[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 2]
[House]
[Pages 2533-2540]
[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 18, 2007, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) is recognized 
for 60 minutes.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to address the House 
once again. I just have come to the floor on behalf of the 30-something 
Working Group. As you know, and as the Members know, we work daily and 
weekly on issues that are facing the American people and also to not 
only inform Members of Congress but also allow the American people to 
get a closer glimpse of what is happening here in the Capitol dome and 
what is not happening here under the dome.
  I am proud to report that there were a couple of days, we only worked 
3 days last week, or 4, to allow the minority party to have their 
retreat. During that time, Speaker Pelosi and a number of other 
chairmen traveled to Iraq and Afghanistan to visit our troops and also 
our commanders in the field.
  I can share with you that the trip will be talked about a little 
further by the Speaker tomorrow, but it is very, very important because 
it is the number one thing that is facing the Nation right now, and 
that is war in Iraq and also in Afghanistan.
  Last week we spoke or talked here on the floor about the importance 
of the President's State of the Union, what was said and what was not 
said. There was some level of focus on the fact that Katrina was not 
mentioned not one time during the President's State of the Union, with 
me being from a hurricane State and representing a district that is 
constantly hit by hurricanes and natural disasters, just being one 
season away. Katrina, noted as one of the worst natural disasters of 
our time and one of the worst responses by this Federal Government, did 
not receive even a mention from the President of the United States.
  I can say that there are several Members here in Congress that 
continue to be concerned about Katrina and the area of housing and 
follow-through and preparedness on behalf of our first emergency 
responders, or that they have the tools to respond, but making sure 
that FEMA has the proper oversight to be able to carry out the tasks 
needed in the event of a natural disaster or terrorist attack.
  One other thing I think is important to be able to identify is 
veterans were not pointed out in this State of the Union. Looking at 
Katrina and the State of the Union, we must come to grips with there 
are two hard realities. One, if we have a natural disaster or a planned 
terrorist attack that takes place in this country, is the Federal 
Government ready to respond, especially on behalf of the executive 
branch? That question is still left unanswered.
  At the same time, when we start looking at issues of veterans, 
looking at our troops, our men and women coming home, what will be the 
state of affairs on behalf of those veterans?
  I am saying all of this to line up the debate that is going to take 
place after this week when we pass the continuing resolution that will 
be on the floor on Wednesday of this week, of what is going to happen 
the following week after that when the President sends his budget to 
Congress.
  It is important within that budget to embrace some of the values of 
the American people and even legislation that we have filed in the 
110th Congress and also that was filed in the 109th Congress.

                              {time}  2145

  I think it is important, also, to outline the fact that Americans 
continue to disapprove of the direction that the President is heading 
in dealing with the troop escalation in Iraq. I will be looking forward 
to hearing more about the Speaker's trip not only tomorrow in her press 
conference but also when she shares not only with the Democratic Caucus 
but with this House of Representatives.
  And to see after the State of the Union, the President's polling 
numbers drop even to another low. What I understand from some reports, 
as low as 30, 28 percent. I know the President is not going to win a 
popularity contest, but I think it is important to be able to follow 
the will and desire of the American people and on behalf of the 
Congress.
  Also, I took the opportunity today, Mr. Speaker, before coming to the 
floor, to take a look at what congressional leaders are saying, not 
just on the Democratic side of the aisle but even on the Republican 
side of the aisle, and there is a great debate that is going on. I pull 
here the Congressional Daily AM, which pretty much any staffer or 
Member of Congress involved in the process here in Washington, D.C., 
can pick it up and find out what is going on throughout the whole week; 
and on a number of the issues that are going to face the President, 
some of his strongest supporters here in Congress are disagreeing with 
him at this point. I think this could only boil down to Members of 
Congress using common sense and standing up on behalf of their 
constituents, either it be an entire State, if you are a Senator, or 
Member of Congress that represents a district. I think it is important 
that we exercise those values.
  There will be an up-or-down vote on how the Senate feels about the 
troop escalation in Iraq; and I believe, reading here, that the 
Democratic leader, Mr. Reid, has said that that vote will be taken and 
that there will be a number of Republicans that are going to have to 
take that vote because there are going to be 21 seats to defend in the 
Senate in the 2008 elections.
  Now, saying that, Mr. Speaker and Members, this is not about 
politics. This is about standing up on behalf of the American people. I 
think Senator Webb said it best, Mr. Speaker and Members, that if the 
President doesn't want to lead us in the right direction, then we need 
to show him the way, something along those lines. And I think it is 
important on behalf of the men and women that are in harm's way now and 
the fact that we have oversight as the legislative body in this three-
branch government that we exercise our rights in this.

[[Page 2534]]

  I want to read just a little bit here, continue from page 1 over to 
page 2: ``Warner's opposition to sending more troops was a heavy blow 
to the White House and administrative officials that hoped that the 
former Senate Armed Services chairman, one-time Navy Secretary would 
help convince colleagues to support the plan.'' I think it is important 
that the Senator and past chairman of that committee stand up on behalf 
of the American people in what is right, and I commend that on a 
bipartisan basis.
  I think the American people and Members here in the House know 
exactly where Democrats stand on this issue of making sure that we 
bring about the kind of oversight but at the same time not just 
standing by and saying, well, the President is Commander in Chief; and 
he is making all the decisions.
  I see my good friend, Congressman Murphy, is here.
  If this was left up to politics, then we would just stand back and 
allow the President to continue to do what he is doing, and then we 
could have Ground Hog Day all over again, as we had in November, 
Democrats continuing to gain power because of the lack of leadership on 
behalf of the Republican leadership to stand up to the President of the 
United States.
  But this is not about politics. This is about protecting the American 
people. This is about making sure that their will and desires are 
represented here in the people's House, in the U.S. House of 
Representatives, and I am pretty sure in the Senate.
  And I am hoping that Democrats and Republicans will come together. As 
you know, Mr. Speaker and Members, here in the 30-Something Working 
Group, we embrace bipartisanship. We encourage bipartisanship. And the 
good thing about serving in an elected body is when you are right and 
you are on the side of the people, then you will return back to this 
body. If you are wrong, I used to play football down at Florida A&M, 
and we used to say the blind leading the blind and the two shall fall 
in the ditch.
  So I think it is important that if we know that the American people 
are looking for a new direction versus the same direction that the 
President was taking in the 109th and 108th Congress, the wrong 
direction as it relates to Iraq, then that is a decision that every 
Member of Congress has to make.
  Mr. Murphy, I am so happy that you are able to join us right now. I 
was just talking a little bit about what we finished off on last week. 
I talked about the fact that the Speaker was in theater, two theaters, 
in Iraq and also in Afghanistan. She just returned. She will be having 
a press conference tomorrow to talk about that a little more. The fact 
that on Wednesday we will be debating the continuing resolution and 
will be here on the floor. We will have a follow-up.
  The President's budget will be handed down, I think, February 5, and 
some of the things which were not mentioned in the State of the Union, 
Hurricane Katrina and the victims of Hurricane Katrina and those Gulf 
States and also veterans that were left out of the State of the Union 
speech, which is going to be the next major wave that this country is 
going to be facing. How we are going to deal with the influx of new 
veterans coming into the system? And you pretty much heard the rest 
when you joined us.
  But, welcome, and I yield to you.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Thank you for yielding, Mr. Meek.
  You talked about our commitment, failed commitment, over the past 
several years of Republican rule in this House to our veterans, and I 
think of what message we send, Mr. Speaker and Members, to the young 
men and women who are coming back to this country who have fought for 
us in a war that they are beginning to understand, I think, has been so 
badly mismanaged and a war in which this Congress has so miserably 
overseen for the past 3, 4 years. But I also think about what message 
it sends to prospective young men and women who may want to join our 
Armed Forces, because we are so lucky in this country to have an all-
volunteer military, and it is a blessing for each and every one of us 
who lives under this blanket of freedom that our volunteer military 
provides.
  The message that we are sending them today, Mr. Meek and Mr. Speaker, 
is that, one, when we send them into battle, we are not going to do it 
in a way that protects them with the armor and equipment that they 
need, that we are not prepared to send them into a conflict that we 
have planned for in advance for success.
  But, even given all that, that when they come back to this country, 
unconscionably, we are not going to make sure that they have the health 
care that they need, that they won't wait in lines for procedures that 
they need, that they won't have to pay exorbitant amounts of money out 
of pocket for the drugs that they need to treat the injuries that they 
suffered on behalf of this Nation.
  So for me, Mr. Speaker and Members, the issue of veterans really ties 
it all together for us because it talks about the values that we have 
as a Nation to those who have served. It talks about the misguided 
policies of this administration and the peril that we have put these 
young men and women in.
  As 30-Somethings that get to stand here and as a very new member of 
this group, we all have friends and cousins and brothers and sisters 
who are fighting there, and we hear the stories firsthand from our 
generation or those just a few years younger than us as they come back, 
and the stories only get worse. We give credit to those who served, and 
we should give them the benefit of their service when they return here.
  And I think you are very right, Mr. Meek, to point out that that was 
a very noticeable absence from the President's speech, to give credit 
to them not just in words, not just in Veterans Day and Memorial Day 
ceremonies, but in the acts and in the funding that this body is 
charged to provide for those men and women both when they are abroad 
serving for this country and here at home. And having watched the 30-
Somethings do work on this floor, I know what great advocates you have 
been for those men and women who have served for us, Mr. Meek.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Murphy, I can tell you right now that a 
number of those issues that we have been talking about over the last 
couple of 30-Something hours that we have had here on the floor, and we 
thank the Democratic leadership for allowing us to have this, this is a 
very pivotal time. And I always share with the Members, even though we 
come to the capital, Mr. Speaker, from our districts on a weekly basis, 
work together here on this highly secured complex, the sun rises and 
sets every day in this beautiful capital city as we look over the 
capital Mall, and sometimes we take the very freedom that others have 
provided for granted and the opportunity, Mr. Speaker, to lead.
  I think when historians start to look at this time when there are two 
wars going on, when you have millions of Americans without health care, 
when you have Gulf States that are there that feel that they have been 
forgotten, when you have veterans in the heartland of America and urban 
America still sharing some of the same wounds of a lack of leadership 
on behalf of the Congress, when you have veterans that are waiting 3 
months to see the ophthalmologist, and when you have veterans clinics, 
VA hospitals and clinics, some clinics that are only open twice a month 
with a staff that rotates between that region that serves those 
veterans, people will look back and say, what happened in the 109th 
Congress or what happened in 110th Congress? Who stood up? Who stood up 
on behalf of the American people?
  I have a great deal of respect for the President and the Commander in 
Chief, because he is the President and Commander in Chief, period. That 
is where it is. I am an American. I am not an enlisted man, but I am a 
Member of Congress, and I feel that the office deserves the respect.
  I also believe that the American people deserve, Mr. Murphy, the same 
level of respect or greater. And the great thing about our democracy, 
like I said, we celebrate the very freedom that others have provided 
us. Some of

[[Page 2535]]

those paid the ultimate sacrifice for that to happen. Some are sitting 
in wheelchairs right now. Some are forever mentally wounded or injured 
by the whole experience in providing the kind of freedom that they 
provided for us. Some of us take for granted that we have veterans, 
some that are going into VA hospitals that are sitting there 
practically all day for mental health counseling. Some are not 
eligible. Some are still fighting for full benefits. And over the 
years, I know of some of my constituents all the way from the Korean 
War who are still fighting for full benefits to be granted by the 
Veterans Administration, seeing these individuals in the state that 
they are in now, under years of a Congress that has not paid attention.
  And just a little history lesson here, I will just share with you, 
the chairman, I believe, in the 109th, the 108th Congress, the 
Republican chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee went against the 
Republican leadership saying, I believe this is what we should do on 
behalf of the veterans. I believe that they deserve it. And he was 
removed as chairman of that committee.
  Those days are gone now. We are in control. We are going to stand up 
on their behalf.
  I am just saying I don't want to point out the fact that the 
President did not mention anything about veterans, just that it is a 
bad thing. It is a bad thing. I think he should have mentioned it, 
especially at a time of war. But I want to make sure those veterans 
know, Mr. Speaker, that we are not going to leave them behind, that we 
are not going to let their memory kind of fade off, their contributions 
fade off into the sunset because the President did not prioritize 
enough to even put two words together to thank our veterans, or just 
``veterans,'' period, just one word. Because he left that out of his 
speech doesn't necessarily mean that this House of Representatives is 
going to leave those veterans behind. So that is the reason why we 
mentioned it. That is the reason why we raise up the Katrina victims 
and those families that are still living through the nightmare.
  And, Mr. Murphy, we are not even focusing on the whole family 
experience. I mean, think of those families of veterans that are out 
there. And the reason why I am mentioning the whole mental piece is 
because, when I traveled to Iraq, I can tell you I used to be a State 
trooper. I have seen some things in my 5 years being with the Florida 
Highway Patrol. I am pretty sure in one tour in Iraq, a young man or 
young woman or a middle-aged gentleman or what have you, when you see 
that kind of activity, it is going to affect you. You are going to need 
the kind of the assistance that this country should provide because you 
volunteered, taking your words, to fight on behalf of this country. So 
it is very, very important.
  And those families that are having to live with those family members 
that are trying to wrestle with those issues, some of those issues 
don't make the local news, but they live it. Children are subjected to 
it, and many of our veterans need counseling when they come back.

                              {time}  2200

  And that is one of the hidden issues that is in this whole issue as 
we start talking about not leaving our veterans behind. We have plans 
to do that. We started this discussion just talking about the 
President's budget, about making sure that this is reflected in the 
President's budget.
  Before I yield back to you in like 30 seconds, the President is going 
to go to Illinois tomorrow, and he is going to be in New York after 
that, visiting, pushing his economic plan. I can tell you right now, I 
wish I had an envelope, but I remember Johnnie Carson used to hold an 
envelope to his head and say a word, and I would say make tax breaks 
permanent for the superwealthy.
  You know, I am pretty sure that is somewhere in that envelope. Even 
though we are going to go around, we are going to go to Caterpillar in 
Illinois and talk about trade and how the economy works, and then he is 
going to go over to New York and talk a little bit about the economy 
and how strong, this, that and the other. But in the end game, it is 
going to be about protecting the very individuals that have been 
rewarded and protected at a time of war, to make it permanent, so that 
the middle class will not have the benefits that they need.
  So we highlight these things as a forecast of saying that there is 
some room for the American people, everyday Joe and Sue, and those 
individuals that are punching in and punching out every day, for those 
individuals that are trying to make it to the next level that there is 
something there to assist them.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Meek was right on. The 
new class that was sent here to Washington was sent here to make sure 
that this place is returned to that hardworking family that you are 
talking about.
  You know, we know the statistics, the terrible statistics of the 
number of military families that are on food stamps, the number of 
military families, ex-military families that have to come to the 
government for some assistance just to get by every day. I mean, these 
are amongst the legions of families across this country that are 
scraping to get by every day.
  We have a growing economy. You know the story, Mr. Meek. We have a 
growing economy. Production is up. GDP is up. And wages are flat. Wages 
for regular, ordinary Americans are going nowhere while wages for CEOs 
and the folks at the very top of that economic scale are doing very 
well.
  And none of us begrudge folks that have done well in business making 
a dollar. I mean, that is the genius of our American economy. But what 
it does is it leaves all of those people behind while a very few at the 
top are well off.
  Here is where we come in, I think. I think we come in in that our 
job, not necessarily to completely level that playing field, but our 
job certainly is not to exacerbate the differences that already exist. 
And when President Bush goes to Illinois, if he spends a little time 
moving away from the motorcade and the Secret Service lines, he will 
find a society there in which there are deep divisions between those 
folks in the middle that are just trying to cling on to that middle 
class, and the folks that are doing very well.
  Our job, you know frankly, is to not make that situation worse. And 
the tax breaks that this previous Congress gave away to a lot of those 
oil companies, to the deals that they cut with the drug companies to 
give them record profits off this health care system, have left a lot 
of people behind, have left millions of hardworking Americans 
struggling, producing more, working harder than ever, and not seeing a 
return for their dollar.
  You know the costs of this war. I have heard you talk about it on 
this floor. But we are spending $8 billion a month in Iraq right now. 
And we need to start having a conversation about how we spend that 
money here in the United States of America, and how we use that money 
to retrain workers that have been laid off due to the globalization of 
our economy.
  We need to talk about how to spend that money to get kids an 
education that they deserve, to get them out of school in 4 years, 
rather than what is all too often happening, that it takes 6, 8, 10 
years for some students to get degrees. That is where we need to be 
investing.
  That is the right thing for our economy. That is the right thing for 
our kids. And ultimately it is the right thing for our men and women 
that are fighting overseas. So I appreciate the focus that we are going 
to hopefully be able to add to the President's visit, to make sure that 
when he goes out there into the world that he sees all of America, that 
he does not just see the folks that have been the beneficiaries of the 
largesse of government in this Congress for all too long, the oil 
companies, the drug companies, the Fortune 500s, that he sees the rest 
of the folks that are struggling.
  Now, he is going to get an opportunity, as you know, Mr. Speaker and 
Members, to do right by those folks, because hopefully we are going to 
get to his desk an increase in the minimum wage, we are going to get to 
his desk a decrease in the student loan rate. We

[[Page 2536]]

are going to put on his desk for his signature a repeal of those 
massive tax breaks to the oil companies.
  He is going to have a choice then, and I hope he listens to what 
happened on election day. I hope he listens to the legions of folks who 
sent us here, some of us for the first time and others back for another 
tour of duty in this Chamber. I hope that he listens to the folks that 
are asking this government to start sticking up for people that have 
had very little voice, very little voice except for some people 
standing here late at night trying to shed light on what has been 
really happening in this country, Mr. Meek.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Murphy, that is an outstanding segue to even 
talk about what has passed this floor already. You mentioned many of 
those measures. Eighty percent of the American people, overwhelmingly, 
Mr. Speaker, feel that the first 100 hours here in the U.S. House of 
Representatives have been very fruitful and have put forth a great 
surge of support and hope on behalf of everyday working Americans.
  Speaking of the minimum wage, I understand that it is up for 
consideration in the Senate next week, hopefully next Tuesday. I know 
there are some discussions an $8 billion possible cost for tax breaks 
for businesses within that. I know that there will be some sort of 
discussion between the finance Chair in the Senate and Mr. Rangel over 
here in the House, Mr. Speaker, from Ways and Means.
  We are going to continue to have hearings on the economy. We are 
going to talk about globalization tomorrow in the committee, I believe 
at 10 a.m., over in the Longworth Building. We are going to the effects 
of it, how does it deal with the American worker, how do we benefit 
here. And that is going to be a great discussion for us to continue to 
have, especially with the President moving around and speaking to 
different groups about trade.
  I think it is also important as we start to look at this issue of the 
minimum wage that we keep at the forefront. So I want to make sure that 
the Members stay engaged; I want to make sure that the American people 
stay engaged and informed on what is happening.
  I think another issue that is coming up and I mentioned it a little 
earlier, on Wednesday, we are going to be dealing with the continuing 
resolution. I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, some of the things that were 
mentioned in the State of the Union, it is interesting what we have 
already incorporated into the House.
  Democrats led the way in making sure that we adopt pay-as-we-go 
rules. Democrats led the way by saying that there will be no earmarks 
in this continuing resolution that will come to the floor on Wednesday. 
And we talk about earmarks. And we are bringing about earmark reform.
  But earmarks in some areas, especially when you look at the bad 
situation that the country is in right now, this does not go away. I 
mean, we are continuing to hold this chart up. I just want to make sure 
that the American people and Members understand that we had very little 
to do with the situation of the $1.05 trillion that has been borrowed 
from foreign nations, and more than has been borrowed over 224 years 
with 42 Presidents and a number of Congresses in between, of $1.01 
trillion.
  We did not just get there. We got there by giving unaffordable tax 
breaks that we could not afford to the superwealthy, giving away tax 
breaks to individuals who did not ask for it. So that just does not go 
away.
  There is a lot of work between making sure that we are able to do 
what this Democratic Congress has done in balancing the budget and 
taking us into surpluses versus what the Republican Congress has done 
in taking us backwards.
  Mr. Speaker and Mr. Murphy, we are joined by my good friend from Ohio 
(Mr. Ryan). Mr. Ryan, we have been talking about a number of issues 
surrounding not only the Speaker's visit to Iraq and Afghanistan with 
some other Democratic leaders and also chairmen, but also talking about 
the issue of the veterans not being mentioned in the State of the 
Union, nor the Gulf States. But we said we are not going to leave them 
behind. So we gave an update on the minimum wage. We are happy to hear 
from you, sir.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I had an interesting weekend, and I am 
glad to be with you and our new friend from Connecticut. I had a very 
interesting weekend because everyone in Niles, Ohio, in the Mahoney 
Valley, was talking about the first 100 hours. So I found it very 
interesting that so many people were actually paying attention to what 
was going on here.
  I think a lot of it had to do with Speaker Pelosi and the first woman 
Speaker being here. But there was a genuine excitement that things had 
changed in Washington, D.C. and I am sure you felt it in Miami. I know 
you were there. I talked to you last night. You were there. And I am 
sure they felt it up in New England.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. You gave a couple of speeches over the weekend.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I did, yeah. I actually spoke at the Akron Press 
Club, which I felt was very important. And then I spoke at Our Lady of 
Mt. Carmel grade school, my old Catholic grade school. And we had a 
little alumni affair there.
  It was interesting, because there were so many people talking about 
what had happened down here, the historic nature of the changes. And 
when you look and you think about all of the political promises that we 
have probably all heard in our careers at one point or another about, 
we are going to do this, we are going to do that, and you hear people 
say that.
  But for Speaker Pelosi and the majority here to lead and run 
campaigns all over the country and make those assertions and make these 
promises and then to come within the first 100 legislative hours and 
actually deliver on these issues is impressive. And I think it tries to 
restore some of that credibility that has been lost, I think, over the 
past couple of years.
  So we immediately stabilized a lot of families. I mean, it is not 
implemented yet, but our goal: minimum wage, cut student loan interest 
rates in half and help negotiate down the cost of prescription drugs. 
And then open up two new sectors of the economy by repealing the 
corporate welfare and investing that in alternative energy sources, 
which will lead to more research from the private sector, investment by 
the private sector, and try to open up this new alternative energy 
sector of our economy, and then the stem cell research bill, which will 
allow us in the health care industry to open up and do further research 
to move the economy forward.
  So we are trying to do some compassionate stuff, some progressive 
stuff, but at the same time stabilize. It has been interesting. It has 
been fun to go back home. Mr. Meek, as you remember the last couple of 
years, you would have to go back home, and you are talking to your 
constituents, and there is not a whole lot to say.
  You know, we were often talking about what we were trying to prevent 
from happening, or motions to recommit or amendments we offered for 
PAYGO in all of those committees and Charlie Stenholm and Dennis Moore 
who offered all of those provisions to try to balance the budget by 
implementing PAYGO. Well, we implemented PAYGO from the House side.
  I think it is very important that we were able to actually go out and 
do that. So I am excited about what is happening here.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I would just say, it is funny 
because there was kind of a low bar set. And I at some levels am 
pleased that I was not in the same shoes that Mr. Ryan and Mr. Meek 
were, that I did not have to go back to my constituency for the last 
several years and answer for what has happened here, because the answer 
is, not much.
  You know, folks out there were struggling with these energy prices 
just going through the roof. Health care was becoming harder and harder 
to find, good health care at least. People were crying out for work on 
immigration. People were trying to get help bringing up their wages to 
a liveable

[[Page 2537]]

wage, and they were not hearing anything. I mean, it was deafening 
silence from down here.
  So I do not have as much comparative experience as you, Mr. Ryan and 
Mr. Meek, do. But walking around the district in Connecticut for the 
past several weekends it has been euphoric. And I used that word the 
last time I was down here with you.
  It is really this sort of sense that, oh, my gosh, our government is 
working again. Our government is back to work again; and it used to be 
that that is what happened. It used to be that there would be a 
problem, you would go to your legislator, they would come down here and 
they would do something about it.
  And people have come to expect inertia. That is what sort of was just 
the run of the mill down here in Washington, that you have a problem 
and then you have to wait about 5, 10 years, in order to get something 
to happen.
  I felt the same thing, Mr. Ryan, that people you know, it is too bad 
frankly that people have come to be surprised by the fact that there 
could be immediate action. Because that is what they should get from 
their government, and they are getting it now.

                              {time}  2215

  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And it is exciting because it is just starting, Mr. 
Murphy. It is just starting.
  And when you meet with the Speaker and you see the intensity in her 
eyes and the focus about this was really just the beginning and we are 
not here to say, well, we did our first hundred hours and we are done. 
We are going to chalk it up and we are done. This is about continuing 
to move forward. We have got to reauthorize No Child Left Behind.
  And when you talk to Chairman Miller, who is the Chair of that 
committee, you see the look in his eyes about an opportunity to change 
the face of education in this country, to finally put some resources 
back behind No Child Left Behind to where it actually will work.
  And when you look and you see, and I know, you know, Senator Kennedy 
is talking about putting money in there to help school districts figure 
out how they can possibly extend the school day and extend the school 
year so that we can make sure that our kids are on par with kids from 
Korea and some of these other countries where they go an extra couple, 
3 weeks a year more than us, which equals another year or two over the 
course of a 12-year education cycle. These are the kind of things that 
we want to implement here.
  And if it wasn't for the, and we got into this, too, a lot back home. 
You know, a lot of people had an almost unrealistic expectation that we 
came in, we can come in now, Mr. Murphy, and Ms. Wasserman Schultz and 
wave a magic wand and all of a sudden there is a lot of money here. 
Well, we have got a lot of making up to do because of the irresponsible 
fiscal inadequacies and inability of the Republicans to actually 
balance the budget. So we have got to go up and clean that mess up. We 
have got to figure out how to extract ourselves from this morass we are 
in in Iraq and then finally make the investments that we want to make.
  So we have got a lot going on here, Mr. Meek, and we are very excited 
about the proposition that we have in the future. When you look at the 
opportunities that we really have in this country, I think they are 
great. But it is about focusing on the human capital in the United 
States of America, Mr. Murphy, and making sure that we make the kind of 
investments into the health care, education in the United states and 
the stem cells and the alternative energy are going to put us on a 
strong path to move forward.
  And I would be happy to yield to my friend from Connecticut.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. I will just key off of an important word 
there and that is investments. You know, how you balance the budget 
into the future is to make sure that you are doing the right things now 
to make sure that our economy is humming 10 years and 20 years from 
now. So when you talk about this investing in renewable and alternative 
energy sources, I mean, that is going to be our export. That is going 
to be what America can renew its economy around, is our ability to be 
the producer of all these new energy technologies.
  When you talk about investing in education, making sure that kids are 
educated so that America, which right now grows as an economy because 
we have the best-trained, best-educated work force in the country, 
continues to be that beacon of economic development due to our work 
force. Those are the type of investments that have been long cast aside 
but now we are going to start making again so that we make sure that 
you know when we are long gone from here that we have left an economy 
and we have left a budget that makes sense.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Will the gentleman yield?
  It was interesting, because one of our friends from the other side 
gave a 5-minute speech about the values of free trade. I think pretty 
much everything he said I agree with, and I voted against almost 
probably every trade agreement that has come before this Congress since 
I have been here. And I agreed with everything he said. We are trading. 
It creates value. It invests in our countries. We all understand all 
that.
  The problem is that we are not making the investments into the United 
States that will help us grow new sectors of the economy that will 
replenish the jobs that we may be losing.
  Now, people in Youngstown, Ohio, obviously, don't like to lose their 
jobs. But if there was a job there that they could get trained and go 
into and make the same kind of living and have the same stability for 
their family and provide for education and health care for their own 
family, they would be fine with it. So you can't have free trade and 
then not invest in the stem cell research. You can't have free trade 
and then not invest in the alternative energy research to help 
stimulate the economy and create new sectors that will ultimately yield 
employment for our folks in our communities.
  Be happy to yield to Madam Chair of the Legislative Appropriations 
Subcommittee.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Thank you to my good friend from Youngstown, 
Ohio.
  You know, your comments sort of bring to mind that our good friends 
on the other side of the aisle want to have their cake and eat it, too. 
They were the ones responsible for putting us in this situation where 
we have to adopt a continuing resolution that is essentially 
continuation funding that in order to put a finger in the dike and make 
sure that things don't get any worse and that we can begin the process 
for the 2008 budget and getting our fiscal house in order. It was them 
that only were able to pass two out of all of the spending bills that 
were in their hopper. It was them that left us this mess.
  And now, you know, you will see over the next couple of days, Mr. 
Murphy, our good friends on the other side of the aisle actually stand 
up and criticize their own budget, which is what the CR is. They will 
try to put our colleagues on our side of the aisle who were just 
elected, who, you know, campaigned against fiscal irresponsibility in a 
box and make it seem like somehow this continuing resolution is what we 
crafted when we are in a situation where it is shut down the government 
or pass the simplest, most effective way of getting us across the 
finish line so that we can move on and really address the concerns that 
we talked about during our 30-Something hours in the 109th Congress, 
which was that we are in the worst financial shape that we have been in 
in decades, that we have a foreign debt that is more combined than any 
of the 42 previous presidents combined.
  And yet they will try to have their cake and eat it, too, criticize 
us on their budget that we are going to have to continue but, at the 
same time, not claim responsibility for it. It is really going to be 
shocking.
  So it is something that I think it is important that we talk about 
and that we lay out there. Because, you know, this process, the 
appropriations process is one of the most inside baseball, nitty-
gritty, intricate things that we

[[Page 2538]]

do, and there are Members that have been here for years, and I am just, 
as a new member of the Appropriations Committee, you know, even though 
I am chairing a subcommittee, I still have a significant learning 
curve. So explaining it to the people that we represent, while they are 
watching it all unfold on TV, is really somewhat difficult. So it is 
critical that people understand that.
  I actually talked to some of our colleagues on the floor tonight when 
we were talking about the CR and, you know, all lamenting that we are 
not able to craft a bill that we would all love to support with the 
increases that the veterans deserve and the increases that are 
deserving in education, that are critical in terms of education and 
health care and health and human services and housing. I mean, those 
are all programs that Democrats have campaigned on and fought for. But 
because we have colleagues that spent like drunken sailors, that had no 
regard for the fiscal house that we are now charged with putting back 
in order, we find ourselves having to cinch the belt as tight as 
possible just so that we can get through and start making things right.
  I think each of our colleagues, particularly the freshmen like you, 
Mr. Murphy, are going to have an important task of going back to your 
constituents and explaining that we have got to be responsible here 
first. Give us an opportunity to get through the mess that we were left 
and then we can really show you what we can do.
  Be happy to yield.
  Mr. MURPHY. Just for brief comments, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, I think 
you are right. I think the American people, this process may be 
mystifying to them at some level, but they didn't send us here to just 
bring back the world. They understood that things needed to be put in 
order. They understood that there were going to have to be some 
difficult decisions made here; and, quite frankly, I think they 
realized that a lot of the decisions that were being made here over the 
past 12 years, in particular over the last few years, unfortunately, 
when this government decided to give, they were giving to the wrong 
people. And, in fact, they found the means to give out some favors, to 
give out some money. They just happened to be giving it to the people 
that didn't need anything more.
  So we can start making those different decisions. But, before we do 
that, it is going to take a little while to sweep up the shop room 
floor. And that is what we are doing now.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Will the gentleman yield?
  What I think is an important point here is that we could have come in 
and not passed the pay as you go. We could have done the irresponsible 
thing. And everyone says, well, the Democrats are controlled by all 
these interest groups. Well, we could have been irresponsible and said 
this interest group is going to get this and this one is going to get 
that, and we will borrow the money from China, as Mr. Meek had the 
chart up, and we would pay everybody back.
  I am telling you, Madam Speaker, she is great. We are doing the right 
thing. We could have done the easy thing, and we could have paid 
everybody back and made increases that were irresponsible because we 
would have continued down the charts where we are borrowing the money 
from China, paying the interest. They are taking that money, investing 
it back in their economy, buying submarines and everything else. But we 
did the right thing. So we have got to take the hit now, but the long-
term economic interest of the country is going to be much better off.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. What we talked about night after night here 
and what our colleagues and our leadership have all talked about, we 
have all been singing off the same song sheet, that we have to make 
sure that we handle the Federal budget just like folks struggle in 
America to handle their household budget every single day, not to spend 
more than you take in.
  There are families all across America, Mr. Murphy, Mr. Meek, Mr. 
Ryan, that have to make really difficult decisions. Would they like to 
go and buy a new wardrobe for their children? Would they like to get 
the car completely overhauled? Definitely important and certainly would 
improve their quality of life, but they can't make those decisions if 
the money is not coming in in order to cover those expenses.
  So at a certain point, if you don't stop the bleeding, if you don't 
make those fiscally difficult decisions, then it just gets worse.
  We could have been, you know, we could have played right into their 
hands, which is, I am sure, what they expected us to do, which was what 
they always accused us of being tax-and-spend liberals and that we were 
going to just give away the store and that we were going to satisfy 
every interest group that is in the column of supporters that we have.
  But, instead, what we did is we stuck to our principles. We stuck to 
what we talked about was important to the American people, not spending 
more than you take in and particularly not caving to what would be 
politically expedient, which was the tax cuts, as you referred to, Mr. 
Murphy, for people who don't need them.
  Because what they like to conveniently leave out is that they only 
count, you know, there are only certain things that they count in the 
ledger. They only count the things in the ledger that are actually 
things you can put down as I spent this much money on this particular 
program. But they fail to actually account for the tax cuts that pull 
money out off the ledger, which makes it so that there is not that 
revenue available to fund the needs, and that adds to the deficit 
itself.
  They also don't include Social Security and Medicare when it comes to 
the whole appropriation process. All of that is off budget. They don't 
like to count the supplemental bills that they pass. All of that is off 
budget.
  So it is just, you know, we are going to get back to being up front 
and honest with the American people in our budgeting process, and we 
are going to get our fiscal house in order.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And if we get an opportunity as we go through the 
oversight of the war, oversight of FEMA contracts, there are millions 
and millions and millions, if not billions, of dollars that have been 
wasted through the war, the contracting, the Halliburtons. You know, 
story after story we hear off the record, that is all going to come out 
through the hearings. You know, if Halliburton has a truck and the tire 
goes out, they just get rid of the truck and they buy a whole new one. 
Well, that is at the taxpayers' expense. And there are stories after 
stories after stories of these kinds of things happening.
  So part of what we are doing is we are making the tough decisions 
today, the responsible decisions today, get into the oversight, find 
out where the waste is; and I really hope that we continue to push Mr. 
Tanner and Mr. Cardoza's bill that says we audit the whole government, 
because this government is clearly incapable of functioning in the 21st 
century economy.
  If we are going to have the resources that we need, Mr. Meek, to 
invest in education, to invest in the health care, to invest into those 
things that are important, that are going to yield benefits, business 
incubators and research and development and stem cells like we did with 
the corporate welfare to repeal some of that, that was easier to do 
than getting to the nuts and bolts execution of government, but it is 
going to be a lot of hard work over the next few years to figure out 
where we are wasting money, what programs aren't working.
  Now we may have and be in agreement that the principle of a program 
is what we all agree on, end poverty, provide health care for kids, 
whatever the case may be. But the actual execution of that program may 
not be yielding the kind of results that we want or at the level we 
want.
  There is still too much poverty. There are still too many kids out 
there that don't have health care. There are still too many kids that 
qualify for S-CHIP that aren't signed up for it. So, you know, over the 
course of the next year or two, as we go through the oversight 
hearings, we are going to be able

[[Page 2539]]

to determine what programs work, which don't and which ones we need to 
fix. That is difficult to do.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. We are going to be the Congress.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. We are going to be the Congress. That is right. We 
are going to be the Congress.

                              {time}  2230

  And, you know, it is not government is the problem, government is 
wrong, government is your enemy; it is going to be, wait a minute. This 
is something that is supposed to work and we are going to make it work.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. I see Mr. Meek is ready to jump in here. But 
we are going to be the Congress and exercise our role, our 
accountability, our oversight, and be the legislative branch instead of 
the administration lap dog. Because that is what this body was for the 
last 6 years certainly. When President Clinton was in office, it was 
the opposite. It was, let's see what we can do to torture the 
administration and make it impossible for them to get what they wanted 
done and wanted to accomplish.
  Then, of course, President Bush comes into office and it is like they 
all lost their hands. They lost their hands, they checked their brains 
at the Chamber door, and it was whatever this administration wanted.
  And there is a new leadership in this institution and 32 new Members, 
all of whom came here to step up to the plate and ask the difficult 
questions and exercise this body's constitutional role, constitutional 
authority granted to us by the Founding Fathers, which hopefully at 
some point our colleagues on the other side of the aisle will remember 
as well.
  I would be happy to yield to the gentleman.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Ms. Wasserman Schultz, I think it is important, 
and Mr. Murphy and Mr. Ryan, that everybody understand the reason we 
are here. We are going to play the legislative role. We talked about 
the lights being turned on in some of these committee rooms. And I was 
sitting here kind of looking through a few things, and I grabbed this 
February 5 edition of Time magazine, and it talked about, Madam 
Speaker, this upcoming Time I just received it in the mail, only 648 
days until the election, why so many candidates are jumping in so 
early. And it talks about this being the most open Presidential race 
since 1928.
  There is some interesting comments in here and obviously editorials, 
but I think that you see so many people getting involved because they 
see a vacuum here, a vacuum of the fact that things are not happening 
the way that it should happen. And Ms. Wasserman Schultz alluded to the 
fact that, being lap dogs, we sometimes say here on the 30-something 
Working Group rubber-stamp Congress, what have you, of the 109th 
Congress. We don't want to be that.
  I ran into one of my Republican colleagues in the tunnel walking from 
the Cannon building over to the House today for a vote and I asked how 
is a certain piece of legislation. And she responded, well, you know, I 
have a post office bill. I am not going to belittle, I have done a post 
office bill before; it is good to identify outstanding Americans. But I 
just want to make sure that people understand, even here we have what 
we call suspension bills. Those are bills that we all agree on but it 
has to be passed by the Congress, Madam Speaker.
  But what is happening now that has not been happening, I go back to, 
I alluded to this earlier, reading is fundamental. We know that some 
people here in Washington, D.C. don't bother to read newspapers, things 
of that nature; but we will leave that for another day. Congress Daily 
A.M., National Journal. And I just want to read what is going to happen 
tomorrow; today is Monday, what is going to happen on Tuesday. I can 
tell you, usually this would not be printed in this Congressional Daily 
Weekly because committees didn't meet. The Foreign Affairs Committee 
only had one hearing on Iraq in the 109th Congress; thus far, Mr. 
Lantos has had five hearings, and we are not even past the first month 
of the new Congress. This is still January.
  Let's see what is happening tomorrow. Armed Services Committee is 
going to have a hearing on Afghanistan security and stability. Armed 
Services is going to also have a subcommittee hearing on military 
personnel. The Budget Committee will meet on the economic outlook of 
the country in full committee hearing. Education and Labor on generic 
discrimination of workers. That is happening. That is a subcommittee 
hearing that is taking place. Energy and Commerce will also have a 
hearing on the National Laboratory Security, Oversight and 
Investigation Subcommittee. Oversight Government Affairs and Reform 
Committee is going to have a climate change politics hearing; that is a 
full committee hearing. Science and Technology, Fuels, Infrastructures, 
Research and Development. That is a subcommittee on Energy. 
Transportation and Infrastructure, Coast Guard deepwater system, going 
to have a subcommittee. That is the Coast Guard and Maritime 
Subcommittee hearing that will take place. Transportation 
Infrastructure, Railroads, Pipelines, Hazardous Materials, that is a 
subcommittee hearing that is going to take place. Ways and Means, trade 
and globalization at 10:00 tomorrow, full committee hearing. Ways and 
Means once again, subcommittee will be meeting.
  I just wanted to point that out, Madam Speaker. If we were in the 
109th Congress and the 108th Congress, we wouldn't even be here right 
now, Monday. We wouldn't even be here on a Monday. People are paying 
our salary to legislate and to bring about the kind of oversight.
  I just want to point that out, because Mr. Ryan spoke a little 
earlier of the fact that we are actually doing, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, 
what we told the American people we would do, Mr. Murphy, and that is 
lead. Six in 2006. Oh, it is a big dog and pony. It is not. We are 
giving the American people exactly what we told them we would do, which 
is accountability. And that is a paradigm shift for politicians here in 
Washington, D.C. I yield to Ms. Wasserman Schultz.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Thank you, and it is. The other day I walked 
into the Chamber, Mr. Murphy, from that end of the room, and I noticed 
that there is a really huge, huge dictionary on the Republican's side 
of the Chamber which, quite honestly, it doesn't appear has gotten that 
much use on their side of the aisle, because words like accountability 
and oversight and checks and balances, and the things that have been 
with us through American history, maybe they tore the pages out that 
had those definitions or maybe they just chose to ignore them or just 
skipped over those pages when they were using it because, obviously we 
have a dictionary on the floor for a reason, but now, Mr. Meek, just in 
great detail went over the number of different hearings that we will be 
engaging in to exercise the oversight and the accountability that the 
American people badly are seeking that has just been nonexistent.
  And, Mr. Meek, I want to touch just quickly on one particular bit of 
oversight that we are going to be engaging in on Wednesday. I have the 
privilege of sitting on the House Judiciary Committee, and we will be 
holding our first hearing of the 110th Congress on Presidential signing 
statements. Now, that is something that we really haven't had a chance 
to talk about too much on the floor during 30-something, but I would 
like to explore it down the road a little bit, especially after we hold 
this hearing.
  Most of the American people, I think, don't realize that what this 
President has done, and other Presidents, many Presidents have 
exercised this option, the constitutionality of which I think is 
somewhat troubling. But this President has used Presidential signing 
statements more than any other Presidents combined. He has added more 
than 700 signing statements to legislation that we have adopted in both 
Houses of Congress. And what he does is he adds a note essentially to 
the bottom of the bill or to the margin of the bill next to a section 
that he doesn't agree with and he says: ``I either reserve the right to 
not enforce this section or to interpret this section in this

[[Page 2540]]

way.'' I mean, literally taking authority for the executive branch that 
I believe the Founding Fathers didn't envision. I mean, he did that 
with the PATRIOT Act, he did that with a number of significant pieces 
of legislation, Mr. Meek, and it is really, really troubling.
  The executive branch in the Constitution does not have the right to 
interpret legislation. That is not their job. It is the Judiciary's 
responsibility to interpret legislation; it is the administration's job 
to execute what is laid before them by the Congress. Now, he certainly 
has the right to veto legislation that he doesn't agree with, but he 
doesn't have a line item veto; he doesn't have a line item veto in the 
budget, and he can't X out a portion of a bill that he doesn't like. 
And we are going to be holding a hearing on Wednesday, and we will have 
the Department of Justice representatives there to question very 
carefully where they think they get this legislative authority, and 
reassert Congress's role in oversight in this one area and in many 
others, as you detailed.
  I guess we are in the wrapping-it-up stage, because that is when the 
Web site chart comes out. I will be happy to yield to our good friend 
and freshman colleague, the gentleman from Connecticut.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Thank you, Ms. Wasserman Schultz. And the 
guilt is deep inside me that I am stealing Mr. Ryan's thunder for twice 
in a row here.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. If the gentleman would yield, life is about letting 
go.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Moving on.
  Mr. RYAN of Ohio. You have got to move on. And you are the guy.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. I am glad I can help you with that 
cathartic experience.
  WWW.speaker.gov/30something is where you can find information on a 
lot of things we have talked about here. I am here to work, Ms. 
Wasserman Schultz and I know there are about 40 other first termers who 
are here to do the same thing.
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Actually, not to be the teacher exercising 
oversight over the freshman, but probably give out our e-mail address, 
too, so people know where they can contact us.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. The e-mail address is 30SomethingDems@
mail.house.gov. So I like nothing more than to be the student in this 
relationship, Ms. Wasserman Schultz.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. I am with you and the 40-something new Members 
of Congress.
  Madam Speaker, it was an honor to come before the House once again. I 
want to thank the Democratic leadership for allowing us to have the 
hour, and we yield back the balance of our time.

                          ____________________