Marsha Blackburn

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from North Carolina and how we welcome her enthusiasm and her dedication to helping move forward with the Republican agenda and with the leadership that has been shown. Mr. Speaker, before I begin my comments this evening, I would like to just pause for a few moments and commend our colleagues from across the aisle as they have stood tonight to remember and to commemorate those men and women who have given their lives in the fight for freedom. We can never begin to express our thanks and our gratitude to the men and women who fight to preserve freedom. Our country has a long, storied, noble history in the fight for freedom and democracy. I want to commend them for reminding and for remembering that there are those who have given their lives. We need to remember each and every individual. This Nation has been being attacked by terrorists now for a couple of decades. We need to go back and as we remember these men and women who have lost their lives in Iraq, we need to also remember those that lost their lives with the Khobar Towers, with the Cole, with the first World Trade Center bombing, those in Afghanistan and those that currently serve in Afghanistan as well as all of our men and women who are currently deployed. In Tennessee, in my district, we have men and women who are members of the National Guard who are deployed in both Afghanistan and Iraq. To those families, we say we stand with you so solidly, so totally in this fight for freedom. We have men and women from Fort Campbell, which primarily sits in the Seventh Congressional District of Tennessee, who are preparing to redeploy with the 101st or the 160th, who are in the process of being redeployed. We thank each and every one of them for their service, for their sacrifice, their families we thank for their service and their sacrifice, these precious children who are at home for the summer without mom or dad to go to the ball field with them or to take them to swimming lessons or to hold them tight at night when they are worried and have fears and concerns. We stand with you in this fight for freedom. We are talking a good bit about what our agenda has been and being in touch with the desires of the American people. I want to call attention to a couple of things that have been in the press lately. We had seven House Members yesterday who wrote a letter to Minority Leader Pelosi saying that they were shocked by a statement in which she said the war in Afghanistan was over, and I am quoting from the letter. They wrote: ``Messages like yours could demoralize our troops and undermine our efforts to fight terrorism in Afghanistan and around the world.'' That was in their letter, and reminding her that we have known all along this is going to be a long, long war. It is not going to be an easy war. It is going to require some sacrifice on all of our parts, on each and every single individual's part. And then I pulled another article from today's press. It was talking about Taliban, Rebels Fight Afghan, U.S. Forces. We had 102 insurgents that were killed in 3 days of fighting in Afghanistan. It just goes to show us, those who wish us harm, those who would do evil are still out there and still fighting and fighting against freedom. But much of this has to do with focus and where we put our focus and where this 109th Congress chooses to place its focus. We were here earlier this week talking about the agenda, the Republican agenda, and some of the things that we have accomplished. We are in our 69th day, I believe it is, of our session. There are many strides that we have made for the American people. As we have talked about this, and I know the gentlewoman from North Carolina is certainly aware of this, every time we pass a bill here, it does not mean we have added another law or added another statute to the books. Many times what it means is that we are removing or repealing something and that is the way it ought to be, because being committed to freedom, being here to defend the individual freedoms that each and every person holds dear, means that one of the things we are doing is trying to roll back that long reaching arm of government, roll it back and send that power and send that money and send that authority to the State and local levels. That is something that we as a majority feel is very important: individual freedoms, local control, moving forward on an agenda that is a conservative, well-placed agenda, rooting out waste, fraud and abuse, looking for ways to shrink some of these programs. These are some of the things that we have been able to make progress on over the last few months: bankruptcy reform, which we passed with 302 votes in this body. That meant we had 73 Democrats cross over and vote with us to pass that. The reason they do that, most of America agrees with the majority's agenda, things that are going to strengthen families, things that are going to strengthen small business. Class action reform. We have all heard the stories of how trial lawyers go out and make 20, $30 million off of different class action cases and then the members of the class end up with a coupon for 50 cents off, a free movie, a free bottle of juice, a free packet of some commodity. Class action reform passed in this body with 279 votes. Fifty of those votes were Democrats. The REAL ID Act, border security, addressing illegal immigration and the impact illegal immigration has on this great Nation. We passed the REAL ID Act which is the first step in this, working in concert with many of our State legislatures. They were supporting us as we moved forward with the REAL ID Act to be certain that we had valid documents, immigration documents, used for driver's licenses. The REAL ID Act passed with 261 votes. Forty-two of those were Democrat votes. Permanent repeal of the death tax which we have passed in this body. We look forward to seeing that signed into law, because we are looking to roll back taxes and free up this economy, continue to free it up. We have had 25 months of sustained economic growth and it comes from the tax reductions that have been passed by this majority. One of those is the death tax repeal. An important reason for this is because the death tax is a triple tax. You pay tax when you acquire an asset, you pay tax when you maintain the asset, and certainly when you earn your income that you use to purchase that asset, you are paying tax there, too. So rolling back the death tax. Two hundred seventy-two Members of this body, the U.S. House of Representatives, voted to repeal the death tax. Forty-two of those were Democrats. Continuity of government. The energy bill. Everyone is concerned about gas prices. Something we can do that is going to help us send the right message is passing an energy bill. And we did that in this House, sent it across the Rotunda to our friends and colleagues in the Senate. And we passed that energy bill with 249 votes; 41 of those were Democrats. And the gentlewoman knows that all of this goes to show that America responds to our agenda. They are looking forward to our reducing the size of government, getting government off their back, getting it out of their pocketbook, leaving them with more money to spend, lightening up on that regulation so that the free enterprise system can do what it does best: generate jobs. We know we do not create those jobs. Government does not create those jobs. Free enterprise creates those jobs. So as we look at an agenda that is based on hope, is based on planning for the future, is based on a better life for our children, we welcome that the other party comes along and supports this agenda because we know it energizes America. We have provisions that energize this economy, that get us moving in the direction that we should be moving. I want to thank the gentlewoman for organizing this hour, looking at the strength that is in the agenda that we are working on this year and looking at the momentum that we have for this agenda. It is going to be a busy summer here in Washington, and it is going to be a very brisk, aggressive fall. And we look forward to continuing to work on these issues of taxation, of regulation, the immigration, addressing illegal immigration, litigation, beginning to continue to address these frivolous lawsuits; and we know that progress is going to be made on behalf of the American people. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me and for inviting me to join her on the floor.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, day after day Members from across the aisle have been coming to this floor to tell Americans that in their opinion we are losing the war on terror. They say that Iraq is a disaster, Gitmo is a gulag, and that our soldiers should have come home yesterday. Mr. Speaker, they have no shame. If they want policy change, fine. But do not undermine our soldiers' efforts by going all out and selling this as hopeless in order to try to score political points. Did they think winning the war was going to be easy? No one ever told them the endeavor would be without cost. Iraq is not a failure. Is it tough? For heaven's sake, absolutely, yes, it is tough. We all knew that going in. But transforming Iraq, freeing millions of people, stamping out terrorism in a nation right in the middle of the Arab world will pay huge dividends in the war on terror, period. It gives us a democratic ally in the Middle East. I hope my colleagues will join us in supporting this effort, rather than tearing it and the brilliant men and women in uniform down.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ginny Brown-Waite), and I thank her for her leadership on this issue. She mentioned earlier that she has one of the largest Social Security recipient populations in this country. She is passionate about being certain that Social Security is preserved, and I appreciate the attention that she puts on this issue every single day. She has been a champion of this, and her leadership means so much to so many of us, and I think to women in general. It is so interesting that tonight we have had a female attorney, a female Realtor, a female college professor, and I am a small business owner. We all come from different walks of life; and I would venture to say, as we have our town hall meetings, that is the same mix we are seeing, women from all walks of life who are looking at how their family meets their financial goals and looking at their retirement security. They are serious about this. They want to be certain that they are planning ahead. And they know that, as they pull together what that template is going to be for their retirement, Social Security is an important part of that. So they are paying attention to what we do and what we do not do. We know that the status quo is not acceptable for Social Security because we know what that means. We all have looked at the charts and at the figures, and we know we have to be aggressive and hard working to be certain that Social Security is stabilized, that solvency is guaranteed. We know right now there are three workers for every retiree, and soon that is going to change. We know by the time we get to 2018, we are going to stop running that surplus each year and all of those IOUs that have been collected are going to come due. That requires action now and action on our part. As the gentlewoman from Virginia mentioned, she was a Realtor and she looked at Social Security as she wrote that check for 12.4 percent: the individual share of 6.2 percent and the employer's share of 6.2 percent. That means all of our small businesses, and female-owned small businesses are the fastest growing sector in the economy. Those women are writing that check for 12.4 percent. And then they come to the meetings, the town hall meetings that we hold, and they say if you do not do something soon, we are going to find out that we are paying this 12.4 percent, and it is our money. We have earned that money. We want to have our name on that money, not the government; and we know we are never going to see it in our retirement checks. Women are many times not only the small business owner, they are the financial manager for their family and they are looking at that pay stub every month and they are looking at the amount that government is taking out in taxes, in Social Security, and they are expecting results and they are expecting action to be certain that there are more options for them to choose from in their retirement security. As I said earlier, Social Security is a piece of that retirement security. They are also looking at long-term care. They are looking at long-term health care insurance. They are looking at pension plans and the solvency of those pension plans. They are looking at 401(k)s, and they want to be certain that the options are there. At the same time, they are wanting to be certain that it is not a burden to their children and grandchildren, not individually, not as we are looking at Social Security stabilization, not as we are looking at private accounts. They want to be certain that we are thoughtful, that we have generational fairness on the table as a component of that discussion. Mr. Speaker, in the last few days, we have heard quite a bit of rhetoric about the Social Security debate. I would applaud some of our Members both on the Senate side and here on the House side that are looking at both components of this debate, the solvency issue and the personal accounts issue. I applaud the fact that they are looking to be certain that we are going to have individuals who get their money, that they get back what they have put into this system, and that they can depend on getting those benefits. I think it is appropriate to know that we are really tuned toward being certain that Social Security meets its obligation, not only to today's seniors and today's near seniors but for American workers like my children who are in their early twenties who are looking at Social Security, they are paying into that system, and being certain that Social Security is there to meet its obligation to them. This is an issue that does affect all Americans. It is an issue that affects families. It is an issue that we are appropriately focusing on to find solutions addressing retirement security for all Americans. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Florida for her leadership on the issue and for organizing our time here on the floor tonight.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, this is the 68th session day that we have had in this 109th Congress. We have passed bankruptcy reform, class action reform, an aggressive agenda, and many of the Democrats are voting for this agenda. And today we are continuing to move forward with an appropriations bill. We are going to be passing the Labor, HHS, and Education appropriations bill. And I would like to take a moment to commend the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Regula), subcommittee chairman, and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lewis), the Committee on Appropriations chairman, on a provision in this bill. This bill will do something we have talked about doing a lot: reducing spending, prioritizing. Fifty- six programs will be terminated, programs that have outlived their usefulness. It will be a $3.8 billion savings for the taxpayers. And why do we have our focus on priorities? Why does this majority have its focus on priorities? Because we know funding the war on terror, keeping this homeland safe, preserving freedom, is the priority for this great Nation. I commend the leadership for their good work. I look forward to the debate on this bill.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentleman so much for his comments. I think this is one of the things that we hear repeatedly from our constituents. They want to see us solve problems. They have appreciated how aggressively we have attacked the agenda this year and have worked to move forward on a positive, proactive track. Bankruptcy reform. That is something that they have tried to pass for years here in Washington. For years. As I was in the State Senate in Tennessee, we would hear about the gridlock in Washington in not being able to move this forward. Class action reform. We have been hearing for a decade that that was needed. The REAL ID Act. Since September 11, 2001, we heard about the need to secure our borders and to be certain that those driver's licenses were using proper documentation. Permanent repeal of the death tax. I cannot remember a time that I was not hearing about the need to repeal this. A continuity of government, having a plan for that. There again, since September 11, 2001, we have been hearing of the need for this. I would just express to the gentleman that I feel it has been a very aggressive 67 session days that we have had and 169 calendar days that we have seen so far, and we have our list that we have been talking through tonight of 100 ways, in 100 days, that we have been able to pass legislation. One thing I think that is important to point out, also, is that not always does it mean when we say we are passing legislation that we are adding another law to the books. Many times what we are doing is repealing and taking laws off the books, repealing. We are deregulating instead of increasing regulation. We are lowering taxes instead of increasing taxes. We are trusting people to make the decisions they need to make for their families. I think that is one of the differences.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I want to go back to the poster that is right behind the one that is displayed next to the gentleman. It is the commonsense Congress, and the gentleman has touched on this several times. I think it is worth drawing some special attention to: common sense. The legislation that the leadership has brought forward in this Congress, the things that America supports us on that we are hearing from them, they are pleased with the agenda that we have moved forward on, is based on common sense. A couple of other things the gentleman has mentioned, whether it is the community health centers or the health savings accounts or the medical liability reforms, one of the points the gentleman just made is so true. What we are talking about is the taxpayers' money. The gentleman said, ``It is your money.'' That is so true. We realize this is the taxpayers' money. It is not our money. It is not government's money. It is the taxpayers' money. I agree so wholeheartedly with the gentleman from New Hampshire. We trust the individual to make those decisions on how to spend that money. We trust those local governments and those wonderful community health centers. The gentleman has them in his district. I have them in mine. What wonderful work they do, and how cost effective they are. It is exciting to see that we have a budget where we have had a reduction in discretionary spending. We have a budget where we are putting the emphasis on priorities. We are beginning to turn this around. Forty years of Democrat control grew program upon program upon program without accountability. Now we are beginning over the past decade to see that accountability move in place; and with the positive proactive agenda that we have this year, we are seeing action.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for taking the time to share his thoughts tonight. The gentleman is so right: it is family friendly, it is business friendly. That is the agenda that this leadership has. It is an agenda that is based on hope. It is an agenda that is based on the love of opportunity and knowing that we all want something better for our children, for our grandchildren. We all want to see America be vital and vibrant with a great economy and opportunity for all of our children. As the gentleman was speaking, I thought about a great Tennessean, Alex Hailey, and a comment he used to make regularly. He was a wonderful author, and we are so proud of the works he created. He had a phrase that he would use often. It was ``find the good and praise it.'' In this 109th Congress, the agenda that we have brought forward has a whole lot of good in it. It is wonderful to take a few moments on this first day of summer, on this 169th calendar day of the year, the 67th day of this 109th Congress, and praise the good work that is being done on this floor. We have talked a lot about our economic security and homeland security. Let us focus on moral security and the obligation we have for health care in this great Nation. One of the leaders in this debate here in this Congress is the gentleman from New Hampshire (Mr. Bradley), and he is going to talk about health care and some of the items we have been able to accomplish on our health care agenda.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I am certain that in the gentleman's district in Georgia, just like in my mine in Tennessee, he has many family farmers. In our district in Tennessee, small business is the number one employer; and when I meet in my district with many of our farmers, with many of our small business owners, this is one of those issues, a permanent repeal of the death tax, this is something that they want to be certain gets signed into law. They are so supportive of the President and what he is doing there, and they want to be certain we get rid of that. We look at it as a triple tax. You pay tax when you acquire an asset; you pay a tax when you earn your income; you pay a tax when you maintain that asset; and then you die and you go and you pay it again. I talk a lot about sweat equity. Being a small businessperson, when somebody goes in there and they have that bright idea and they start that business and they put years and years and years into building that business and building that customer base, they want to be able to with pride give that to their children and their grandchildren, for that to be their livelihood, to continue that legacy. I look forward to our being able to put an end to such an egregious tax, and I thank the gentleman for his leadership on that issue; and I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Price).

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Virginia and thank him for his thoughts on the issue and the things that we have been able to accomplish so far in the 109th Congress. As the gentleman had said, there have been so many things that we have been able to do. I have got a list of 100 ways in 100 days that we have been able to pass legislation that at some point he just mentioned: class action reform, funding for the troops, workforce job training, a highway jobs bill, a budget that reins in spending, boosting our border security and tsunami relief, all things that are very important. As he said, when it comes to issues of taxation, we are reducing the rate of taxation and the impact that has on our families. Talking about the need for deregulation. We like to say in my district, we need deregulation that fosters innovation and spurs job creation because that is what it is about, creating those jobs, keeping this economy moving, keeping it effective. Of course, litigation, and being certain that we look at class action reform, the need for class action reform, the need for medical liability reform. At this time, Mr. Speaker, I am going to yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Price) who has certainly been very active in this agenda that we have in the 109th Congress, the common sense Congress; and he has truly been a leader as we have looked at many of the taxation issues, as well as many of the health care issues in this great Nation.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be here with some of my colleagues this evening, and we have a great agenda. We are going to talk about the agenda that we have had for this session of the 109th Congress and some of the positive accomplishments that we have made. But before I start on that, I do want to make a couple of comments, Mr. Speaker, regarding my colleagues across the aisle and some of the things that they have had to say. They are so very concerned about the budget and how the budget works and about spending. Mr. Speaker, I just have to say it is interesting for me to hear them. Some of them are talking about how we cannot have tax relief that grows the economy because we would be doing away with needed programs. And then we hear that we are not growing the economy enough. And the interesting thing is you cannot have it both ways. You cannot have it both ways. You know, you have to set a course and you have to move forward on that course, and that is what this leadership has done. We know that it is the people's money that we are here to be good stewards of. And it was so interesting, one of my colleagues just said, tax cuts are going to cost us. Tax cuts are going to cost us. Well, you know what, every time we pass a bill that spends another dollar, it is costing everybody that is paying taxes. When we reduce taxes, we give money back to the people that earn that money, the taxpayers. We leave that money in home communities. We leave that money where it belongs, with families. Right now in this great Nation of ours, taxes are the biggest part of any family budget. We will set about on a course, the leadership in this Congress has set about on a course, the President and the administration have set about on a course to get some of that burden off the backs of the American taxpayer; and we are working to reduce the size of this government. Mr. Speaker, I tell you, I am so pleased that tonight we can take a moment and reflect. This is day number 169 on the 2005 calendar. It is day number 67 in our legislative calendar of the 109th Congress. And the majority in this Congress has, we are approaching the halfway point for this year and we have made substantial progress. Mr. Speaker, you cannot help but notice that a remarkable thing has been happening on the floor of this very House over the past few months. It is something most people probably are not very aware of and I can assure you, listening to my colleagues tonight, it is something that the minority leader, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi) probably hopes will remain unnoticed by most of the American people, but my colleagues across the aisle, many have been abandoning their party leadership in droves and they are voting in favor of a Republican agenda and our legislation. And it is worth noting tonight. People say, oh, Washington is such a partisan town, nothing ever gets done. The town is in gridlock. And the minority leader will come to the floor and she will rail against the legislation that is being brought forth, and she will call it virtually everything in the book but good. And after all the hot air hits the rafters and people put their card in and cast their vote, dozens of Democrats vote for the legislation that she has just taken 5 minutes criticizing. Why is it, Mr. Speaker? I think it is probably because the leadership in this body is crafting legislation to solve problems. We are here to solve problems for the American people. We are here to work to reduce regulation. We are here to lessen the tax burden. We are here to cast votes that will preserve individual freedoms for this great Nation. And we are attracting so many Democrat votes because the legislation that is in this body is legislation that appeals to the folks back home, regardless of what the party is. They are folks who are interested in a better life and a better quality of life for their families. Here are just a few examples of what we have seen many of the Democrats come over and support, Mr. Speaker. One, bankruptcy reform. We passed that bill with 302 votes, 73 of those were Democrat votes. Class action reform. We passed that with 200 the votes, 50 of those were Democrats. The REAL ID Act. We passed that with 261 votes, and that included 42 Democrats who joined us in saying let us secure these borders, let us stiffen up these immigration policies. The Continuity of Government Act passed with 329 votes, 122 of those were Democrats. The Energy Policy Act passed with 249 votes, 41 of those were Democrats. The Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act, 207 votes, 54 of those were Democrats. Mr. Speaker, it is phenomenal, but the good thing is it is an agenda that the American people are interested in. It is an agenda that they support. Mr. Speaker, I want to yield some time this evening to our chief deputy whip, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cantor) who is going to talk to us about some of the ways that that this legislation impacts those in his State.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Price) for his comments, and he is so right. There is a spirit of optimism in America; and we see that in our districts, folks that are growing new businesses, folks that are working, getting new skills, training for new jobs; and we appreciate that about them. We love seeing that in our districts, and we like seeing that optimism, and certainly here on Capitol Hill we are encouraged when we hear from our constituents that they are excited about some of the legislation that we are passing here, whether it is with bankruptcy reform or the REAL ID Act, taking steps to secure those borders, reducing taxes, supporting our troops. A gentleman who knows quite a bit about supporting those troops is the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Davis) with his military background. He is new to us this year here in Congress, and we welcome him, and we welcome his energy and his willingness to work on the great agenda that we have established in this 109th Congress. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Davis).

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentleman for joining us. He is so correct in jobs and talking about jobs. We are pleased that the unemployment rate is at 5.1 percent. One of the points that we have accomplished this year, with bipartisan support, is the jobs training bill, giving the training that is necessary, and allowing that to be accessed by individuals right there in their home communities so they have the skills necessary to move forward and to secure good jobs right there in their communities for their families. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. McHenry) for his comments and thoughts on the agenda in his first Congress here with this 109th Congress.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. We have a newspaper here in Washington, D.C. It is called The Hill. Today there was an article, Progressives to Unveil Their Core Principles. The article talks about how some of the liberal Members in the House felt sidelined, and I am quoting, ``felt sidelined as more centrist Democrats have chosen to side with Republican leadership on several issues.'' I would suggest to the gentleman that the reason so many Members of this body do talk with us, side with us, work with us, vote with us to pass this legislation, is because it is what America wants to see happen. It is what their expectation is and the legislation they want to see.

Mrs. BLACKBURN. I thank the gentleman so much for being here this evening. I think one of the things that we have seen is that so many Members of this House have supported tax relief for every taxpayer. They know that this majority has supported tax relief for every single taxpayer, not for just a few. And, true, we have targeted that relief to those at the lower end of the earning scale and that is an important thing to do. In the past few years, we have also reduced income tax rates across the board. We have eliminated that death tax. We hope that the Senate works with us, making this a permanent elimination. We are allowing businesses, we talked about small businesses and jobs creation, allowing businesses to deduct more for their equipment, for their depreciation, for their leasing, so that they can up those capital expenditures. We are seeing capital investment increase and jobs growth take place. For States like my State, Tennessee, and others that do not have a State income tax, we have passed a bill restoring the Federal sales tax deduction. In my State in Tennessee, that is putting hundreds of millions of dollars back into our State economy. It is a great thing. It is a great thing for Main Street. We know that it is the right thing to do, to be sure those dollars stay at home. The last thing we need to do is to take more out of somebody's paycheck, more out of their pocketbook, and turn around and send it here to Washington, D.C. to try to decide how we are going to send it back. Leave it at home. The tax relief for individuals and for small businesses has paid off. We started with a recession in 2001 and now we are entering the 25th month of steady jobs growth. Twenty-five months. Since May 2003, this economy, not the government, not Washington, D.C., but this wonderful free enterprise system in this great Nation has created nearly 5 million new jobs. The reason we see this jobs growth is not because government is creating jobs, it is because this leadership in this Congress, in this administration, understands create the right environment and get out of the way. Let the free enterprise system do what they do best, which is create jobs. Over the past couple of years, 25 months, an average of 146,000 jobs a month. We have got historically low unemployment and we have got steady growth. We have led on tax relief. We have led on the effort to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in government and on the effort to cut Federal spending. We passed a budget, despite outcry from the left, that allowed a .8 percent, nearly a full percent cut in budget authority in non-defense, non-homeland security spending. An issue I know my constituents care deeply about is the growing problem of illegal immigration. We have taken a strong stance on this issue and have made a terrific start with passage of the REAL ID Act. We are funding more border agents. Our list goes on and on, 100 ways, in 100 days. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to be here to visit with my colleagues tonight. We look forward to continuing the conversation and to continuing to work on a positive, progressive, proactive agenda for America.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Madam Speaker, over the past week, we have watched as those across the aisle, led by Minority Leader Pelosi and Senator Durbin, made comments regarding our troops, our war on terror, and our operations at Guantanamo Bay. Apparently, to some in this body, America can do nothing right. But I want Americans to remember that months ago, these people who are now calling Iraq and the war on terror a disaster were declaring that the elections would not be a total success, that they would be a failure. Now, are these folks seeking success, or are they seeking failure? The critics today say they hate Guantanamo Bay. Do we want to be running Guantanamo Bay? No. But you know what, we have to remember, there are people who would like to murder Americans by the thousands. Have we forgotten September 11? We cannot sanction their homelands because they do not operate as part of a national military. Thus we are forced to run Guantanamo Bay. Americans get captured by the terrorists and they are slaughtered, they are beheaded; and we have seen the photos. That is not what we do to the enemy combatants at Guantanamo, and the idea that the two can be compared is reprehensible.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, last week Senator Durbin compared American soldiers to Nazis, to the Soviets in the Gulags, and to Pol Pot. These comments were the latest in a series of leftist attacks on our war against the terror in the Middle East and on our hard-line approach to terrorism here at home. I want to assure my constituents that neither my party nor I believe America is what is wrong with this world. And no one should think for a minute, not even for a second, that we are in the wrong here. I have been to Iraq and to Afghanistan, and this political tactic sickens me. If one wants to criticize our policies, fine. If one wants to call for withdrawal, that is just fine. But characterizing the actions of our Armed Forces as Nazi-like is reprehensible. And to our Armed Forces and their wonderful families, I just want to say ``thank you.'' They are making a difference, and most of us are standing with them 100 percent of the time.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, the Washington Post ran an article today titled ``Democrats Play House to Rally Against the War.'' ``Play house,'' Mr. Speaker. That is all the far left leadership seems to think about these days. If you have not read the article, basically Judiciary Committee Democrats are angry they are not running the committee and they are not the majority, so they are playing dress- up. Literally. To quote the article, they pretended a small conference room was the Judiciary Committee hearing room. The ranking member banged a large wooden gavel and got the other Members to call him ``Mr. Chairman.'' He liked that so much he started calling himself ``the chairman.'' Mr. Speaker, here we are trying to reform the United Nations, trying to win the war on terror, and the far left leadership in the House is playing pretend. They have pretended winning the war on terror would be cost-free, and that raising taxes grows the economy. They need to stop playing dress-up, and they need to join us in moving forward on a positive agenda for the American people.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, today we will debate the U.N. Reform Act, and I want to thank the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Hyde) for making this a priority. We are trying to bring change to an organization that has grown fat, happy, and arrogant off of American taxpayer dollars. Over the past several years, we have watched the oil-for-food scandal, and numerous scandals listed here on this poster, accounting errors, and then on top of this, in 2005, the U.N. asked for a $400 million budget increase. Countries like Libya, Sudan, and Cuba are on the U.N. Human Rights Commission, and we, the taxpayers, are paying for this. The United States sends more than $400 million a year to the U.N. We spend billions of dollars in direct aid and military aid, and no one can say we are not doing our fair share. Requiring the U.N. to try and find spending priorities is clearly not a bad thing; it is a good thing. Neither is asking them to cut spending. If they are not using our money wisely, we should not be sending as much. Mr. Speaker, I hope the House will overwhelmingly support this important and overdue legislation.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, as a former small business owner, one thing that I know for certain is that there is not a nation on this earth that has ever taxed itself into prosperity. Raising taxes and increasing regulation absolutely does not create economic growth. It is a guarantee that you are going to get less of what you want. We know that by reducing regulation and reducing taxes that we see economic growth and we see jobs growth. Mr. Speaker, America has now recovered economically from the tragedy of September 11. We have grown our economy out of recession and passed the tremendous blow on September of 2001, and we did it by reducing regulation and lowering taxes, by working to change the budget process, by reducing what the Federal Government spends, with the budget we have passed this year, by beginning to root out waste, fraud and abuse and being aggressive in that. In other words, we are working to make America competitive. Mr. Speaker, I salute our Republican leadership for their commitment to this.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I came to the floor to ask my colleagues across the aisle to speak out against their party leader Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. I listed a few of the absolutely ridiculous, and in many cases offensive, comments he has made since January, but apparently I spoke too soon. It appears that Mr. Dean was not through embarrassing himself and his party and in the process offending millions of Americans. Yesterday, in an interview, he said Republicans, and I am quoting here, ``all behave the same, and they all look the same. It's pretty much a white Christian party.'' Mr. Speaker, today he defended those remarks. And what is more, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the minority leader, said that she thought Chairman Dean was ``doing a good job.'' All I can say is that I hope the Members across the aisle will let the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi) know that Howard Dean should not be given a pass for his behavior, it is unacceptable, and it is offensive.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, I had planned to come down to the floor tonight and talk a little bit about some of the things that I had heard from the constituents in my district; but before I get to that, I have to address some of the comments that have been made by Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean. Everyone knows that Mr. Dean has a reputation for making outrageous and inaccurate statements, and that is really no secret. But one would think he would have toned down the false statements and the unfounded insults, given his new role as leader of the Democratic Party. In the past month, Mr. Dean has said the House majority leader ought to ``go back to Houston where he can serve his jail sentence.'' Mr. Speaker, that is despite the fact that the leader has not been accused or convicted of a crime. This past week, Mr. Dean said, Republicans never made an honest living in their lives. He actually thought that was a reasonable, responsible comment. And this is just so asinine, so juvenile, that it is hard to believe that the Democratic Party would choose him to lead their party. Mr. Speaker, the next example is so awful and so incredibly sad, I really hate to repeat it, but sometimes it is the light of truth that is the only thing that will stop people from saying things like this. In February, while addressing a group of African American Democrats, Mr. Dean said, ``You think the Republican National Committee could get this many people of color in a single room? Only if they had the hotel staff in here.'' I cannot fathom what is going through his head when he makes comments like these. It is increasingly apparent that he is out of touch with America and with people who do not march in lockstep with his view. We should not just let these comments slide. He is speaking for one of the Nation's major political parties, and his comments are out of line. I am glad to see that several Democratic Members in the House and Senate have disavowed his remarks, and I would hope that minority leaders Pelosi and Reid would join them. If Mr. Dean would like, maybe we should introduce him to plenty of good, hard-working conservatives who have never been given a single solitary thing, people who have made it on their own; people who have built a business, who talk about the sweat equity that is in their business, because they have not only built it with their heart, they have built that business with their hands. They deserve the same respect any other American deserves, regardless of the party, because they know what a hard day's work is all about. Mr. Dean's attitude and his comments are exactly why his party has failed for a decade to win back either the White House or Congress. Mr. Speaker, I do not want to end my comments today without discussing some of the things my constituents and I have been talking about back in Tennessee. Like many of my colleagues, I have spent a great week talking with people in my district and getting their take on what we are doing or not doing here in Washington. This is one of the very best parts of my job. I learned so much from the listening sessions in my district. We talked about our military; we honored our veterans; and, Mr. Speaker, we talked about issues like government spending, illegal immigration, and waste, fraud, and abuse, which are at the top of the list. And it is waste, fraud, and abuse that I want to touch on tonight for just a few minutes. I have been working over the past months to target the tremendous number of taxpayer dollars that get wasted each and every year right here in Washington, and I want my colleagues to know that the folks back home are talking about this issue. They want to remind us that government has a spending problem, and that when we spend wisely, we spend less. I heard time and again from my constituents, it is a spending problem, it is a spending problem that you folks in Washington have. You do not know how to say no. They know that when we spend less and when we spend wisely, everybody benefits, especially future generations; and they know there is plenty of room, ample room for reform when it comes to government spending. They support the President's plan to reduce and eliminate underperforming programs and agencies, and they support the budget that this Congress passed that reduces by nearly 1 percent discretionary nonhomeland, nondefense spending. They want us to make even larger strides in that same direction. We know that rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse is not going to be an easy project; it will be a long-term project, but over the next few months, we will be coming back to the floor to talk just about that issue, and I invite my colleagues to join me.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, this Memorial Day all of us should take time to recognize the service of those who've fought and died for this country. I want to take a moment to recognize the veterans of Shelby County, Tennessee who served our country so well over the past century. More than 1,500 Shelby County residents gave their lives for this country from World War II to the Iraq War, and we should never forget their sacrifice. I would like to specifically recognize Mr. Vernon McGarity of Bartlett, Tennessee. Mr. McGarity is a World War II veteran who earned our Nation's highest military award, the Medal of Honor. Mr. McGarity exemplifies the dedication and sacrifice of all of our Shelby County veterans. It is because they fought that we are free. God Bless America's veterans.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, it is a privilege today for me to recognize and thank our Montgomery County, Tennessee veterans. Our community has not forgotten the sacrifices made by our Tennessee veterans, and so on Monday, May 30, 2005, Montgomery County will dedicate a monument in Clarksville, Tennessee to honor these veterans. These are the men and women who fought and died for our freedoms, and we cannot thank them enough for their sacrifices. Generations of veterans live in Montgomery County, and this great community will forever be thankful to them. As home to Fort Campbell, few understand better the work our Nation's military does day in and day out to defend America. God Bless.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, earlier this week I came to the floor to share great economic news from my State of Tennessee. We had just learned that Tennessee expects to have a $272 million boost in sales revenue, State revenues. It appears that our fight to restore the sales tax deductibility to our Federal income tax is paying off big time, and we thank the leadership for that. But, Mr. Speaker, the good thing we have learned is that this news is not just limited to Tennessee. Just this morning the Bureau of Economic Analysis revised the Nation's first quarter growth upward. America's GDP grew at 3.5 percent, not 3.1 percent, as had previously been estimated. If you do not know what that means, let me tell you. It means that the Republican support for lower taxes and less regulation is paying off. It works. It works. In April, America's free enterprise system created 274,000 new jobs. Everyone in this body should recognize the fact that our leadership and our majority are putting America on the right track for growth and job creation.

Mrs. BLACKBURN

Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, Memorial Day is one of those occasions where all Americans can come together for a common purpose--to honor and thank those who've sacrificed in order to keep us free. It is my privilege to recognize the veterans from Williamson County, Tennessee who served our country over the past century. Nearly 165 veterans from Williamson County died defending America during World War I, World War II, the Korean War and the Viet Nam War. All of us recognize how fortunate we are for having had men and women like them fighting to preserve our freedom. On Monday, May 30, 2005, Williamson County will dedicate a monument in Franklin, Tennessee, to honor these men and women. I hope all Tennesseans will take time this Memorial Day to remember those who've sacrificed so much for America. God Bless.