[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.

                              {time}  1900

  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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