[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 65 (Wednesday, April 23, 2008)]
[House]
[Pages H2641-H2647]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       30-SOMETHING WORKING GROUP

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Altmire). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of January 18, 2007, the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Murphy) 
is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the 30-Something 
Working Group which the Speaker is a member of and I know will join us 
down here for an hour in the future, we hope to be joined later this 
evening by one of the senior members of the 30-Something Working Group, 
the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek).
  We come down to the House floor as some of the younger Members of the 
Democratic Caucus, and we try to do it every week to really focus in on 
how the issues affecting this Congress are specifically challenging 
younger families in this country. How the neglect of the past 12 years 
trying to be remedied by the new Democratic majority here are affecting 
those families that are just starting out, those issues maybe can be 
best talked about and best addressed by those of us who are the younger 
members of the House represented by the 30-Something Working Group.
  We thank the Speaker for constituting the working group and allowing 
us to come down and share our thoughts.
  It is remarkable as a first-term Member, Mr. Speaker, to see the 
transition of views and transformation of priorities and issues that 
you hear about as a first-term Member, going out and holding office 
hours as I do at supermarkets throughout my district, holding town hall 
meetings every week or 2 weeks throughout the district.
  I remember back in February of 2007 when I held my first big, large 
town hall. It was a nerve-racking occasion as a first-term Member of 
Congress, and I remember thinking there was only one subject to hold 
that town hall meeting on, and that was the war in Iraq, dominating the 
conversation as it seemed to here on the floor of the House and in the 
halls of the United States Congress.
  The President had proposed his new strategy to introduce 35,000 to 
40,000 new troops into Iraq, clearly working against the will of the 
majority of the American people who had said all across this Nation in 
November 2006 that they wanted a new direction in Iraq.
  And now fast forward a year later to town halls that I am holding, as 
well as other members of the 30-Something Working Group and Members on 
both sides of the aisle, and you hear a very different tune.
  People are still talking about Iraq. The situation hasn't gotten any 
better, and you can make the very plausible argument that things have 
gotten worse in Iraq over the last year. Even as the surge has moved 
forward, the political willingness of the Iraqis to take control of 
their own country has moved backwards.
  But what we are hearing very clearly from the mouths of our 
constituents in town hall meetings and office hours across this Nation 
is that there is economic trouble. There is trepidation on behalf of 
families throughout this country as to the economic future that they 
face as families and that our communities face going forward.

                              {time}  2215

  And it's real. The numbers are getting worse. The amount of homes 
facing foreclosures, the number of workers being laid off, even those 
people who have jobs finding that the salary increases they thought 
were coming are being postponed, the amount of overtime hours that they 
used to rely on, cut back, many more part time workers, more temporary 
workers.
  I don't know, Mr. Speaker, whether we're in a recession or not. I'm 
not an economist. But I know that people are facing real trouble back 
in Connecticut, as they are throughout the rest of this country.
  And I don't think it takes a rocket scientist on this floor or 
anywhere else in the country to figure out how we got here. You know, 
this isn't just about the jobs that are being lost. This isn't just 
about the themes are being foreclosed upon. This is about the fact that 
thousands of families, millions of families around this country and in 
the Fifth District of Connecticut have no more room in their budget to 
take any more hits.
  Energy costs going up at a pace that families and seniors can't 
sustain; health care costs going up to the point where businesses 
celebrate when they hear that their premiums are only going to increase 
by 10 percent in a given year. You add that all together with an 
economic slowdown, and you put millions of families at risk throughout 
this country.
  And it should be no surprise that we've gotten to the place that we 
are today because for 12 years, while our friends on the other side of 
the aisle controlled this House, while President Bush staked his claim 
to the White House, we have had absolute neglect when it comes to 
energy policy.
  So the families throughout this country today are hurting, while oil 
companies are making record profits, record profits; not just for the 
oil industry, but for any company in the history of capitalism in this 
country, record profits for the oil companies, while we have

[[Page H2642]]

families hurting, paying more at the pump, paying more to heat their 
homes.
  Health care policy is the same story. I mean, how long has it been 
that this Congress has been listening to the cries, to the pleas of 
families and businesses throughout this Nation to do something about 
the rising cost of health care?
  And for 12 years of this Republican Congress, for 8 years now, almost 
8 years of this Bush presidency, no relief on health care costs. While 
yet, at the same time, those that are making profits off the health 
care system, the insurance companies, the drug companies, continue to 
make enormous profits. Salaries for the CEOs of these companies spiral 
to new heights.
  So people are doing pretty well when it comes to energy prices, 
people are doing pretty well when it comes to health care prices. It's 
just not consumers. It's just not our neighbors and our friends and our 
relatives. It's that lucky few who got to run the oil company, who got 
to run the drug company, who got to run the insurance company.
  And we're trying to change things. But we're finding that it isn't 
easy without partners. It isn't easy without a Republican minority who 
actually wants to actually do something to change our economy. It's not 
so easy without a President who wants to come to the table and help us 
with health care policy.
  And so we are in difficult economic times today. But we need a 
Congress working together. We need a President who's willing to come to 
the table.
  Mr. Speaker, the facts speak for themselves here. On January 22, 
2001, when the President was sworn into office, the price of a gallon 
of gasoline was about $1.47. Today, 7 years later that price stands at 
$3.53. In Connecticut you might be lucky today to find a gallon of 
gasoline at $3.53. I think when I filled up my car this weekend, if I 
remember, it was up around the $3.70 mark.

  This is what you get, this is what you get when you give away $16 
billion of tax breaks to the oil companies. This is what you get when 
you refuse to make any investments in the types of alternative 
renewable energy sources that could wean this country off of gasoline. 
And this is what you get when, year after year after year, you 
perpetuate a foreign policy that destabilizes international oil markets 
in the Middle East and elsewhere.
  It's no secret, it's no surprise that we're standing where we are 
today. This Democratic majority has inherited an utterly bankrupt 
national energy policy, and it is leading to the trouble that we have 
seen in American families today.
  And the same thing goes for health care policy, Mr. Speaker. Again, I 
find it painfully humorous that 10 percent increases in premiums are to 
be celebrated around this country in our business community. And what 
it has led to is too many businesses who want to do the right thing, 
who want to give health care to their employees, cutting them off, or 
forcing more of the cost on those employees; putting yet another 
economic burden on families all around this country.
  This economic slowdown, once again, is not just about the subprime 
crisis. It's also about energy prices, it's also about health care 
costs. And for 12 years of this Congress, for 7 years of this 
presidency, no action on health care.
  With one minor exception, right? You remember the 2003 Medicare 
Modernization Act. Well, it did a couple of things. First, it foisted a 
Medicare prescription drug benefit seniors, which drove millions of 
seniors around this country through the roof trying to figure out, 
amongst 40 or 60 or 80 different plans, which one they should sign up 
for; drove them through the roof even more once they got to the end of 
the year and realized that their coverage was going to run out on them 
when they entered that dreaded donut hole; and all the while, made 
another nice health profit for the insurance companies and drug 
companies that were in the room writing the bill with the Republican 
majority at the time.
  That was our approach to health care, was to give a little bit to 
people in an utterly confusing and cruel program, which gives a lot to 
the folks that didn't need any more. That's pretty much the sum total 
of health care reform in this Congress before the Democrats took 
control.
  And as we've tried to extend out health care, we have been met with 
almost uniform resistance from the Republicans and from the President, 
most significantly in our effort to try to extend health care to poor 
kids. Four million kids we could have covered with the health care 
State insurance bill that we tried to pass. We came, you know, 
depending on anybody's estimates, about six votes short here in the 
House of Representatives, to overturn the President's repeated vetoes.
  That kind of health care coverage, reaching out and extending to a 
lot of working families out there. Remember, you're talking about \3/
4\, maybe more of the 46 million uninsured out there are members of 
families in which you have a full-time worker. People are playing by 
the rules. They're doing everything we ask them to do, trying to make 
do in a tough economy, and yet they don't have any health care 
insurance. And that children's health care insurance bill that we tried 
to pass here as Democrats, and couldn't get cooperation from our 
friends across the aisle, that would have extended out benefits to four 
million more kids and, more importantly, four million more families, 
families that are doing everything we ask, playing by the rules, trying 
to survive and simply can't get health care to their kids.
  Now, we know that they do get health care to their kids, because if 
their child is sick, they might postpone getting them to the doctor, 
but compassionate parents all across this country will end up bringing 
their child down to the emergency room, will end up finding a doctor 
that will treat them. But they pay for all of that out of their pocket.
  More bankruptcies in this country are caused by health care costs 
than any other cause that you can dream up. And so this economic 
slowdown is exacerbated by the increasing amount of health care costs 
that are pushed and burdened on families across this country.
  Doing something about health care is doing something about the 
economy, just like doing something about energy prices is also about 
doing something for this economy.
  But the other thing that I'm finding out, Mr. Speaker, as I'm walking 
around talking to constituents in the northwest section of Connecticut, 
is that the gig is up on the Republican and the President's ability to 
separate the war from the economy, because people are figuring out that 
they are totally linked together.
  The fact that we are spending $339 million a day, let me say that 
again, $339 million a day on this war is taking food right out of the 
mouths of families here in this country, taking jobs effectively right 
out of the hands of American families.
  Why is that? Imagine what we could have done if we could have taken 
the nearly $1 trillion that we have spent on this war over the past 5 
years, and invested it in growing new economies in this country, 
invested it in building new worker training programs so that 
individuals being phased out of old economy jobs could be transitioned 
into new economy jobs.
  What if we took that money that we've been spending, $330 million a 
day, and put that into new tax incentives for small businesses to grow 
their operations?
  All of the things that we could have done with that money could have 
prevented the economic slowdown that we face today. They are absolutely 
linked together, the spending on this war, and the economic slowdown 
that we see today.
  And part of this whole puzzle, and now you're getting into sort of 
high-minded economics that a non economist like me probably shouldn't 
be talking about. But we know also that the dollar is falling fast 
across this world, and is jeopardizing even further the soundness of 
our economy as our dollar gets weaker and weaker and weaker.

  And part of that equation is the fact that every dollar of this war, 
virtually every dollar for this war has been borrowed from foreign 
countries, countries that we're trying to sit across the table from and 
negotiate better trade deals, trying to negotiate on foreign policy. We 
can't do that on a fair and level playing field because we owe them

[[Page H2643]]

money; not just a little bit of money, but billions upon billions of 
dollars that we owe foreign countries. Because for this war, we haven't 
paid for it ourselves. We put it on somebody else's tab, our kids' tab, 
our grandkids' tab. And for now that money is being held, those 
promissory notes are being held by foreign governments, further 
undermining the American economy.
  So the chickens are coming home to roost here on energy policy, on 
health care policy and on the policy of the war that has sucked money 
out of this country that could have gone to sustain our economy.
  Well, we can do things about it. We can do things about it. We can 
make strides, we can take steps to strengthen our economy, once again.
  I want to talk for just a brief moment, Mr. Speaker, about one small 
bill that we passed today that'll start to get us on the road to fiscal 
and economic sanity once again.
  Regardless of what you think about this war, we have spent wildly and 
out of control. Now, I'm talking about the $340 million that we spend 
every day in Iraq.
  Now, I think that had we not gone into Iraq in the first place, had 
we not stepped foot into this quagmire, we could have spent all of that 
money here at home to educate our own kids, to build our own schools, 
to retain our own workers.
  But even if we had gone into Iraq, if we had just been paying more 
attention, as a Congress, as to how money was being spent, we could 
have had a lot more money to do those things that is now being wasted 
on the battlefield of Iraq and the battlefield of Afghanistan.
  One of the ways in which we are wasting money was that we were making 
and still are, Mr. Speaker, making people rich off of this war. War 
profiteering is what it's called, people making their fortunes off of 
the misery of others. That's happening right here and now in the war in 
Iraq and the war in Afghanistan.
  In the Government Oversight Committee that I sit on as a freshman 
member, we had one of the most egregious examples of this practice, 
Blackwater Security before us back in the fall. The CEO of Blackwater 
Security who's got a billion dollar contract to basically do the work 
that the U.S. military should be doing in Iraq, Blackwater is basically 
a paramilitary citizen army setting up camp in Iraq.
  They got a huge contract with the United States Government. 90 
percent of Blackwater's profits, excuse me. 90 percent of Blackwater's 
revenue comes from U.S. taxpayers. I mean, they are, essentially, a 
quasi-government agency. 90 percent of their money comes from the U.S. 
taxpayers.
  So I asked what I thought was a commonsense question at this hearing. 
I asked Eric Prince, the CEO of Blackwater, I said, listen. You know 
what? I think it'd be useful for us to know as a Congress, and for the 
American public to know how much profit you make, how much salary do 
you take as a quasi-public government employee?
  Mr. Prince said to us, very clearly, it's none of your business. I'm 
a private company. It seemed outrageous to me. It seemed outrageous to 
many of my colleagues on the committee.
  We pay your salary. We pay 90 percent of all the money that your 
company takes in, and you're not going to tell us whether you make $1 
million?
  Well, he did tell us that; he did tell us that he made over $1 
million, but he wouldn't tell us how much more.

                              {time}  2230

  $2 million? $3 million? $10 million? $20 million?
  So I put in a bill, a really simple bill that passed on the floor of 
the House of Representatives today that said for those private 
companies that are out there making 80 percent or more of their money 
from the Federal Government, that have $25 million or more in 
contracts, you need to tell the American public how much you are taking 
out in profit. Tell us how much your most highly compensated officials 
make. Put some sunlight on how much profit you are making off of this 
war. Seems like a commonsense measure. In fact, it passed unanimously 
on the House floor this afternoon.
  But it says something about how important the change was that was 
made in control of this House that it took 5 years of this war for that 
commonsense, simple bill to make it to the House floor, because when it 
got here, it resulted in a unanimous vote. But it took Democrats taking 
control of the House in order for these types of bills, cracking down 
on war profiteering, to even find the light of day here.
  And so, yes, so many of us believe that part of bringing us out of 
this economic mess, this downturn, this recession, whatever you want to 
call it, is getting us out of this mess that we have gotten ourselves 
into in Iraq, turning that money around and spending it right here in 
the United States of America. But until we do that, one of the most 
important things we can do for our economy is to make sure that to the 
extent that we are spending money in Iraq that we're spending it 
wisely, the right way.
  That's part of our responsibility as a Congress. At least when I grew 
up reading the Constitution, learning about the three branches of 
government, I was told that the House of Representatives was supposed 
to be a place that oversaw the executive branch, that made sure that 
the money of the people that they represented was being spent in the 
right way. Well, that didn't happen here for a long time.
  That oversight role that the Congress was supposed to have on the 
war, on the policies of the President, kind of vanished for about 7 
years. Conveniently, they were there for the years in which there was a 
Republican Congress and a Democratic President; a record number of 
subpoenas were flying out of this place when there was a Democratic 
President. But when there was a Republican Congress and a Republican 
President, it wasn't happening so much. I would like to think it was a 
coincidence, but it probably wasn't.
  Now we've got oversight again. And a reasonable amount of oversight. 
Not overreaching. Not politicizing, not grandstanding. The right amount 
of oversight. And we passed a bill that was part of that process today.
  I couldn't be more pleased, tickled, frankly, to be joined on the 
House floor by one of the originators of the 30-Something Working 
Group, Representative Meek.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Well, I want to thank you so very much. When you 
say ``originators,'' it makes me feel a little old.
  But, Mr. Speaker, I'm glad to be joining my great colleague here. He 
had a wonderful bill on today on the floor. I'm so glad that the 
Members voted in a unanimous way in making sure we bring about the kind 
of accountability that the American people have been calling for for a 
very long time now.
  I think Mr. Murphy has stepped on something, like they say in the 
country, of being able to bring to light, exactly what are you making? 
Why are you motivated to be a part of this ongoing war, this kind of 
the quiet storm that's going on, special interests supporting with 
commercials and all, the war in Iraq and Afghanistan?
  So we do know that the war in Afghanistan is all about 9/11, but the 
war in Iraq, after 5 years, is about something else.
  Former President Bill Clinton puts it this way: If a family next door 
had a fire, any good neighbor would allow their neighbor to come over 
and stay at their home and let them sleep on the couch or the extra 
room for a couple of weeks; and maybe that neighbor may ask, well, can 
I stay for 2 or 3 months? And nine times out of ten, a good neighbor 
would allow that person to stay 3 or 4 months. But when it's 5 years 
later, it's no longer about the fire.
  I think that it's important that we look at it from that standpoint, 
especially as we look at some of these companies that are tenfold going 
along with, let's keep this war going, let's keep the American people 
scared about what may happen to them if we were to withdraw the 
majority of our troops from Iraq.
  Mr. Speaker, I think it's important, and I want to share this with 
the Members because there was a great debate on this floor today when 
we talked about this issue of gas prices.
  Now it's very ironic that our Republican colleagues on the other side 
tried to do what we call here on this floor a procedural maneuver, a 
motion to recommit saying that what are you doing about gas prices in 
America. Now, this

[[Page H2644]]

is very interesting, and I wish I had my chart down here as it relates 
to profits that Big Oil has made on the Republican watch.
  When President Bush became President, Dick Cheney had a special 
meeting in 2001 with oil companies, and all of a sudden, these oil 
companies started making these profits that were really unconscionable, 
unprecedented, never happened before in the history of the Republic. 
But then again we have Republicans on the floor saying, what is up with 
these oil prices?
  Well, you know, it's very interesting. I want to point the Members, 
too, because it's nothing about fact versus fiction. Republican 
leadership wrote the Speaker a letter saying, well, what are you doing 
about the fuel issue and the price of gas in the United States of 
America? And me knowing the Speaker and all of us knowing the Speaker, 
that she sleeps with her fists balled up, especially fighting on behalf 
of the American people.
  And I think it's very, very important, and we realize that this is 
very serious business, when folks have to pay $4 out of their pocket to 
pay for a gallon of gas, I think it's something that we should be 
paying close attention to.
  The Speaker wrote the Republican leadership back in this House and 
said, It's interesting. We have H.R. 2264 that we put forth on the 
floor in asking the Department of Justice to take legal action against 
OPEC-controlled entities for participating in oil cartels that are 
driving up the price of oil. That's H.R. 2264. How about the Energy 
Price Gouging Act, which is H.R. 1252, legislation that will reduce the 
burden of rising gas prices on American families, providing immediate 
relief to consumers by giving the Federal Trade Commission authority to 
investigate and punish those that are artificially inflating fuel 
prices? How about H.R. 5351 with ExxonMobil ranked as the most 
profitable company in 2007? It's unnecessary for taxpayers to subsidize 
Big Oil. It goes on and on.
  I will pull one more bill out. How about the marketing manipulation 
provision that was in the Energy Independence Security Act of 2007? It 
talks about some of the very things that I mentioned.
  But this is not the kicker, Mr. Speaker and Members. It's interesting 
that the Republican leadership would write the Speaker trying to do a 
Potomac two-step when we're here about the business.
  See, the reason why we're in the majority is because Republicans, 
Independents, Democrats, people that voted for the first time wanted to 
vote for change, so they voted for the Democrats to take control of 
this House of Representatives; Republicans who are frustrated, 
Republican voters who are frustrated with the fact that Republicans 
were saying one thing and doing another in the back halls of Congress. 
We have opened this process up when we took the majority here, and 
that's what they were looking for, and we will continue.
  But the irony of the whole issue is that the Republicans will write a 
letter to the Speaker as though ``we got you on black-and-white 
paper,'' and she's not paying enough attention to say, Wait a minute. 
Let me call you out since you wanted to call me out.
  As a matter of fact, the top of the Republican leadership here voted 
against the issue as it relates to OPEC price gouging, voted against 
the Price Gouging Act that we passed, the House bill that I called out 
just a few minutes ago; voted against renewable energy so that we can 
drive the cost down and compete with petroleum and OPEC companies and 
other folks that want to raise the price of gas in the United States, 
and voted against the Energy Security Act.
  So I think it's very important for us to look at the hypocrisy of the 
democracy on the other side of the Republican aisle. Now I won't 
generalize all of the Republicans in this House because some of them 
voted with the Democrats on it because they see the light.
  Many of their colleagues that were lockstep with the philosophy of 
the letter that the Republican leadership wrote to the Speaker are now 
watching me at home on C-SPAN because they made a career decision not 
to follow the will of the American people and bring about the kind of 
change that they woke up early one Tuesday morning looking for. This 
great democracy of ours calls for representation. Not representation of 
special interests.
  And so I'm very pleased with my Democratic colleagues that have voted 
for our Democratic leadership to be in the leadership to lead us in 
this new direction that we share with the American people. We didn't 
just share it with Democrats; we shared it with Republicans, we shared 
it with the Independents, and we shared it with the American people. We 
shared it with those that are yet unborn, those that cannot vote right 
now to give them hope in this government that we're here fighting on 
behalf of them.
  There are veterans right now that are in the sound of my voice, that 
can hear my voice right now, that have fought for this country and 
allowed us to salute one flag. And I think it's very, very important, 
Mr. Speaker, very, very important, Members, very, very important, those 
congressional staffers, that we do the things that we have to do to 
make this country better.
  These kind of letters, writing back and forth for the sake that I 
wrote a letter, motions to recommit to say that we're going to call the 
Democrats out on not doing anything about gas prices; we don't have oil 
on our hands. They need to go down to 1600 Pennsylvania and check that 
out. They had the first meeting. They sat down with oil executives. 
They're the individuals that have the oil background.
  And we have a better reason of why we need to change what is going on 
right now through using alternative fuel versus telling American people 
that they're addicted to oil.
  So we've got a lot of work to do, and I'm hoping that this bipartisan 
vote that we took on Mr. Murphy's bill today is something that's 
blowing through the air ducts here in Washington, D.C. that Republicans 
and Democrats can vote together when it makes sense. It makes sense for 
us to look for alternative fuels.
  It makes sense for us to be greener. It makes sense for us to do what 
we're doing here, Mr. Murphy and Mr. Speaker, of greening the Capitol. 
Greening the Capitol, we just started that when the Democrats took 
control. Mr. Murphy talked about the fact that this made sense, but it 
never would have seen the light of day, Mr. Speaker, if it wasn't for 
Democratic leadership here in this House allowing Mr. Murphy's bill to 
make it to the floor so Members can vote in a unanimous way.
  Some of my friends on the other side of the aisle, Republicans, 
they're people, too. And it's very important that we give them the 
opportunity to vote on good pieces of legislation. And I think it's 
important that we don't allow anyone to stand in the school house door 
or the policy door of this Congress and not allow legislation to come 
to the floor.
  Case in point, Mr. Murphy, if I may. All of the 9/11 recommendations 
were held back by the Republicans when they were in control. We passed 
them here in the House of Representatives. To be able to cut student 
loan interest rates in half on behalf of all of the American people; 
those that drive Ford, Chevy trucks that are paying somewhere in the 
neighborhood of $95 to fill their tank up, to those individuals that 
are catching the bus that have been green all their lives because they 
have no alternatives; those individuals that wake up early in the 
morning that snap, pop these sheets over here in Washington, D.C. and 
throughout America in these hotels that know what it means to punch in 
and punch out every day with a 15-minute break in the morning, if they 
get it, and a 30-minute lunch break, if they get it, those kind of 
individuals. Those kind of individuals that come home and take off 
steel-toed boots and sit down and try to recover from the day that they 
had of working a solid 8 or 12 hours. Those individuals.
  Those are the kind of people that we talk to here in this Democratic 
Congress. Those are the kind of individuals that we allow Republicans 
to vote on good legislation like Mr. Murphy brought to the floor today 
because he just got here and he wants to show his constituents and the 
American people since they federalized him to come to this floor to 
represent them, that they will have the opportunity to vote for good 
legislation. Not only for him to go home but for him to sleep right at 
night.
  So I think it's important, Mr. Speaker. I have no problem with 
Members

[[Page H2645]]

bringing amendments to the floor. I have no problems with Republicans 
raising the point of how we can make legislation better. But it's one 
thing, Mr. Speaker, and Members, when you come to the floor and you're 
the pot calling the kettle black, it's one thing for that to happen.
  And one thing that I do like, Mr. Murphy, about our 30-Something 
Working Group is that we're in the business of fact and not fiction, 
that we're in the business of carrying out the will of the American 
people, because we stood on this floor some 4, 6 hard years saying that 
if you give us the opportunity to lead, this is what we will do. 
Democrats, Republicans, Independents, American people, and those yet 
unborn will appreciate our efforts.

                              {time}  2245

  So I think it is important. I'm not upset. If someone says, well, 
Congressman sounds kind of upset, that guy from Miami. I thought he was 
kind of easy going, you know, folks from Florida get all excited about 
things, Sunshine State and all. I'm just glad that God provided me an 
opportunity to stand upright to be on this floor. And folks in the 17th 
Congressional District in Florida on one Tuesday morning voted for me 
to be here to be able to state what I'm saying right now. And so this 
is not propaganda, it's fact.
  I want to thank the Speaker for responding to the Republican 
leadership on this issue. And I want to thank those Republicans that 
voted on your very good piece of legislation. I'm glad, because I look 
forward--I actually sent something out to a couple of friends talking 
about this today, and I think it's important that we do that.
  Mr. Murphy, I want to thank you for your leadership. I'm glad that we 
have the opportunity to do the things that we have to do. I know the 
American people are paying attention to what the presidential 
candidates are saying. I'm hoping that in the President's closing days, 
that he has an opportunity to sign and be a part of the good 
legislation that we're trying to pass here. And I want folks to stay 
engaged.
  Before I close on this segment, I just want to say, because I never 
hit the floor unless I share with the Members what's happening in Iraq 
right now, that as of today, April 23, 4,046 Americans have died in 
Iraq; total number of wounded in action and returned to duty is 6,520; 
and total number of wounded in action not returning to duty is 3,309. 
Mr. Speaker, I think every day that should be read into the 
Congressional Record so that Members understand their responsibilities 
and what they have to do.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Well said, Mr. Meek. And if we can get the 
legislation that we passed through the House today through the Senate, 
what will make those numbers even starker is to partner them with the 
numbers reflecting the millions of dollars that some people out there 
are making off this war. Or those numbers of troops that don't come 
home, or come home with their lives altered permanently, for many of 
us, I think for all of us, it doesn't seem right that off of that 
misery someone is making their fortune out there. And that's what the 
legislation today on the floor sought to do.
  Mr. Meek, you talked about the fact that on a lot of the pieces of 
legislation that we've been talking about, especially with respect to 
our efforts here in this New Direction Congress to try to do something 
about the legacy of rising oil prices that the President has left us, 
we've had folks on the other side of the aisle join us. I'm just 
looking at a couple of bills here on our legislation to finally go 
after these multinational oil cartels that have been price fixing, have 
been immune from the actions of prosecutors and U.S. courts. Well, 
we've decided to put them under the jurisdiction of the United States 
court system and try to go after them for price fixing. And you know 
what? We did. It looks like we got about 125 Members of the Republican 
side of the aisle to join us.
  When we went after price gougers, we said, let's make it a Federal 
crime, let's give the Federal Trade Commission the ability to go after 
those people who would take advantage of rising prices to gouge 
consumers, to try to get much more than the market would command. We 
had over 50 Republicans who joined us on that legislation; we wish we 
had more. We wish we had a greater bipartisan majority for these pieces 
of legislation that are going forward. But the fact is is that we are 
working together as much as we can. It's not easy to take on these big 
interests that are making record profits in the oil industry.
  The real problem is down the street. The real problem is that we have 
empowered and entrusted with the reins of the White House and the 
entire executive branch two oil company executives, two people who made 
their own fortunes taking profits off of oil prices, taking money out 
of the pockets of consumers. And those relationships in this 
administration with the oil industry, I think more so than the 
relationships that certain Members of this House might have, have 
really led us to the point where we have trouble advancing good 
consumer legislation through the full process because the President's 
threatened vetoes on the anti-oil cartel bill. The President's 
threatened veto of the price gouging legislation is what holds it up 
from moving further through the process.
  So Mr. Meek, this is, I think, a building bipartisan majority here in 
the House. I think we are having some success convincing some of our 
friends on the other side of the aisle, despite their procedural tricks 
and maneuvers, that, you know what, these prices don't discriminate 
based on what party you went down and registered at the town hall and 
you're getting killed by gas prices and home heating oil prices whether 
you're a Republican or whether you're a Democrat. So I think that may 
account for why we have been able to build some collective support here 
for these pieces of legislation.
  It's really down the road, as you ended your remarks, Mr. Meek, by 
suggesting that we've still got time left, right? I mean, everybody's 
looking at this presidential election saying, you know what, that's 
where our focus is. Everybody's concerned about this primary and that 
primary, and the cable news networks don't cover what we do here, they 
just cover what's said on the campaign trail. Come on, we've got 9 
months left of this administration. We've got 9 months more, 
potentially, of $3.53 gasoline prices, of similarly high prices to heat 
your home in the northeast as the winter starts to come around again. 
We've still got time to do something if we've got a President to come 
and join us here and make some of the changes we need to make, Mr. 
Meek.
  There is still time left. We say to our colleagues, don't pay 
attention to this presidential election at the detriment of the good 
work that we still can do. Now that the people have got back control of 
their House, taking it back from the oil companies that have controlled 
this agenda for so long, we can still make progress. We can still do 
something about these prices between now and the end of the year, Mr. 
Meek.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. If I can, Mr. Murphy, I think it's important, 
and I'm going to have to come in for a close because I have to run, but 
I think that it's important, Mr. Speaker and Members, that we look at 
it for what it is.
  I tell you, a friend of mine from Miami always says, ``it is what it 
is,'' and I always smile when my friend shares that with me. But I can 
tell you this, you know, here's President Bush walking with the Saudi 
king in April of 2005 right here, Mr. Speaker. And I want the Members 
to make sure that they focus in on that, the very meeting that I was 
talking about. The White House energy plan was submitted, and 
individuals had a meeting, and here it is. If you look at the future 
prices with respect to gasoline, they appear to be headed down. This is 
what Vice President Dick Cheney said on 5/20/2001. And as you look at 
this chart, it started getting worse for the American people, Mr. 
Speaker and Members, and better for the oil companies. Now, I'm not a 
Member of Congress with a conspiracy theory, but I'm just saying that 
it's important that we pay attention to what people are saying and what 
they are doing.
  I want to get that other chart and just kind of talk about what 
happened to the American people. Let me tell you something, I have to 
fill up my tank, too. My constituents are feeling this pinch, too. And 
I just want to make sure that folks understand that this is serious 
business. When you have folks on fixed incomes and they're not 
receiving cost-of-living adjustments or

[[Page H2646]]

whatever the case may be, because the super majority of Americans--the 
boss man, like they say in the country--they don't necessarily care 
about your personal problems, about the fact that you can't fill your 
tank up, about the fact that your child couldn't pay his or her student 
loans back and you had to stand in for your student loans. My mother 
always said in the old school--they used to call a guy in Tallahassee, 
Florida that owned Lewis State Bank, Mr. Speaker, they called him 
``Banker Lewis.'' And back in the old school, some of the grandparents 
and some of the folks that are probably in their 50s and 60s 
understand, they say co-sign now, they used to have to go down to the 
bank and credit union and stand for the person that's looking for the 
loan. Those days are over. And individuals that are looking to make 
money in a capitalist society, some care about their employees' 
personal problems, but some don't. And there's nothing wrong with 
capitalism, I think profits are a good thing, but I also believe that 
individuals that went to vote for representation here in this U.S. 
Congress deserve it. And this is what's happening here.
  Look at the per barrel price, 2001. Remember that other chart that I 
talked about at Mr. Cheney's meeting--who has a past history in oil, 
and I guarantee you will have a future in oil--it started off at 
$25.88. And you can follow over here. And this is not fiction, this is 
fact. You start going up, up, up, and now we're at $119.37 a barrel.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, if I start saying that unleaded gas is $3.70 or 
$3.60, there will be many of your constituents and your constituents, 
Mr. Murphy, and many constituents of Members of Congress here that will 
say the Congressman is incorrect. No, it's actually $3.80 and $3.90 in 
some places. And so I think it's important, when we start looking at 
what small businesses have to pay, what American people have to pay, 
you know, we have parents that are trying to carpool, get their kids to 
school. I mean, I live in the urban area. God forbid if I was in a 
rural area. What happens if I have to drive my soon-to-be 11-year-old 
son and my 13-year-old daughter 25, 30 miles to school under these 
circumstances?
  And we have four pieces of legislation that this Democratic House has 
passed and waiting for our Republican colleagues, in many cases, to 
join us. And especially over in the Senate, Mr. Speaker and Members, 
where they have the 60-vote rule, you can't even bring things up. So 
you have oil executives going there saying, stand in the door of the 
Senate or stand in the door of the House and make sure that this 
doesn't pass or this amendment doesn't go on. It may be 
counterproductive to your constituents, but stand in that door. That's 
the kind of stuff we saw in the 108th Congress. That's the kind of 
stuff that I witnessed in the 109th Congress. But in the 110th 
Congress, it's a new day, and the people are looking for the kind of 
representation that they voted for.
  And I just want to share, and Mr. Speaker, this is not a threat or 
anything like that because I'm not in that business; I mean, I consider 
myself a nice guy and I get along with a number of the Members here. As 
a matter of fact, I don't know of a Member that I'm not on speaking 
terms with, Democrat or Republican. We all get along. We're colleagues. 
It's just like you go to work every day, you punch in. There are some 
people that work in some areas of the office or out on the construction 
field, but you all say hello to one another, I mean, why don't you? But 
the only time we separate is when Republican leadership may say, well, 
we can't be with that because a certain interest doesn't want us to be 
with that issue; or we have to show the difference between us and the 
Democrats, even if they're right. Well, back home, for those Americans 
that know what it means to sit at the dining room table and spread your 
bills out and figure out how you're going to pay them, those kind of 
individuals are looking for representation. Those kind of individuals 
are looking for relief. And they're not necessarily looking for relief 
for the people that they're paying the bills to, they're looking for 
the relief for them to help them figure out their dining room problem.
  And so when we talk about rolling blackouts, when folks' lights go 
out, or whatever the case may be, I was in Haiti on Sunday evening and 
Monday, and I could sit and watch the different parts of Port-au-Price, 
Haiti go into the dark because the country is running through economic 
problems. That happens in America. There are houses on every block in 
America--not every block, but some blocks in America that the lights 
are out, not because they went to bed early, it's that they can't 
afford the dog-gone bill.
  And so when we sit here and start playing these games like our 
Republican leadership tried to do tonight with this whole motion to 
recommit, saying what are you all doing about gas prices, when turn 
around three-quarters of them didn't even vote for four of the bills 
that this Democratic House put forth to give the American people the 
relief that they called for, and then we're trying to do something 
about it, and then they try to hijack a good bill and trying to force 
the Members by saying, well, this Member voted--and we may see this 
this November, I don't know. Some Members, their motion to recommit, we 
voted it down, a very bad motion to recommit, ill-advised motion to 
recommit that some Member that voted for the last four bills to give 
the American people the relief that they deserve may find it in a 
political ad sometime soon in their district saying that they voted 
against some Republican motion to recommit that could not come to 
reality if it wanted to because it wasn't drafted right, it didn't fit 
into the bill. But they had the right to be able to put the motion to 
recommit. So I think it's important that we break this argument down 
for the American people so that they understand what's going on here. 
That will not be rewarded.
  Mr. Speaker, I stood here, as sure as my name is Kendrick Meek, Mr. 
Ryan and Ms. Wasserman Schultz and others, we stood here on this floor 
and we told the Members, listen, if you play with the American people, 
you're going to get stung and it's going to be bad and you're not going 
to recover from it. Some of you will not be here. Some of you will make 
career decisions. Check the Congressional Record, I said it. And guess 
what? We took the majority. And guess what will happen this time 
around? Those individuals that know what it means when they sit down to 
the dining room table and try to figure out how they're going to make 
ends meet when they put their kids to bed, how are they going to meet 
the bottom line of their situation. And then we have individuals that 
are standing in here, that are standing in the policy door of this 
House and not allowing good legislation to pass to give the American 
people the relief or trying to stop good legislation from passing to 
give the American people relief.

                              {time}  2300

  They're not going to think if they're Democrat or Republican or 
Independent. They're going to vote for the people that are fighting for 
them, and that's us.
  So I say to my Republican colleagues respectfully, those individuals 
that decide to follow leadership, that the track record's not good 
because I asked them to call some 25 or 30 Members that are now sitting 
at home reading the actions of Congress in the newspaper when it's 
dropped in front of their door in the morning. I don't want to be part 
of that group. I want to be here and have the distinct opportunity to 
be here in this U.S. House of Representatives that few in this country 
have had an opportunity to serve in. And I'm proud to be here, and I 
think every Member should be proud to be here. And I think that should 
be their first priority when they stand upright and they walk in here 
and they put this congressional pin on and they walk through the doors 
because the people expect it and deserve.
  So, Mr. Murphy, your bill today, like they say in some parts of the 
country, they had no other choice than to vote for it. But I'm glad 
that we had the leadership in place, Mr. Speaker, to allow that bill to 
come to the floor because I can tell you a great bill like that never 
would have seen the day, never would have under the lights, and never 
would there have been an opportunity for Members to take out their 
voting card and vote for it because it wouldn't have been allowed to 
come to the floor because that was something that we didn't do or they 
didn't do or

[[Page H2647]]

they didn't allow us to do. When I say ``they,'' I mean the Republican 
leadership.
  So I don't speak with a silver tongue. I just speak of the truth and 
reality. And if anyone wants to contradict what I say, you know 
something, this is a free country. We salute one flag. Folks can get 
out and say what they want to say. But the Congressional Record is on 
the side of the Democratic leadership, and the Congressional Record is 
on the side of what happened and what did not happen.
  So, Mr. Murphy, I don't feel that we need to even come close to 
apologizing for anything, and I don't even think that we should be 
overly offended by the attempts of the past Republican majority to try 
to push motions to recommit on good pieces of legislation that we are 
trying to bring to the floor. If I'm thinking politically, I say 
continue to do those things because we will continue to be in the 
majority for years and years to come. But the sad part is that the 
American people lose, and that's the reason why I don't want to promote 
that. I want us to work together. I want us to work together in a 
bipartisan way.
  So, Mr. Murphy, I'm so glad to be here to join you here tonight. I'm 
glad that you anchored the 30-Something tonight. I'm proud to be a part 
of it. Your constituents should be very proud of the action that you 
took today, including our entire country. And the good thing about this 
institution is that historians will look back on this time and will 
reflect and read about those that were part of the solution and those 
individuals that were part of just continuing the political madness 
that many have written about and many Americans have read about. So 
congratulations.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Mr. Meek, when you stand on behalf of the 
people, you can't lose.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Absolutely.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. You can't lose. And I wish it was more 
complicated. I wish legislating involved a little bit more mystery, but 
it doesn't. When you've got a choice to stand with regular, average, 
everyday folks who go to work every day trying to make a living and are 
playing by the rules or you stand with oil companies who make more 
money than they ever have, it's not a hard choice. You stand with 
regular, average, everyday people and the troubles they're going 
through. If you do that every time, you'll win every time.
  Mr. Meek, it has been a pleasure to share the floor with you today on 
behalf of the 30-Something Working Group. We thank Speaker Pelosi for 
giving us once again the opportunity to share some of our thoughts with 
our colleagues.

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