[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 19624-19625]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       30-SOMETHING WORKING GROUP

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Schwarz of Michigan). Under the 
Speaker's announced policy of January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Ohio 
(Mr. Ryan) is recognized for the remainder of the time until midnight.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend from Florida.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. So now what we have in summary is the Director 
of National Intelligence, John Negroponte, who has signed off on this 
National Intelligence Estimate and said that he agrees with the 
conglomerate of intelligence agencies who have determined that we are 
worse off than we were before we entered Iraq and that Iraq has made us 
worse; and we have our 9/11 Commission chairs, the bipartisan 9/11 
Commission chairs who on September 11 reissued their opinion, that they 
had issued a report card on their recommendations last December which 
included 10 C's, 12 D's and 4 F's. ``What we argued then,'' they said, 
``is still true now. Americans are safer, but we are not yet safe.''
  Well, that was the September 11 assessment. Now the National 
Intelligence Estimate indicates that, no, we are not safer. We were not 
safe and we are not safer.
  Here are some of the items that the 9/11 Commission indicated that we 
should implement that have not been implemented in the 5 years since 9/
11. Allocate funding on the basis of risks and vulnerabilities. We 
haven't done that. We have not created and rehearsed State and local 
emergency response plans. We have not turned over the broadcast 
frequencies to first responders now, like we should, instead of in 2009 
when the plans are to do that. We have not shut down the turf battles, 
nor increased information sharing among government agencies.
  The list goes on and on. There were dozens of recommendations that 
they made, the majority of which have not been implemented. Both the 
bipartisan co-chairs have come together repeatedly to say, why has this 
Congress not moved forward with the recommendations?
  If we take control of this body, as we hope to on November 7, Mr. 
Speaker, we will implement the 9/11 recommendations, we will implement 
our Real Security Plan, we will commit to moving this country in a new 
direction, instead of continuing on the stay-the-course mentality.
  We have got to make sure that we go in the direction that the 
American people have called for, which is to make sure that we aren't 
interminably mired in the chaos in Iraq; that every single day we don't 
see more and more of our young men and women killed by suicide bombers 
and by accidents and by deliberate bombings. All for what? That is what 
I think the vast majority of Americans are asking themselves every 
single day, is why are we there? What are we fighting for? Is it worth 
it?
  That is why poll after after poll comes back where Americans say they 
don't think the Iraq war was worth it. They certainly wanted us to go 
into Afghanistan. They certainly wanted us to go in and finish the job 
there, to hunt Osama bin Laden down and find him. But we don't even 
have enough troops on the ground in Afghanistan right now to get that 
done. That just isn't even possible at this point.
  Mr. DELAHUNT. I don't know if the gentlelady saw last evening the 
interview with former President Bill Clinton. He achieved a bit of 
notoriety. There was a statement that President Clinton made about if 
he were President at this point in time, there would be so many more 
troops in Afghanistan. There would be so many more troops in 
Afghanistan. The inference is, of course, that we wouldn't be in Iraq.
  Well, I am not going to speculate, but I thought it was significant 
that he talked about the reality is that there is just insufficient 
troops existing.
  You know what I find particularly interesting, we are talking about 
active duty army military personnel. It is worse with the National 
Guard and the Army Reserve. I know we all have Guard units back home. I 
have a large military reservation that has served this country very 
well. We have, in my opinion, some of the best Army and Air Force 
National Guard units anywhere in the country. But the truth is, they 
are under incredible stress.
  I will just read this to you. ``More than two-thirds of the Army 
National Guard's 34 brigades are not combat ready largely because of 
vast equipment shortfalls that will take as much as $21 billion to 
correct.
  ``The comments by Lieutenant General H. Steven Blum came in the wake 
of disclosures by Army officials, analysts and members of the Congress 
that two-thirds of the active Army's brigades are not combat ready.
  ``The problem, they say, is driven by budget constraints that won't 
allow the military to complete the personnel training and equipment 
repairs and replacement that must be done when units return home after 
deploying to Iraq or Afghanistan.
  ``I am further behind or in an even more dire situation than the 
active Army, but we both have the same symptoms. I just have a higher 
fever.''
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Delahunt, I am going to yield after I 
mention something, about 2 minutes, to Ms. Wasserman Schultz, because 
the facts are what they are. It is what it is.
  We are highlighting these. Because we are using third-party 
validators, Mr. Delahunt, we are highlighting these with third-party 
validators, just in case the Republican majority, and like I told you, 
for the 109th Congress, I am done with trying to get the Republican 
majority to see it the way not only that the experts see it, that are 
bipartisan, or nonpartisan, when it comes down to national security, 
and the American people.
  We can talk about energy, we can talk about safety of America, we can 
talk about our operations overseas, all of these things are by third-
party validators.
  Mr. Delahunt, the real issue is when you have a situation like we 
have in Iraq, you call in those individuals that are speaking out. Who? 
These major generals and these brigadier generals and individuals that 
are retired now, and retired because they couldn't say it when they 
were enlisted. What, they are not longer useful to country? We don't 
want to know what they have to share with us, to help us learn, to help 
us protect America?
  When I was in the State legislature for 8 years, when someone would 
come to my office, and even here now in Washington, I want to talk to 
the man or the woman that is in the drop program, those individuals 
that are already getting ready to retire, because they are going to 
tell you the truth. They are not concerned about what is going to 
happen.
  I want a sergeant major in the military to come talk to me, because a 
sergeant major, a command sergeant major is the highest enlisted 
individual in the armed services. You can't touch them, because they 
are respected by the men and women that serve under them and with them. 
They will tell you the truth.
  Those are the kind of individuals that we need before the full Armed 
Services Committee. Those are the kind of individuals that we need to 
highlight under the dome here, be it House or Senate. That is what we 
need.
  But, Mr. Speaker, that is not what is happening in this Congress. So 
just because the Republican majority says it or the President says it 
doesn't necessarily mean that it is true.
  We are saying that we are going to bring balance, we are going to 
bring oversight. Ms. Wasserman Schultz, as I yield to you, if there was 
a Democratic President in the White House, they would be challenged by 
the Democrats in Congress. Challenged. Not just, oh, well, you know, we 
are Democrats first and then Members of Congress second. That has never 
been the case, Mr. Delahunt. There has always been oversight.
  President Clinton used to have fits because of what Members of 
Congress were saying and doing as relates to their oversight 
responsibilities on issues that they disagreed with him on.
  So to bring balance to this government, we need this House to be 
Democratic-controlled.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Meek, the sergeant major you are referring 
to generally, that is the guy

[[Page 19625]]

you will never see under the direction and control of this institution 
because they, ``they'' being our Republican colleagues on the other 
side of the aisle, Mr. Delahunt, they don't like the truth staring them 
in the face. Because the facts, when they are opposite the facts, the 
facts really lay out just what a mess we are in.
  What they need to do is what they do every single day that I have 
been here as a Member of this body, and that is repeat what they would 
like to be true over and over and over again. Like you said, force our 
colleagues on the other side of the aisle to rubber stamp whatever it 
is they do.
  Then when they don't automatically rubber stamp whatever it is they 
do, when that board lights up with the red and the green and the yes 
and the no, it looks like a Christmas tree, we get Christmas every 
other month. Whenever there is a tough vote, the arm twisters come out, 
the arms are wrenched behind their back and conviction gets checked at 
that Chamber door right there, because when you are elected to Congress 
as a Republican, apparently you are expected to check your opinions and 
your principles at the Chamber door and do whatever it is that the 
leadership is telling you you are going to do and you came here to do. 
Never mind the folks back home. Never mind going in the direction that 
the people of this country want to go in. Never mind that we are mired 
in a chaotic war in Iraq, that gas prices are astronomically high, that 
we are in a financial situation economically that doesn't allow us to 
really make the expenditures that we should because we have a deficit 
that is out of control, because we have a foreign debt that is more 
than all 42 presidents combined, as you have outlined so eloquently 
night after night.
  Yet in 42 days, Mr. Speaker, we have an opportunity to make a 
difference. We have an opportunity to move this country in a new 
direction, to implement the New Direction Agenda, to implement the Real 
Security agenda, to implement an agenda that is going to once again 
reflect the values and principles and ideals of working families in 
America, and not just for the select few, and to elect some Members of 
Congress who will throw away that rubber stamp.
  You often talk about how on November 8 we are going to come back up 
here and have a rubber stamp burning party. I look forward to the 
bonfire, Mr. Speaker.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. I would just say, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, we will 
have the appropriate fire, with all fire codes, because we have to do 
away with this.
  Mr. Ryan, I want to thank you for taking on the additional couple of 
minutes so that we can fully share with the Members. Of course, we need 
more time to do it, but to share with them even more about the level of 
frustration, not only that Americans have, but professionals that are 
in national security business here in this country.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Any time I can have an opportunity to give you more 
chance to speak directly to the American people, I will step up and I 
will take that opportunity, because I think the American people need to 
hear what you have to say.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. They want it.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. They want what you are giving them, Mr. Meek.
  Mr. Speaker, thank you very much, and the staff that stays here with 
us so late every night. Thank you, Mr. Delahunt, who, as we know, is 
several years older than the 30-Something Group. We know how tired he 
gets. Thank you, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a great leader in Congress.

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