[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 195 (Wednesday, December 19, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H16933-H16938]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
30-SOMETHING WORKING GROUP
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of
January 18, 2007, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) is recognized
for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Madam Speaker, it is an honor to be before the
House once again. Last night we didn't know when we would end today,
and we did a lot of thank-yous and good-byes and seeing the good people
that we work with here in the Capitol next year. But we wanted to come
to the floor, and I know that Mr. Ryan and Ms. Wasserman Schultz and
Mr. Altmire and others will be coming down to give their closing
comments. But, Madam Speaker, I think it is important for us to shed
light on the actions of not only today, but the last 24 hours, what has
happened, what will happen in the upcoming year, and all of the things
that this first historic session of the 110th Congress and this New
Direction Congress has accomplished.
Many times I have been on the floor and we talked about the
difference between the glory and the story. And whenever there is
glory, there is a story that is untold, and very few know about the
story part. I think it is important, especially as we start to look at
this point and look at where we are now as a country and where we are
getting ready to go and where we have been in the recent past.
Two wars going on, an economic downturn, Americans losing their homes
as it relates to mortgages. Also, issues that our servicemen and women
have to face of not being with their family members at this very holy
time of the year. And, Madam Speaker, if I can, I want to not only read
into the Record but also share with the Members some of the things that
we have done this past year in a bipartisan way, in my opinion, in many
cases major pieces of legislation, and some we still have impasse on
and we are going to have to work on it the next session.
I think it is important when we start looking at what this Congress
accomplished, because we started out with saying that we had a Six in
'06 agenda within the first 100 hours of this Congress. And if you
listened to the President, the President may say, well, the Congress is
not doing much. That is his opinion. Well, that is very interesting,
because I remember being a part of Congress when we came in on Tuesday
night and we left mid-day Thursday and got very little done. This
Congress did everything but sit around and not respond to the needs of
the American people.
We actually came here and we made America safer by passing the 9/11
Commission recommendations to protect America from terrorism. We also
brought the largest veterans health care funding increase in the
history of the VA. And I think that is important. You hear me speak
very passionately about those that have laid it down, those that have
put everything on the line so that we can salute one flag today.
We also passed an energy package which is historic, that is putting
forth standards, increasing fuel efficiency standards to 35 miles per
gallon by 2010, slash U.S. oil consumption by more than 4 million
barrels per day by
[[Page H16934]]
2030. These are benchmarks that we want to meet as a country so that we
can protect this earth for future generations and for the present
generation. Also, expanding American-grown biofuels to 35 billion
gallons by 2020, creating American jobs while we are doing it.
I think it is important for us to point back at the largest college
aid expansion since the GI Bill in 1944, that cut interest rates in
half on behalf of families that are trying to afford to educate their
children and young people that are borrowing money to be able to
educate themselves in many cases.
The first increase in the minimum wage in a decade.
I mean, the things that I am mentioning here, Madam Speaker, are
accomplishments that I think far surpass my first two terms in Congress
under Republican control. We did a lot of things for a lot of super-
wealthy people. We carried out acts on behalf of special interests that
the average American would never have an opportunity to enjoy. Here on
this floor, we spent 4 years talking about what we would do if we got
the opportunity, and that we have done it and we are still doing it.
And it is not over and we are still in this story mode.
Our innovation agenda, promoting 21st century jobs for a global
economy, is another accomplishment of this Congress. Aid to the Gulf
Coast recovering from Hurricane Katrina and Rita. Waiving the Stafford
Act requirements, the matching dollars, so that those communities and
that gulf area will be able to recover. Just like Miami, just like your
City of New York after 9/11, just like San Francisco had that waiver,
we made sure that those gulf states and also those Americans down there
that were struggling, that their cities are able to come back and their
parishes are able to come back.
I think it is also important for us to look at the tax cut that
passed this floor today for 19 million middle-class Americans that were
facing an AMT hike because every year Republicans have treated it as
though it is some sort of new thing by borrowing the money. Now, today
there was legislation that came over from the Senate that we ended up
voting and paying for because we wanted to make sure that firefighters
and everyday first responders and those that are teachers that fall
within that AMT that we call it, alternative minimum tax, make sure
that they don't have to pay a higher tax.
Personally, Madam Speaker, because so many times here on this floor
we talk about balancing the budget, making sure that we don't borrow on
the backs of our children, I am committed that we are going to work out
a way that we can vote for something that is paid for and that we can
make sure that we make it happen without shutting the whole tax process
down. I personally voted against paying for it with borrowed money, but
I think that so many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle that
voted for it, to borrow the money today because we are in a crisis
situation, we are going to be facing tough votes in the future. As we
borrow from China, as we borrow from these other nations that not
necessarily have our best interests at heart, I think it is important
that we pay attention to that.
We worked very hard, this is a part of this story, we are not quite
there yet, on the whole SCHIP legislation, which is the health care for
10 million children. We did reauthorize the existing program at the
existing numbers so that we would not have crisis in the States where
kids are depending on this health care. These are things that we have
to do because we have to do them for now. But I can tell you, and I
hope that the American people are paying very close attention, about
the effort that this Congress has put forth, Mr. Altmire, to make sure
that we keep this government functional, that we try to run the
government in a fiscal way, that we try to make sure that those that
have been literally cut off from Federal assistance, that we are able
to bring that assistance back to not only build States but also build
communities and make sure that the U.S. taxpayers get what they
deserve.
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A couple of other points. I think it is also important that we look
at restoring accountability, earmark lobbying, ethics reform. We have
done all of that. It is all transparent and it is all there to make
sure that integrity of the government is here. And we passed the pay-
as-you-go rule that was adopted.
A number of other initiatives have passed this floor, and more
rollcall votes have been taken in this first session of Congress. So
really what we have done as Democrats and especially, Madam Speaker,
you and Mr. Altmire and others who have joined this Congress in this
session, should be very proud going back home talking about the new day
and the new direction that you ran for, that you played a role in
moving this Congress into a new direction, and that is what we have
done.
Mr. ALTMIRE. I appreciate the gentleman from Florida taking the lead
in putting this hour together tonight.
Starting tomorrow, I am going to go around my district and talk about
what we have done in this Congress. For me, this is an exciting time.
As a freshman Member of Congress wrapping up our first year, the
gentleman is correct, we have some enormous achievements to talk about.
Right from the very first day, something that we talked about last
night, we did reform of the ethics process here in the House of
Representatives, including PAYGO budget scoring. PAYGO is something
that business owners across the country know, and every person that
runs their household knows. It is what you do with your own home
checkbook. You have to have money on one side of the equation to spend
it on the other. If you want to decrease revenues or increase spending,
you have to have an offset. That is something that we did on the very
first day.
That used to be the case in the House of Representatives. It was put
into place in 1990, as the gentleman certainly knows. It led to the
record surpluses of the 1990s when we had four consecutive budget
surpluses following the all-time record deficits of the 1980s.
Unfortunately, when this administration took office in 2001, they did
away with PAYGO and the Republican Congress at that time agreed that
PAYGO shouldn't be expanded and reauthorized. And as a result, we now
have had seven consecutive budget deficits, deficits that are forecast
as far as the eye can see.
The most troubling part of those deficits is when we are borrowing
against our children and grandchildren, putting our increased spending
on the credit card and letting them take care of it later, the most
troubling part is who is holding this debt that we are creating. And
the gentleman from Florida was very articulate when he talked about the
foreign-held debt and that this administration in the first 6 years
added more foreign-held debt to this country than his 42 predecessors
combined in 230 years.
So we have an administration that has no standing to lecture us, this
new Congress, on fiscal responsibility coming as the all-time highest
spending administration and record deficits.
So what we did on the very first day was put in place PAYGO budget
scoring. We took a vote today, our last day, on the alternative minimum
tax. And a lot of Members on the other side of the aisle talked about
the fact that this is the first bill of this new Congress that did not
comply with PAYGO scoring because we had to lower taxes for 23 million
Americans because those are Americans that would have seen an increase
in their taxes had this Congress not taken clear and decisive action
today.
And we did it. One of the things about this job which I am finding
out as a new freshman, and the gentleman from Florida and the gentleman
from Ohio have known for a long time, you have to make tough choices.
One of the choices we had to make today was the Senate sent us a bill
that I wasn't entirely happy with. I didn't like the fact that the
other body made a decision not to comply with pay-as-you-go. I had a
choice to make, and I chose to lower taxes for 23 million Americans,
70,000 in the district in western Pennsylvania that I represent.
Now we will have to pay for that in the future, and hopefully we will
do that as one of the first orders of business when we come back after
the holiday break. But I am proud of the accomplishments of this
Congress. I am proud of the fact that we can go home and talk about
raising the minimum wage for the first time in 10 years.
[[Page H16935]]
Is there any other segment of our society that can say that they
haven't seen even a cost-of-living adjustment, even a minor increase in
their pay in the last 10 years? I don't think there is. So, for the
first, time we raised the minimum wage.
We have an energy bill to talk about. The first time in 30 years that
we have increased the mileage standards, the average mile-per-gallon
standards of the fleet serving this country, foreign and domestic
automobiles. That is a major accomplishment. Something that hasn't been
done in three decades.
We can talk about these accomplishments, and I want to yield some
time to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) because I know he is
chomping at the bit to talk about his experiences this past year.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I appreciate the gentleman giving me an opportunity
to share a few words. I think yourself and the gentleman from Florida
(Mr. Meek), my good friend, and other Members of this body agree, it
has been a long year. It has been a long slog, and I think there have
been in many ways a very complicated political scenario where in some
instances where we are trying to pass children's health care, we have
80 votes in the Senate, enough to override a Presidential veto, but a
rabid group in the House would back the President's veto and not allow
us to override.
Some of our Republican friends were standing in the way of us getting
SCHIP. My point is it is a very complicated political situation. I
think within that context we have a tremendous amount of success. I
think that as these bills begin to hit and get signed into law and the
investments are made, I think the American people will begin to realize
there has been a change in the direction of the country.
Believe me, we are nowhere near where any of us want to be. Nobody is
happy, but we are satisfied to some extent that a lot of the programs
that we have pushed forth will be signed into law, and have already in
some instances been signed into law.
And those people who are in our congressional districts who are
feeling the anxiety of globalization, of trade, of the economy, of the
squeeze that is being placed on the middle class, I think we will see
next year, if they are trying to put their kids through college and
they go to take out a loan, and they recognize that last year when they
took out the loan it was 6.8 percent and next year it will be 3.4
percent for college, they will recognize that something happened there,
that it was the Democratic-led Congress who allowed that to happen.
When they go and apply for a Pell Grant and there is a few more
hundred dollars that they qualify for, a thousand more over the next
few years, those families will recognize that it was the Democratic-led
Congress under Speaker Pelosi's leadership that allowed that to happen.
When you are working for minimum wage, whether it is two or three
jobs, trying to piece your family together, you will recognize it was
the Democrats who came in and made that happen.
When you see the auto industry begin to transform because of the
amount of pressure that was put on them, CAFE standards and some other
issues that we were able to work out to allow the auto industry to move
forward and make these investments, that is because of the Democratic-
led Congress.
Mr. ALTMIRE. On the subject of investments, that is something that
had not been done in this Congress. We talked about the 6 years prior
to the new Democratic Congress taking over, one of the things that had
been unresolved was a water resources development bill, which is the
critical infrastructure needs across this country, the most obvious of
which is the gulf coast in Louisiana and Mississippi, what happened
with Hurricane Katrina and the unmet investment since that time.
But all across this country, including in my district, we had severe
flooding in western Pennsylvania in 2004 and again this summer. And we
continue to have this discussion, and I am sure you have the same thing
in Florida, that after the fact we come in and say, Why wasn't
something done to prevent this? Why didn't we improve, in the case of
western Pennsylvania, the locks and dams and the critical
infrastructure that needs to be done to prevent the floods? Why didn't
we bring in the Corps of Engineers and do the research and do the
construction necessary to prevent the disaster from happening in the
first place?
Well, that hadn't been done. The water resources development bill,
WRDA, the WRDA bill hadn't been done. In 2-year increments, it is
supposed to be reauthorized. They hadn't done it in 7.
So what did we do when we came into this new Congress? We made the
difficult decisions and did the water resources bill. And as a result,
$90 million in infrastructure investment is going to go into western
Pennsylvania and fix this problem that I discussed in my district.
I know there is money going into the Florida districts that Mr. Meek
and Ms. Wasserman Schultz represent, and I am sure Mr. Ryan has some
need in his district.
But the critical investment in infrastructure is something that had
been ignored for so long in this country. We are dealing with it. We
made the difficult decisions and passed the bill, and we overrode the
President's veto on it.
I do hear in my district frustration: Why aren't you taking on the
President and why don't you do more to overturn his decisions? Well, we
have divided government, and under the Constitution, in many cases the
President, the executive, has the upper hand, especially in foreign
policy.
He has vetoed a number of things. He has vetoed the children's health
bill twice. Unfortunately, we lack the votes by a small margin to
override those vetoes. He vetoed some of our appropriations bills.
Multiple vetoes that we have come close to overriding on.
On the water resources bill, overwhelming bipartisan support to do
the critical infrastructure investment that will prevent the flooding
and that will prevent disasters in this country. I am proud of that
accomplishment. That is something that hadn't been done.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. I just want to let you know, it ain't over yet.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. It ain't over yet.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. We have a lot more work to do, and we are
monitoring all of the things that we have to do and those that were not
accomplished----
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. We are going to plow through them.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. We are going to plow through them and make sure
that all of this happens. We are going to know those bills that made it
through the process. We are going to know that those bills that made it
halfway through the process. We are going to understand the pieces of
legislation that misbehaved along the way, and we are going to make
sure that we get it right.
I want to say something before the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms.
Wasserman Schultz) says something. We are going back to our neighboring
districts down in Florida. I hate to talk about it in front of all of
my good friends in the Clerk's Office about Florida and the sun and all
of those things, but I want you to pay attention. You have to look at
one another and pay attention to what is happening here.
This is the last night of Congress of the first session. The 30-
Something Working Group is going to get an opportunity to adjourn the
House for the year. We are all in the majority. We all serve on
substantial committees. We all have families to go home to and do the
things that we have to do. But we care enough, Madam Speaker, the
commitment that we made to the American people that we were going to do
what we said we were going to do, and we want to make sure that
Independents, Republicans, Democrats, new voters, those thinking about
voting, know that we have their back.
We don't have to be here tonight. That is the reason we are going to
finish at 7:30. These people have commitments, too, and are ready to go
home. But we are going to make sure that this goes into the Record so
when the historians look at this time in this first session and all of
the things that we tried to do to balance the budget and do all the
things that we told them we would do in this first session, that we
meant it and we held our own feet to the fire on this issue.
Ms. Wasserman Schultz.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Thank you, so much, Mr. Meek and Mr. Ryan and
Mr. Altmire.
[[Page H16936]]
Let me tell you something else that we are laying down our marker on.
We are not going away. The obstructionist Republicans might think that
they have our number and that they have been able to block the efforts
of this Democratic majority in trying to move this country in a new
direction, but they will be sadly mistaken as we gradually turn this
ship of State around. It takes a long time to turn a cruise ship
around, something that is the size of this government, and it takes a
long time to undo the horrendous damage that was done to this country
during the 12 years of Republican majority in this Congress.
We slowly have been peeling the film of the culture of corruption
that hung over this Capitol before we took the majority back.
{time} 1915
We have feverishly worked to move this country in a new direction to
expand access to health care, to make sure that we put our domestic
priorities on the front burner. Now, we might have done that within the
President's number, and that's essentially not what we wanted to do.
What we wanted to do is make sure we weren't spending 10 times more in
Iraq to continue this war than we were to increase the funding for
health care and for education and for veterans health care funding.
That's why, within the President's overall budget number, we reordered
our priorities. We made sure that instead of cutting NIH funding grants
and cutting health care, that we increased funding for the NIH grants.
We made sure that we provide access to health care instead of cutting
it by $595 million, that we increased it so that we could expand access
to health care to more people. We made sure that instead of cutting
veterans health care benefits we passed still the largest single
increase in the history of the VA, a $3.7 billion increase.
We have a Democratic stamp on this budget. We passed a budget that
has our priorities, the American people's priorities, and refocuses
attention on the domestic needs that we have in this country, and we
will be back after this recess and make sure that we are going to focus
on the needs of the American people.
I'll be happy to yield to my friend
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I think you make some great points because, you
know, we have the veterans piece, the education piece, but I think you
touched upon something when you started talking about the NIH and the
energy research and investment that we're making in alternative energy.
What we're trying to do, people are struggling. You know, people in our
districts are wondering, especially in the Midwest in the manufacturing
areas, what are we going to do? And what we're trying to do, I mean,
you can't just give a job and the government hires everybody. But what
we're trying to do, which I think Ms. Wasserman Schultz has said, make
these strategic investments in alternative energy, green-collar jobs,
solar panels, I mean there's a lot of opportunity here. And in the
health care field, the more research we do in the health care field the
better off we're going to be, the more efficient the system, the more
medical devices, the more research our scientists can do. There's a lot
of opportunity here. So not only are we trying to raise the minimum
wage, increase access to education, make sure our veterans are taken
care of, which are all substantial accomplishments but, at the same
time, make these long-term investments, where we're prying open
different sectors of the economy.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. If the gentleman would yield on the energy
issue, specifically, we're trying to make sure we expand our investment
in alternative energy research, that we use renewable energy resources,
that we make sure that we reduce the carbon footprint that we have here
in America, that we really significantly impact the continuing global
warming that we have.
And do you know what our good friends on the other side of the aisle,
Mr. Altmire, have been trying to preserve? They've been trying to
preserve subsidies for the big oil industry. That's the thing that we
were not able to get done because the Republicans in the Senate and
here blocked making sure that we could repeal $13 billion in subsidies
for Big Oil, the most profitable industry in America.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Will the gentlewoman yield?
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. I'm happy to yield to the gentleman.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. We are moving in a new direction. We pushed and
pushed and pushed with this AMT to get it paid for--$50 billion. And
what we were going to do is close down loopholes where hedge fund
owners and hedge fund operators are putting money offshore and
basically hiding it. And the Democratic Party, Speaker Pelosi, our Blue
Dogs united, liberals, Democrats, conservatives, all of us united
saying pay for this. If not, the tax is going to tax people making 50,
$75,000 in New Castle and Scranton, PA and Youngstown and Florida, so
we wanted to pay for it.
The Republican Party opposed us paying for this by going after hedge
fund managers period. You can read all the articles. Read all the
analysis of what happened here.
So they sided, Madam Speaker, with hedge fund managers who are making
billions of dollars a year.
Then we tried to repeal some of the issues dealing with the oil
companies and making sure they're paying their fair share. The most
profitable industry in the country is getting subsidized. And we're
saying, no. We need to take some of that money and we need to invest
this in alternative energy.
Again, in the Senate the Republicans stood strong to make sure that
that did not happen. So in two instances, whether it was with hedge
funds managers or with the oil companies, we were trying to make sure
we brought some equity into the system and paid for making sure that
our middle class doesn't get a tax increase.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. If you'd yield for a question.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I'll be happy to yield.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. So in the time that I have been involved in
public service, which is over 15 years now, the mantra of our good
friends on the other side of the aisle has always been that they are
the party of less government, and that they are the party of fiscal
responsibility. And in recent history, and in long-term history, my
understanding is that it's this President that built up more foreign
debt than all 42 previous Presidents combined, and this President that
took us from a $3 billion surplus to a $5 billion deficit, in his first
term,
Mr. ALTMIRE. Trillion.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Excuse me. Trillion. Forgive me. Trillion
dollars. And so who, the question that I have for you is, so which
party is the party of fiscal responsibility? Which party can be trusted
to make sure that we have a vibrant economy, that we create jobs, that
we don't operate in a deficit situation and that we have PAYGO rules
that ensure that we don't spend more money than we take in? Which one
would that be?
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. That would be the Democratic party.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Okay. I wasn't quite certain because if you
listen to the rhetoric on the other side of the aisle, they talk a good
game. But when it comes to action, backing up the words with action,
just like when the President stood in that rostrum a couple of years
ago and laid out the notion that we should end America's addiction to
foreign oil, but then promptly pushed an energy bill through the then
Republican Congress that gave away those $14 billion in subsidies to
the oil industry that we're now trying to repeal. That was just
unbelievable. And I can't use certain words that I think should be
applicable to that situation because it violates the House rules, so I
won't. But I think we all know what the definition of saying something
and doing another actually is.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And this is all about, you know, borrowing of the
money. And as the gentlelady from Florida said, I think everyone at
some point has mentioned it here tonight, $3 trillion in the last 6
years borrowed from foreign interests, raised the debt limit five
times, borrowing from China and Japan. And my nephew, little Nicky
Ryan, who's, you know, 2 years old is saying to us, what are you doing?
Uncle Timmy, what are you doing?
We're passing it down, passing it on. Someone's got to pay this bill.
And it's your kids and your kids and Kendrick's kids who have to do it.
[[Page H16937]]
I yield to my friend.
Mr. ALTMIRE. If I could tie this all together, what we're talking
about with pay-as-you-go, and the gentlewoman talks about the energy
bill. And the gentleman from Ohio talked about the College Cost
Reduction Act dealing with student loans. Let's tie this together. What
does it mean to pay as you go, to pay for what you're doing? Well, with
the College Cost Reduction Act we did things that are going to
substantially improve the lives of middle-class Americans all across
this country. They're going to make a real difference for families in
America. We cut in half the interest rates on student loans from 6.8
percent to 3.4 percent, which, by itself, if we did nothing else, would
save the average student on student loans in this country over $4,400
over the lifetime of their loan. But we didn't just stop there. We
increased Pell Grants, the staple of student support in this country,
to $5,400, the largest increase in the history of that program. And we
capped at 15 percent of discretionary income the amount that the
borrower, after they graduate, would be required to be burdened with
debt to repay their student loan. These are things that are going to
make a big difference. But they cost money. It had a $20 billion price
tag, which is a substantial amount of money. And unlike previous
Congresses, instead of charging it to the credit card and saying, Nicky
Ryan, you're going to have to pay for this in 30 or 40 years, for the
rest of your life, this is something that you, as an individual, we're
going to take the initiative as a Congress and we're going to pay for
this up front. And what did we do? We went to the big banks and the
lenders who've turned a hefty profit on the backs of students and
parents in this country for years and have done quite well with these
student loan programs and we've said it's time to pay your fair share.
And we took the subsidies from the big banks and the lenders and
redirected every penny of them into the student loan programs to help
students and parents in this country.
Similarly, with the energy bill, we had the $14 billion subsidies
that were going to the big oil and gas industry at a time when they
were making all-time record profits. They're doing quite well. I don't
think anybody can argue that the oil and gas industry is suffering
right now. They're doing very well.
So we said, we're going to take away those subsidies at this time
when you're making all-time record profits.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Also known as corporate welfare.
Mr. ALTMIRE. Thank you. And we're going to redirect that $14 billion
into research and development of alternative fuels, alternative energy,
which gets us off of the foreign oil which is what the President talked
about doing. It lessens our dependence on foreign oil, and it helps the
environment by having clean-burning fuels and renewable energy, all of
those things that everybody talks about, and we paid for it; $14
billion directly paid for by those subsidies.
Now, in the other body, unfortunately, we fell one vote short. They
had 59 votes. That's much more than a majority, but the rules are a
little bit different in the other body, and they need 60 votes now to
move on legislation, which is a subject for another day, the fact that
that rule is there.
But the point is, that's what it means to pay as you go. We're doing
very good things. When they cost money, unlike previous Congresses,
we're paying for it up front in a budget neutral way.
So I will yield back to the gentlewoman from Florida. And I think the
gentleman from Florida, who controls the time, is looking to wrap up
here shortly. Is that correct?
Mr. MEEK of Florida. I know we have time, but I made a commitment to
the people that are nice to us here in the Chamber that they will be
getting to be reunited with their families pretty soon. So I guess we
can kind of make our closing comments, or what have you. We said 35
minutes. We have until, maybe until at least 35 after, so don't feel
rushed.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. In my wrap-up remarks, first of all, I want to
thank each of you that are parts of the 30-Something Working Group, and
Mr. Murphy, who headed home to his family this evening, for continuing
to hang in here and coming out. We certainly could have disbanded the
30-Something Working Group, Mr. Ryan. We could have said, you know, our
work here is done. We won the majority and now we can just, you know,
go make good policy and go home. But it's clear that our work is far
from done. We have a lot left to do on the agenda. We have to make sure
that we deal with expanding access to health care, that we continue to
push for the remaining provisions of the energy bill that we were not
able to get included. We have to make sure that we focus on bringing
our troops home. And people need to understand that we're not, we're
going to be relentless in continuing to try to make sure we do that.
People should understand that the vote tonight did not pass with, the
vote on the funding for the war in Iraq did not pass with a majority of
Democratic votes. It passed with a majority of the Republican votes.
This is this President's war and this is the Republicans' war, and it
will continue to be their war. They are the ones that are leaving our
troops twisting in the wind with their families being separated from
them with repeated, over-the-top tours of duty, three and four times
over there, having more than a year, less than a year between tours of
duty.
We've got to make sure that we think about our troops and focus on
the fact that it is clear now, even with the reduction in violence, Mr.
Ryan, that the Iraqi leadership has made no progress. And they've made
no progress because they don't need to because they know right now with
the message that this President is sending that we're going to be there
as long as they need us. There's no pressure, no incentive, and we need
the American people to understand that we will continue to come out
here; we will continue to talk about the priorities that they care
about. And now that we're in the majority we're going to continue to
press to adopt those priorities and shame the Republicans on the other
side of the aisle every single day until we get dangerously close to
this election and we put some fear in their hearts so that they don't
continue to stick with this President who is completely wrong on the
priorities that the American people care about.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I think what we've done, and I think what the
Speaker has done and Steny Hoyer and Jim Clyburn and John Larson and
our leadership team have done over the past year is, you know, we've
heard for a decade about family values. And I think what has happened
here is our legislation has embodied what families need, the minimum
wage community health clinics, education funding. We, I think, have
spoken through our actions here, and I think that's very important.
{time} 1930
In addition to that, when we talk about staying out here and
continuing the message side of this, part of politics is to communicate
with the American people. But what's important is anyone who's watching
this debate, we're telling you our side, they are saying their side,
and there are the facts, and the American people get to listen.
We wanted to make sure that the hedge fund managers were not hiding
money in offshore accounts. That was something we ran on, and we tried
to do it and continue, but we don't have a big enough majority now to
handle some of these in the Senate and here.
We were the ones who wanted to pull the corporate subsidies. We were
the ones who actually succeeded in the education and the health care
and the energy and all these other issues, not nearly again as far as
we wanted to go. But for us to come out here and continue to pitch our
accomplishments, what we've done, what we're going to continue to do,
the fact that we're not happy, there are still jobs leaving many
communities across our country that need that growth, that investment
in alternative energies, that's what we are trying to do, trying to
accomplish.
We're not satisfied. So to the people back home listening to us,
we're not satisfied. We're not done. We're going to continue the good
fight.
And so I'd just like to say to everyone here, thank you. Happy
holidays. Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah. Happy Kwanzaa.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Happy New Year.
[[Page H16938]]
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Happy New Year.
Mr. ALTMIRE. I just want to say very quickly, Mr. Murphy's not here,
our fifth partner here, but the three, the gentlewoman from Florida,
the gentleman from Ohio, the other gentleman from Florida have done a
magnificent job over the years of carrying the 30-Somethings and
getting the message out at a time when it was very difficult to do so.
And now, luckily, times have changed, and now the Democrats are in
the majority, and it's a little bit easier to control the agenda and
talk about issues and move forward.
I just want to say what an honor it is for me to have been a part of
the 30-Something Working Group, and I know Mr. Murphy would say the
same, that we were very familiar with the group and had seen you in
action for many years, but as we are now the last group to speak on the
last day of the first session of the 110th Congress, I didn't want to
let the moment go by and say it's great for me.
And I love especially the geographic diversity that we have where Ms.
Wasserman Schultz and Mr. Meek have their districts next to each other
in south Florida and Mr. Ryan and myself have our districts next to
each other on the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. So we have fun with that
from time to time for sports analogies and weather and so forth, but it
really is an honor for me to be here, the same media market.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I have about five funny jokes that are in my head
right now that I want to say, but I'm going to pass on all five.
Mr. ALTMIRE. I've heard all five.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I think on behalf of us, I think we're very lucky.
We had a great freshman class that has had a tremendous impact.
Mr. Altmire, I know, has passed a couple of pieces of legislation
through the Small Business Committee that has really, I think,
redefined what government investment and what the Small Business
Administration needs to do, angel investor funds, venture capital
funds, to invest in these new start-up communities. So communities like
ours who are trying to convert from manufacturing, advanced
manufacturing, from manufacturing in auto and steel and rubber to some
kind of high-tech business, we now have an SBA bill that would allow
those young companies to get venture capital money that would match. I
mean, just a lot of innovative things.
I don't want to get into the details, but we want to say thank you
because you guys have all been great: Zack Space, Jason Altmire, Chris
Murphy, Patrick Murphy, Arcuri, the sheriff. We have a lot of great
people. And Yvette Clarke from Brooklyn, New York, has been phenomenal.
We've got a great class. So, thank you, thank you.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Before you close out, I don't know if you guys
did this last night, but we do need to congratulate in absentia Mr.
Murphy on his marriage, because he got married a couple of months ago
and, you know, he is going to look forward to spending some quality
time with his new bride, and so we wish him and his new wife very well.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Well, we gave a lot of shout-outs to folks last
night on how much we appreciate all of the staff and everyone that has
made the 30-Something Working Group possible: our good friends from the
Clerk's office who have been watching us for the last 5 years, also Mr.
Michael here. I don't want to give out last names because Mr. Tom, you
know, and others that help us.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. They get spammed.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Yes, all kind of stuff. These guys are rock
stars.
But I just want to say in closing that what we do here is very
serious work, but we do bring kind of a human element to it. I'm glad
that we do, because Americans understand what we are talking about.
Members understand what we're talking about. And Madam Speaker, I mean,
it's really a high honor for me to yield back this time, but I would
also like for your freshman class brother, Mr. Altmire, to close our
first session officially.
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