Rahm Emanuel

Mr. EMANUEL

Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro). Ms. DeLauro. 127. Lance Corporal Juan Lopez 128. First Lieutenant Andre D. Tyson 129. Sergeant Patrick R. McCaffrey, Sr. 130. Staff Sergeant Charles A. Kiser 131. Captain Christopher S. Cash 132. Specialist Daniel A. Desens 133. Lance Corporal Manuel A. Ceniceros 134. Specialist Jeremy M. Heines 135. First Sergeant Ernest E. Utt 136. Lance Corporal Patrick R. Adle 137. Sergeant Alan David Sherman 138. Corporal John H. Todd III 139. Specialist Robert L. DuSang 140. Sergeant Kenneth Conde, Jr. 141. Lance Corporal Timothy R. Creager 142. Sergeant Christopher A. Wagener 143. Staff Sergeant Stephen G. Martin 144. Lance Corporal James B. Huston, Jr. 145. Second Lieutenant Brian D. Smith 146. Corporal Dallas L. Kerns 147. Lance Corporal Michael S. Torres 148. Lance Corporal John J. Vangyzen IV 149. Lance Corporal Scott Eugene Dougherty 150. Private First Class Rodricka Antwan Youmans 151. Corporal Jeffrey D. Lawrence 152. Lance Corporal Justin T. Hunt 153. Private First Class Samuel R. Bowen 154. Sergeant Michael C. Barkey 155. Specialist Jeremiah W. Schmunk 156. Sergeant Robert E. Colvill, Jr. 157. Specialist Joseph M. Garmback, Jr. 158. Specialist William River Emanuel IV 159. Specialist Sonny Gene Sampler 160. Private First Class Collier Edwin Barcus 161. Specialist Shawn M. Davies 162. Corporal Terry Holmes 163. Sergeant Krisna Nachampassak 164. Private First Class Christopher J. Reed 165. Staff Sergeant Trevor Spink 166. Sergeant First Class Linda Ann Tarango-Griess 167. Sergeant Jeremy J. Fischer 168. Staff Sergeant Dustin W. Peters 169. Sergeant James G. West 170. Specialist Dana N. Wilson 171. Private First Class Torry D. Harris 172. Corporal Demetrius Lamont Rice 173. Private First Class Jesse J. Martinez 174. Staff Sergeant Paul C. Mardis, Jr. 175. Lance Corporal Bryan P. Kelly 176. Specialist Craig S. Frank 177. Sergeant First Class David A. Hartman 178. Sergeant Dale Thomas Lloyd 179. Private First Class Charles C. ``C.C.'' Persing 180. Staff Sergeant Michael J. Clark 181. Corporal Todd J. Godwin 182. Specialist Danny B. Daniels II 183. Lance Corporal Mark E. Engel 184. Private First Class Nicholas H. Blodgett 185. Sergeant Tatjana Reed 186. Private First Class Torey J. Dantzler 187. Lance Corporal Vincent M. Sullivan 188. Specialist Nicholas J. Zangara 189. Sergeant DeForest L. ``Dee'' Talbert 190. Private First Class Ken W. Leisten 191. Gunnery Sergeant Shawn A. Lane 192. Lieutenant Colonel David S. Greene 193. Specialist Joseph F. Herndon II 194. Specialist Anthony J. Dixon 195. Specialist Armando Hernandez 196. Sergeant Juan Calderon, Jr. 197. Specialist Justin B. Onwordi 198. Corporal Dean P. Pratt 199. Private First Class Harry N. Shondee, Jr. 200. Sergeant Tommy L. Gray 201. Captain Gregory A. Ratzlaff 202. Gunnery Sergeant Elia P. Fontecchio 203. Lance Corporal Joseph L. Nice 204. Sergeant Yadir G. Reynoso 205. Private First Class Raymond J. Faulstich, Jr. 206. Specialist Donald R. McCune 207. Sergeant Moses Daniel Rocha 208. Specialist Joshua I. Bunch 209. Lance Corporal Larry L. Wells 210. Corporal Roberto Abad

Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, last week my colleagues and I began a memorial tribute to read the names of over 1,900 men and women who gave their lives in service to our Nation in Afghanistan and Iraq. We read about 860 of those names. We recited the name and rank of each servicemember who fell in Iraq and Afghanistan theaters of war from 2001 through the beginning of 2004. For the next hour we will continue this reading, honoring the fallen of 2004 and 2005. We will continue to do this reading on the floor of the House, the people's House, until we have recognized all who have given their life in service of this Nation. In this Chamber we often invoke their sacrifice in general, but we seldom take the time to recognize them individually. By reading these names into the Congressional Record, it is our hope that our Nation will never forget their sacrifice. God bless and keep each of the brave Americans whose memory we now honor: 1. Private First Class Marquis A. Whitaker 2. Specialist Jacob R. Herring 3. Staff Sergeant Kendall Thomas 4. Sergeant Adam W. Estep 5. Specialist Martin W. Kondor 6. Sergeant Landis W. Garrison 7. Staff Sergeant Esau G. Patterson, Jr. 8. Staff Sergeant Jeffrey F. Dayton 9. Sergeant Ryan M. Campbell 10. Specialist James L. Beckstrand 11. Specialist Justin B. Schmidt 12. Private First Class Ryan E. Reed 13. Private First Class Norman Darling 14. Private First Class Jeremy Ricardo Ewing 15. Petty Officer Second Class Jason B. Dwelley 16. Petty Officer Third Class Christopher M. Dickerson 17. Corporal Scott M. Vincent 18. Corporal Joshua S. Wilfong 19. Specialist Trevor A. Wine 20. Specialist Ramon C. Ojeda 21. Sergeant Joshua S. Ladd. 22. Specialist Ervin Caradine, Jr. 23. Private Jeremy L. Drexler 24. Staff Sergeant Todd E. Nunes 25. Petty Officer Second Class Michael C. Anderson 26. Petty Officer Second Class Trace W. Dossett 27. Petty Officer Second Class Scott R. Mchugh 28. Petty Officer Second Class Robert B. Jenkins 29. Petty Officer Third Class Ronald A. Ginther 30. Captain John E. Tipton 31. Gunnery Sergeant Ronald E. Baum 32. Staff Sergeant Erickson H. Petty 33. First Lieutenant Christopher J. Kenny 34. Sergeant Marvin R. Sprayberry III 35. Sergeant Gregory L. Wahl 36. Private First Class Lyndon A. Marcus, Jr. 37. Corporal Jeffrey G. Green 38. Private First Class Jesse R. Buryj 39. Specialist James E. Marshall 40. Private First Class Bradley G. Kritzer 41. Corporal Dustin H. Schrage 42. Staff Sergeant Hesley Box, Jr. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis).

Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Washington State (Mr. Baird).

Mr. EMANUEL

Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 458, the Military Personnel Financial Services Protection Act. H.R. 458 is identical to legislation passed by the House of Representatives by a vote of 396 to 2 in the 108th Congress. Unfortunately, the Senate did not act on that legislation. Last year, I worked closely with Financial Services Committee Chairman Michael Oxley, Ranking Member Barney Frank and Capital Markets Subcommittee Chairman Richard Baker in holding hearings and developing legislation to add new protections for enlisted personnel. The legislation we produced last session is before us once again today. The Military Personnel Financial Services Protection Act will go a long way toward eliminating these abuses and protecting our troops. First, and most importantly, H.R. 458 bans the sale of contractual mutual funds on military bases. These expensive funds disappeared from the civilian market in the 1980s because their first-year commissions are equal to half of all contributions. If they are not good enough for civilians, why should we allow them to be sold to our men and women in uniform? Many of our enlistees are of modest financial means and need to cash in food stamps to feed their families. None of them can afford a 50 percent commission, and often, they do not realize they are paying so much. If we want to give financial services firms access to military bases, that is one thing. But we cannot allow our young men and women to be used as laboratories for expensive financial products or to be seen as ATM machines, and that is what contractual mutual funds have made them. This legislation also includes new disclosure requirements for life insurance products, so it is crystal clear what is being sold. H.R. 458 requires companies to provide recruits with a ``Plain English'' document telling them subsidized life insurance is available from the Federal Government and that the Government does not endorse, recommend or encourage them to buy the product. Finally, H.R. 458 clarifies the authority of state insurance regulators to act against bad actors on-base. The States are also directed to create uniform military personnel protection standards and to work with the Department of Defense to carry out those standards. Mr. Speaker, it is time to end a culture on military bases that too often favors financial interests over the interests of our troops, their families, and their futures. I encourage my colleagues to support this important legislation.

Mr. EMANUEL

Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of the Markey- Emanuel amendment which is part of the en bloc amendment proposed by Chairman Regula. Our amendment is simple and straightforward. It requires patients to be notified if their medical records contained in the new national health information network are lost, stolen or used for unauthorized purposes. While a national health information network could provide significant benefits for the entire medical community, that network must come with guaranteed privacy protections. As the revelations by MasterCard and Visa that the personal information of as many as 40 million customers was compromised demonstrates, identity theft has become an epidemic. A national health information network without strong privacy protections would undermine all of its other benefits. Without privacy protections, patients won't have confidence that their medical records will be kept confidential, which is essential to quality health care. In the 108th Congress, I introduced legislation to protect credit consumers' sensitive medical information. That bipartisan legislation was signed into law last year. By ``blacking out'' health information, we created a zone of privacy and gave consumers the confidence that their medical records are being protected. We should do the same thing here. Mr. Chairman, major data security breaches are occurring on a daily basis and identity theft is the fastest-growing white collar crime in the country. It's essential that we get this right at the beginning by making strong privacy protections a part of this health information network.

Mr. EMANUEL

Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Hinchey).

Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey).

Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New York (Mr. Serrano).

Mr. EMANUEL. 1. Specialist Steven Daniel Conover 2. Staff Sergeant Daniel A. Bader 3. Private First Class Rayshawn S. Johnson 4. Sergeant Francisco Martinez 5. Specialist Robert T. Benson 6. Sergeant First Class Jose A. Rivera 7. Sergeant Paul F. Fisher 8. Specialist James A. Chance III 9. Specialist James R. Wolf 10. Sergeant Scott C. Rose 11. Command Sergeant Major Cornell W. Gilmore I 12. Chief Warrant Officer Kyran E. Kennedy 13. Captain Benedict J. Smith 14. Staff Sergeant Paul M. Neff II 15. Staff Sergeant Morgan DeShawn Kennon 16. Chief Warrant Officer Sharon T. Swartworth 17. Private Kurt R. Frosheiser 18. Staff Sergeant Mark D. Vasquez 19. Staff Sergeant Gary L. Collins 20. Sergeant Nicholas A. Tomko 21. Specialist Genaro Acosta 22. Specialist Marlon P. Jackson 23. Specialist Robert A. Wise 24. Staff Sergeant Nathan J. Bailey 25. Private First Class Jacob S. Fletcher 26. Sergeant Joseph Minucci II 27. Specialist Irving Medina 28. Sergeant Timothy L. Hayslett 29. Sergeant Warren S. Hansen 30. Private First Class Damian L. Heidelberg 31. Specialist Ryan T. Baker 32. Specialist William D. Dusenbery 33. Sergeant Michael D. Acklin II 34. Specialist Eugene A. Uhl III 35. Sergeant First Class Kelly Bolor 36. Chief Warrant Officer Erik C. Kesterson 37. Chief Warrant Officer Scott A. Saboe 38. Sergeant John W. Russell 39. Specialist John R. Sullivan 40. Second Lieutenant Jeremy L. Wolfe 41. Specialist Jeremiah J. DiGiovanni 42. Private First Class Joey D. Whitener 43. Captain Pierre E. Piche 44. Private First Class Richard W. Hafer 45. Chief Warrant Officer Alexander S. Coulter 46. Captain James A. Shull 47. Staff Sergeant Dale A. Panchot 48. Captain Nathan S. Dalley 49. Private Scott Matthew Tyrrell 50. Captain George A. Wood 51. Specialist Joseph L. Lister 52. Corporal Gary B. Coleman 53. Private First Class Damian S. Bushart 54. Specialist Robert D. Roberts 55. Specialist Rel A. Ravago IV 56. Command Sergeant Major Jerry L. Wilson 57. Staff Sergeant Eddie E. Meny-weather 58. Chief Warrant Officer Christopher G. Nason 59. Corporal Darrell L. Smith 60. Specialist David J. Goldberg 61. Specialist Thomas J. Sweet II 62. Sergeant Ariel Rico 63. Staff Sergeant Stephen A. Bertolino 64. Specialist Aaron J. Sissel 65. Specialist Uday Singh 66. Chief Warrant Officer Clarence E. Boone 67. Specialist Raphael S. Davis 68. Sergeant Ryan C. Young 69. Specialist Arron R. Clark 70. Private First Class Ray J. Hutchinson 71. Private First Class Jason G. Wright 72. Specialist Christopher Jude Rivera Wesley 73. Specialist Joseph M. Blickenstaff 74. Staff Sergeant Steven H. Bridges 75. Specialist Todd M. Bates 76. Staff Sergeant Richard A. Burdick 77. Private First Class Jerrick M. Petty 78. Staff Sergeant Aaron T. Reese 79. Specialist Marshall L. Edgerton 80. Private First Class Jeffrey F. Braun 81. Sergeant Jarrod W. Black 82. Staff Sergeant Kimberly A. Voelz 83. Specialist Rian C. Ferguson 84. Private First Class Kenneth C. Souslin

Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. McCarthy) beginning with the names reading from 2004.

Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Berry).

Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from New York (Ms. Slaughter).

Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. McCollum).

Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms. DeLauro).

Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones).

Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood).

Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, there are 1,917 American military personnel who have given their lives in the service of our Nation in Iraq and Afghanistan. We owe these brave men and women, and their families, a debt of gratitude that can never fully be repaid. It is our responsibility to honor the ultimate sacrifice that our men and women in uniform have made while serving our country. We often invoke their sacrifices in general. Seldom do we take the time to thank them individually. My colleagues and I would like to take this hour and recognize these individual heroes on the floor of the people's House, their House. Over the next hour, and continuing next week until we finish, we will read the name and rank of each servicemember who has fallen in the Iraq and Afghanistan theaters of war. By reading these names into the Congressional Record, we hope to ensure that our Nation never forgets their sacrifice, and their families will know that their loved ones will be part of the official Congressional Record. As President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, your loved one, ``stands in the unbroken line of Patriots who have dared to die that freedom might live, and grow and increase its blessings. Freedom lives, and through it he lives, in a way that humbles the undertakings of most men.'' God bless, and keep each of the brave Americans whose memory we now honor. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank).

Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone).

Mr. EMANUEL

Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Con. Res. 160, a bill recognizing Juneteenth Independence Day as an important event in our Nation's history. I am pleased to join my colleagues in commemorating the end of slavery, and I believe Juneteenth Independence Day provides the people of the United States a unique opportunity to look back and reflect on the experiences that have shaped our national history. This year marks the 140th commemoration of Juneteenth Independence Day, which was originally celebrated by slaves in Galveston Texas on June 19th, 1865. On that day, Union general Gordon Granger read aloud Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, signed more than two years earlier. With the arrival of Union troops in Texas, the Proclamation's promise of freedom was finally fulfilled and the last American slaves were freed. Juneteenth Independence Day is the oldest known celebration of the end of slavery. It is intended to honor not only African-American freedom, but also promote respect for all cultures, and remind us of what it means to be an American. Juneteenth Independence Day commemorates a moment when the United States took an important step towards achieving the vision established in the Declaration of Independence, an America which recognizes that we truly are all created equal. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Illinois for introducing this important resolution, and I urge my colleagues to support its passage.

Mr. EMANUEL

Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, yesterday in the Senate we heard testimony of blatant fraud masquerading as a legitimate lobbying operation. And also yesterday, the Washington Post ran a front page story detailing the excesses of K Street, known as Lobbyists Avenue. Mr. Speaker, it is clear that these are gold rush times for professional lobbyists in Washington, DC. Since 2000, the number of professional lobbyists has more than doubled, to 34,000. Professional lobbyists have become the full service ``back office'' to Congress, arranging lavish fact-finding trips, writing legislation, and functioning as an employment agency for Members and staff. Just as we put distance between donors and Members of Congress when they run for office, we need to do the same when it comes to professional lobbyists and Members of Congress who write the laws. Our bill, the Meehan-Emanuel bill, slows the revolving door between government and lobbying, enhances disclosure and transparency, curbs privately funded congressional junkets and gives teeth to enforcement mechanisms. With congressional approval at all-time lows, we must act now to restore public confidence. Mr. Speaker, when your gavel comes down, it should mark the opening of the people's house, not the auction house.

Mr. EMANUEL

Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, today some Members of the Republican Party, House and Senate, unveiled a proposal to use a surplus in the Social Security trust fund for private accounts. And they said that in their words, we are going to keep the Social Security surplus Social Security. Well, that is interesting. For the last 3 years my colleagues on the other side said there was never ever a surplus in Social Security; there were no accounts in Social Security. In fact, just a month ago or a little more than a month ago, the President of the United States went to West Virginia, unveiled an old filing cabinet, if I am using his words correctly, and said, look at it. That is the Social Security surplus. As I quote him, and this is the President, ``There is no Social Security trust fund. Just IOUs stacked in a filing cabinet.'' All of the sudden now they want to say they have discovered there is a surplus in Social Security. Well, to tell you the truth, we have always known there was a surplus in Social Security. In fact, the Republican Party over the last 5 years has taken $650 billion out of the Social Security trust fund. And now they want to act like recent converts that we are going to keep the surplus for Social Security. Democrats have said for well over 70 years, and as recently as 1998, save Social Security first. Do not go waste it on tax cuts for the wealthy. Do not waste that money. It is dedicated. It has been paid with the commitment for Social Security; and so now today under a new discovery, Republicans have realized that there is a surplus in Social Security. They are going to dedicate it, they say, to Social Security. But the problem is the President of the United States was in West Virginia just a short time ago, less than 2 months ago and said there is no surplus in Social Security. I am sure within short order they will all collectively get their stories straight and figure out whether there is or is not a surplus. But whatever you do, do me one favor, just pay back the $650 billion you have taken out of that Social Security trust fund that good, hard- working Americans who rely on it just like my colleague, the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen), just a moment ago spoke about they rely on the Social Security checks. Forty percent of the households in America have no other retirement plan plus Social Security; 80 percent of small business employees in this country have no other retirement account plus Social Security. They rely on the checks they pay and the money they pay every month or bi-monthly into the trust fund. So as you become recent believers that there is a surplus, you have been practicing some of the great absconding of resources; $650 billion over the last 5 years you have taken out of that account. I did not see anything about that in today's paper as some were touting that in their plan, but I am sure as they come to figure out their math that they will realize they owe some money back before they talk about integrity of the Social Security surplus. Clearly, the American people understand that. So before we try to privatize Social Security or do anything fundamentally to alter the Social Security trust fund, the first thing we should do is guarantee that Social Security is there for future generations. To date, the President has yet to make a proposal, and the half-baked plan being out touted by the House and Senate today fundamentally misses the same objective. The goal here is to strengthen Social Security. The head of the General Accountability Office, when testifying in front of the Committee on Ways and Means, said the President's plan on privatization would actually exacerbate the issue of Social Security's solvency. The goal is not to change Social Security. The goal is not to exacerbate its solvency. The goal is to strengthen Social Security. That is why the first order of business is return the $650 billion. Both the President's past ideas and the plans talked about today would exacerbate the problem of Social Security solvency. What we should deal with is the shortage of savings in this country, by the fact that Americans are stretched thin, they do not have the capability to save for their retirement because they are meeting their housing needs, their educational needs, their health care needs that are becoming more and more stressful on the paycheck, to get them from the 1st of the month to the 31st of the month. There are ideas that exist out there. As I told you, 80 percent of all small business employees have no plan outside of Social Security. Social Security is their retirement plan. In 40 percent of all households in America, Social Security is the only retirement they can rely on, and I will tell you this as a Member of Congress, who represents people in the airline industry, specifically United Airlines, after what happened to their retirement plans that they saved for, one thing I can tell you about that is the United Airlines employees are happy Social Security is there. They like the security that comes with Social Security. The ideas that we as Democrats have offered, let me run through them quickly, Mr. Speaker, if I can: automatic enrollment in 401(k)s for all Americans; direct deposit of tax refunds into personal savings accounts; a government match for the first $2,000 you save, matching it 50 percent; a universal 401(k) to simplify the 16 different savings plans that exist on the Tax Code. Mr. Speaker, the American people are not fools. They rejected the President's privatization of Social Security. They will reject this half-baked plan. To put it simply, people like the security that comes with Social Security.

Mr. EMANUEL

Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, recently some Senate Republicans have unveiled a proposal to dedicate the Social Security surplus to private accounts. Having worked in an administration that not only proposed saving Social Security first, but having dedicated the Social Security surplus funds to strengthening the system, I assume that this new idea has some concepts of how to pay back the $800 billion that has already been taken out of the surplus over the last 6 years. All of a sudden we have discovered we are going to dedicate the Social Security surplus to Social Security. I welcome their new-found conviction, but I assume it also includes an idea of how to pay back the $800 billion that we have already diverted from the surplus already diverted from Social Security. What I did not read is how they are going to do that. The Democratic position has been consistent since 1998: Save Social Security first. The President lacks a plan on how to do that. The half-baked plan being touted in the Senate fundamentally misses the goal here, which is to strengthen Social Security. Mr. Speaker, the American people are not fools. They have rejected the President's proposal for privatization, and they will undoubtedly reject this new proposal. People like the security that comes with Social Security.

Mr. EMANUEL

Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, we often hear that the American people have a negative opinion of the job we do here in Congress. In fact, recent polling indicates that 53 percent of the country disapproves of the way Congress handles its job. In a recent CNN poll, 71 percent of the American people said Congress fails to share their priorities and values. Some around here may wonder why that is. Could it be because while American families struggle to pay their education bills, their medical bills, save for their retirement, this Congress has come to be handing out special favors, and that is all they see of this Congress? Could it be because ours has become a government of the special interests, for the special interests? Mr. Speaker, when your gavel comes down, it is to open the people's House, not the auction house. What have the American people seen of late? They have seen that when we had a tax bill problem of $4 billion on the corporate side, we were trying to fix a $4 billion problem, it ended up costing the taxpayers $150 billion in special interest favors. Only in this Congress, only in this country could you stick the taxpayers with a $150 billion bill to bail out corporate interests, when you were trying to fix only a $4 billion problem. And rather than creating jobs as the bill was intended, it is creatively named the Jobs Creation Bill, it was nothing more than a multi-billion dollar giveaway to special interests. Or consider last year's prescription drug bill for Medicare. It is about an $800 billion handout to the prescription drug industry after having been one of the largest contributors to the campaign committee, both for Democrats and Republicans; and it actually ended up with producing an additional $153 billion in profits for the pharmaceutical industry. While we were working on that legislation, a Member of this body was actually negotiating a job to go to work for that industry and represent it. Or now that we are talking about the energy bill, we are talking about a $14 billion taxpayer giveaway to the energy industry, and oil is now being charged at $59 a barrel. If it is not profitable at $59 a barrel, what more do we have to give them? Neither does it ever reduce our dependence on foreign oil. And the pundits here in Washington wonder why the American people out in the country do not like their Congress? But it is not just the administration and their congressional allies that have worked to craft legislation benefiting a single industry. In some cases the special interests actually sit at the table drafting the legislation that impacts them. For instance, recently we were all shocked to learn that Philip Cooney, the former chief of staff for the White House counsel on environmental quality and a former lobbyist at the American Petroleum Institute, consistently changed government reports on global warming. After leaving the White House, and having been discovered having literally changed government reports on the impacts of global warming, where does he end up with a job? Exxon, a company opposed to any legislation on global warming. Then there is the tobacco lawsuit. The U.S. Government won its case handily against Big Tobacco; but rather then seeking the maximum penalty of $130 billion, the government suddenly decided to only ask for $10 billion where Philip Morris' attorney said they were very surprised at this decision. Nobody seems to know how the decision was made, but in the past weeks it has become clear that the associate attorney general, Robert McCalum, a former employee at a firm representing tobacco executives and industry, forced the government to reduce its own penalties to pennies on the dollar. But if Americans are not turned off by the corporate goodies dished out by Congress, and if industry execs crafting the policies that benefit their own companies do not get them worked up, maybe it is the revolving door between the public and private sector. As I mentioned, a colleague of ours went off to represent the prescription drug industry known as Big Pharma, after having passed an $800 billion prescription drug bill. And, by the way, the chairman of the health subcommittee dealing with the very same bill is now employed by other drug companies. Mr. Speaker, the American people are concerned that Congress does not reflect their priorities or their values. Sadly, they are right. We have a government that has become beholden to the special interests; and their voices, the voices of the American people have been quieted by the voices of the special interests. And as far as the government special interests are concerned, this is the best government money can buy. Mr. Speaker, the gavel marks the opening of the people's HOUSE, not the auction house. This election is about returning that gavel to its rightful owners, the American people. The President and his advisors tout the fact that they do not pay attention to polling data. Well, maybe, it is time they did, because the message is loud and clear, the American people want their House back.

Mr. EMANUEL

Mr. EMANUEL. Madam Speaker, I would like to congratulate Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for standing up for democratic principle, for finally saying what needed to be said. During a speech in Cairo yesterday, Secretary Rice criticized Middle East leaders for failing to encourage democracy. My colleagues in this Chamber know well that when I disagree with this administration, I let my opinion be known. I disagree with their proposals for Social Security, their stewardship of the economy, their plan for the Iraq war and occupation, and how they treat critics. Yet, on advocating Mid-East Democracy, I do not disagree. I agree with the Secretary of State and her comments. Unfortunately, when it comes to our allies in the Middle East, America too often turns a blind eye to their failings of leadership. We rightfully denounce countries with repressive regimes like those in Iran and Syria, but others such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia receive a pass. Yesterday, Secretary Rice spoke up on behalf of America; she represented the best of American ideals and our steadfast belief in basic human rights and democracy. This will serve America well as we battle for the hearts and minds of the Muslim world. Madam Speaker, I do not often agree with this administration, but I know a good thing when I see it. When it comes to democracy and all that comes with democracy, no one gets a pass.

Mr. EMANUEL

Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, a few weeks ago the President said, ``Those who obstruct reform, no matter what party they are in, will pay a political price.'' Ironically, it is not the Democrats that are slowing Social Security reform, but the President's insistence on the privatization of Social Security. The privatization of Social Security has become the poison pill to progress. In a world where retirements have become less, not more secure, people like the security that comes with Social Security, as the United Airlines employees have just told us. The American people have overwhelming rejected the President's proposal for privatization of Social Security. It is time to move on. We Democrats have retirement security ideas, such as a 401(k) automatic enrollment, direct deposit of tax returns into 401(k)s, a 50- percent government match for savings. Republicans have ideas as well, and we are not all that far apart. But before we can move forward, privatization of Social Security has to come off the table, just like it was removed in 1983, that led to a 75-year security of Social Security. We can choose to lead, or we can endlessly debate the privatization of Social Security, a plan the American people have already rejected. Let us not allow the President's privatization to stand in the way of progress.