[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 17]
[House]
[Pages 23290-23296]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       30-SOMETHING WORKING GROUP

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) is recognized 
for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, once again it is an honor to 
address the House. I can tell you that this week has been quite 
eventful. As you know, Mr. Speaker, we come every day to the floor to 
share not only with the Members but the American people what is 
actually going on in this House, and what is not going on in this House 
and what should be going on in this House, and it is the House of 
Representatives.
  And there has been a lot going on this week as it relates to the 
budget. As you know, many Members came to the floor to speak pro and 
con of this. I will not use the Washington language, but I will use it 
in a way that everyone can understand: our relooking at the budget and 
making more cuts from the budget that have already been made.
  And when I have been coming to the floor recently, Mr. Speaker, I 
have been bringing the local publication, the Washington Post to the 
floor, just to serve as a third-party validator to the arguments that 
have been made here on the floor. I am proud that our leadership on 
this side of the aisle, the Democratic leader, the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Pelosi), has stood against the winds of power in saying 
that there are certain things that we will not do. We who are Democrats 
on this side, we will not turn our backs on the American people.
  We will not turn our backs on the survivors of hurricanes Katrina or 
Rita. We will not stand idly by and watch this country continue 
legislatively to go down the tubes because certain people and certain 
individuals in power would like to see their priorities and their 
projects and their special interest breaks or opportunities prevail on 
the backs of the American people.

                              {time}  1315

  I am proud that we have the leadership on this side of the gentleman 
from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Menendez) and also the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn) to 
say no. I am proud of the fact that we have men and women in this 
Congress that are willing to stand up and say no to the majority, I 
must add, on the majority side who want to see their goals and 
objectives carried out on behalf of individuals that have suffered.
  Now, I have to commend some of my colleagues here and some of my 
colleagues even on the other side of the aisle for standing up to the 
leadership and saying no, we will not cut Medicaid. We will not cut 
free and reduced lunch. That did not just come about because folks 
thought, well, it is okay to stand up. That did not come about within 
the Republican Conference. But I will tell you how it came about, Mr. 
Speaker. It came about because Members came to this floor mainly on the 
Democratic side and said, if you are going to do it we are going to 
turn the lights up. We are going to raise our voices, and we are going 
to let our constituents and your constituents especially know that you 
are allowing this to happen.
  Mr. Speaker, this is not a victory lap in any way. I do not want 
anyone to feel that the tide has changed because as far as I am 
concerned individuals that are fighting on behalf of billionaires in 
this Congress to make sure that their tax cut is not touched and that 
we take away from those that cannot fight for themselves, they are 
sleeping in shifts. They are sleeping in shifts because they know that 
that is what they have to do to prevail.
  I will tell you on this side, even though we are in the minority, 
even though we are not in the majority, even though we cannot bring a 
bill to a committee and expect for it to pass with the majority vote 
because everything is on partisan lines here as of recently, 
unfortunately, but I can tell you that even though we cannot agenda 
some of the things that we would like to agenda that will help this 
country move to the next level and will put us in the right direction, 
we are willing to fight with what we have. And what we have is the 
opportunity to come to this floor to share not only with the Members, 
let the Members know exactly what they are doing so we are not around 
here hugging and smiling and cheesing and grinning and scratching where 
we do not itch, saying ``that was a leadership call.''
  Well, I can tell you right now, Mr. Speaker, as we look at third 
party validators, I just want to make sure that folks do not believe 
that this is the Kendrick Meek Report and that I just sit in the office 
and come up with whatever we want to say. I want folks, I want the 
Members to go to the WashingtonPost.com editorial page just today. Like 
I said once before, I do not have to go back and pull publications or 
pull Time from 2 weeks ago or pull Newsweek from a month ago about 
something they wrote about and say that was a great story from the 
Sioux City, Iowa Journal about a month ago and I want to bring it to 
the attention of the Members. You pick up the paper any day and it is 
filled with what this Congress is doing to a certain group of 
Americans.
  Now, like I said, there has been a lot of discussion about the 
budget. It is truly, truly beyond me of all the power and influence of 
Members of Congress, you have all kinds of leadership on the other side 
of the aisle that has the opportunity to shine in the aftermath of 
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and some of the biggest natural disasters 
that have hit this country in recent days. Do they take the opportunity 
to lean on behalf of those that are suffering right now and displaced? 
No.
  Do they take the opportunity to go in and deal with these Federal 
agencies who do not even want us to talk to them directly because they 
feel that they are protected by the White House and why do they have to 
listen to Congress? We take this opportunity to say that you had the 
opportunity to perform and you did not. And because you did not 
perform, we are here as the elected people representing the people

[[Page 23291]]

of the United States, be if from the affected area or from an area 
outside of the affected area, your constituents have federalized you to 
lead.
  No. We are not doing that. The majority side is not doing that. No. 
They are seizing the opportunity to carry out the motives of the 
special interests. So, Mr. Speaker, when we talk about this issue of a 
culture of corruption and cronyism, this is a perfect example here in 
the Washington Post editorial number two, entitled ``Katrina's Costs to 
the Poor.''
  What it is saying here basically is that the Congress voted earlier 
this year here on this floor, I must add that I did not vote for it but 
the majority did on party line, vote a $35 billion cut in spending for 
the next 5 years as it relates to the issue of entitlement programs, 
Medicaid, Title I. All of these programs that help financially 
challenged Americans that are federally mandated were cut.
  Now, we have forces on the other side saying that we will not even 
get it up to $50 billion to help the Katrina victims. Well, I can tell 
you right now that has nothing to do about health. It has everything to 
do about the priorities that the majority side leadership has picked 
that they are going to represent. $70 billion in tax cuts mainly, in 
this editorial, this is not what I am saying, I am reading verbatim 
from this editorial, mainly for the most wealthy, the most wealthy 
Americans in this country. They are fighting on their behalf. They are 
saying it is okay.
  I do not blame the top half. I do not blame the billionaires in 
America for what the majority is doing on their behalf on the backs of 
the suffering of the American people. I do not blame those individuals. 
I blame the people that are saying that they want to save our country 
money by cutting entitlement programs to the very people who have sent 
us here to protect them. They do not have, the average American does 
not have a million dollar lobbyist to walk into the office and 
represent them. They have a Congressman that they sent or a 
Congresswoman that they sent to this floor to represent them. And if we 
fail in that duty, then it is beyond personal responsibility, it lies 
on the majority.
  I want to make it clear that you have to make the decision on if you 
want to lead or you want to follow. And I will tell you there are some 
folks in this House that are winning right now because we are not 
having a debate. We are just straight out saying that we are going to 
cut again the very programs that we just finished, that the majority 
just finished cutting, that are supposed to be helping the very people 
that we are trying to help. Better yet, we have asked billionaires to 
do nothing. We have given them tax cut after tax cut. We have men and 
women with sand in their teeth over in Iraq and Afghanistan and we are 
asking everyday punch-in and punch-out, retired, on Medicare Americans 
to suffer and to pay a price and to take a cut. We are not asking the 
most able Americans to do the same.
  Now, I can tell you that this editorial goes on to say, Mr. Speaker, 
that the individuals that are being protected in this are the high-
priced lobbyists and enriched constituencies. What it means by that by 
saying if you can pay to play in this House, then you are in good 
shape. You do not have anything to worry about. We have you, or they 
have you. And so I am glad that we are coming to the floor to be able 
to let not only the Members know but the American people know that this 
is an unacceptable practice, that I am glad that we are prepared on 
this side of the aisle to be able to put forth an amendment when you 
come to the floor with your budget that is going to not only move 
Americans forward but decrease the deficit.
  This editorial goes on to say, You are saying that you are going to 
cut the budget and you are going to be fiscally responsible in managing 
the money of this country, but better yet, it does nothing to reduce 
the deficit. It increases the deficit.
  Mr. Speaker, it is almost laughable if it was not true. And this is 
not just Democrats or Independents or some study group out there. You 
have the Washington Post, you have a number of other publications out 
there that are saying, wait a minute. You are doing this in the light 
of being fiscally responsible, but you are not. You are increasing the 
deficit. You are finding your money for your tax cuts for billionaires 
on the backs of working Americans, and I guess we are just supposed to 
sit here because it is in the light of trying to help Katrina victims.
  Now I have a personal problem with that and I know the American 
people are going to have a problem with that also. We talk about this 
issue of a culture of corruption and cronyism, and I think it is 
important that we have an opportunity to talk about this a little bit 
more. This whole cronyism and individuals that are not qualified to 
lead is prevalent here in Washington, D.C., and it is continuing to 
happen, and I can tell you right now that it is truly unacceptable.
  You want to talk about saving money on behalf of the American people? 
According to the AP, four out of five companies that won the largest 
Katrina contracts are being reviewed for possible waste and abuse. Four 
of the top 10 companies. So what we are doing here is we are saying, 
hey, listen, it is okay for you to mismanage the taxpayers' money. Not 
only is it okay, we will reward you again with a no-bid contract.
  That is almost like saying, I have a bad contractor working on my 
house. I have already given him $200,000 to fix my house. Let me run 
out and get another loan and see if I give him $500,000 to see if they 
can really mess that up.
  But the sad part about that is I would be doing it with my own money. 
But the majority and this administration is doing it with the American 
people's money, and so it is very disheartening.
  Mr. Speaker, I am so glad to see my good colleague from New York. We 
are not in the race for the World Series Championship this year like we 
were a couple years ago, being from Miami and New York. But the 
gentleman from New York (Mr. Serrano), I am so glad he came down here 
today to share in this hour with me.
  Mr. SERRANO. Mr. Speaker, let me thank the gentleman that he brought 
this week this issue up again and again. I think it is very courageous 
on his part and very profound.
  Secondly, as far as the World Series goes, it is true that the 
Yankees and the Marlins are not in it, I also noted that you took our 
bench coach, our assistant coach, as your new manager so you will do 
better in the future.
  One of the issues that come to mind as I was watching the gentleman, 
as we know, this is transmitted live on television, I am wondering if 
the folks who are watching us today were also the same folks perhaps 
that watched the victims of Hurricane Katrina as that national tragedy 
hit us. Regardless of whether you felt it was a State or local 
responsibility or a joint responsibility with the Federal Government or 
whether you think we as a Nation failed or not, those images are in 
your head.
  Now you see this discussion. What is this discussion about and how do 
I see it? We all tend to come have the same feeling but we come to the 
table with perhaps slightly different views. My concern is, as a member 
of the Committee on Appropriations, is that in the appropriations 
process we have the ability to declare an emergency. An emergency means 
just that. That while we try to balance a budget and while we try to 
have expenditures that meet both the needs and our ability to pay, that 
there comes every so often a situation that requires us to spend the 
money and deal with the fact that we are spending that money rather 
than try to make somebody pay a major price for it.
  Of course, my biggest example is the war in Iraq. Now, whether you 
support the war or you oppose the war; and, incidentally, one of the 
things that we always need to clarify is that opposition to the war is 
not opposition to the men and women fighting the war. In fact, I could 
argue that you really support them by bringing them home tomorrow and 
ending the war. But that is a discussion for another time.
  What is a discussion today is that the American people need to know 
that the

[[Page 23292]]

way we pay for the war is by paying for the war. Whatever amount needs 
to be spent on the war in Iraq, we spend it. And it has gone close to 
or above $300 billion that we have spent.
  Now, if I was to be sarcastic up here I would say that basically what 
we have done is print the money. We have not taken it out of anybody's 
budget. We have not taken it out of anybody's pain. We basically 
printed the budget.
  Now there is a word in the English language that I try very rarely to 
use and that is immoral immorality. The reason for that is who the heck 
am I to determine what is immoral and who is involved in an immoral 
act, when in fact we are all guilty of a lot of things in the way we 
behave in this society. But if there is anything that resembles 
legislative immorality it is the suggestion that for you to get whole 
again, for you to be helped after Katrina, the way to do this is by 
taking money away from the programs that in fact affect the very same 
communities in many ways that are being hurt while slipping in, 
slipping in permanently this gigantic tax cut for people who did not 
need it and some of them who publicly said we do not want it.

                              {time}  1330

  You recall some very wealthy people in this country saying we do not 
want that tax cut. We do not need it.
  So that what the American people need to understand is that I cannot 
imagine, nor have we ever heard of one American who watched the videos, 
the scenes of Katrina, and said, good for them. Everyone was 
heartbroken and wanted to do something. Our country came together in 
the aftermath to try to help. But what I think most people do not know 
is that the majority party is trying to slip in all of a sudden a new 
legislative morality that says when you pay for certain emergencies, 
you have to take it out of somewhere.
  Now, where do you take it out of? Well, if you take it out of people 
and places that can afford it, then perhaps that is balanced. But to 
suggest you are going to take and pay for Katrina relief by cutting out 
certain amounts of student loans or certain housing programs or what 
may be left of the Food Stamp Program in this country, which is now 
down to practically nothing, or to help children in our country, to 
suggest that you would pay for that by taking out of there is, in my 
opinion, totally improper. It is not in the best interest of who we are 
as a country and it does not make us look good.
  So we saw many in the last couple of days allow perhaps a momentary 
slight retreat on bringing that approach to the House floor. But the 
importance of the gentleman's comments and his being here today, and 
the reason why I joined him for a few minutes, is the fact that we have 
to keep mentioning the issue and the fact that that idea is still out 
there; that, again, if we cut the taxes of billionaire, that is okay; 
that if we put forth a war that half the country is still questioning 
why we are in it to begin with, that is okay to pay the $300 billion; 
that it is okay to build schools, hospitals, playgrounds, temples, 
churches, and any kind of structure for the people of Iraq. But to 
rebuild New Orleans, we have to take it out of a social program or an 
educational program. That is what the people need to understand, and I 
know that is what we are trying to do here today.
  Let me repeat that just one last time, not to be repetitious but to 
simply make the point and to drive it home. In Iraq it is not just a 
war. The American people need to know that we are rebuilding Iraq. 
Incidentally, not necessarily rebuilding anything the former government 
destroyed but maybe we destroyed in the process. So we are putting in 
new schools, new homes, new temples, new churches, new community 
centers, an infrastructure, and new transportation systems. We are 
rebuilding a country. But if you were caught up in Katrina, you are on 
your own. And if we help you, we are going to take it out of another 
part of your life or another part of your suffering.
  That is wrong. That is where we have to wake up and say who are we, 
what are we, and I believe that we are much better than that. So I 
thank the gentleman for his time, and I really hope that we can wake up 
soon, in the next week or so, and stop this madness from going forth.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his 
comments, and I am glad the gentleman came down to the floor. I think 
it is very, very important to have as many voices as possible from 
different parts of the country sharing with not only the Members but 
the American people what is actually going on right now. Because by the 
time the American people find out what we do here, it is too late. It 
has already happened to them and they are saying, how did this happen. 
Many times they cannot follow the paper trail back to the source.
  The gentleman mentioned the war in Iraq. Well, we have to remind 
ourselves that Republicans are in control of the House, Republicans are 
in control of the Senate, and the Republicans are in control of the 
White House, so it is not just the agencies that respond to the White 
House. They are the Federal agencies that are out there that are 
appointed by the President of the United States. So it is not our fault 
that things are going the way that they are going as it relates to 
dealing with Americans.
  And what we are doing in Iraq is at top dollar. I must add that it is 
not like building a school in your neighborhood. It is top dollar, 
because you have to pay those contractors big money. And a lot of that 
money goes towards these special contracts. Four of the contractors 
that are carrying out Katrina work in a no-bid contract are under 
investigation by this government for mishandling taxpayers' dollars. So 
we are going to reward them for wasteful spending and possibly 
stealing.
  People get all teary-eyed when they come to the floor and they start 
talking about the troops and how they support the troops; and some say, 
well, I support the troops more than you. Well, I support the troops. 
Who does not support the troops? We all support the troops. I want to 
meet the caucus that does not support the troops. It does not exist. So 
let us take that away and start looking at the realities of governing 
and oversight and not rewarding corruption and cronyism.
  The gentleman talks about the money that it is costing. It is borrow 
and spend. The Republican majority is borrowing and spending at the 
highest interest rate possible. A lot of Americans receive mail, I do, 
and I open it and there you might find a free credit card. You can just 
sign right here. And then you read the fine print and you see that 
after the first 6 weeks it jumps up to a 21 percent interest rate APR. 
It is not a deal. So we are chest beating and talking about how we have 
to help these poor Iraqis, but, meanwhile, when it comes down to 
Americans here on our soil, suddenly we want to become fiscally 
responsible on the backs of those very same people.
  There is a lot of hypocrisy in the democracy within this Congress 
when it comes down to looking at that. And that is not just because I 
am saying it, that is what is actually happening, and that is the 
unfortunate part about this whole argument. If we could wait until the 
next round of elections and the American people could have their way 
with some of the individuals that are running to the floor and cutting 
the very things that are helping their own local communities in the 
light of being seen as fiscal conservatives, it would be fine. But 
guess what, there is too much out there for us to wait that long. It 
has to happen now and we have to fight now.
  Mr. SERRANO. If the gentleman will yield for just a moment. In this 
profession of ours, we like to make predictions and, of course, we like 
to be right. I will make a prediction now, one that we have discussed 
before, and I hope I am wrong. I hope I am totally wrong. News flash: 
Making a prediction; I hope I am wrong.
  When this war settles down to something other than it is, because we 
are going to be there for at least 10 or 12 years, but when it settles 
to something less or different than what it is now, there will be many 
of us coming to the House floor putting in legislation to

[[Page 23293]]

say those folks coming back need special medical attention, 
psychological, physical, all kinds of things. They need special housing 
and job training. They need all kinds of help. Well, the very people 
who are now saying we support the troops and are jumping all over the 
place spending all kinds of money on that ill-conceived war will be the 
ones saying we are fiscally irresponsible in trying to take care of the 
troops coming back home.
  The best way to take care of the troops is, one, bring them home now, 
right away; and the second thing is to make sure they are rewarded and 
cared for for the pain they went through.
  We know, sadly enough and unfortunately, that of the close to 2,000 
Americans who have died we all know some personally. What we do not 
know, because this government will not tell us, is what is the total 
number of thousands of wounded, wounded who will come back, and are 
here already, with pain that needs to be dealt with. And the wounded in 
a war, as you know, could be getting shot in the hand to losing your 
eyesight or losing a leg or an arm. There are serious injuries coming 
back, but nobody is talking about that.
  So I think the gentleman is right to continue to drive this home so 
that the American people can just get a wider look and then make their 
own decision, and I thank the gentleman once more so very much.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, once again I want to thank the 
gentleman for taking the time to come and join us here this afternoon.
  Mr. Speaker, I am also joined here by our great local delegate, the 
gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton), who has been in 
the Congress quite some time and who has seen quite a bit, so I am so 
glad she is here and I yield now to her.
  Ms. NORTON. Well, I want to thank the gentleman from Florida (Mr. 
Meek) very much for taking out this hour and taking the leadership on 
this vital issue.
  Mr. Speaker, I was on my way to a markup. I got there and I thought I 
saw that there were a few minutes yet, and I said, I have to go down. 
Because I want my colleague to know that I heard from some of my 
friends on the other side get up and say words to the effect that our 
side did not want to see any budget resolution that had any cuts; and 
that, see, there go the Democrats again, they think you can just spend 
money. And comments like, even though they see the problem, they do not 
want any cuts to be made because they say that nobody will be for the 
budget resolution changes that are coming down now.
  So I said to myself, my goodness, what is coming down now? The 
American people need to know that it is a perversion of what is 
required, a perversion of what they even say it is, which is an attempt 
to do the cuts so that there will be money for the Katrina victims. I 
did not think I could let them get away with that when three or four of 
them got up with the same message.
  I think the first thing to understand, because we have the 
credibility to say it, is that the Democrats stand for a balanced 
budget, including making some cuts at this time given this emergency. 
We have the credibility to say it because we have proposed a budget 
that would put us in balance by the year 2012. We have done it. It is 
balanced. It is there for all to see on our Web site.
  This is the moment. It is a magic moment, and the American people 
should look for this moment. This is the moment when the Congress 
should reinstate PAYGO. That is the pay-as-you-go notion that in the 
1990s brought us to surplus, the surplus that the Republican White 
House inherited of almost $250 billion, a surplus as far as the eye 
could see, and in the snap of a finger it was gone.
  We have pressed this Congress ever since the last administration left 
office to keep PAYGO. They have, in fact, said the only thing we are 
going to use PAYGO for are for spending other than tax cuts. So, we 
have had a perversion of PAYGO. We can do as many tax cuts, and they 
have been overwhelmingly for the most advantaged and wealthy people in 
our society, and you do not have to pay for those. But if in fact you 
are trying to help the poorest people in this society, such as those 
who were exposed for the world to see from the Katrina hurricane, then 
you better pay for those.
  I do not think you could find any substantial number of the American 
people who would say, I am right there with you, and so we say, let us 
go with PAYGO right now. You will find that there will be Americans, 
those who are most concerned with the deficit, those who are most 
concerned with helping the poor saying, yes, now is the moment and we 
are for it.
  Instead, what we see is amazing and brazen in how the resolution that 
appears to be coming down would operate. Since tax cuts cannot be 
touched, we have been told that, still, over and over again, the 
spending cuts are, in effect, going to take from services of the kind 
that the Katrina victims need. Do understand that. If you are a Katrina 
victim, even if you are middle class now, you need Medicaid when you 
did not need it before, you will need food stamps when you did not need 
them before.
  I saw a woman on television who said, and this is a woman in her 
fifties, who said the very notion of food stamps and my family asking 
for them is so laughable that I did not even know how to do it. She had 
to have her daughter, who had also never been on food stamps, help her 
to find out how you apply for food stamps. So we are talking about of 
course the poor, the poor to our shame that we all saw but who somehow 
we had not seen before, but now we are also talking about hundreds of 
thousands of the new poor, or the temporarily poor, and those are the 
victims of Katrina who simply will not be able to get from one day to 
the next unless they have access to the services that have only been 
available to the poor, like Medicaid and like food stamps.

                              {time}  1345

  If that is not enough under the topic of perversion, here is another 
one. This is supposed to be about cutting the deficit. We still leave 
the deficit at more than $100 billion. We do not make any real inroads 
into the deficit, so what are we doing? Do we really think the American 
people are fooled? I do not think so. I think as technical as this 
stuff can get, they are beginning to understand it. We see it in the 
polls.
  I must say to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek), I was here with 
his mother before him; and in my 15 years in Congress, I have never 
seen such a gap in the generic poll between Democrats and Republicans. 
That tells me our message of who believes in balance and who believes 
in making cuts but doing them in the right way is getting across.
  I say to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek), the Republicans 
started with $35 billion in entitlement spending, no tax-cut spending. 
That was cruel, but that is where they were, and that is what we had to 
take with all of our protestations. They said, no, that is not enough. 
After Hurricane Katrina, they said we need more. We need $50 billion. 
They say to the American people with a straight face, we need to do 
this for the Hurricane Katrina victims. These are the very victims who 
are now having their Medicaid and food stamps cut.
  As if there are no offsets on tax cuts, we are looking to the 
spending cuts paying for tax cuts and new tax cuts, as much as $70 
billion in tax cuts. We have been in the Congress long enough with 
Republicans in charge to know they believe in the reverse Robin Hood 
notion, take from the poor and give to the rich, but after Hurricane 
Katrina, how shameful, on the backs of poor give more in tax cuts.
  The gentleman from New York (Mr. Serrano) was clear when he says he 
knows where the rich would be. He said he cannot think of the rich in 
New York who would say this is the way to do it after Hurricane 
Katrina. We know and we want everybody to know we know where the money 
is, and it is in mandatory spending. We know there have to be cuts in 
the entitlement spending, and there have to be cuts

[[Page 23294]]

where they hurt most, in Medicaid and Medicare. We hate that. But if 
there is a balanced budget resolution, we are prepared to eat that pain 
along with the rest of the country. What we are not prepared to do, 
what we are not prepared to do, after $35 billion in cuts that have 
already been on the backs of the poor, to break their backs by, in 
fact, more cuts to them.
  The House has already cut low-income energy assistance, 8 percent. 
There was an 8 percent cut below last year's level. Middle-class people 
in our country are pulling their hair out trying to figure out how to 
heat their homes this winter, and we are going to cut even further the 
Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program for the poor. We could shout 
it from the hilltops because I do not think there are any Americans 
anywhere that would sanction that.
  Every single winter we have left it at level funding; and to cut it 
this year when we know what has happened to energy, we know what has 
happened to oil and to gas, and everybody has informed everybody what 
they have to get ready for. They are telling middle-class people now is 
the time to shore up your houses, put in storm windows, and do the 
extras that will save you in your heating bills. Tell that to the poor 
people. They do not own the premises. They are the renters of this 
country. They are having a hard time finding enough money to pay the 
rent. They cannot fix the premises; and if they did, because they are 
so poor, they could not buy the storm windows. This is so cruel that 
you will not find Americans in any number who will sanction this if we 
tell it.
  Mr. Speaker, we are going to tell it. We are going to tell it in the 
rich and the poor neighbors. We do not have the same access to the 
media the other side has, but just wait until we finish telling America 
about how you are taking money for Hurricane Katrina victims 
supposedly, from other poor people to supposedly pay for them when the 
money will in fact go to pay for tax cuts for wealthy Americans.
  Let me give one more example that I think will get to the heart of 
the problem, and that is the possibility of a 2 percent across-the-
board cut that will cut special education funding below the 2005 level, 
further reducing special education.
  There is not a Member here who does not hear his school board, his 
local officials screaming about special education drinking up the 
lion's share of the education dollar. As it is now, we are down to 
covering only about 17.5 percent of special education. That is 17.5 
percent out of the storied 40 percent we pledged the States we would 
cover when we passed the IDEA bill.
  Mr. Speaker, who has the nerve to say to States, take from the 
traditional children if you have to, because the IDEA bill says you 
have to give to your special education children. So this time I say to 
my friend, we are not taking from the poor to the rich, we are taking 
from our traditional children and giving to our most needy children, 
and that is a trade-off nobody in America wants us to make.
  Mr. Speaker, I say to my friend before I return to my markup, the 
gentleman has done us a service. I do not know how many Americans are 
watching, but I do say whatever happens here, we do not have the 
majority. The gentleman from Florida took this hour so we could make it 
clear that the other side of the aisle cannot come on the floor and say 
whatever they want to say, even if what they say are patent untruths, 
without understanding that lie for lie, you will find us talking to the 
American people to try to set the record straight.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his leadership.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from the 
District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) for her leadership. As I said at the 
top of this hour, we thank the Democratic Caucus of this Congress for 
standing up on behalf of the American people. When we start talking 
about issues, these issues we are all talking about, these issues are 
affecting the American people. It is up to us to be able to share this 
information. I am glad that the gentlewoman went further into the 
budget.
  Mr. Speaker, we need to balance the budget. We are the only Members 
of the body that can actually say we balanced the budget and we had a 
surplus. The majority side cannot make that claim. I was not here, but 
the gentlewoman was here. They passed the budget that gave us a 
surplus. The other side cannot even say it because they all voted 
against it.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is almost like we need to have 
an opportunity to come to this floor like every 3 hours. There is so 
much going on here, the Members need to know that we are watching them. 
The American people need to know and the Members need to know that we 
have alternatives, and we are going to present those alternatives 
legislatively in committee, we are going to present those alternatives 
here on this floor, and we are going to present those alternatives in 
Special Orders to let it be known that we are not going to sit by and 
watch this country start to slide, not because of the American people, 
but because of the majority who are willing to stand on behalf of the 
most able Americans as it relates to finances on the backs of everyday 
Americans.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, there is no doubt about it. I think 
there are so many issues we need to address as a Congress that are 
going either unaddressed or the actions of the Congress are hurting the 
average American people. That is why the Democratic Party is presenting 
proposals that will take us in a new direction. I think the country 
needs to go in a new direction. I do not need to go back to Ohio to 
figure that out. I think it is all over the country. We had a gentleman 
here last night from Oklahoma. We had a woman here from Florida. We had 
a man from New Jersey and a man from Ohio. From all over the country 
people are saying, Democrats, please take us in a new direction, in a 
direction that will change the country, and those are the kinds of 
proposals that we are offering.
  As we look back as to what has been happening here for the past 5 
years, it has been nothing but appointing crony friends to positions 
that are key in executing the game plan for emergency management, and 
then the job not getting done, hiding information on the true cost of 
the Medicare bill so we have a corrupted system here.
  The Democrats want some transparency, and we want the opportunity to 
lead so we can take this country into another direction. I found it 
very interesting today in The Washington Post there was an article 
about a speech that Colin Powell's chief of staff for 16 years, Colonel 
Larry Wilkerson, gave. During the course of the speech, he talked a lot 
about what has been going on. This is one of the third-party validators 
that we like to have at the 30-something group. We like to validate our 
thoughts with someone who is independent of us. This is not the Meek 
Report or the Ryan Report. This is a 16-year chief of staff with Colin 
Powell, and he is a veteran. He was the director of the Marine Corps 
War College for quite some time. And what he had to say I found 
unbelievable.
  He talks about him seeing a cabal between the Vice President of the 
United States, Dick Cheney, and the Secretary of Defense, Donald 
Rumsfeld, by cutting out the bureaucracy that had to carry out the 
decisions: ``We have courted disaster in Iraq, in North Korea, in Iran, 
and generally with regard to domestic crises like Katrina.''
  If there is a nuclear terrorist attack or major pandemic, ``you are 
going to see the ineptitude of this government in a way that will take 
you back to the Declaration of Independence.''
  This is a guy who has been in the Department of State for 16 years. 
This is a 16-year chief of staff, worked at the State Department, ran 
the Marine War College. This is a guy who has been around the block. He 
is saying if we have a terrorist attack of significant magnitude, we 
are going to see the ineptitude of our government.
  What the Democrats are saying with our independent commission that we 
want to oversee what happened with Hurricane Katrina, we had better 
figure out what the answers are here. We

[[Page 23295]]

had better figure out what we did wrong because the next time it may 
not just be New Orleans, it may not just be the gulf coast and then 
people are going to come to us and say in 2005, where was the United 
States Congress? Where were they in their oversight duties? Article I, 
section 1 of the Constitution, the people of this country govern in the 
House of Representatives and we have oversight over everything, over 
every executive function, including FEMA and the Department of Homeland 
Security.
  The concern is when a man of this magnitude who has been around the 
block as many times as he has been, who has watched up close the 
misinformation with the war in Iraq, Hurricane Katrina, all this other 
stuff, says to us you will not even believe the ineptitude if there is 
a major nuclear attack in the United States, the ineptitude of the 
government. Now, our job is we should not have to wait.

                              {time}  1400

  And that is why the Democrats want an independent Katrina commission 
just like we had an independent 9/11 Commission, bipartisan. And the 
committee that is set up right now might as well be chaired by Mr. 
Gillespie, the chair of the Republican National Committee, because it 
is a partisan committee. The Democrats do not have subpoena power, it 
is 11 to 9 Republican to Democrat. And I just feel that that is an 
unfair way to go about solving the problems, because it is about CYA, 
it is not about getting the facts. And that is a real problem.
  And meeting our constitutional obligation, we stand here and we raise 
our hand and we swear to uphold the Constitution so help us God. Part 
of that responsibility is the oversight that I think we have been 
derelict of our duty. And the Republican Congress has been derelict of 
their duty, and that is why the Democrats want to take this in a new 
direction and change what is going on down here and do that by having 
an independent commission that will get to the facts, not to the 
politics.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Ohio could not 
say it better because that exactly goes to the marrow of this whole 
issue, of making sure that we engage not only the Members but also the 
American people. If it was something dealing with total politics, you 
could say, well, you know, in 2006 it will be dealt with. But there are 
so many things that are happening to Americans versus for Americans 
that we need change now.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. The last part of this article about the Colonel, he 
says what my colleague just said, what he was just saying: You and I 
and every other citizen like us is paying the consequence. Whether it 
was a response to Katrina that was less than adequate certainly, or the 
situation in Iraq which still goes unexplained, we are paying the 
consequences.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Like I said, he is right and we are going to 
see.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. You are right.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. I will take some of that, too. Because those of 
us that are here in the Beltway, and when I say Beltway we are talking 
about here in Washington, D.C. there is a Beltway that goes around this 
entire city. Those of us that are drinking the water, breathing the 
air, and eating the food here understand exactly what is going on, and 
it is our duty as Americans to make sure that we put light where light 
is not. And even where you have light, like here under the lights here 
in this Chamber, that we illuminate it even more as it relates to 
making sure that every Member knows exactly what he or she is doing or 
not doing as it pertains to issues that are going to blanket, blanket 
and increase cronyism and corruption and going to increase the whole, 
or going to promote the whole theory of borrow and spend.
  Folks, it is interesting, and the thing about being in Congress is 
that it is important that you understand that we all must tolerate one 
another. It is not personal, it is just business. And the bottom line 
is, is that if you want to talk about the business and you want to talk 
about spending, you want to talk about fiscal responsibility, you 
cannot just have a backdrop in the back of you at a press conference 
and say fiscal responsibility, and fiscal responsibility, that makes 
you a conservative. That does not make you a conservative. What makes 
you a policy maker and what shows that you have the ability to lead is 
being able to march down to the White House and tell the President: We 
are concerned about spending. Why don't you veto a bill for once?
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Yeah.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. The President of these United States, our 
President, you want to talk about being a conservative, has not even 
vetoed one spending bill. As a matter of fact, of the transportation 
bill that has more fat, pork, everything else, a couple of raccoons in 
there, he did not even have the nerve to stop that. We have bridges 
going to nowhere. Meanwhile, we have got folks around here in shelters, 
and we are asking no one to sacrifice. No. As a matter of fact, the 
majority side, the Republican side, they are asking poor people to 
sacrifice. They are asking people that their kids are in Iraq right now 
and Afghanistan to sacrifice.
  Meanwhile, you have billionaires saying: Do not worry, you do not 
have to say anything. This is what the majority is saying. You do not 
have to say anything, we will protect you. We will protect you, 
Republican majority.
  So I think it is important that we continue every time that we get 
the opportunity, need it be out in the hall, in our office talking to 
our constituents, or on this floor talking to our colleagues, that we 
know and the American people will know exactly what you are doing to 
them, and it will not be something where that: I do not know, I did not 
understand what I was doing on that vote. And, if I would have had that 
opportunity. Do not come creeping in here under the doorjamb writing 
something into the Congressional Record saying, well, I know I voted 
for this budget, to cut the budget of a lot of my constituents, but I 
really feel this way.
  Do not do that. We do not want to have to pick up the Congressional 
Record to find that you have a conscience about the vote that someone 
told you to do, a twist your arm.
  The gentleman from Ohio and I talked the other day about violating 
the spirit of the rules of the House of Representatives. The so-called 
energy bill that went and passed this floor just a couple of weeks ago, 
held this board open, the voting board here in this House open for 90 
minutes, 90 minutes on a 15-minute vote. We came up to these mikes and 
called: Mr. Speaker, point of order. What is going on here? Did we not 
have a vote? Oh, wait, I am sorry. You mean to tell me you are not 
winning and the special interests are not winning on allowing them to 
stick the drill anywhere they want to drill, and you mean to tell me 
you are not winning because this is not a true energy bill that is 
going to talk about conservation and independence and go against price 
gouging? You mean to tell me until you are able to twist enough arms, 
or I must add, hammer people, okay, to the point where they are going 
to change their vote based on their thoughts of coming in here and 
based on the information that they have on this bill that it does 
nothing, you are going to hold the voting clock open until you have 
your way.
  It is almost saying that we are at a little league football game and 
I happen to be the guy that bought the jerseys for one team and my 
cousin happens to be the ref that has the stop clock, I am going to 
tell him to stop the clock because we are behind by 7 points and I have 
got to go over and try to twist some arms and try to change the rules 
so that we can come up by 8 points, and then I want him to start the 
clock all over again. That is breaking the spirit and that is violating 
the rules. They are doing things because they can.
  But I can tell you one thing, Mr. Ryan. Just like you talked about 
that decorated veteran that has worked in the State Department and 
worked with Colin Powell, the American spirit will prevail over 
politics, and that is what we have to bank on as it relates to this.
  So those individuals that have a problem with us coming to the floor 
and sharing exactly what is going on,

[[Page 23296]]

this is fact, not fiction, then they have a problem with the spirit of 
America. They have a problem with the blood, sweat, and tears. They 
have a problem with folks that are sitting in Walter Reed right now 
that laid it down on behalf of this country that we would come here and 
represent them. They are white, they are black, they are Republican, 
they are Independent, they are Native American, they are Hispanic, they 
are Americans. And we are charged with the duty of coming to this floor 
and making sure that they are represented. Even if the majority does 
not want to represent them, even if we are in the minority, we do not 
have the option to say we were bigger, they were smaller. They had the 
majority, we had the minority. Oh, we could not do anything. We are 
doing everything. As I speak now, we have Democratic members fighting 
in committee to make sure that they can get amendments on to bills to 
be able to help Americans. As we speak right now we are preparing to 
come to the floor to fight the battle with what we have.
  What my colleague from Ohio is saying is 110 percent right. That bill 
that you have there, we have over 40,000 citizen cosponsors on it right 
now.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. 40,000? Wow. H.R. 3764, you can come to 
www.housedemocrats.gov/katrina. We are trying to get a grassroots 
movement together, and it sounds like we are well on our way. 40,000 
citizen cosponsors for this bill to form an independent commission so 
we can go back and review and actually fix problems. Would that not be 
novel, for government to go back and actually have an independent 
commission, remove the politics, and fix the problem? That is what the 
Democrats want.
  And all that you said there, I want to make one final point because 
we only have a couple minutes left. If you do not believe us and you do 
not believe our third party validators, Mr. Speaker, let us just use 
good common sense here. Every single cut that is being made to 
supposedly pay for Katrina is being cut in a program that does not have 
lobbyists. Can you believe that? Medicaid, after-school, free and 
reduced lunch, student loans, no lobby groups down here for those 
people. So we are going to pick on the little kids, we are going to 
pick on the people who cannot defend themselves. But meanwhile, the 
guys who are raising millions and millions of dollars for the 
Republican majority, we are not going to touch you. We could not 
possibly ask in this time of great national crisis, three wars, we have 
a natural disaster and high gas prices, we could not possibly go ask 
the wealthiest in this country to pay their fair share.
  And I say this, and I do not say this lightly. This administration 
does not have the guts, the guts, to go and ask the wealthiest people 
in this country to help out. It is easy to cut programs for poor 
people. It is easy, because you know why? None of those people 
associate with the poor Americans. They are not sitting on the White 
House lawn drinking champagne and eating caviar.
  But show the proper leadership and ask the hard questions and ask all 
Americans, including the ones making a billion dollars a year, to pay 
their fair share.
  Our Web site is www.housedemocrats.gov/katrina for our citizen 
cosponsorship, and you
can e-mail us at [email protected].
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. I thank my colleague from Ohio for joining me. 
Mr. Speaker, I also would like to thank the Democratic leader for 
allowing us to have this first Democratic hour.

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