Jim Moran

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, the House of Representatives will vote today on a bill that the authors think will help end the culture of corruption that exists in the Congress and restore the public's confidence in this body. I will vote no on this bill, H.R. 4975, not because I believe we do not need to address these significant matters, but because the bill fails to provide any real reform at all. We have an opportunity today to make significant changes in the way we perform the people's business and to help restore the people's confidence in their elected representatives. With this bill, the majority, who only a few months ago was shouting for reform, has failed to seize this opportunity. In fact, it has presented a bill that contains no significant reform at all. Throughout the country, far too many people believe that Congress gives its vote to the highest bidder. This perception must be eliminated, but the minor changes in this bill will not do so. Restoration of the people's respect of Congress requires one thing-- that we change the way our political campaigns are financed. While our campaign finance rules have been strengthened over the years, they remain insufficient. The time has come to take private money out of politics--entirely-- and, in its place, provide limited public funding for all Congressional campaigns. This is real reform. And it is the only type of reform that will even begin to restore the respect and trust of the American people in Congress. The bill before us today will not do this, and we must into fool ourselves into believing that it will.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, almost 2 years ago, the 9/11 Commission reported that our intelligence community failed our Nation because of its aversion to share information, lack of oversight and limited imagination in how to deal with emerging sources of information. Since that final report was issued, Congress has authorized an overhaul of intelligence agencies, but progress has not met with our expectations. We all experienced what can happen with inadequate intelligence on 9/11, so the path that is being taken should serve as a brilliant warning sign that much more needs to be done. When the House of Representatives votes on this year's Intelligence Authorization, I will vote against the bill. In doing so, my opposition is not because Congress shouldn't fund intelligence activities, but rather I believe that it is disingenuous for this body to act as if the intelligence community is not the source of great concern. The resistance to change, the absence of leadership and partisan politics have tempered positive evolution and hurt our Nation. Indeed, in the place of real progress, the intelligence community has been a source of a number of controversial and classified programs that the public has since learned about. Last year, we were made aware that: The President initiated an illegal program to secretly intercept international phone calls, including intercepting calls of American citizens, without fully briefing the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. This new spy program subverts the congressionally approved standard and no one comprehends the full scope of the program; The United States government operated a secretive program known as ``extraordinary rendition'' that shipped accused terrorist suspect to other countries for imprisonment and interrogation, all to avoid U.S. laws prescribing due process and prohibiting torture; The White House selectively declassified information and offered it to preferred reporters to discredit political adversaries; Intelligence officials sat on a report contradicting the Administration's claim that mobile laboratories in Iraq were developing weapons, while the President announced to the Nation that ``we have found the weapons of mass destruction''; and Last week the CIA fired lifelong federal employee Mary McCarthy for disclosure, offering the misimpression she was fired for a leak she never knew anything about. These instances are only the most grievous, but they highlight this administration's contempt for accountability and put the unassailable standing of our civil liberties in doubt. And when given the opportunity, the White House has dragged its feet to appoint the staff, fund and begin the work of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board which is intended to safeguard our citizens from unnecessary government intrusion. . I understand the formidable challenge that is being undertaken and I applaud the many brave and good hearted people who work to secure our nation every day. Unfortunately, the White House and the leadership of these agencies are undercutting reform by failing to deliver greater communication, transparency and accountability. We are reminded repeatedly with reports that the CIA is losing key personnel because of the politicization of the agency, or when the 9/11 Commission gives ``D'' grades to government-wide information sharing and intelligence oversight reform. The American public looks to Congress to safeguard our civil liberties, and to ensure that intelligence is good and intelligence reform is meaningful. I'm afraid that in the last year there has been increasing evidence that this institution has failed to do its job. Mr. Chairman, instead of passing a reauthorization bill today that does little to address the nation's concern we should reexamine what we can do to ensure our intelligence agencies can do their job and instill our constituent's faith in our intelligence community.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, it is appropriate on this floor that we all be entitled to our own opinions, but it is not right that we should all be entitled to our own set of facts. The facts are that if this budget passes it will be 5 straight years of the largest deficits in American history. Do you know in the last 5 years we have raised the Federal debt limit four times? It is now over $9 trillion. What does that mean to the average American? It means that every American owes $28,110 of that debt. That means that every child born in America today starts off their life owing $28,110. That is a fact, but it is not fair. And it is not fair that we continue to cut revenue that this country needs to invest in its physical and its human infrastructure. This budget includes another $228 billion of tax cuts that go overwhelmingly to the people who need it the least. And yet, we have got 13 million children in America living in poverty today; we have got over 43 million Americans without any health insurance. And yet look at the priorities in this budget: You reward those who need help the least and ignore those who need help the most. That is not fair. That is not American. That is why this budget shouldn't pass.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support the passage of the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act. This bill reflects the United States' continued commitment to see that the violence ends and a lasting peace is achieved in Darfur. Darfur has already been acknowledged as the worst human rights tragedy since the 1994 Rwandan genocide. Nowhere else have we recently seen such a massive attack on innocent civilians who are left to suffer in complete isolation, cut off from the rest of the world. Nearly 400,000 people have already died in Darfur and over two million people continue to live as refugees and internally displaced persons. Thousands of women have been raped and sexually abused and children are left to die from malnutrition, dysentery and infectious diseases. Mr. Speaker, last month's approval by the House of funding for Sudan is a solid commitment that brings us closer to resolving the crisis in Darfur and helping those in need. But it is not enough. Congress must continue and hold steadfast to the basic principles of freedom and human rights that we stand for and press on until justice is brought to the Darfurians.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H. Res. 578 encouraging the nation of Romania to complete the processing of intercountry adoption cases that have already begun, and to amend its laws to decrease this and other barriers to adoption. The statistics regarding abandoned children in Romania are shocking: 9,000 children are abandoned by Romania's maternity wards and pediatric hospitals every year; 37,000 remain in adoption institutions; and 49,000 more live in foster care or with their extended families. These children deserve every possible opportunity to be raised in loving, permanent families, and many such opportunities are available outside of their home nation. Romania's current laws are detrimental not only to these children, but to the American families that are ready and willing to welcome them into their homes. Since June 2004, one of these children, Otilia Rotaru, has lived in Falls Church, Virginia with Scott and Lisa Lampman, two of my constituents. Otilia was born with a form of cerebral palsy known as Spastic Diplegia, preventing her from walking independently and causing her significant visual impairment in her right eye. She was abandoned by her biological parents soon after her birth in 1996, and was placed with a foster family who abandoned her in 2003. Otilia received permission to come to the United States in 2004 for medical treatment, and after surgery and rehabilitation, she can now walk with the assistance of a walker. The Lampmans continue to provide love, physical care and financial support for Otilia, who attends 3rd grade at the local elementary school, has joined the local Brownie Troop, and is taking swimming lessons at the local pool. Despite living in a loving, well adjusted home, the Lampmans' petition to adopt Otilia was rejected by the Romanian Government because their petition was filed after the appropriate deadline for international adoption. If returned to Romania, Otilia would be returned to an institution, with no family and no access to the medical treatment that will one day allow her to walk independently for the first time. Mr. Speaker, we must give Otilia and the thousands of children like her the opportunity to grow up in a loving, caring, stable home, whether that home is in Romania or here in the United States. I strongly encourage my colleagues to support H. Res. 578 and ask the Romanian Government to open their adoption laws and provide such opportunities to these children.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Michael Goodman, upon receiving the Commonwealth Academy Recognition for Educators (CARE) Award. The CARE award honors outstanding educators who work to enhance the lives of their students. This year's honorees are recognized for their unrelenting work to enhance the lives of the students they serve. This award is presented by Commonwealth Academy, located in Alexandria, Virginia, and honors those committed to diverse learning throughout the nation. Michael Goodman, an Instructional Technology Coordinator at Kenmore Middle School in Arlington, Virginia, is honored for his work with assisting teachers and students with using technology to learn at Kenmore. Mr. Goodman has been teaching for over ten years and has won numerous awards for his technology instruction. Because of his vision, many classrooms at Kenmore are ``technology rich''--meaning the teacher uses a SMART board and other equipment to tailor instruction to engage and challenge all students. Without Mr. Goodman's exceptional and effort, the teachers would not be able to use the technology to reach students. He has been involved in numerous technology activities and programs. As an organizer of ``An Adventure of the American Mind'' Library of Congress program at Kenmore, his enthusiasm helped to motivate 54 teachers from Kenmore to complete the entire workshop series last year, and resulted in Kenmore Middle School receiving $30,000 dollars in technical equipment from the program. Mr. Goodman says of his approach to teaching, ``My job as Instructional Technology Coordinator allows me to work with teachers and students bringing in the unique advantages that technology offers to create and simulate activities based on [multiple] intelligences.'' Mr. Goodman received his B.S. in Technology Education from Virginia Tech and his master's in Instructional Technology from Towson University. He and his wife, Dedra, have three young sons, Harrison, Xavier, and Remington. I ask my colleagues to join me in applauding Michael Goodman and congratulating him on this distinguished achievement.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the Reverend Jose Eugenio Hoyos, a distinguished member of our community who has dedicated his life to serving the less fortunate through his vocation in the Catholic Church. The Rev. Hoyos began his commitment to exemplary community service over 20 years ago when he was ordained into the priesthood at the Cathedral of St. Pedro in Buga, Colombia. From there he continued his studies at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, IL, where he earned his master of divinity. After completing his studies, he returned to Colombia where he became an associate pastor at the Parish of St. Juan De Avila in Bogota and taught both philosophy and religion at nearby colleges. He remained in Colombia for several years until he was relocated to Northern Virginia where he is currently serving as director of the Spanish Apostolate for the Diocese of Arlington. Since arriving in Northern Virginia 16 years ago, Rev. Hoyos has dedicated his life to serving the public community in many different ways. Beginning in 1992, Rev. Hoyos envisioned an organization with the purpose to recruit and organize professionals to assist immigrants as well as the neediest people in the community. He founded Marcelino Pan Y Vino, Inc., a nonprofit organization that has earned worldwide recognition for its work with the National Institutes of Health in assisting those with leukemia, AIDS, cancer, and those in need of an organ transplant. Most recently, his organization raised $25,000 for Katrina disaster relief in the gulf coast. Rev. Hoyos is the founder of the radio program called ``Catholic Newsletter'' and the TV show called ``Community and Religion Dose'' a program of prayer and faith that is aimed at spreading a positive message to alcoholics, gang members, and the troubled youth. He is also a columnist for various local and international papers that reach the Hispanic community. Not one to forget his roots, Rev. Hoyos founded and is president of Colombia Integra, an organization that gives Colombians, who have fled their native land, the tools needed to become active members of our society. Over the years, Rev. Hoyos's deeds have not gone unnoticed by the community he cares so deeply about. He has been recognized as ``Hispanic Man of the Year'' by the staff of ``Diario Nacion'' a Washington, DC, newspaper. The Alexandria Police Department named him ``True Community Hero.'' He has been selected as ``Washingtonian of the Year'' by the Washingtonian Magazine. Last, but not least, Rev. Hoyos was granted the honor to carry the Olympic torch from the Atlanta Olympics through the streets of Arlington. Mr. Speaker, the Reverend Jose Eugenio Hoyos has been responsible for touching thousands of lives over the course of his career. He is truly a beacon of light putting his faith into action. For his dedication, the people of northern Virginia are genuinely grateful.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Madam Speaker, at the beginning of the 21st century, America stands as the greatest economic and military power in the history of the world. We have been blessed with tremendous resources, wonderful natural resources. But the most precious of all of our resources is the human potential of America's workforce. But we have to sustain the investment in that potential. Today, half of our students will not graduate from high school. And here we have a budget proposed by the President that has some of the deepest, most dangerous cuts ever proposed, eliminating vocational education, eliminating 36 other programs designed to help teachers and students, cutting billions of dollars from college student loan programs. In fact, 3.7 million children will not even get the reading and math help they were promised under the Leave No Child Behind Act. This is not going to sustain our economic power, Madam Speaker. It undermines our economic strength, and, in fact, it is bound to shortchange our children's future.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from the Appropriations Committee and my good friend from California. I want my colleagues to consider some facts. One is with this amendment that we will have now spent as much as we did in the entire Vietnam War. Does anybody think that that $400 billion was well spent in retrospect? Consider the fact that 82 percent of the Sunnis and 69 percent of the Shi'a want us to withdraw immediately. In fact, the majority say that our presence is hurting rather than helping Iraq's future. Consider what happened when the British concluded their occupation. The first people the Iraqis went after were those who cooperated with the British, considering them collaborators. Then they went after the foreigners that were trying to exploit the situation. We have a responsibility to get those foreign terrorists, al-Zarqawi and all of the al-Qaeda. But the Iraqi people were never a threat to the United States. They are not now. Let us work with the Iraqis, get rid of the foreign terrorists, but not establish any permanent bases in Iraq.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. I thank my good friend. I rise in support of this amendment. As I suggested in addressing the last amendment, we need to be driven by people with expertise, not by fear and prejudice. What Mr. Sabo is suggesting is that we get the facts on the table so that we can make the most informed judgment. That is all it is. We are not necessarily going to automatically reject anyone or accept anyone. Let's have the facts on the table, take the time, let the experts on the Committee for Foreign Investment in the United States do a thorough investigation. I think it will satisfy our constituents' concerns, but it will also enable us to make much more responsible decisions that we have made in the last week. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Point of Order

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I thank my good friend from Maryland. Mr. Chairman, I have no illusions about the results of this vote. It is going to be pretty much proportionate to the 62-2 vote that we took in the full Appropriations Committee, Mr. Kolbe and I being in the minority. But I want to share with my colleagues why this is the wrong thing to be doing. The fact is that Dubai is our natural bridge to the modern, peaceful and progressive Arab world, and, with this amendment, instead of crossing that bridge, we blow it up. The fact is that we currently have over 600 ships that are using Dubai, U.S. naval vessels. We have more than 77,000 military personnel who take leave in Dubai, and we have never had a security incident. In fact, more U.S. military personnel take liberty, port leave, in other words, in the United Arab Emirates today than in any other place in the entire world. The UAE wants to be our friend. They want to invest some of those petro-dollars back in the United States. They want to modernize. They want, in fact, to trade with Israel. They want to trade with Europe. They want to trade with the United States. They are under a lot of political pressure, but, in fact, the emirs are standing up to that pressure. Couldn't we be expected to do the same? Are we going to yield to the fear and the prejudice that I think motivates this amendment? Because it is not reasoned judgment. In fact, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States was to be conducting a 45-day thorough investigation. Then we would be able to make an informed decision. At the end of that investigation they were going to make recommendations. But the reality is there aren't a whole lot of things that need to be changed with this transaction. It is a financial transaction. U.S. longshoremen still handle the cargo. The U.S. Coast Guard provides physical security. The Customs Service inspects the cargo. In fact, it was the UAE who was first, right away, to sign the U.S. Container Security Initiative. We asked them to. They are doing everything. And, my friends, the Director of the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Chertoff, said if this deal goes through, it will make our ports more secure, not less. Listen to the experts.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, in 2 months, about 10 million senior citizens are about to get a Bush Medicare tax imposed on them for the rest of their lives. If they don't sign up for the Medicare prescription drug bill by May 15, then they can't sign up again until the end of the year, and for the rest of their lives they will pay a 7 percent higher premium than their neighbors under exactly the same circumstances just because they couldn't figure out this myriad of dozens of different plans that they are presented with. This is wrong. The Republicans and the Democrats need to get together to extend the deadline to the end of the year, regardless of what the President decides. It is time for Congress to act and to save these 10 million Americans from having an unfair tax burden on their shoulders for the rest of their lives. It is wrong. Let's fix it.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I thank my good friend the distinguished minority leader of the House Appropriations Committee. Mr. Chairman, a lot of us on this side and virtually everyone on the other side are going to vote for this bill, but we should do so with considerable reservations. First of all, two-thirds of it goes to fund the Iraq War; even though, after 4 years, there is still no end in sight. You wonder if this is not more good money going after bad or at least after a mission that has yet to be defined. We will now have spent $490 billion from fiscal year 2001 through fiscal year 2007. Mr. Chairman, the cost of the entire Vietnam War, adjusted for inflation, was exactly the same cost that we have now appropriated. Mr. Chairman, the most credible poll that was just taken showed that three-quarters of the American troops believe that we should withdraw within the year, and over half said it should be within 6 months. Even more telling, a poll that was conducted on January 28 of this year among Iraqi citizens showed that 82 percent of Sunnis and 69 percent of Shi'a want U.S. troops withdrawn immediately. These are the people that we are trying to save for democracy, and in fact, the majority of both Shi'a and Sunnis believe that the U.S. will hurt, that is their word ``hurt,'' Iraq over the next 5 years unless it withdraws immediately. Mr. Chairman, we need an exit strategy that is going to work and that has the support of the people we're trying to help. Now the other reservation we have is over the way in which this money is being spent. We are told that about $8.8 billion has been used inappropriately of Iraqi reconstruction funds that we appropriated. It is unaccounted for, according to the Inspector General in Iraq. There are 50 investigations going on. A Halliburton subsidiary just acknowledged, admitted, that they overcharged the government by $63 million for a contract. We need a Truman Committee-type investigation. It saved the American taxpayer tens of billions of dollars in the 1940's. It was rejected in the full committee, but it should be made part of this bill. Now another major part of this bill deals with Hurricane Katrina. I was just down there in Louisiana, Mr. Chairman, on my own tab, for what it is worth what I learned about the contracting process down there is just stunning. It makes you wonder whether we should be providing any money unless we can get a handle over the way the money is spent. Let me give you a thinly-veiled hypothetical example. One contract, for example, we give it to a prime contractor to fix roofs for $25,000 a roof. Eighty percent of it goes to a subcontractor, then 60 percent to another subcontractor, to another subcontractor, and, finally, it gets down to a company that actually puts the roof on for $1,200 a roof. You do the math, Mr. Chairman. Virtually all of the money goes to these contractors who never banged a hammer on a nail, and you know how we found out about it? Because the actual undocumented aliens who did the work contacted a FEMA person on the field, wondering how they were going to get paid. You go figure, Mr. Chairman. Another contract went for debris removal, prime contractor, subcontractor, down again through reiterations, finally goes to the company that is already doing the very work for the City of New Orleans for a fraction of the cost but they never saw 90 percent of the money. These are things a Truman Committee could look into and fix. Beyond the need for more oversight on the contracting process of the Federal Government, Mr. Chairman, we have some other issues that should have been part of this bill. The members of the full committee in the last omnibus appropriations conference had put the bill to bed, finished it up, when the majority leader of the Senate came over and added 45 pages providing liability exemption for drug companies. We wanted to rectify that by striking the language we never approved. That was not done. The third issue that we debated in full committee, and unfortunately it lost, was to give Medicare recipients an extra 7 months within which to make a decision as to whether to participate in Medicare part D. If Medicare senior citizens don't sign up by May 15, they have to then wait for another 7 months and they will pay an extra 1 percent a month. That means there will be a tax, if you will, a penalty of 7 percent for the rest of their lives applied to their insurance premiums. It is too confusing a program. They need more time to decide. We ought to give them another 7-month extension so that they can make that decision by the end of this calendar year. If we don't ten million seniors will pay this penalty for the rest of their lives. Mr. Chairman, there are so many other issues in this bill that we could discuss. Some of them will be discussed. But the bottom line is that it is an awful lot of money. It is the largest supplemental we have ever passed in this body. The largest appropriation as a supplemental ever considered. We have to provide it, but we ought to show more scrutiny towards the way the money is being spent. And finally, Mr. Chairman, there is a provision here with regard to Dubai Ports World attempted purchase of American ports. I know I am in the distinct minority. It was a 62-2 vote, and I was one of the two that opposed this language. We have to identify our friends, and Dubai is our friend. The fact is that the Homeland Security Secretary said if this deal goes through it will strengthen port security, yet we ignore that information as well as the reality of the fact that Dubai is doing everything to be a bridge to the moderate Arab world. We blew up that bridge in committee, as far as I am concerned, Mr. Chairman, and I would hope we will try to rectify some of that damage.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, when future generations of Americans look back at this time in our Nation's history, they will have to conclude that this Republican Congress and White House has been the most fiscally irresponsible in our Nation's history. In 5 years we have turned a projected $5.6 trillion surplus into a projected $3.5 trillion of deficit, a $9 trillion fiscal reversal. Seventy-seven percent of it is attributable to tax cuts, most of which benefit the wealthy, and to the so-called war on terrorism. And why do I say the so-called ``war on terrorism''? Because in this budget, this President's budget, he would provide tax cuts for the top 1 percent of Americans, greater than the entire amount of money he wants to spend on homeland security. And when you consider the fact that half of America's students do not even graduate from high school today, you have to ask why the amount of money he gives to the top 1 percent of Americans is almost twice as much as the entire amount of money he wants to spend on the education budget; and it is almost three times what he would spend on veterans health care. This is misplaced priorities and fiscal mismanagement.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Madam Speaker, it has to be said, now that we are going to consider another budget, that this has been the most irresponsible fiscal management of the Federal budget that we have ever seen in our Nation's history. When you consider the fact that of all the 42 Presidents that preceded this President, if you added all of the debt that was bought by foreign nations, none of it comes close to the amount of money that we have now borrowed from foreign nations; almost half of our debt. China, particularly in the last 5 years, has increased their debt holdings of American securities by 300 percent. But beyond that, when you look at who have been the beneficiaries, you see that there has been smaller job creation in this administration than in any Presidential administration since the days of Herbert Hoover, who experienced, of course, the Great Depression. Madam Speaker, we need to change this budget around, and not in the direction that the majority wants us to turn. Madam Speaker, it has to be said, now that we are going to consider another budget, that this has been the most irresponsible fiscal management of the Federal budget that we have ever seen in our Nation's history. When you consider the fact that of all the 42 Presidents that preceded this President, if you added up all the money borrowed from foreign countries it is cumulatively less than the amount of money that this President on his own has borrowed from foreign nations; almost half of our outstanding debt is now held by foreign countries--you have to reach that conclusion. China, particularly in the last 5 years, has increased their debt holdings of American securities by 300 percent. But beyond that, when you look at who have been the beneficiaries of this national indebtedness, you see that it is not the working class. There has been smaller job creation in this administration than in any Presidential administration since the days of Herbert Hoover, who presided, of course, over the Great Depression. The beneficiaries of this indebtedness has been the leisure class through tax cuts. Madam Speaker, we need to change this budget around, and not in the direction that the President and the majority of this Congress wants.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. I thank my good friend from Florida, the son of one of our most distinguished Members, who is rapidly becoming a leader in his own right. I mentioned to him that yesterday I stood transfixed at the television set watching his speech on the floor, and it brought up the issue of security. And I trust the gentleman will underscore the national security implications of this budget deficit, because the only way that we are able to spend so profligately, get away with it, is that we have found people who are willing to buy our debt. Not here, but overseas. And for some reason, China seems just as happy as they could be to increase the amount of American debt that they hold by 300 percent over the last 5 years. Billions of dollars they hold; and all they have to do is to say, we do not think that we are going to buy your debt in the manner and to the extent that we have in the past, and our stock market, our economy would crumble. Imagine putting this country into that kind of vulnerability where we are dependent upon a communist nation buying our debt just so we can continue this misguided fiscal policy. I thank the gentleman for his leadership, and I look forward to watching him and reading his statement in the Congressional Record tomorrow too. You have been terrific on this. Thank you, Congressman Meek.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. I thank the gentleman.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. I thank the gentleman very much, and particularly for revealing the real effects upon the hard-working people in your congressional district. Many of them are poor because they have not had the opportunities to be as prosperous as others. And that is a situation perhaps more pronounced in your rural district, but it is the case through so many parts of the country. We need to be investing in as strong an America as we can possibly create. Our strength is in America's workers, and the education our children receive, in the roots that our families put into their communities. And I know your total commitment to the people of your district as well as to the country and I appreciate your input. Thank you, Congressman Davis. We now call upon the gentleman from North Dakota (Mr. Pomeroy), the former State insurance commissioner who watches this budget very carefully. And he is going to share with us some of his concern about the direction our fiscal policy has taken over the last 5 years.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. I thank the Congresswoman from Pennsylvania. I am happy to yield to the Congressman from Alabama, Congressman Artur Davis. Thank you for your leadership, particularly on the Budget Committee.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Unbelievable charts. So for all of those Presidents since Herbert Hoover who had a net loss of job creation because of the Great Depression, Presidents Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and the first President Bush, and then President Clinton, of course, they all created far more jobs than this Presidency, the worst job creation record in our lifetimes, in the last, what, 65 years. So, it is an unbelievable record. We thank you for sharing it with us, Mr. Scott. We will now hear from the gentleman from Long Island, New York, Tim Bishop, a member of the Budget Committee, and very much concerned about the fiscal policy of this administration.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. I thank the very astute gentleman from Washington State. And now we have our very diligent, conscientious member of the Budget Committee from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Ms. Schwartz.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, we are very appreciative of the gentleman's comments. Thank you very much, Mr. Bishop. I yield to the very distinguished gentleman from Washington State, Brian Baird.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. I thank the gentleman from North Dakota (Mr. Pomeroy) for his extraordinary leadership and his very deep and genuine concern over the fiscal policy direction of this country. Even beyond the immorality of this wild, profligate spending and then sending the bill to our children to pay, what American family would take a credit card, max it out, and then tell the credit card company, Do not worry about it. Send the bill to my kids after I die. And that is what is going to happen. The amount of debt and even the interest on that debt is going to cripple generations to come.

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. I thank my good friend from Virginia. Let me just clarify a couple of points. In the Democratic plan, it was basically based upon the pay-as-you-go concept of 1990 with the first President Bush, a bipartisan plan to pay for any subsequent tax cuts, to have sufficient revenue to pay for whatever spending occurred, but to balance the budget each year. By those efforts to balance the budget, it actually created a surplus. Now, I know that the gentleman voted after 9/11 to go to war in Afghanistan, to go after the people that attacked us, Osama bin Laden, as I did; but that is a small fraction of the money that we are spending on the Iraq war. The gentleman knows a lot of people, men and women, who have been financially successful. Does he feel that if they had been asked to sacrifice to pay for the war to go after those people who attacked us on 9/11, that they would have readily foregone tax cuts so that we could keep the budget balanced and avoid deficits being passed on to future generations?

Mr. MORAN of Virginia. I thank the gentleman for illuminating those misplaced priorities, and I thank him very much for his extraordinarily illuminating set of charts and numbers. Mr. Scott, do you have one further thing you wanted to share with the American people? I yield to the gentleman.