[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 11] [House] [Pages 15159-15162] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]30-SOMETHING WORKING GROUP The SPEAKER pro tempore (Miss McMorris). Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 4, 2005, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) is recognized for the remaining time before midnight as the designee of the minority leader. Mr. MEEK of Florida. Madam Speaker, it is an honor to come before the House once again. As you know, the 30-Something Working Group, we come to floor if not every other day, every day, to not only share with the Members but also the American people about many of the issues that we fight for for them here in this U.S. House of Representatives. I must say that there are a number of things that we can talk about this evening. But I just want to start off, because I know that not only the Democratic leader, but also the entire Democratic Caucus is looking to hopefully put America in a new direction. We want to make sure that we provide the leadership on behalf of all Americans. As you know, I want to start off tonight, but as you know, we have been sharing it with the Members so that hopefully it will have some sort of lift here in the House. It has not had thus far, but we are willing to provide the leadership, even in the minority, even though the majority is not willing to pick up the philosophy that we are pushing here on behalf of the American people, making sure that we have more affordable health care. Madam Speaker, this is on housedemocrats.gov. Also lower gas prices to achieve energy independence, which we have our energy plan on housedemocrats.gov. And, Madam Speaker, our innovation plan that has been there for some time, and filed legislation here in the House that has not been heard. We want to talk about homeland security. We have a Real Security Plan also on that website that is there for the Members. They have to have the will and the desire, Madam Speaker, to be able to take up these plans and these initiatives. And if we were able to work in a bipartisan way, these plans would already be passed, not only in the Appropriations Act, but also here on the floor. The two other things that I want to mention, as it relates to cutting the cost of college cost. As you know, the cost to go to college has gone up. This Republican-led Congress last not helped in that area. They have not helped the every-day average American to be able to meet the increases that they have been asked to pay. And also, Madam Speaker, in a new direction for America is making sure that we follow through with fiscal responsibility, pay as we go, not just on a credit card, not just saying because we can give tax cuts to millionaires, and we will just put it off on future generations, or we will go to foreign nations and borrow a record number of dollars. These nations, Madam Speaker, that I am holding up here, they own a part of the American apple pie, not because of what the American people have done, it is what the Republican Congress has done, and allow these countries to buy our debt because we are not fiscally responsible. I think it is also important to make sure that we encourage working families, people that are making minimum wage. Madam Speaker, I just want to make this point, then I am going to give it to my friend, Mr. Ryan from Youngstown, Ohio. As you know, Madam Speaker, we have had, time after time again, three or four occasions in the 109th Congress that we have asked the Republican majority to join us in raising the minimum wage, to make sure that the American workers are able to keep up with the costs of not only living but inflation. But it has been well said, and Mr. Ryan will point it out with his chart that he has there in a moment, that the Republican Congress is in no way and in no shape ready to give minimum wage workers an increase. Since 1997 they have not had an increase. But here in the 30-Something Working Group, Madam Speaker, we actually take time to find out the facts, because we want to make sure that we are not telling the American people nor Members of this House something that is inaccurate. I must say that in 1998, Madam Speaker, Members of Congress received $3,100 in a pay increase. And we are not minimum-wage workers. In 1998, minimum wage workers zero, Mr. Ryan. In 2000, Members of Congress received a pay increase of $4,600. Guess what? Same year, minimum-wage workers, zero. 2001, Members of Congress received $3,800. Minimum-wage workers, zero. In 2002, Members of Congress received another pay increase, $4,900, almost $5,000 pay increase. Remember we just got one in 2002, I was not a Member yet but it happened. Minimum-wage workers, zero. 2003. Members of Congress, $4,700 pay increase. Just got one last year, getting another one in 2003. Of course, minimum-wage workers, zero. Punch in and punch out every day. They work a 40-hour work week, catch the early bus, trying to raise their children. Members of Congress, 2004, $3,400 pay increase. Same year, minimum- wage workers, zero, Mr. Ryan, thanks to the Republican majority. 2005, it is great to be in Congress. Too bad every American cannot be and minimum-wage workers cannot be. 2005 Members of Congress, $4,000. Tell you, the Republican majority takes care of their own, and us too. 2005, zero for minimum-wage workers. Proposed increase for Members of Congress, $3,100, Madam Speaker. And, of course, this year again, 2006, zero for minimum-wage workers. Mr. Ryan, I think it is important for us to share that, not only with the Members so they will not go home and say, well, you know, I do not quite know what was going on. If you have a family member, which I know many Americans, because there are 7 million Americans that are working in minimum wage, we have middle class workers that are working that are not working for minimum wage, but as long as minimum-wage workers are making $5 and change, the American worker will got get what they deserve. Madam Speaker, I guess it is okay, and I do not know if I have my chart here, the Republican Congress, Mr. Ryan, and quickly closing on this, I guess it is okay for big oil executives to have a $398 million retirement package and a $2 million tax break. I think that is where the priorities are. I think also the priorities are making sure that oil companies are able to price-gouge Americans at the same time. We are talking about energy innovation, E-85, for them to not only to sell the old stuff that is keeping it alive and well in the Middle East instead of investing in the midwest, Madam Speaker, and E-85, saying that you cannot use a credit card, a Mobil card, to be able to buy gas, but better yet you can go into the store and buy a carton of cigarettes or 10 gallons of milk, but you cannot get this E-85, because we want to keep you there, and we are not encouraging them to do anything else. Madam Speaker, I think it is important also to outline, if you are an oil company, you are in good, or if you are a Member of Congress you are in good shape, because you are going to get a pay raise, and we are going to make sure that you are able to make record profits. As you know, Madam Speaker, and also, Mr. Ryan, almost nightly I read [[Page 15160]] the Washington Post article that talked about the special meeting that took place in the west wing of the White House, in the complex, where oil executives met with Cheney's aides. Guess what? They got a pay raise and also a profit raise. Look what happened after their 2001 meeting, that Washington Post article, I believe it is on our website, housedemocrats.gov/ 30something. $34 billion increase for 2002. 2003, $59 billion increase. Mr. Ryan, I think that was a good meeting. In 2004, $84 billion. And in 2005, $113 billion. You want to know who is on your side, the bottom line is on this side of the aisle, we say we want to take this country in a new direction. We want to make sure that they receive the leadership that they deserve. Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I appreciate that, because exactly what you are saying fits into the overall economic picture. And there was a great column the other day in the New York Times by Paul Krugman, who kind of outlined, as the statistics finally came in from 2004, we now know how the economic pie was divided in 2004. So what happened in 2004, which I find very interesting, this is inflation-adjusted income. The top 1 percent in 2004 had a real income increase of 17 percent. And the other 99 percent had an increase of 3 percent. {time} 2340 Basically what we are saying here, is over the past 5 or 6 years, where President Bush is in and the Republican Congress, Senate and House have all been in, the top 1 percent had an income growth of 17 percent on average. They received tax cuts from this administration. They are the same executives that represent the oil companies that get $400 million retirement packages. They are the same representatives on the boards of all the major multinational companies that have been going gangbusters. When you move the jobs offshore, and you take them to China, and the profits go up, and they just go to a small group, that is the same group that is getting the tax cut. That is the same group that is getting the corporate welfare, on and on and on. All we are trying to say is raise the minimum wage for the least among us, the 7 million people who need a little bump. For many people, this is irrelevant. I was having lunch today with a guy from Girard, Ohio, who owns a bunch of nursing homes. His people are at $8 or $9 an hour. He says, this has no benefit for me, one way or another. Why not raise it? Why not lift those 7 million people up, because you want to make an incentive for them to work and not create an incentive where they want to go on the government dole. But if you look at what's happening here, while the top 1 percent had an income growth of 17 percent, while they got corporate welfare in the energy industry to the tune of $17 billion, this is what has been happening here at home. Minimum wage has gone up 0 percent since 1997; whole milk, 24 percent. This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where you are going to the grocery store, and this is having an effect on you. Bread, up 25 percent; 4-year public college, 77 percent up; health insurance, up 97 percent; and regular gas, up 136 percent. We have leaders in the Republican Party saying I don't believe in the minimum wage, I am never going to vote for the minimum wage. I am never going to vote for an increase in the minimum wage. I mean, come on, what are you thinking? We need average Americans to be lifted up. I know, down in Florida, in Ohio, time and time again, we have people who need assistance. I want to make a point that the system right now is cutting against average people. If you got a couple kids in college, and tuition has doubled in the last 5 years, and you have to take your kids to and from school, and gas is up 136 percent, and you own a small business and you are trying to cover your employees, and health insurance is up 97 percent, you are just an American trying to make ends meet, keep your family together, and hopefully give the next generation an opportunity to have a little bit better off than you had it. People down here aren't doing anything to be helpful. Mr. MEEK of Florida. There is another chart behind that chart further that goes into what is happening as it relates to middle-class families. Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Well, and the best part about this chart is again, really, college tuition up, gas prices up, health care up, this is since President Bush has been in; median household income, down 4 percent. When you have all of these increases, rapidly increasing, and the wages are increased by 4 percent, a terrible problem. But here is the real problem, President Bush says, America's economy is strong and benefiting all Americans. Come to Youngstown, Ohio, Mr. President. Come to western Pennsylvania. Come to south Florida, come to the Midwest. The economy is not benefiting all Americans, and the President needs to realize that. You know, I don't want to get into the whole international relations discussion here, because this is our focus, and I don't want to. But I am going to make one comment, because I know you want me to. This administration has been totally disengaged from average American people, from the international community. This problem we have in the Middle East right now is because this President disengaged the peace process 5 years ago. He has not been engaged. The number of terrorists are up from what they were in 2000, okay? Up. We have got problems now in Lebanon, Syria, Iran, North Korea, Iraq. We have got insurgency in Iraq, and we are spending $8 billion a month that needs to be going to address these problems, not building roads and bridges, health care centers and hospitals, and schools in Iraq, but building them here in the United States of America and lowering tuition costs. Mr. MEEK of Florida. Exactly what you are talking about, you say we are not going to talk about international affairs tonight, but you said a couple of words. And I need to say something. Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Why do you have to always try to one-up me? Mr. MEEK of Florida. I am not trying to one-up you. I am trying to provide information to the Members of the House and the American people. You know we come in that vein every evening. I think it is very important that Members of Congress that have the July 17 edition of Time magazine, it says, ``The end of cowboy democracy: What North Korea, Iran, Iraq, teaches us about limits on going it alone,'' okay? That is what it says, ``going it alone.'' The real issue here, when you open the page, looks like a very worried Commander in Chief. He doesn't look like he is jumping up and down about everything that is great in the world. Because the bottom line is, we have done a lot on our own. It goes on in further detail to talk about how the administration now is trying to reach out to these countries. But meanwhile, as it relates to this majority rubber-stamp Congress, has allowed the President the ability to do anything and everything that he wants to do. I am so glad my rubber stamp has made it to the floor. I want to put it here. Because, as you know, we like to make things visible, so that people can understand what is going on here. The reason why we are in the situation that we are in now is the fact that the Republican Congress has rubber-stamped everything that the administration has handed down. This is not about the Commander in Chief. He is not going to run for election again. But you know what? In this Congress we run every 2 years for election. It doesn't matter if you are a Republican, a Democrat, or an independent, you are an American first. You have to have a problem in what is going on. How many more indications do we need that the plan that has been set forth from the White House, has been handed to the Congress, and a Republican rubber-stamp Congress on partisan votes have voted for everything that this administration wants. The American people want this Congress to play the rule constitutionally [[Page 15161]] that it is supposed to play and the checks and balances in making sure that we have adequate oversight and action. I can tell you no other President in the history, I think, of the Republic, has celebrated such a rubber-stamp Congress. Case in point: You want to talk about money? Let us talk about money for a second. Let us talk about commitment. Here is a chart. I pull it out almost every night, because I think it is just so revealing. I think in this time and this place and this moment, tonight, Eastern standard time, a little bit before midnight, 42 Presidents, 224 years. You saw the chart earlier. I said, foreign nations have bought our debt. Not because of what the American people have done, not because they have misspent. It is because the Republican majority has rubber-stamped everything. Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Republican House, Republican President, Republican Senate. Bottom line. Mr. MEEK of Florida. Exactly. This is not bottom line that relates to the Republican Party, Democrats, this and that. This has nothing to do with that. It has everything to do with this Republican majority not saying no to the President even once, even if he was on the right track. Look at the numbers. This was from the U.S. Department of Treasury, this was a Secretary confirmed out of the Republican Senate and appointed by the President of the United States. These numbers are from the Republican Treasury, not the DNC, from the Republican Treasury, the United States Treasury, $1.01 trillion borrowed over 24 years from 1976 to 2000. President Bush gets elected. Rubber-stamp Republican Congress. This is what happens: $1.05 trillion borrowed in 4 years from foreign nations. They have dethroned, I say they, we have to get the Gingrich chart out, because I don't want someone saying I am out of line here, I am only saying what the Republican past Speaker of the House is now saying, because the American spirit will rise above partisan politics at any time. That is why I feel that the American people are going to relook at their vote when it comes down to sending Members back here to the House that is willing to rubber-stamp this administration. I can tell you right now, it is sending us down a road that no one knows, down a tunnel that no one knows if it is sunlight or train. {time} 2350 $1.05 trillion borrowed from foreign Nations. The Republican Congress helped the President do this in 4 years alone. 224-years, Great Depression, World War I, World War II, other conflicts, Korea, you name it, Iraq, I can go on and on and on. There are too many names, hard times in America, challenges in America. They only borrowed $1.01 trillion. This President in 4-years and the Republican Congress has borrowed more than that. Mr. Ryan, I am going to yield to you in just one second. This is what Newt Gingrich says. This is the Speaker, Madam Speaker, that brought on this Republican revolution; we are going to turn the country around with the contract for America. This is what he says in Knight Ridder newspapers, Friday, March 31, 2006. They, not my colleagues, my Republican colleagues in the House, my good friends in the House, they. Mr. RYAN of Ohio. My old friends in the House. Mr. MEEK of Florida. My old friends in the House. He is saying, ``they,'' so they means, Madam Speaker, that I guess he no longer associates himself and he has not said, oh, I was misquoted. He is standing by this. He continues, ``They are seen by the country as being in charge of a government that can't function.'' Now, I am going the tell you something. If I was in my office now or I picked up the paper and I read that from a former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives in my party referring to me as ``they,'' that is why it it is important, Madam Speaker, that we come to the floor in the 30 Something Working Group, and speak with confidence and the facts and with great passion, because we love this country. The bottom line is, if we were working in a bipartisan way, we could not come to this floor with a straight face saying, well, the Republican majority is working with us and we have shared ideas and issues that we are in right now and the trouble that we are in right now, we are in it because we are in it together. The Republican majority cannot say that. Bipartisanship is only allowed when the majority does so. What have we said as Democrats? We are going to raise the minimum wage. We are going to implement all of the 9/11 recommendations, and you have a chart that is very revealing here, all of the 9/11 recommendations. We are going to make sure veterans are treated with dignity and respect and they have the health care they deserve. We also said that we are going to look at these tax cuts to billionaires and make sure the middle class get their fair share. We are going to make sure there is dignity in health care and affordable, and if kids want to go to college, it is not about college kids, it is about those parents who have worked their entire lives to make sure their children and grandchildren have a better opportunity than what we have had. That is a new direction for America, and we have the will and the desire, Madam Speaker, to stand up to the President and to those that are willing to take us back to the days of deficits as far as the eye can see, and we are working to work and pay as you go to balance the budget. That is the reason why this rubber stamp, I want to retire this rubber stamp come this January if the American people see fit to say I am not going to vote for the individuals that have got us in this situation; I am going to vote for the folks that are going to adhere to the U.S. Constitution, stand up to the President of the United States and govern on behalf of this country and not just be a rubber stamp. This rubber stamp is, as far as I am concerned, we are going to have a session out in front of the Capitol, and we are going to drop it in the garbage can and burn it because this is not what this country is about. Democracy is about discourse and balance and accountability to the American people, and it should not be a rubber stamp Congress, and this is exactly what it is because that is what the Republican Congress has brought about. Mr. RYAN of Ohio. If you just look at what we would do once we get in, just in the first day or two, pass an increase in the minimum wage; reduce college tuition costs, interest on student loans by half for both parents and student loans, cut in half to save people about $5,000. Just those two things alone will save average American families thousands of dollars. Implement 9/11. Now, Mr. Gingrich brought up a great point. They are in charge of a government, Madam Speaker, that just cannot function. They do not know how to run government. They have had the opportunity over the past 5 years, and they have been incapable and unable to execute and administer government. They run it down for years and then they expect it to work. They hire their buddies who know how to run ponies and administer horse shows, but then they cannot execute FEMA, Katrina, Iraq, Medicare, health care, gas prices, college education. They do not know how to administer government. Everyone likes to say that the Democrats do not know how to administer an immigration policy. Well here's the statistics. From 1993 to 2000, the average number of border patrol agents added per year under Clinton, 642; under Bush, 411. Who is trying to protect the country from illegal immigrants coming into the country? It looks like to me that the Clinton administration did a heck of a lot better job than the Bush administration and the Republican Congress did. INS fines for immigration enforcement, 1999, under President Clinton, 417 fines for immigration; only three in 2004 under President Bush. Seventy-eight percent fewer completed immigration fraud cases under President Bush. Under Clinton in 1995, fraud cases completed, 6,455; in 2003, under President Bush, 1,389. [[Page 15162]] It is not about ideology. It is not about what your rhetoric is. It is not about our little cute phrases that you may have and you may have worked on in some little interest group or some little building somewhere in D.C. and you just say the right things and it may sound like you know what you are doing. These are facts. Gas prices are facts. College tuition numbers, they are facts. Health care costs, those are facts. Prescription drug costs, those are facts. Tax rates on small businesspeople, those are facts. It is kind of funny because you go back home, you go back to the real world, and you get out from where the Potomac fever is, and you go back home and people are not saying things are going real good for them. But you come down here and our friends, many of them are our good friends, on the other side that stand in the well and they will try to convince everybody how great the economy is going. But when you go back to Ohio or Miami, it is not same. We know how to do this and we want, Madam Speaker, an opportunity to take back over the House of Representatives that was created by Article I, Section 1 of the United States Constitution. We want an opportunity to govern, to lower tuition costs, increase the minimum wage, implement the 9/11 Commission report, provide for the common good, the common defense, and do it with some commonsense and get the country going in a new direction. On www.housedemocrats.gov/30Something, all of our charts will be available. This was the 30 Something 2-minute drill today. Mr. MEEK of Florida. Let me say, I almost feel like a preacher of a Baptist church. I just wish I had time to preach this sermon. I wish I had time. The reason why I am saying that is by the House rules we have to end at 12:00. I am going to I say this to my good friend Mr. Manatos, we need a chart that talks about what Congress has received since 1998 in pay increases and what the American people have received in the minimum wage. We need a chart that talks about that every year, so Mr. Ryan, when you talk about when folks come to the floor, the majority side talk about how great the economy is, you doggone they come and say it because they have gotten a pay increase every year. Let me tell you, a lot of us here in Congress, including myself, are financially challenged. We have got to have a house here and a house there and kids and all of the things that goes with it. But do not vote for an increase for yourself and then turn around to someone that is making $5.15 an hour to say that you do not deserve it. Over my dead body. That is what the Republican majority is saying. So I think it is important. If I had time tonight to carry this point further, I would, but with that, Madam Speaker, we want to thank the Democratic leader for allowing us to have this time. It was an honor to come before the House to address the American people. ____________________