[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 42 (Wednesday, March 12, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H1611-H1612]
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. Mr. Speaker, it's an honor to be before the 
House once again. As you know, the 30-Something Working Group, we have 
been coming to the floor now for some 5 years to not only share with 
the Members but also with the American people on what's happening here 
in the Capitol.
  I'm going to do a short segment because we have other Members that 
need to come to the floor. And the hour is late, and tomorrow we're 
going to be working pretty hard past this hour tomorrow, I'm pretty 
sure. And we want to make sure that everyone is able to make it home 
and do the things that they need to do to prepare for that day.
  Mr. Speaker, with that, I just would like to say that we've been in 
debate now for a couple of hours on the budget, the 2009 budget. And I 
can tell you, Federal budget, as it relates to the House version, I can 
tell you what I've read and seen of the President's budget, we have a 
lot of patching up to do in that budget.
  Tomorrow we will have a number of different caucuses coming to the 
floor presenting their budget, their ideas. Some of them came before us 
today to talk about some of those issues to be considered before the 
full House, and I'm glad that we are providing that opportunity for the 
Members to participate in that process; also, to be in debate with the 
Republicans on Democratic new ideas, moving in a new direction. And I 
think it's so very, very important not only for the Members of the 
House to be a part of that exercise, but also for the American people 
to witness that exercise so that they will know, firsthand, who has the 
best priorities for the working American people that are out there, and 
those that are retired and those that are yet unborn, preparing this 
Nation to be able to bring them up in a way and to be able to have the 
resources in place so that they can see the kind of strong America that 
I witnessed when I came about.
  Now, let me just share a little bit about this budget. And it 
supports fiscal responsibility and also accountability on government. I 
think a lot of the frustration with so many Americans right now is 
based upon a lack of accountability, a lack of oversight, a lack of 
restraint as it relates to spending. And I think when you have 
accountability, you're going to save money. I don't think it, I know 
it.
  Now, 13 years in public service, and 8 years at the State level, I 
think it's important that we embody that. And this budget, it brings 
the budget back to balance by 2010, and our House budget, unlike the 
President's budget that he has proposed, not only to the House, but to 
the Senate, also the budget follows PAYGO rules which you say pay as 
you go, something that we adopted in our rules to say if we're going to 
spend it, we're going to show how we're going to pay for it. And I'm 
glad to see that we're still embracing not only that rule, but also 
that philosophy as it relates to the American people, of what they ask 
for.
  The administration also continues in the fiscally irresponsible 
practices. And in this budget we bring it back to being responsible. 
And it's a real contrast, because since January 2001, a $5.6 trillion, 
10-year surplus has been converted into a record deficit. And as you 
know, Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor almost every night to share how 
that deficit has crippled America and hasn't allowed us to be able to 
do the things that we need to do back in our districts.
  I think we look at the wasteful spending; this administration is 
littered with examples of wasted spending and lack of accountability. 
And I'm glad that Chairman Spratt of South Carolina has embraced that 
in his budget that he's bringing to the floor. Our budget that we're 
bringing on the Democratic side, we're looking at not only 
strengthening the economy, but creating jobs and at the same time 
energy, education, jobs, infrastructure and innovation will be the 
watchwords as we move through this process as basic principles. And so 
many Americans can, and also the Members, can go on 
www.budget.house.gov to look at the Democratic budget because I think 
it's important that we have that level of transparency so that they can 
take a look at the proposals that we are going to put forward.
  So many of my constituents and so many Americans are challenged by 
the cost of energy. And we do know on January 22 of 2001, gas prices 
were at $1.47. And now, today it's at $3.13 per gallon. And I know many 
of my constituents and many of the Americans that are paying attention 
to the proceedings here on the floor, they're saying, well, 
Congressman, you're a little bit off of that $3.13, because as I moved 
around Washington, D.C. today I saw it as a lot greater.

                              {time}  2130

  We provide, with our budget, as it relates to dealing with some of 
these gas issues, it provides a $6.1 billion funding for renewable 
energy and energy efficiency and other energy programs, which is $1.1 
billion, 21 percent more than the 2008 level.
  So we are moving in that direction making those kinds of investments, 
and some may translate that into saying that we are pulling ourselves 
out of Iraq, out of the Middle East and investing in the Midwest and 
trying to not only push private sector but also Americans in the 
direction of being more energy efficient so that we don't find 
ourselves continuing to depend on the big oil companies.
  If I can have my big oil company chart, I would appreciate it, 
because I think it's important to be able to reflect on it. Also, it 
rejects President Bush's budget cuts of energy efficiency and renewable 
energy programs, including the cuts to solar energy power, and also 
what the President did in terminating the weatherization-assistance 
program. We are replacing all of that, and I think it's important for 
Americans to understand what is happening here.
  These big oil companies have reaped record profits under the Bush 
administration, and as you can see here in 2002, it was first $30 
billion in record-breaking profits. It then kicked over $59 billion, 
$82 billion, $109 billion, $118 billion and $123.3 billion of these oil 
companies raking in these profits. And as you know, Mr. Speaker, we 
have moved legislatively to make sure that we call back some of those 
giveaways that the Republican Congress gave these oil companies.
  And this has resulted in what I talked about a little earlier, $1.47 
when the Bush administration started in January 22, 2001, and it almost 
sounds like an inauguration date, and what we face now at $3.13. The 
barrel of oil continues to go up.
  So this energy investment and being efficient is very, very important 
to the country, also very, very important to national security.
  We also invest in hundreds of billions of dollars in new investment 
and green jobs, green-collar jobs. These are jobs, Mr. Speaker, that we 
can't ship overseas. When we make our building greener, when we make 
our homes greener, these are jobs that anyone who can even be a high 
school dropout

[[Page H1612]]

with a skill would be able to participate in to that individual that 
became an engineer.
  These are jobs that you just can't send overseas. And this is a real 
economy and not a credit card economy, not a second mortgage economy, 
or not an economy where one has to go out and continue to borrow to 
live. This is real money coming in for real working Americans that are 
here so that we can put folks to work and get them off the unemployment 
role.
  I'm going to end right there, Mr. Speaker, as it relates to the 
energy investment because there are so many other investments in here 
as we look at education, transportation, and infrastructure. And today, 
just today, the Speaker had an infrastructure meeting in the Speaker's 
office with many individuals that felt that they had a way to not only 
incentivize an economy but also build on the infrastructure of America.
  So many of my constituents and so many Americans are very concerned 
about the investment that's going on in Iraq right now. Crumbling 
bridges, railways are not what they should be as it relates to moving 
transportation. We have trains that can move freight almost 430 miles 
on one gallon of diesel fuel. I mean, these are things that we have to 
continue to work on to not only save our environment but also create 
American jobs.
  And that's what I'm very excited about in this budget that we are 
putting forward, to give us the guideposts that we need in this country 
to not only do away with the debt by 2010 but also get the country 
moving in a direction so that it can be a safer place for our children 
and grandchildren.
  With that, Mr. Speaker, we always want in the 30-Somethings to not 
only hear from the Members but also hear from the American people on 
various issues that are facing the Congress. Next week we are going to 
be on Easter break for the next couple of weeks once we finish our 
business this week, But the 30-Something staff continues to work to 
come up with the great ideas that we put forth on behalf of the 
American people. And we are talking about Democrat and Republican, 
Independent, those that are thinking about voting and those that can't 
even vote yet.
  Our e-mail address is 30-SomethingD[email protected]. Again, 30-
[email protected]
.gov. Or if you want any of the information that we shared with you 
tonight about the budget, we know that you can go on 
www.budget.house.gov. Again, www.budget.house.gov. And any general 
information that you may want, what Democrats are doing here in 
Congress, www.speaker.gov, and I think that's easy enough to remember.

                          ____________________