Ron Klein

Mr. KLEIN of Florida

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. If the gentlelady would yield, I would be more than happy to respond. Thank you for yielding to me. The answer is, yes, there has been an impact. We have a lot of hotels that do a lot of business travel. We have convention centers in Miami, in Fort Lauderdale and in West Palm Beach, of course, and in the rest of Florida, also in Orlando, which is a huge destination.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. I don't know if it's the second best. It may be the best. Maybe we have the second largest number of hotel rooms, but again, great choices all the way around. Yes, Florida has been hit hard. A lot of people travel to Florida and plan business conventions 1 year, 2 years or 3 years in advance. There have been some cancellations.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. What it does, of course, anywhere is if, in fact, a hotel has a certain less number of room nights--of which we know ``room nights'' are the number of rooms times the number of nights for a particular convention--and if a convention has 100 rooms and there are 5 nights, which is 500 room nights, that's a big impact. It's not just the hotel. It's the food that goes with it. It's all of the hospitality.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Absolutely.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. That's right, and there is some great shopping in local communities, of course, that goes with it.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. You know, it has had an impact. Again, I think that our businesses are doing what a lot of businesses are doing right now. They're clamping down. They're making sure that their systems are running as efficiently as possible, but they are great optimists, and the properties are just wonderful. We have a new one--I won't give a particular plug--but it's down in Miami. It's the Fontainebleau----

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Which is a world famous hotel.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. That's right. They are. They're the same owners. They just put $1 billion into a property down there, but it's not just that hotel. There are so many wonderful hotels. We have large hotels, boutique hotels. Again, people love to come to the beaches and relax.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. And you can get a very good deal, so keep that in mind if you're looking to travel. But it is true. This economic downturn has made a lot more rooms available, and that does have a broad impact, which is why I am so supportive of these initiatives that we are taking right now to rebuild confidence in the economy. The President's Reinvestment and Recovery Act is very much a part of recognizing, yes, we have to fix the banks and that, yes, we have to fix the mortgages. We are beginning to really move in some positive directions there. Yes, we had to do a stimulus plan, and the stimulus plan may not be perfect, but it is designed to be monitored very carefully so that, as we look every 30 days, we ask: Is it creating jobs? As for all of these outcome measurements that we're expecting, the key to all of this is that, if it's not working in creating jobs, it gets cancelled, and we move on to something else, but it's all about, in our local communities, doing things that will get the economy up and running, making people feel better about themselves so they can buy and sell businesses and houses.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. No. I would just support what you're saying. First of all, I think your idea of branding of the United States as a place for travel and tourism is a wonderful idea. You see the Philippines. You see, you know, countries do this. In Florida, we have something called Visit Florida, which is a public-private partnership, set up a number of years ago, which brands Florida and promotes it in different places. I support the idea of branding the United States as a place and then, obviously, letting local communities co-op together, putting leverage those dollars and doing it. I think you're all right. One other point: We're talking about big. Let's also talk small. In your community, I'll bet there are lots of small businesses--bed and breakfasts and lots of other things--that are just wonderful places. These are people who are very dependent and who are also in cooperation with our large properties.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. If I can add to that, I think let's talk the positives. We've been talking about a little bit of the risk side. But I think what we're all saying is the same thing. And that is the business side that gets done at conventions or travel to any one of our communities or any one of the 50 States, the notion of either playing golf in Florida or going to any one of the entertainment venues that any of us have or the ecotourism or the beautiful sceneries that attracts us, this is where business gets done. This is where families spend vacations. And this is a time and place where people need to recognize, even though times are a little tough, business is going on, the economy is still going on, people are living their lives. You make maybe a different choice than maybe you did before, but there are great opportunities. But like everything else, supply and demand. Right now, you might even get a better buy than if you had planned a year ahead of time. And that's okay. That's just part of the deal, but that still makes the flow. That still makes the hotel full, it still makes the restaurants full, the suppliers and all of those things go. I think it is a very exciting opportunity. And again, I just see this as an opportunity as we talk about these things back home what we're doing here in Washington on fixing the credit on the reinvestment act and the recovery act, this is all about putting all of the pieces in place so that everything will turn. And it will turn. It's just a matter of whether it is this amount of time or this amount of time. But we're going to get through this. And if it's a matter of going forward and planning the next trip, the next business meeting or whatever, that needs to go forward because every business needs to be in the best possible place when things start clicking again on all eight cylinders.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Every time I see Congresswoman Berkley, there is not enough infectious energy there of her passion for what she does. You are probably the greatest representative that Las Vegas has ever had because of your beliefs in the industry.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. The issue with tourism, though, as you just said, it's ecotourism. It is environmental. It is the culture. It is the arts. I see on the other side of the Chamber is the congressman from Ohio. I'm from Ohio originally. They have the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio. But everywhere you go in the United States, there is the opportunity for tourism. And the most important recognition of this is it is about who we are as Americans, it's about the rest of the world getting a piece of our culture. We export a lot of great things in our entertainment industry. But bringing people to the United States, getting a feeling for what we're all about, our democracy, our values that express themselves in the way we maintain our national parks, the way we--the Everglades, which is one of the great creations. The Grand Canyon. These are all things that when people leave the country----

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. I think we could all go on for a while.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. I would agree. It is patriotic for Americans to see America. And it is also a wonderful way of showing what America is like to people around the world because when they go home and they can share their experiences of what they have seen and what they have felt and what Americans are like and what this particular destination, this ocean, this Grand Canyon, Lake Erie, any combination of things that are part of who we are as a country, I think it adds so much to us as America. It promotes our interests worldwide as well.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is, once again, an honor and a privilege, as a Member of Congress, to talk to the Members of this House and the American people about the kinds of things that are on their minds right now. And we are doing so with a group of us who were elected in 2006 and have the opportunity, from all parts of the United States, to represent our great country and work toward the solutions that are necessary to get our country back on track. I am joined by Mr. Yarmuth from Kentucky, Mr. Cohen from Tennessee, and a number of others. What we are going to talk about tonight are a couple of things; and these are the things that really are a great focus to all of us. One is AIG. Another one is, of course, the small business initiatives that I was just discussing a few minutes ago and will discuss them in greater detail. And the third is the budget. The budget, of course, is the framework by which we govern ourselves as a country, the kind of money we put into our government, and the kind of resources and commitments that we take out. And particularly at this moment in time it is absolutely essential that we are not only thinking about the short term, but we have a unique opportunity to think about the long term, about how we are going to put ourselves in a very, very strong position so that when we recover, we will have the best workforce, the best technologies, the best businesses, the most competitive environment to prosper for generations to come. I am just going to start, if I can, with the gentlemen that are with us tonight and the gentlewoman from Ohio that is going to join us about AIG. I have to tell you, it is hard to even imagine the kind of thought process that the people at AIG came up with in allowing these decisions to be made to allow the $165 million in bonuses to go forward. Now, we understand that AIG is a large insurance company. They came to this government, under President Bush, and asked for a massive bailout. It was given to them once before, twice, and it is now at about $180 billion. One of the frustrations I've had--even before we get to the bonus issue--is the fact that AIG operates in 100 and some countries around the world. It is a very, very large insurance company. By the way, the insurance part of it--which is regulated in the United States by our State insurance commissioners, as I understand there was testimony before a committee today--is doing fine. Those people who have AIG policies, those are policies that will stand, and that's all good. Unfortunately, some very creative people did a lot of things that they are now telling us they didn't even understand and put at risk a massive--I think it's $1.3 trillion of resources and investments into what they are calling ``exotic'' investments. You have already heard the terms ``credit defaults,'' ``swaps,'' and a whole lot of other things. And it is just extraordinary that, when it comes to this--and we recognize this is a worldwide issue--United States taxpayers, they have already put a lot of money into this, but if this is such a calamitous risk--which it obviously is very serious--why is it that the hundred and some other countries that are also under this same calamitous risk if AIG were to fall apart, why aren't they stepping forward and putting some money on the table? Why aren't they putting billions of dollars into AIG to make sure it survives if that is such a necessary thing? Obviously, I think all of us--Democrats and Republicans, American taxpayers--feel very strongly that, if we are in it, we understand what the risks are, but at the same time, everyone needs to be in it. And the rest of the countries, Europe and Asia, that have played in this also need to put some money on the table. But more particularly, what really got under people's skin, rightfully so--it has certainly gotten under my skin--is this idea that bonuses that were committed last year are all of a sudden something that had to be paid in this last number of weeks. I don't get it. And I hear them say the story is, well, they were committed, they're contractual. We're going to get sued. Well, I heard a very interesting story today. One of the members of our committee, when Mr. Liddy was testifying, asked a question, well, it's very interesting, insurance companies, by definition--and I will just stereotype for a minute-- their tendency, when a claim is made, is to say no; that is just the sort of business as it is. And they like to fight over it. Obviously many companies pay legitimate claims, but a lot of the strategy is they hire lawyers, and lawyers say no, and you have to sue them before you can get the money. Well, that seems to be the typical way many insurance companies operate. Why is it, in this moment in time, we are told by the executives of AIG that, well, if we don't pay it, we're going to get sued? Since when is that such a defense when that is their strategy normally? I would have said don't pay it, they don't deserve it, the American taxpayers' money needs to be protected. And if somebody is so upset about it and they think they have a contractual right, let them sue. But the reality is--and I will just make it real simple--the reality is, if this is a performance budget--and presumably it's performance based on a successful company that has profits at the end of the year-- and if this company can't even survive on its own without our taxpayer money going into it, that seems to be a pretty strong case to say there is absolutely no basis for a payment of a bonus to a group within an organization that is failing or is really not in a profitable position. As Americans, we understand success. We reward success, as President Obama says. If a company is successful, the shareholders, I think, are usually very comfortable with rewarding the management for good work-- to a point. But when you are failing, I mean, I can't imagine any company in the United States feeling real strongly; and if they are doing it, if I am a shareholder, I am not supporting that kind of deal. I am a taxpayer like everyone else here. And I am not happy, I am outraged, like everyone else, about the fact that this money was paid. The good news is that this Congress is going to take action, Democrats and Republicans together. Today, Mr. Liddy said, well, we have now put out officially to the people who received this to give it back, at least give half of it back. Well, I think many of us said half is not enough; we want the money back. If that money is necessary to get AIG back on track, that's what it should be used for. And I can obviously think of a lot of other very good purposes and places for that money to go if it's not AIG--how about the American taxpayers and our needs? But this is something that he proposed today. Well, I think we are going to take a little stronger action. Members of Congress, tomorrow, are going to have the opportunity to vote on a bill which demands that either almost all the money or all of it be returned to AIG and to the American taxpayers. And if they don't want to do it, then it will be taxed at 100 percent or 90 percent. That way, we make sure that that money comes back. This is not a game, this is the real thing. This is serious business. We all want to get our economy back on track. Obviously, we don't want any company to fail, but at the same time, we want fairness and justice. That is how we operate in the United States. And businesses, we want them to succeed, but when we are going to put taxpayer money on the table, there is a different set of criteria that have to be applied. With that, I am going to shift it over to my friend from Kentucky (Mr. Yarmuth), who is the president of our freshman class--and we are now sort of in the second term. But he just has been outstanding, and as a businessman, really understands the principles that I have been referring to. Feel free to add your thoughts to this.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. I thank the gentleman from Kentucky. And I certainly agree with you. When we think about investments, we think about the word ``transparency.'' And that is, as a small investor, if you buy a stock on the New York Stock Exchange or NASDAQ or whatever, you want to know as much as you can about that company. You want to make sure the information that's presented to you is real and that, if you're buying a bond, that the ratings services, Standard & Poor's and some of the other ones that have been before us, are giving an objective evaluation. Something has gone wrong in the system, and it's a mood and sort of an inaction that has been bred into the last 10 years where we have gotten farther and farther away from responsible regulation. I hear people say we don't want more regulation. It's not a question of more or less; it's a question of the right kind of regulation that really focuses on what the investor wants to know. Whether it's an investor like my dad, who is 80 years old and he's depending on his stocks and bonds and smaller portfolio to take care of him plus Social Security, or whether it's a very sophisticated person, it's all the same point. And we have gotten away from that, and, unfortunately, these massive billions of dollars where people are making hundreds of millions of dollars on a transaction, something went wrong here because they were not regulated, and that's where we're really focusing the attention now. It's going to take some smart people collectively, not just Members of Congress but also the public to work together to get this right. I thank the gentleman for those comments and that introduction. Now I would like to turn it over to the gentleman from Tennessee, who's going to share with us some of his thoughts on this.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. I thank the gentleman from Tennessee. There are obviously some strong feelings on all of our parts here. As we move forward, Mr. Speaker, if you would consider yielding the balance of my time to Mr. Yarmuth, I would appreciate that.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Would the gentleman yield?

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Mr. Cohen, a couple of the issues are out there, and some of these are fairly technical but they are very important, actually, and for those people in banks, those people in real estate, financial service issues, one of the things that all of our small businesses know right now, and the people that own homes, the people that own real estate properties, commercial properties, is the banks are not lending enough. There's some exceptions in there. But all I can tell you is when we had the eight large banks in front of our committee 2 weeks ago, we heard, Oh, we are lending here and billions of dollars here. That may have been to Fortune 100 companies. I understand that, and that's fine. But it was not translating down to our local communities. I know in West Palm Beach, in Delray Beach, where we do business and things like that at home, it's not happening. And the short answer is: What can we and should we be doing. The mark-to-marketing rule basically is a way that the regulators look at the bank's balance sheet and say that a certain asset is a certain value. And that works just fine when properties are going up in value. The problem is when there's really no market, when you can't sell a piece of property because nobody wants to buy it or finance it, they get written down to not necessarily zero, but something very insignificant. And what that does is puts lots of pressure on the banks and their balance sheet and then they say, Well, we can't lend because our balance sheet looks so small. It's a chicken-egg thing between the regulators and the bank. To make a long story short, there's common ground that needs to be found. It's not a question the banks shouldn't be lending. They should. And the regulators may be being a little cautious right now under the circumstances. But there is a middle ground. I think we have to find it and crank it up quickly because whether it's mark-to-market or a few other regulatory issues, we want to make sure the regulators are doing their job. It doesn't mean stopping lending. But there are a whole lot of creditworthy borrowers out there that could borrow. Many of you have small businesses. They're making their payments; real estate owners that are making their payment. They are current but they're saying: I can't get a term loan even though I am current because they are saying the asset value is so low. So on a simple basis we need to find that middle ground. We are pushing hard to let them put this through carefully. Lend to the appropriate people. Don't lend to people that shouldn't be borrowing for homes or anything else. But do it the right way. So we are working on that right now, Mr. Cohen, and hopefully in the next couple of weeks they will have some answers and get the banks moving along again.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. I thank the gentleman. I think you have summed it up exactly right, and that is the American people want answers. They want to make sure this doesn't happen again. It's unacceptable for there to be cycles where this happens; you clean up and it happens again. This is a very significant time for everyone, and the challenge is great. So we are going to have to focus on them. And if I can, I will spend a last minute referencing the fact that we are now moving into the conversation about our budget for next year. But talking about the kinds of things that the American people are looking for, it is transparency and openness when we have a budget. The last number of years, of which this group here has only been here 2 years, but the wars, which obviously we appreciate the work that our military did and all the rest of that, but 100-some billion dollars every year for the last number of years, not even on the books of the balance sheet of the Federal Government. Every year it is a supplemental budget. A supplemental budget is supposed to be when you have an emergency. God forbid you have a Katrina or something like that they didn't plan for. The war was there. It should have been planned for. It should have been accounted for. And when you talk about a balanced budget, and all of us standing here today, we are fiscal deficit people. We are deficit hawks. We believe in it. I think every American does. It is common sense: You can only live within your means. And the Republicans didn't do it. The Democrats didn't do it in the past. But I think all of us together have got to get it right now. And it is going to take time. We inherited, unfortunately, a very difficult budget, and it is going to take some time to get through this. I think Mr. Spratt who works with us, as well as President Obama, has got a lot of ideas. We are going to put them through the mix here, and I think we will come out with something. But, most importantly, it is an honest, open conversation. The American people are smart people. They understand the process of building a budget. They do it for themselves every day around the kitchen table or in their businesses. And I look forward to the opportunity of working with everyone, Democrats and Republicans. There may be differences of opinion and priorities. I happen to personally believe that education and health care and energy, and making this country energy independent, is a very forward-thinking way of addressing the next generation of where we need to be. But we will get through that process. But the point of it is an honest, open process where the American people can understand all the debts, all the possibilities, all the opportunities to build a stronger country. I will turn it back over to the gentleman from Kentucky.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. I thank the gentleman. Mr. Chairman, Members, I rise in strong support of this amendment and the underlying bill. Congressman Teague and I introduced this amendment in order to clarify the services that could be formed by Veterans' Corps volunteers anywhere. I represent Palm Beach and Broward Counties in south Florida, home to many of our Nation's veterans. We all agree that when Americans who wear the military uniform return from service, they deserve to be treated with the highest level of respect and dignity that they have earned. This includes making sure they receive the benefits they are entitled to, and I know we all share that commitment. While the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and military staff work hard to ensure that every veteran gets full advantage of the benefits they have earned, some veterans still have difficulty navigating the system and coming up with all the necessary documents. By allowing trained Veterans' Corps volunteers to guide them through this process, we can ensure more veterans obtain the benefits they were promised. With thousands of new servicemembers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq, the job of the Veterans' Corps is more critical than ever. As of September 2008, 330,000 Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans have filed disability claims with the VA; yet, 54,000 are still waiting for confirmation that the VA even received their claims. The average wait for a disability claim is more than 6 months. This amendment could help these veterans access the services they need. I can think of few priorities greater or more urgent than providing basic services such as these to our brave men and women who serve to protect our country, secure our peace, and safeguard our way of life. I would like to thank my colleague, Congressman Teague, for working with me on this amendment, and particularly Chairman Miller for introducing this important piece of legislation, which will enable hundreds of thousands of Americans to dedicate their time to a cause that is bigger than themselves through volunteerism and community service. I urge adoption of this amendment and a ``yes'' vote on the underlying legislation for the betterment of our community and our country as a whole.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, this week, we took important action to address a critical issue in south Florida and around the country, to improve access to credit for small business owners. Small businesses generated more than 70 percent of the new jobs every year for the past decade, and even beyond that. And they will fuel our economic recovery, both where I live in south Florida, and nationwide. I recently visited Uniweld Products, a family-owned business in Fort Lauderdale. This small business has been operating for 60 years, yet because of the frozen credit markets has been unable to secure vital loans and has been forced to lay off a quarter of its workforce in recent months. The plan announced by the administration this week will help businesses like Uniweld access the credit they need to keep their doors open and to thrive. I strongly support this aggressive and immediate action and look forward to continuing to work with entrepreneurs and community leaders in south Florida to support our small businesses as they lead our way toward economic recovery.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor a leader in our community. On August 1 Florida will lose a wonderful public servant, as Dr. Jean Malecki is leaving the Palm Beach County Department of Health. Dr. Malecki has been with the Department of Health since 1989, serving as its Director for the last 17 years. Born and raised in South Florida, Dr. Malecki has dedicated herself to making Palm Beach County the healthiest community in the nation. She created the Healthy Start program in which nurses make in-home visits throughout a woman's pregnancy to provide counseling to expectant mothers. She expanded the number of primary clinics, where they now treat 67,000 patients annually. Her leadership was most visible shortly after the attacks of September 11, 2001, when she led the Palm Beach County Department of Health through the first biological terror attack in the country. Under her direction the County diagnosed the first anthrax cases and quickly mobilized a team to help investigate the attacks. I have personally watched and learned from Dr. Jean Malecki's extraordinary service to the people of Palm Beach County. We will miss her, but wish her the best in her new life and career. Thank you for allowing me the time to speak about this admirable leader in my community, Madam Speaker.

Mr. KLEIN of Florida

Mr. KLEIN of Florida. Madam Speaker, on March 9, 2009, l was tending to a family commitment, for which the timing was not flexible. Had I been able to vote, I would have voted ``yes'' on rollcall No. 110; ``yes'' on rollcall No. 111; ``yes'' on rollcall No. 112.