimum wage.
Innovation Agenda to promote 21st century jobs, passed by this House,
signed into law. The Reconstruction Assistance Program for gulf coast
disasters and hurricanes was passed and signed into law. The largest
veterans health care increase in the 77-year history of the VA passed
off of this floor and is still in a holding pattern as it relates to
that becoming law or empowered by not only the President but the
legislative process. Also, the landmark Energy Independence and Global
Warming Initiative that was passed by this Congress.
Now, I think it's important that we look at the record-breaking roll
call votes that have been taken thus far by this Congress and the work
philosophy that we have in the 110th Congress versus previous
Congresses. And you know that two of the initiatives that have passed
on a bipartisan vote that I did not mention that the President has
vetoed was the expansion of the life-saving medical research on stem
cells that passed in a bipartisan way by this House and by the Senate
and was vetoed by the President. And the most recent veto is the one
that's dealing with health care for 10 million children and working
families that passed off this floor on a bipartisan vote, came 13 votes
shy last week of overriding the President's bad veto, had the votes in
the Senate to do so, but it's something that we're working on right
now, Mr. Speaker. And that's one of the reasons why I came to the floor
today, and my other colleagues that will be joining me a little later
on, to talk about the SCHIP plan.
I can tell you, as we stand here, Mr. Speaker, to address these
issues dealing with children's health care, one said, when I was on the
floor last week, well, the Congressman is talking about health care.
The CHAMP, or SCHIP, bill is dealing with insurance. Well, I can tell
you, when you're talking about insurance, you're talking about health
care. If you don't have insurance, you're not going to be able to
afford health care, especially the preventive care that the CHAMP bill
or the SCHIP bill calls for. So, if you take the opportunity to go meet
the average American that has a child that is not covered under health
insurance, you're going to find an individual who will share with you
that, without it, they can't go to many of the doctors offices where
they can at least pay a small fraction or at least afford preventive
care and the annual checkups that children need.
We're in a situation right now, Mr. Speaker, that we have children,
if this SCHIP bill or CHAMP bill is not reauthorized, we're going to
have children without health care, without health insurance. Whichever
way you cut the cookie, they're going to need a way to pay for health
care or you might as well look forward to parents going down the
drugstore aisle trying to correct the sniffles and trying to head off
fever and trying to head off other situations that young children run
into. But those are just the minor issues. What about the bigger issues
that, if detected early, can be prevented if we have the kind of health
insurance that would be helpful for children?
As we start to look at a re-approach on this bill after the
President's veto, I know that the Speaker and others, and in reading
through not only the newspapers but also in meetings that have taken
place, we are still holding hard on the 10 million children insured.
Now, I think that's very, very important that we head in that direction
and that we stand firm on the 10 million.
Last week, I was sharing with many of my Republican colleagues on the
other side of the aisle, those of whom were in the 13, because there
are some that are saying that they are with the American people, they
don't necessarily have to be with the Democratic Caucus because this is
not about the Republican Conference or the Democratic Caucus, this is
about children having an opportunity to have health insurance to be
able to have quality health care, and that's what it's about. And I
want to commend my colleagues that are on the other side that have
voted on behalf of not only their districts but young people in America
and their families.
So, now we're down to correcting a wrong. Last week, I talked about
the story, Mr. Speaker. In all great pieces of legislation and every
initiative there is always a story before you get to the glory, and
we're still writing the story. And I think, as we go into the final
chapters of this SCHIP debate here in the House of Representatives and
the Senate and we deliver another product to the President of the
United States, I think it's important for those who voted against
overriding the President on this issue, think about what you have done.
You might not have felt the full brunt of the displeasure of the
American people for the Congress, where many of our children are
insured because we have health insurance and we have the kind of
insurance that will cover our children, and that there are families
that don't celebrate the same thing that we do, that there is going to
be a great level of displeasure out there. And I want to say that out
loud because I want to make sure that Members understand exactly what
they're doing.
No one came to Congress to vote against health care for children. I
don't think anyone jumped up and said at any political forum or debate,
when they were debating, need it be a Republican primary or a
Democratic primary, to say, ``You know, one of my goals when I get to
Congress is that I'm going to vote against children's health care.'' I
think they wouldn't have even made it to the Halls of Congress. I'm
speaking to that individual Member that decided not to, whatever the
situation may be.
I haven't seen, in my 14 years of public service, Mr. Speaker, a bill
that I am 110 percent in support of and agree with every section in
that bill. When we put together legislation, there is always something
in the bill that you wish you could have more of or not have at all in
the bill. And it's very unfortunate, especially when we're in a body of
compromise, when we're talking about children that will become
uninsured if we don't pass this bill, I think it's important for us to
realize our place in this debate. I commend those that voted. You were
supposed to vote for that. I'm glad you did. I'm glad you voted for the
SCHIP program.
Let me just run some numbers. One may say, well, we're concerned
about cost as it relates to providing insurance for children to have
health care. Well, one day we're going to compare this as it relates to
war, because a lot of folks get into the chest-beating posture or
session when it comes down to the war in Iraq. And we're concerned
about what happens with children tens
[[Page H11998]]
of thousands of miles from the United States of America. I'm concerned,
also. But I'm really concerned about what is happening with children
here in the United States. And I think it's something that we all
should pay very, very close attention to.
One day in Iraq costs $330 million. That will cover 270,000 kids. One
week in Iraq costs $2.3 billion. That's 1.8 million kids who can be
covered under the children's health care bill. One month in Iraq is $10
billion. That's one month that can cover 8.1 million children as it
relates to health care. And the cost of 40 days in Iraq is $12.2
billion. That will cover 10 million kids' health care. I think it's
important to look at just over one month that will cover a full year of
health care for 10 million children. Just a couple of days over the
average month will cover 10 million children.
So, when we start lining our priorities up of where we stand as a
Congress, and I'm talking to the real minority here because there are
very few Members of this House that are voting opposite of where the
American people want us to be, and that's providing health care. Polls
have shown here in the United States over 80 percent of Americans are
saying that it's important for us to have children's health care. So,
you have a very small percentage saying that they don't agree with
this, and maybe they need more information.
But when you have Members of Congress, and we're talking about lights
on, lights off, health care for 10 million children or not, that's a
simple decision for one to make. If you have issues with the
application of it, it has to be better than what we will not have if we
don't reauthorize it and reauthorize it for 10 million children.
I think it's important that you understand a number of the coalitions
that are here. And I'm spending the time on the floor, Mr. Speaker, to
share this with the Members because this is, A, what do we look for in
legislation? We look for bipartisanship. That's what the American
people always say. They would love for Democrats and Republicans to
work together. You have that in this bill. I mean, for this to be a
partisan body, you have to look at the significance of having a
bipartisan piece of legislation with major Democrats and major
Republicans that are on board on the legislation.
You also have to look at the second issue that I think is very, very
important; the fact that it passed both House and Senate
overwhelmingly. And you have to look at that as a component and a proof
to the leadership and the reason why we have to insure children, 10
million children in the United States of America. That's very, very
significant. Don't let anyone belittle the work that has happened on
both sides of the aisle with Democrats and Republicans sending a bill
to the President.
I would also add on to that point the fact that the President vetoed
the bill. And you had a commitment from the Senate, the United States
Senate, that they would override the President of the United States on
this issue because he's wrong. That's what is so good about our
democracy. That goes back, not just a bill on Capitol Hill, it goes
back to those days that used to come on Saturday morning to let young
Americans know how this process worked. And then in the House we took
the vote and we fell 13 votes short of overriding the President. That's
very, very significant.
I came last week and commended those groups, those nonpartisan,
volunteer groups that are dealing with children's diabetes, that are
dealing with a number of issues, polio, the doctors that came to
Capitol Hill, the March of Dimes, all the different foundations that
are out there doing good things and passing good information out and
encouraging Members to sign on and get that vote. We couldn't have had
the kind of vote that we had last week if it wasn't for those outside
organizations and Americans and parents and grandparents and children
saying we should have health care.
{time} 1600
When they see the kind of numbers that I am reading off, spending
$330 million in Iraq in 1 day, that's just 1 day. I can get down to
$3,300 and change every second that we are spending in Iraq. And you
have folks here that are mumbling and grumbling about the cost of an
insurance bill that will provide health care to 10 million children, we
have 40 plus Governors out there in the 50 States that are out there
saying that we need this bill. I want to break this down because I want
to make sure that the Members, I don't want to use a lot of acronyms, I
don't want to get into a lot of programs and all of that because I'm on
the Ways and Means Committee and there's enough acronyms there to talk
about health care. I'm on the Armed Services Committee and there is a
plethora of acronyms that we could use there and all kind of big words.
I want to make sure that everyone understands what it comes down to.
You are either with insuring 10 million children or you're not. Period.
Dot. There is no in between. There is no ``maybe I need to take more
consideration'' or ``maybe I need to look at this a little further.''
We have already taken one vote that has passed the House
overwhelmingly. We have already taken a second vote that fell 13 votes
short of a two-thirds vote to override the President of the United
States. And now we're about to take another vote. So it's almost like
three strikes and you're out.
Mr. Speaker, I have been on this floor now coming on 5 years,
speaking not only to the Members but also making sure that staff and
everyone else understands the significance of every vote that we take.
And if this was about politics, I always say it, look in the
Congressional Record time after time again, if it was about politics, I
could just sit in my office and let just the electoral process take its
course.
I do believe that Members who are not voting for children's health
care are making a career decision. That's what they're doing. Now, if
this is the last day of school for Members and they're retiring after
this term that is a whole other thing. But for those who want to
continue to serve not only their districts and the American people,
they have to pay very close attention to the vote that they are taking
here on this floor. Insuring 10 million kids is bigger, in my opinion,
than winning some sort of, you know, one or two political races. I am
not into that. I was sent here to Congress, and many of us were sent,
all of us were sent here to represent the folks back home. And I
guarantee you, the folks back home are not saying, ``Please don't
insure children. Whatever you do, Congressman, make sure you don't
insure 10 million children or 5 million children. Just make sure you
don't do that, and you have my vote.'' There is not anyone back there
saying that. And so I think it's important for us, when we get into
this process, I think it's important for us to share with Members what
we are here for. Like I said, once again, there are some things in the
bill that I don't agree with, but when you start talking about the
insurance for children that my children celebrate, I wasn't elected for
me to have my children to have health care and I look at my
constituents and say, ``Run for Congress one day and you can be like
me.'' That's not what it's about. It's about us being able to stand for
them.
I think it's also important to look at even with some of the media
accounts about some of the things that are going on here in Washington
that we are working hard on, the Democratic side of the aisle, because
Americans voted for change, Mr. Speaker. They didn't vote for the
status quo. Republicans had the majority last time. There were
Democrats and Republicans and independents who said, You know
something, we gave you an opportunity. My kids and my grandkids and the
fiscal situation this country is in is more important than my party
affiliation. And we have seen throughout the country, Republicans say,
``I'm going to vote for the Democrat this time because I want to see
change.'' Now that change is here and I read off a list of bills that
were passed in a bipartisan way. These are not just Democratic bills,
we beat our chests and say, ``Not one Republican voted for it.'' Yes,
there are one or two there. But the majority of the major bills that
have passed have passed with some Republican votes, and that is
important to the process.
USA Today, War Costs May Total $2.4 trillion. When you look at the
cost of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, it could cost $2.4 trillion
the next decade or nearly $8,000 per man, woman and child in this
country according to the Congressional Budget Office that is
[[Page H11999]]
scheduled for release and that took place here today earlier. A
previous Congressional Budget Office estimate put the war cost at more
than $1.6 trillion. This one adds to the $705 in interest. And if you
take into account, Mr. Speaker, as we continue to go on as it relates
to the war in Iraq, as we look at the borrowing from foreign nations
and then we turn around and we also bring a bill, I'm going to add to
those points, we bring a bill that we show how we are going to pay for
the bill so that we don't have to continue to borrow from foreign
nations, so that we don't have to continue to see our kids having to
pay some $8,000 per man, woman and child because of the decisions that
were made here on this floor in previous Congresses.
So how do we have a paradigm shift? Well, we come about bringing
about that paradigm shift through good policy and bipartisanship. So I
am speaking to the 13 that voted against, helped us fall short of that,
of overriding the President. It could have been a different day the
following day after that vote, but it wasn't because we had some of our
Republican friends not voting with us.
I am going to put a pin there, and I am going to allow my good friend
from Ohio (Mr. Ryan). First of all, I just want to say, sir, that I'm
sorry about your Indians. I'm really sorry. As you know, I e-mailed you
and told you that I was with you. Being a Dolphins fan, I'm switching
sports now, but I'm having a rough year, and I wanted someone to have
some joy that I knew. And I know you, sir, and I know you're excited
about your Cleveland Indians. And they fought hard. But I'm sorry, sir,
that they didn't make it through the process.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. We're still struggling. There are a lot of
emotional issues that Cleveland Indians fans have had for a long time.
And then you factor in the Cleveland Browns and the drive and the
fumble and Michael Jordan singlehandedly beating us a couple of times
in the playoffs and you add this to the mix, we have some psychological
issues we need to deal with, Mr. Speaker, and hopefully we will be able
to work through them.
But today is the day that we are talking about the excess in spending
on the war. We hear a lot back in our districts, I'm sure you do in the
Seventeenth District in Miami, and I hear in the Seventeenth District
of Ohio, we hear about the rising cost of health care. We hear about
the rising cost of education. We hear the problems that we have
incurred in this country because we haven't invested into developing
alternative energy sources in the United States of America, and we
haven't developed them fast enough.
We have all these issues that local communities deal with, Community
Development Block Grant money that they get from the Federal Government
that local communities can build sidewalks and roads and sewer lines
and they can use all this money. That is Federal money that works its
way down to local communities. And when we look at the needs of local
communities, every single day in the paper in Ohio, it is water lines,
it is sewer lines. In the summer it is what sports do we have to ask
the kids and the parents to pay for this year? Why are we cutting the
art programs? Why don't we have enough money to handle the septic and
the sewer systems in our local community? For years, the Federal
Government continued to make those investments. And what we hear now
coming out of the executive branch, Mr. Meek, is that we don't have the
money to do it.
Now, we are talking about providing health care for 10 million kids,
poor kids, who live within 200 percent of poverty, a family of four
making maybe $40,000 a year. What we are arguing on our side is that we
think it is in the best interests of this country, all of us together,
not one family or this family, all of us, is that if we provide and pay
for health care for these 10 million kids and their families, because
we believe on this side and our friends on the other side who voted
with us, not the President, we believe that if we make this very small
investment of $35 billion over 5 years, that we are going to have a
healthier country, that we are going to have kids who aren't sitting in
the classroom getting other children sick, that they are going to be
able to concentrate and focus.
We sit here and we say, ``We need more people to major in math. We
need more people to major in science. We need to compete with the
Chinese. They graduated thousands and thousands of more engineers than
we did in the United States of America.'' Part of that is we need our
kids to be healthy. We need them to be able to concentrate in school,
not sneezing and getting colds and pneumonia and not missing classes.
We need them to be healthy. And that is the basic concept behind the
State Children's Health Insurance Program.
To have the President, after he began a war that is going to cost us
$2.4 trillion, with a T, tell us that we don't have enough money to
provide health care for these 10 million kids is a complete outrage and
doesn't really make any sense. Now, I think it is important, Mr.
Speaker, for the Congress to know and to be reminded that over the past
6 years, with a Republican President, a Republican House and a
Republican Senate, that this President and that Congress, those
Congresses have borrowed more money from foreign interests than every
President and Congress before them combined. Over $1 trillion in
foreign money. Now, the same Congress and the same President asked to
raise the debt limit, meaning we can go out and borrow, as a country,
more money, five times he asked to raise the debt limit. Then, on top
of that, the final number is the increase of the debt under this
President is $3 trillion. So he raised the debt by $3 trillion, raised
the debt limit five times. Now we have a war that is going to cost us
$2.4 trillion, with a T, and he says, ``We don't have enough money, Mr.
Speaker, to provide health care for 10 million kids at $35 billion,
with a B, over 5 years.''
For 40 days in Iraq, we could pay for 10 million kids to get health
care for a whole year. Forty days in Iraq. And what is the investment
going to get us? It is going to get us healthier kids. It is going to
get us kids who can concentrate and pay attention in school. It is
going to save us money in the long run because we are not going to cart
these kids off to the emergency room 2 weeks later with pneumonia when
we could have taken care of them with maybe a small prescription. Those
are the kind of prudent investments that we want to make in this
country. Those are the kind of investments that we should be making in
this country.
We talk a lot in this country about what are we going to do in the
next century? We lost manufacturing, and we are not sure what the new
economy is going to look like. But there are some things we know about,
Mr. Speaker. We know that our kids in Niles, Ohio, or Youngstown, Ohio,
or, Miami, Florida or wherever you are from, are competing more
directly with the students in China. We know that our kids are now
competing. The old steel belt and the old rust belt in Ohio is
Cleveland and Youngstown and Akron and Pittsburgh. For the longest
time, those cities used to compete with each other and those businesses
used to compete with each other. Now this whole region is competing
with Shanghai. And our kids are competing more directly with those kids
in China, India and all over the world, 1.3 billion people in China,
1.2 billion people in India. We only have 300 million people in the
United States of America. We are at a real disadvantage when it comes
to just mass numbers. And democracy is not always easy, either. If you
want to open up a factory in China or you just clear a neighborhood
out, you give everybody 25 bucks, they give you a week to get out.
There are no environmental laws. There are no worker rights. It just
happens. The government comes in and moves everything along. Democracy
is sometimes a little more difficult, in a good way. We have rights;
property rights, human rights and all kinds of different things that
citizens in China don't have.
But my point here is this, we only have 300 million people. So if you
look at what the Democratic agenda, the 6 in '06 and what my friend
from Florida has been stating, what we have been trying to do is very,
very simple. We're trying to invest into those 300 million people so
that they're healthier, so that they're more educated, so that they are
able to live the American dream. Now, no one here is saying that
everyone needs to be a winner. We understand that life is life. There
are winners and there are losers. But as a
[[Page H12000]]
country, we want to make these investments because we all benefit from
it. We all benefit from that.
{time} 1615
The investments we are making now, just look at our agenda now. One
of the first things we did, we raised the minimum wage for the first
time since 1997 so that we are lifting people up. One of the second
things we did is we reduced the cost of college education, or tried to.
We cut student loan interest rates in half. So when you go out and
borrow for your kids to go to school or a student borrows next year to
go to school, the interest rate will be 3.4 percent, as opposed to last
year when it was 6.8 percent and that money was going to the banks.
They were making a heck of a lot of money off of it.
Mr. Speaker, we are saying keep those rates low; let's improve access
so that everyone can go to a community college and get a skill or they
can go off to college and get an associate's degree or a master's
degree or Ph.D. so that they are educated to compete. What we also did
was increased the Pell Grant by $1,000 over the course of the next 5
years. Is that as much as we want? No. Absolutely not. We are not even
close. But we are moving in that direction. It's tough, when you have a
war that is costing you $2.4 trillion, to come up with any money to
make these kinds of investments. But that is what we wanted to do, and
we have changed the direction in regard to college education.
Now, if you're a kid going to school in Ohio, where we had the new
Governor come in and he froze college tuition for 2 years so there will
be a zero increase next year and a zero percent increase the following
year, if you add that to what we have done with the student loans and
the Pell Grants, you're talking about saving average families thousands
and thousands and thousands of dollars. An average student loan,
because of the interest change we made, an average family will save
$4,400 over the course of the loan.
Now, we are not coming out here beating a drum, saying we have got to
cut taxes, we have got to cut taxes for millionaires. We are saying if
you send your kid to school and you take out a loan, we just saved you
$4,400. If you have someone in your family, or one of your students,
kids that are going to school that are working for minimum wage, they
got a pay increase. If you're utilizing the Pell Grant, you're going to
get more of that. These are good, solid investments we've made. In
addition to this, we have the State Children's Health Insurance
Program. So these kids have opportunity.
Now one of the other things that really isn't on the agenda to talk
about, but the Senate just passed it last night, we are trying to pass
it again through the conference committee and hopefully get the
President to sign it, but the President said he was going to veto it,
is the Health and Education bill, where we are making investments to
build community health clinics so that people who don't have health
insurance now can at least go to a health care clinic and get some
preventive care.
Mr. Speaker, I just found it stunning, and I think a lot of other
citizens of this country did as well, and I know many Members of
Congress have found it stunning too, when we were having this big
debate about children's health and the President said, Well, they have
health insurance. They can go to the emergency room.
I found that absolutely stunning that the President of the United
States, in 2007, his solution or lack of solution is to say that these
kids could just go to the emergency room. Now, I am sorry, but that is
unacceptable. Not only is it bad economics, it is unacceptable from a
moral position.
It has been frustrating, but I want the American people, Mr. Speaker,
to understand what we have done through the House is passed
legislation. And my friend with the great reform of the Small Business
Administration, our friend from Pennsylvania, creating an angel
investor fund and basically retooling the SBA for the 21st century in a
high-tech economy, the things that we have done have been investments
into our country and into our people.
Now, I'm sorry. Giving $100,000 tax break to someone who makes
millions of dollars a year is not benefiting anybody because they are
not even taking that money and investing it back into our country. They
are investing it probably in China and India. What we are saying is we
are going to make these investments.
Mr. ALTMIRE. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to follow up on a couple of points
that the gentleman from Ohio mentioned, one of which was this idea
that, well, these kids who don't have insurance can just show up at the
emergency room. What I hear people who are of that mindset say is this
SCHIP program is too expensive, there's not enough money to cover these
kids and, therefore, I don't want to pay for them; somebody else can
worry about that, send them to the emergency room.
But here's the problem with that way of thinking. We do pay for it
when they show up at the emergency room. They show up there, they get
covered, and, as the gentleman indicated, an earache that could have
been knocked out with antibiotics turns into something more serious, a
cold turns into pneumonia. Other situations that could be easily
treatable, they instead turn into bigger health problems. We all pay
for that because, in this country, when a hospital has uncompensated
care or debt based on the fact that people don't have insurance but
still show up for treatment, we are the ones that pay for that.
The reason that when you go to a hospital an aspirin will cost $15 is
because of the cost shift that takes place when somebody, one of these
children without health insurance shows up at the hospital, usually in
the least cost effective way possible in the emergency room. So that is
what happens when the President or someone else says, Well, let's just
send them to the emergency room and everything will be fine. We are
paying for that. That is why health insurance premiums go up, that is
why costs are skyrocketing, and that is the cost shift that takes
place.
On another point, I wanted to mention, and we are talking about our
successes, some of the things that have happened in this Congress, I
wanted to relay a story that took place over the weekend. I was holding
a town hall meeting in my district and we were taking questions and
someone asks the question, Well, when are you guys going to do
something about the cost of college? I have got a kid in college. When
are you going to lower the cost of higher education?
I said, That is a great question and I want to apologize to you
because you should be aware of the fact that we have done something
about that. This is not something that is on the drawing board or just
passed the House or is awaiting signature. This has been signed and
enacted, $20 billion of relief for parents and students for higher
education. The largest expansion of higher education funding since the
GI bill in 1944 passed this House, passed the Senate, and has been
signed into law by the President.
Maybe we haven't done as good a job as we should be doing in getting
the message out. This is a major legislative victory for this Congress
and for this country. We cut in half the interest rate on student
loans, from 6.8 percent to 3.4 percent, which, by itself, if we did
nothing else, would save the average student borrower in this country
$4,400 by itself.
But that is not all we did. We increased Pell Grant funding to
$5,400, the largest increase and the highest amount available in
history, in the history of the Pell Grant program. We increased funding
for Perkins loans. We increased the availability and the types of
students and the types of schools that can qualify for Perkins loans.
Just as important, we capped at 15 percent of discretionary income the
amount that the student borrower will be required to pay in paying back
their loans.
So they will not be forced into debt over their heads, and they will
be able to have a more manageable debt burden when they graduate and
when they start in the workforce and their income is not that high.
These are good achievements. That was all in that bill.
So what I said to the person who asked this question was, this was
something you took the time to show up at the town meeting to ask this
question. This was the number one issue of concern to you, and that is
why you asked me this question. And we did something about it. This
Congress has
[[Page H12001]]
helped you on the issue that is of the greatest concern to you. It is
going to help millions of Americans, parents and students around this
country, afford higher education, afford the cost of college.
We have had tremendous legislative success. As you have talked about,
more days in session, more rollcall votes, more legislation passed,
than any Congress in recent history, maybe in the history of the
country to this date. So we have legislative success.
I wanted to not let the time go by without talking about that College
Cost Reduction Act, because that is going to affect people's lives.
So I yield back now to the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Meek.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Thank you, Mr. Altmire. The good thing about it,
and Mr. Ryan and I were in a meeting the other day, and I think it is
important, very important, and I was sharing a little earlier today
about giving thanks to those out in the field. And when I say ``those
out in the field,'' those Americans out there, because the President
said he wasn't going to sign the College Interest Rate Reduction Act or
what have you, the $4,400 that Mr. Ryan alluded to.
If it wasn't for the American people pushing for that, it wouldn't
have happened. If it wasn't for the American people saying that we
wanted a minimum wage after double-digit years of no minimum wage, it
would not have happened. If it wasn't for the American people stepping
up at the last given Tuesday when we had the election for this House
saying that we wanted to move in a new direction, it would not have
happened.
I think it is important for us to look at this American spirit rising
up again on the children's health bill. When we look at health
insurance and we look at health care for children, the American people
are going to make that happen, because hopefully we will have an
opportunity to vote on that bill again. Hopefully after taking the
number one vote that was a bipartisan vote, sending a bill to the
Senate, the Senate sent a bill to us, and we voted out the bill and
sent it to the President, and the President, two votes that took place,
overwhelmingly bipartisan, the President vetoes the bill, okay? And now
you are going to have a real third opportunity to vote again.
I don't know if those that have voted against the previous bills, if
they want to continue to do it, because their excuse is to say, Well,
you know, there was something I didn't understand on that first vote.
Congressman, you mean on the second vote you still didn't understand?
And then on the third vote? Well, maybe you are not in the business of
making sure that children have health insurance so they can have health
care.
So I am hoping that we can come together in even a greater way in
passing a children's health care bill that covers 10 million children.
I think it is important. I agree with the Speaker. I am glad she has
put her foot down and this Congress has put our foot down and said we
are going to do this. Because at the end of the 110th Congress, there
is not going to be a short list of accomplishments; there is going to
be a long list, because there has been a drought for a very long time
to bring the issues and concerns back to those who attended your town
hall meeting.
Congressman, what are you doing for the district? What are you doing
for us? Yes, it is wonderful about the war. We know that is going on.
All of us share in making sure our men and women have what they need to
have and all of those different things, but what are you doing
domestically? How does this affect my children?
Mr. Ryan talked about someone is going to sit next to a child that
doesn't have health care, and if that child is sick, you can have all
the health care in the world. Your child is coming home and they are
going to bring whatever that other child has into the household and
then everyone is sick, and now we have employers without employees, and
we can go on and on and on. It is a domino effect. I think it is
important that we continue to highlight that.
But I appreciate the fact you all have brought light to all of this.
Even Mr. Ryan was talking about a democracy. I think a democracy is a
good thing. I think it is playing out well. Even though we fell on the
short end, 13 votes short of overriding the President, a major
accomplishment with having the Senate vote in an overwhelming way and
having the votes to override the President, and having a supermajority
vote here in this House based on the strong Democratic leadership of
even bringing the issue to the floor in the first place.
So I am excited about it. I do have faith in the American spirit. I
know it will rise up. Those that have sent us here, those that do not
work in the Capitol, those counting on us to do the right thing.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I think it is important, too, to recognize we are
just beginning. I think we have moved into a new direction. We are
clearly not done. We are clearly not close to being done. No one here
is satisfied. No one here will say, This is great; we have really
accomplished everything we wanted to. We can go out and turn out the
lights and let someone else finish the business.
We have got a lot more to do, if you look at what we want to do with
alternative energy, if you look at what we want to do as far as
continuing to try to reduce the cost of education, K-12 and whatnot.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. We are out of time, Mr. Ryan. I want to thank
Mr. Altmire and yourself.
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