[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 16101-16105]
[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 as the designee of the majority leader.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it's an honor to be on the floor. 
As you know, the 30-Something Working Group has been quite consistent 
coming to the floor over the years, sharing with the American people 
and the Members of this House, sharing with them and shedding light on 
things that we should be working on or things that we have worked on 
and try to push hopefully for their passage throughout this Congress 
and to get the President to sign many of these great reforms that we're 
actually doing now.
  Mr. Speaker, it has been quite interesting. I kind of got a false 
alarm that I needed to be on floor by 10 o'clock because the previous 
hour was going to end, but I'm kind of glad, Mr. Speaker, that that 
false alarm was wrong because I had a chance to do something usually I 
don't do, spend some time here prior to going on the floor. Our 
schedules are so tight, but I was actually running out to get here, and 
I'm sitting here and listening to the Members on the other side of the 
aisle, many of whom I would call colleagues and friends.
  But the thing about our democracy is that we can disagree on many 
issues and we can speak to each other and have debate, and at the same 
time come together as colleagues towards common change on some issues 
that we can work together on.
  But, as you know, many pages of the Congressional Record have my 
words and many words of Mr. Altmire and others that are here in this 
House in the 30-Something Working Group. I always say that we focus on 
fact and not fiction, and I could not help but listen to the colleagues 
on the other side saying they want votes up or down on drilling or they 
want to conserve or we need to move towards a greener America.
  And I lived through the 108th and the 109th Congress under Republican 
control. Conserve? Green? What's that? Efficiency? What are you talking 
about? I sit on the Ways and Means Committee, and we spend a lot of 
time trying to figure out how we could put forth tax credits to 
Americans who are looking to turn greener, have greener homes, and to 
be able to conserve and help us towards trying to push the scientists 
and industry, pushing them in the direction of alternative fuels so we 
can invest in the Midwest versus the Middle East.

                              {time}  2230

  I just couldn't help, Mr. Altmire and Members, to listen to some of 
the Members that went over to ANWR this past weekend.
  It's quite interesting, because I took a trip down with the Speaker 
and several other Members down to Louisiana to fulfill our commitment 
to the people of the gulf coast that this government will never leave 
them behind as they were left behind in many areas immediately after 
the storm, and that's well documented. That's not me talking, you can 
get on the Internet or you can just remember how folks were stranded 
there.
  Now they are trying to bring their lives back together. I am very, 
very pleased and encouraged to report to the House, and I know that the 
Democratic leadership will share, but this was a congressional CODEL. 
It wasn't just a Democratic CODEL. We had Republican Members at the 
last minute drop out, some of whom are from Louisiana, whose districts 
we visited, their constituents, that we were concerned about what they 
haven't received yet and also looking at what has worked so that we can 
make sure that the taxpayers' dollars are being spent appropriately.
  When we look at the whole issue of the gulf coast and the rebounding 
of the gulf coast, you can't help but understand the gas down there is 
like $3.97. I even found gas there at $3.89. It was interesting, 
because the refineries are there, and it's closer for the 
transportation costs that many of us have to pay in your district and 
down in my district down in south Florida.
  But when we started talking about the solution, toward some of the 
issues that the Members from the other side were talking about, on the 
Republican side, I have the names, which I will not call, but 11 
Members from the Republican side went on this ANWR trip, went to the 
Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. When they were in the majority, they 
didn't go.
  When they had the opportunity to deal with some of these issues, they 
didn't deal with them. They were too busy, some of them, watching this 
chart climb to the top, watching these record-breaking profits on 
behalf of Big Oil.
  I don't blame Big Oil, I just blame the old Republican majority for 
setting the stage and the administration for setting the stage for 
these record-breaking profits that these oil companies were making or 
are making. To try to turn this around and to hear now, talking about 
conserve and all, this has happened under their watch, this perfect 
storm that they had, both House and Senate and the White House.
  I am not going to dwell on that, but I just wanted to bring that 
chart out one more time, because I think it's very, very important to 
what we're looking at. Then when I start looking at the Members that 
went on the trip, the ANWR, quote-unquote, we're going to come up with 
a solution to bring gas prices down.
  On the DRILL Act, which encouraged use it or lose it, which was a 
Democratic initiative that we had votes on the floor, every last Member 
that went on that trip voted against that bill. That was about bringing 
gas prices down now. That was about let's deal with the Strategic Oil 
Reserve, bring them down now.
  Use it or lose it, another piece of legislation, H.R. 6251, every 
last Member that went on that trip voted no for gas prices to come 
down, price gouging. Every Member with the exception of two folks that 
went on that congressional CODEL trip voted ``no.''
  This is the real kicker, H.R. 6049, and the reason why I am calling 
these House Resolutions out is that I don't want any Member or anyone 
that can hear me or see me to think that it serves any great pleasure 
for me to be here on the floor spreading fiction and stretching and 
embellishing. I don't have to do that. Go to the Congressional Record.
  H.R. 6049, Renewable Energy Act, every last Member that went on that 
trip voted no.
  So when you start thinking about it and you start hearing what's 
being said here, that's the reason why I like that we have folks that 
get all this information, we go back and forth, we meet weekly, and we 
try to get all this stuff together.
  We spend all this time, we come to the floor, I think that's the 
reason why the 30-Something Working Group has the credibility that we 
have and have built over the years, because we don't come to the floor 
for entertainment purposes. We come to the floor because this is 
serious business. There are people going through heartache and trying 
to figure out how they are going to get from point A to point B.
  We don't have time to say, well, if we could only have a vote. Well, 
you know something, we're having these votes, and the folks on the 
other side of the aisle are saying if we could only have a vote, 
they're just not there.
  Energy security, a number of them voted ``no.'' No OPEC price fixing, 
only five of those individuals out of 11 that went on the trip voted 
for no price fixing.
  So when you look at how you can make this turn, and many of those 
votes have sent a signal to the White House on some of these votes that 
he knows that we can't override them, because a number of Republicans 
have voted on behalf of a philosophy that has allowed Big Oil to make 
these record-making profits.
  So we are going to talk about many things, and I know that we are 
going to go around to Members here tonight. But I am just so glad to be 
here tonight like I am when we do get together to be able to talk about 
these issues.
  I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania.

[[Page 16102]]


  Mr. ALTMIRE. I greatly appreciate the gentleman from Florida yielding 
his time, and I just want to say to start, I think that the gentleman 
is, unfortunately, kidding himself when he says that he is not an 
entertaining speaker. He says we're not here for entertaining purposes.
  You're selling yourself short, I would say to the gentleman, Mr. 
Speaker, because he is somebody who can be a very entertaining speaker. 
So don't sell yourself short on that. We do have some fun here, but we 
do get to the facts.
  The facts are that the price of gas has gone down a little bit over 
the recent week, week and a half, and we are going to talk about why 
that has happened. But it's hit an all-time high over the last several 
weeks. We as a Congress have taken action. We have brought legislation 
to the floor to address this issue and specifically dealing with 
drilling, we have brought legislation to the floor to encourage the big 
oil companies to drill on the 86 million acres of land, 91 million 
acres of land, that is already ready to go, approved by Congress. 
Sixty-eight million of those acres are already leased, permitted, ready 
to go, owned by the oil companies. There is no reason why they can't 
start the process of surveying, doing the geological work, getting down 
to the business of drilling here and drilling now. Like the slogan 
says, there is no reason why they can't do that.
  The other 20 million acres plus are in an area of Alaska outside of 
ANWR. We're going to talk about ANWR, and this area is called the 
National Petroleum Reserve. That's the area we are talking about.
  It's already been approved by Congress to drill in the National 
Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. There is more oil in the National 
Petroleum Reserve, in the reserves, than is in ANWR. That is a fact. It 
has been documented, and we are going to talk about that.
  Now, the folks on the other side, who we listened to for the hour 
before us, we heard about how there is no oil in those 68 million 
acres, and those are dry wells. I think it's a pretty hard case to make 
that there is no oil in an area of Alaska that's called the Strategic 
Petroleum Reserve. That's the area that we are talking about. So why 
aren't the oil companies drilling there?
  In some cases the oil companies own the leases, but in some cases the 
Department of the Interior has dragged their feet in getting those 
leases out and having the auctions and the lease sales to get the 
process started.
  We brought legislation to the floor to say to the oil companies, you 
use it or you lose it. You have 68 million acres on which there is 4.8 
million barrels of oil per day every day in our own land and in our own 
territory that we can bring out, 4.8 million barrels that would almost 
double domestic production.
  Those lands are already leased, and if you as a big oil company don't 
start producing on that land, or at least do some due diligence, we 
understand it takes time, takes 10 years before the first drop of oil 
comes. At least start the process, do the surveying, do the geological 
work. If you can't prove that you are doing that, we are going to give 
it to somebody who will, because we are for domestic production.
  My good friend from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey) was on right before us. I 
take him at his word when he talks about how Republicans are for 
conservation, and Republicans understand the issues around this very 
complicated problem with our energy crisis and the environmental 
situation that the gentleman referred to. I take him at his word when 
he says Republicans are for that.
  I would hope that he takes me at my word and takes us at our word 
when I say that Democrats support domestic drilling. Democrats have 
brought legislation to the floor to encourage domestic drilling. The 
only way we can drill here, drill now, is if we allow the oil 
companies, encourage the oil companies, to drill on land that's already 
permitted, leased and ready to go.
  I yield to the gentleman from Connecticut.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania. I 
can't let you continue. I think you're giving a little bit too much 
credit to our friends from the other side of the aisle.
  I certainly take Mr. Gingrey at his word that Republicans are for 
conservation, but being for it is a little different than voting for 
it. Being for it is a little bit different than putting it into 
practice. Words are one thing and actions are another.
  Listen, I am not going to endeavor to try to guess as to exactly why 
from all of the different reasons that our constituents may have sent 
us here were at the top of their mind, but I think one of them was that 
they had figured out for 12 years in this House while the Republicans 
controlled it and the President for 6 of those years was in the White 
House, that conservation was simply not a policy of this Congress, that 
they were following the lead of Vice President Cheney who now somewhat 
infamously stated that conservation, in his mind, and we can guess in 
the administration's mind, is a personal virtue, not a policy.
  So I don't think it's any coincidence that that seemed to be the 
ruling mantra of this House, that conservation wasn't something that 
the government should get involved in, it's just something you do in 
your private life. And during that time, that 12 years that the 
Republicans controlled the House of Representatives, we saw absolutely 
no action on conservation. In fact, it took the Democrats taking 
control of the House and the Senate to pass, for the first time in 30 
years, a very simple increase in fuel efficiency standards for 
vehicles, up to 35 miles a gallon. You and I know that's low-hanging 
fruit. I think we're going to be embarrassed in just 5 or 10 years to 
think that we set our sights so low as 35 miles per gallon. I think we 
are going to get up to 45 and 50 miles per gallon on the average fuel 
efficiency of fleets in this country.
  The fact is, I don't suggest that Republicans weren't personally for 
conservation, I am sure many of them practice it in their own homes. 
The fact was they weren't setting policy here to actually make that a 
reality. That fuel efficiency bill that we passed, first time in 30 
years, when we passed it, when gas prices were a little bit lower than 
they are now, that was a $1,000 savings per year for every commuter, 
for every car owner.
  It's probably now, unfortunately, up to $1,500 per year in savings, 
but that's real action on conservation. That's actually taking words 
and putting them into action.
  Mr. ALTMIRE. The gentleman talks about the lack of action in the 
previous Congresses. For 6 years, prior to this current session of 
Congress, the Republicans controlled the Congress, they controlled the 
White House, and they controlled the agenda, most importantly, of what 
legislation was brought to the floor, and what issues were talked 
about, and what the legislative priorities were of the Congress, and 
what did they do on their pet issue that they talk about right now?
  Their top issue, every time they have one of these hours, they come 
down here and they talk about drill here, drill now. There is nothing 
more important we can do than drilling and opening up ANWR and opening 
up the Outer Continental Shelf.
  So when they controlled the Congress and the White House for 6 years 
and controlled the agenda and could have done anything that they 
wanted, what were they able to do on drilling? How important did they 
think that it was?
  Well, you may have noticed, I say to the gentleman, that they didn't 
open up ANWR, and they didn't open up the Outer Continental Shelf. For 
the most part, they didn't even talk that much about it because they 
didn't see it as a political wedge issue that they can use in an 
election year when everything is going against them, except for, they 
feel, this issue.

                              {time}  2245

  When they had the opportunity to deal with this, they didn't act. So 
it falls on deaf ears to this Member of Congress to have them 
continually come down here and criticize this Congress for a lack of 
action. When they controlled the agenda, they didn't deal

[[Page 16103]]

with it. And more importantly, when we control the agenda, we're 
constantly bringing legislation to the floor encouraging the oil 
companies to use the land that's already permitted and ready to go.
  Withholding shipments to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which has 
led to the decrease in gas prices that we've seen over the last week to 
10 days, that was an action of this Congress that led to that decrease. 
And many Members on the other side opposed that.
  Well, we're bringing legislation to the floor dealing with a variety 
of issues, dealing with gas prices and energy independence, and they 
continually vote against it. Yet they have the audacity to come before 
us for a full hour right before and lecture us on our lack of activity 
on this issue.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. If the gentleman would just yield for a 
moment.
  I think it's worthwhile also to talk about what was happening here 
during the time that the Republicans controlled the House of 
Representatives, during the time you and I, Mr. Altmire, were watching 
with agony from afar.
  During that time, they passed an energy bill in 2005 that was written 
by the oil companies in secret at the White House in Dick Cheney's 
office. That, no so coincidentally, gave billions in tax breaks to the 
oil companies, leading today to the biggest profits--not in the history 
of the energy industry, not in the history of the oil industry, the 
biggest profits in the history of American capitalism are being made 
today by the oil industry. Guess what? The actions taken by this 
Congress to give away more tax breaks to that industry had something to 
do with that.
  During that time, they continued to spend money out of control, 
racking up record deficits in this country, which has led to the 
devaluing of the dollar, which is a big part of the problem today. 
Maybe 25 percent of the increased cost of a barrel of oil in this 
country is attributable to the dollar, which has fallen in value, which 
is attributable to the actions of this Congress during that time. Over 
and over again they took steps here to basically invite the crisis that 
we have seen here today.
  And so, Mr. Altmire, I think you're right to say that they had a lot 
of time to do good things, but one of the biggest problems is during 
the time in which the Republicans were in control of this House they 
did a lot of bad things, which led us to the place we are today.
  Mr. Meek.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Murphy and Mr. Altmire, the real issue is 
that I know folks that have died on the battlefield so that we can 
celebrate the kind of freedoms that some folks just take for granted.
  I'm fine. I don't have a problem with our colleagues coming to the 
floor and sharing the things that they've been sharing for a number of 
years. And I know sometimes Members, they come, and maybe the 
information may be inaccurate, and then they have to share the 
information all over again once they correct themselves, or staff or 
someone. I mean, human, people make mistakes. And that's the reason why 
we spend so much time here trying to make sure that we have what we 
have done. And there is a lot that we're doing and a lot more we can do 
and a lot more we want to do.
  We don't have the White House. And when you don't have the White 
House, it's hard--and I'm talking about Democrat or Republican. If you 
have a White House that's saying, you know something, I disagree with 
eight of the 10 things that you're trying to do, even if the American 
people have said they want it. A number of bills the President--he 
didn't change his mind because he thought he needed to change his mind, 
it was just the uproar of the American people. I can go down the list, 
starting with one of the major battles in Social Security, 
privatization of Social Security. All kind of Federal jet fuel was 
burned flying throughout the country trying to make it so that the 
American people would endorse such a plan. And on and on and on.
  And I see Mr. Altmire is getting his chart out. But these are the 
things that we've done. And there are one or two things that are not on 
this chart. But we see the green here that says ``now law,'' ``now 
law,'' ``now law,'' ``now law.'' You have ``veto threat,'' ``veto 
threat,'' ``veto threat,'' ``veto threat.''
  I didn't come to the floor to share with the Members where George W. 
Bush stands on these issues. I mean, his term is coming to an end and, 
come January, there will be a new President that will occupy the White 
House and that will work with this Congress.
  I also believe that the American people, Members, are not fooled. I 
don't come to the floor to say, you know, hey, I told you so, or I told 
you this would happen, or I told you this is the way the American 
people feel. I don't feel that's my job or obligation to share that 
information.
  I've also said in the past that if this was about politics, coming to 
the floor, then I would just be somewhere at the house maybe watching, 
you know, a DVD or reading a book or listening to music, or whatever 
the case may be, and just let the course of democracy play its role.
  I try to share with many of my friends on the other side of the aisle 
that sometimes when you're following the leadership and they're headed 
in the wrong direction, somebody needs to tap them on the shoulder and 
say, you know something, there's a new direction, there's a new 
direction in Congress here. I know we have to show the differences 
politically of philosophy, but I may not be marching with you next 
year. And I can tell you right now, I'm talking to some of these 
candidates that are out there, and it is almost--I never thought that I 
would see the kind of support--and I'm just talking about support in 
the polling and everything of saying ``we want change. We want to move 
in a new direction. We want lower gas prices. We want to be able to see 
the kind of housing bill that passed this floor today that is going to 
help my situation.''
  If someone is a Republican or a Democrat or an Independent, they 
didn't elect a Member of Congress or someone to come up here and 
represent them and say, I sent them up there to represent my partisan 
views. No, nine times out of 10, and even more than that, they sent us 
up here to make sure that we represent them and provide a better day 
for their children and grandchildren. So that's where I feel that this 
major political paradigm shift is taking place in this country, and it 
will continue.
  So Mr. Altmire and Mr. Murphy, we should continue doing the good 
things that we are doing on behalf of this country as it relates to 
policy. We should continue moving in a bipartisan way, having more 
bipartisan votes on major pieces of legislation than the Congress has 
had in the previous Congress under Democratic control, bills that 
Republicans in this House can vote for because they are good bills that 
serve the entire country, not just a segment of the country.
  So we have to continue moving down the road. We have to continue, as 
we move to close out this month and before we go on break next month to 
go back to our districts, to be able to finish the business at hand. 
And when we come back in September, be able to deal with that business, 
because there is going to be a lot said between now and then. We're 
almost within 100 days of the country being able to make the decision 
of who's going to be the Commander in Chief, who's going to be in the 
House, who's going to be in the Senate.
  So when you start thinking about it, they're going to kick into 
autopilot, they're going to make the decisions, but I just want to make 
sure that--not that I'm trying to preserve and increase or maintain the 
levels that the Republican Caucus is at right now in the House, but I'm 
just saying what's bigger than politics is getting the job done on 
behalf of the folks that are counting on us to do it. So that's the 
reason why we come here.
  Mr. Murphy.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Mr. Meek, you said it right, it doesn't 
matter whether you're a Republican or Democrat, when you pull up to 
that

[[Page 16104]]

pump you're paying a price that you can't afford. It doesn't matter 
whether you're a conservative or a liberal, if you can't afford to heat 
your home this winter, you're going to freeze. That has nothing to do 
with partisan politics.
  I think we come down to this floor and we try to educate people on 
some of the differences between the two sides of the aisle here. But 
when it comes down to it, you're very right. I mean, the people didn't 
send us here to have a Democratic idea or a Republican idea, they sent 
us here to try to find some common ground to make this world a better 
place. And I wish more of that happened here. I mean, I wish we didn't 
have a chart like the one that you just put up that showed so many 
vetoes and veto threats from the President. Because I think sometimes 
the folks in the White House don't understand that pain, that 
bipartisan, nonpartisan pain that's happening out there. I think some 
of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle don't maybe feel that 
as well. I think sometimes, as Mr. Altmire said, it feels like the 
debate down here is more about scoring political points than it is 
actually getting things done.
  And so, Mr. Meek, I'm glad you put it that way because I think it's 
important for us to continue to remind our colleagues here on this 
floor, through the Speaker, that we can come together, that there are 
things that we agree on. And if we put politics aside, we can do the 
will of the American people.
  Mr. Altmire.
  Mr. ALTMIRE. I appreciate the gentleman from Connecticut.
  And the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) talked about the difference 
between the freedom that we all enjoy to say things on the floor and 
the responsibility that we have to quote facts, to use real numbers. 
And the people on the other side who come down here on occasion I would 
say are very good at the PR aspect of the job, at getting the message 
out and in trying to undermine the message that we put out.
  We think about this drilling issue, we think about the Outer 
Continental Shelf, and we think about the Arctic National Wildlife 
Refuge, ANWR, and we say, well, the numbers that they're using on the 
other side may not be as accurate as they could be. They might be 
overstating the situation a little bit, both with regard to the time 
necessary to get that oil, but more importantly, the amount of oil 
that's there at all. And the pushback that we get from the other side 
is often, oh, those are Democratic talking points, and they don't know 
what they're talking about, and we're not going to listen to them 
because they're Democrats and they're just reading talking points. So I 
wanted to read a quote from someone, and then I'm going to put the 
source of the quote up.
  This is from a hearing that was held yesterday here on Capitol Hill, 
because we're working every day to try to figure out what we can do on 
a daily basis to bring the price of gasoline down in the short term and 
the long term. And a hearing was held, and one of the witnesses said 
this: ``They mislead the public''--talking about the big oil companies 
and the proponents of opening up ANWR and new areas of the Outer 
Continental Shelf is who this gentleman is referring to.
  ``They mislead the public. And the public thinks, well, if we've got 
86 billion barrels of oil sitting out there, why don't we just go drill 
it and produce it and lower the price of gasoline? We can lower it to 
$2 a gallon. That's the way it's been characterized, which I think is 
totally misleading. Experts are way off when they say there's 86 
billion barrels of oil off the coast. That number is way overstated. 
They also talk about ANWR having 16 billion. I think the number there 
is a lot closer to 2 billion. That's all you can get out of there. I 
don't see any fuel that's going to replace gasoline and diesel except 
natural gas.''
  Well, is that a Democratic talking point? That's basically what we've 
been saying for the last several months, but no, that was not a 
Democrat that said that, that was none other than an oilman, and 
certainly not someone historically who has been very complimentary of 
Democratic policies, Mr. T. Boone Pickens, somebody who understands the 
oil industry in this country. That's what he said. And I would ask my 
colleagues if they've seen the commercials that he's running on TV. And 
the slogan that he uses is, ``We can't drill our way out of this 
problem.'' And this is the quote that I read.
  So we have validation from sources that understand the oil industry 
and understand that this is more than just a political hot button issue 
that we can use to score cheap political points. This is the biggest 
problem facing the country. And we have to come together as Republicans 
and Democrats and do everything we possibly can to work on short-term 
solutions and long-term solutions to solve this energy crisis.
  And it's going to take all hands on deck. And the quicker that we 
move away from the cheap political points and trying to play one-
upmanship on the rhetoric, the better chance we're going to have of 
solving this problem.
  So I would yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek).
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Well, Mr. Altmire, as we move into closing out 
tonight, I just want to yield to Mr. Murphy. And if you have any other 
closing comments that you would have to make, I think it would be 
appropriate to make them at this time.
  But I can tell you, Mr. Altmire, that I am excited about what we are 
doing about the solution. You know, the American Housing Rescue and 
Foreclosure Prevention Act, H.R. 3221, is a part of that testimonial of 
service that this House has provided, and putting bills on the floor 
that Democrats and Republicans can vote for to respond to the 
foreclosure crisis that's out there now. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, 
that has been a part of helping so many Americans get the American 
dream, putting the kind of regulatory reform that's needed for those 
two entities to be able to provide the kind of service that the 
American people would look for them to provide, and allowing Americans 
to be able to get a piece of what we call ``the American Dream.''
  And also being able to watch what's going on as it relates to our 
economy, investors, and others, to stabilize the market through this 
legislation, and so much work that has gone into it. And hopefully the 
Senate will be acting on it soon.

                              {time}  2300

  This is a piece of legislation that the President said that he can 
sign. These are solutions. That is what I tell my constituents when, 
nine times out of ten, we run into someone, and they start sharing 
their problems with you. I want to respond. And nine times out of 10 I 
respond, now let's have a discussion about how we can work toward a 
solution. Because we're not here to describe the problem. We're here to 
come up with solutions, and a solution that all of America can share in 
and that every Member of the House, every Member of the Senate and the 
President can feel good about signing because legislation like the 
legislation that passed here, is probably being noted as one of the 
major pieces of legislation of this Congress in both sessions, first 
and second session, that has passed off this House floor that is going 
to touch so many Americans. And that is the kind of leadership, that is 
the kind of new direction that we talked about.
  Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut. Mr. Meek, you're very right. And we could 
watch this housing crisis unfold, this energy crisis continue to 
squeeze families and we could sit here and do nothing. But as you said, 
we got sent here to do something, to sit down and figure out solutions. 
And I think it's incredibly relevant as to whom you ask about what the 
solution should be.
  In the last few years when there was a problem with energy prices, 
this Congress went and asked the oil companies how you fix it. When 
they wanted to write a new bill to bring prescription drug coverage to 
seniors, they went and asked the drug industry how to solve the 
problem. When this housing crunch came down, when foreclosures started 
to increase, when neighborhoods started to fall apart, we went to our 
constituents. We went to the people who sent us here. We went to the

[[Page 16105]]

very people who are being affected or at risk of being affected by this 
problem, and said, you tell us how we should solve this problem. And 
what we heard was, listen, give us a chance to stay in our home. I 
don't want a handout. I don't want a giveaway. I don't want a bailout. 
I want a chance to stay in my home. I want to pay my fair share. I want 
a chance to pay a decent rate. But give me a chance. So we passed the 
expanded FHA insurance program to allow people who were in exorbitant 
and unfair interest-rate mortgages to get back into something 
reasonable, at a loss and a haircut to them and to their lender. When 
people said, I want to buy my first home, but this is a really 
dangerous time to do it, I think we responded in this bill we passed 
today by passing a $7,500 refundable tax credit to allow people a 
little bit more flexibility to get into that first home.
  When people said, I need some help getting counseling to find out how 
I avoid foreclosure, we put money into counseling agencies to help 
people help themselves. When you go to the people who are really 
hurting, you get the right answers. And I'm just as proud as you are, 
Mr. Meek, for voting for this piece of legislation this afternoon. It 
may be the most important housing legislative package that this House 
and this Congress has passed in the past several years. And I'm just as 
proud of where the genesis of the ideas came from.
  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Very good. Very good. I think that your comments 
were very appropriate and definitely will give the kind of motivation 
for bills like it to come to the floor. And it's going to be about 
solutions, mayors, city council people, individuals back home, everyone 
along the line of elected officials likes to see bills like this 
because that is going to help give the backbone to their community that 
they need.
  No one, no Members want to see signs of foreclosure, for sale, quick 
sales, all of these things. You have folks that are holding on to their 
mortgage. I have constituents who come to me and say, Kendrick, I 
bought my condo at $600,000, $500,000 or $300,000 and someone had to 
carry out a quick sale within our building, and my property value went 
down. And I have already lost. And I am holding the flag up, and I'm 
doing all the things I have to do. And I didn't get into an interest-
only loan. I went into a conventional. But I'm suffering from that. So 
everyone, it is almost like folks are getting pulled down. This bill 
today is helping to shore up that housing market, even rental housing 
in urban and rural areas.
  So with that, Mr. Speaker, it's always an honor to come to the floor 
to address the House. I want to thank the Democratic leadership for 
providing us with this hour once again. And we look forward to coming 
back in the future.

                          ____________________