Kendrick Meek

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. What you do at the top, you start at the very top.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. No one is calling the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) Vanna White. No one wants to.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Because young people cannot get sick, 30 percent of young people do not have health insurance. That is an important issue. That is number 8. The top reasons why young Americans need a change in leadership. Go ahead with number 7.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Unprecedented. We want to make sure that people know that we are here, that we mean business.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. So I want to move on, if we can. If the gentleman from Ohio would, he can remove that e-mail address. We want to make sure the American people get an opportunity to see it. He is going to help me out here.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. And protect the troops, and making sure that Reservists who signed up to protect this country, they will fight for 20 years if this country asked them to fight. That is not the question. It is about decisions that are being made here inside the Beltway. It is about the individuals that are being driven around with tinted windows in black cars and Suburbans with police escorts. We are talking about those individuals. Guess what, I say to the gentleman from Ohio? The U.S. Congress and the Committee on Armed Services are the individuals charged with making sure that those individuals are held accountable. We have the leadership of this House on the other side of this aisle here that says, oh, we do not need to bother the Pentagon. They have a lot work to do. We do not need to ask the Secretary to come down here. He has a war to fight. Well, guess what? The last I checked, we need some help, and we need some oversight.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I will tell you this: It would be good for politics. But, do you know something? I have to go back to the numbers. The numbers speak for themselves. The reason why this is serious business and the reason why week after week we come back and the reason why we have a Committee on Armed Services, hopefully that will have hearings that would hold the higher echelons, and I mean the secretary and undersecretary and everyone over at the Pentagon that is wearing a shirt and tie and suit that is appointed, that are calling the shots for men and women. They say well, you know, we wait to hear from our commanders in the field. We do not make those decisions. Mr. Speaker, I remember a day when everyone at the Pentagon took credit for what was going on. Now it is like, well, we are waiting to hear from this general and this other general, and, until we hear from the field, we are not going to do anything. Mr. Speaker, 897 and climbing. A coalition of troops that one may say is over 132,000 American troops, enlisted, Reserve, National Guard. And, guess what? Over 6,000 individuals that did not say, hey, I am ready to go. They were called up and sent. And also 4,000 troops were relocated from other parts of the world that we need them to go to Iraq. The last I checked on 9/11, it was all about the Taliban and al Qaeda. And, guess what? They are in Afghanistan doing what they want to do. Yes, we commend the troops. Do not get me wrong. I do not know a Member in this Congress, I have not encountered an individual out on the street, either here in Florida or Washington, D.C., that says I am not with the troops. So we can just put that debate aside. I think it is important that the American people understand that we all support the troops. For anyone that spends 30 or 40 minutes talking about how he or she supports the troops, we need to focus on other things about the intelligence of why we are in Iraq in the first place.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. They have not made a mistake.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. It is such an honor to be here on the floor once again with the great men and women of the Committee on Armed Services to get an opportunity to address the United States House of Representatives and also the American people. First of all, I would like to say that I am both proud and humbled by what our troops have been able to accomplish under the circumstances. I also think that it is in proper order for us to give them uplift in a time that this very Congress, the other body, released a report, intelligence report showing that the intelligence, that there is a very strong possibility that it was manipulated, manipulated to the point that many Members of this House, many Members of the other body, and the public, were led to believe that the circumstances were imminent as it relates to the threat to the United States of America, and that we had to forthwith go to war in Iraq with a preemptive strike. I also think that the troops need uplift of the fact that the report, through the Department of Defense, said 25 percent of American lives could have been saved if we were prepared; not the troops, but this administration, with body Army and up-armor for their Humvees and vehicles. I think they also need uplift to know that Democrats and some Republicans in this House are fighting for hearings to make sure that we have some level of accountability at the highest levels of the Defense Department and the administration, because we have men and women that have sacrificed not only their lives, but also many have sacrificed their freedom to be with their families. I do not blame it on the troops, and I would not say that it is the troops' responsibility or fault about what is going on with the insurgency right now in Iraq. The troops will fight for 20 years if this country needs them to fight for 20 years. I think the bigger question comes down to in this democracy that we have, since we are traveling throughout the world trying to create new democracies and trying to create civilized governments, that there has to be some checks and balances, and it does not serve me any pleasure to say that right now in this effort in Iraq, I do not think the checks and balances are there. I am glad that we were leader enough to come to the floor tonight to be able to share with the American people that we want our troops to know that there are Members of the Congress who will ask the ``yes, but'' question, that will ask the tough questions about equipment, that will ask the tough questions about intelligence and the fact that something happened between the CIA, what the Congress was told, and the role that the Bush administration played in it. This is not in any way being partisan; it is just laying the facts out the way we see them. We also want the troops to know and their families to know that we want the situation to get to the point to where other countries will assist in Iraq, will assist in Afghanistan, and operations can get better, so hopefully Reservists and National Guardsmen that put their name on the dotted line, said they were willing to serve their country, that they will be able to come home in the very near future to be able to make a son or daughter's birthday, or to be able to see their families or loved ones or significant others. Mr. Speaker, I think also it is very important for us to share with troop families that those of us in the Congress, I believe everyone in the Congress, that we feel for those wives and husbands and children when they are getting up to go to school in the morning, when they are getting ready to now, this summer, to go to summer camp, and it goes over the TV. I have families in my district, they turn the TV off. I have one constituent who has two sons in the theater right now in Iraq, and they do not even watch the TV in the morning because they do not want to start the day off knowing that two or five or six troops were killed overnight, and they do not know if someone in a military uniform is going to knock on their door and tell them that it was their son, her son. I would say that there are Americans that cringe when they hear that, because it is quite personal. So I want to say to those families that we appreciate their service. I want to say to those families that we will get to the bottom and the top of bad intelligence. We will make sure that our troops have what they need to have. But we need the opportunity to do so. I implore, Mr. Speaker, as I close, the Republican leadership within our committee, the Republican leadership in this House, to allow the House Committee on Armed Services to do its work, to be able to have the witnesses that we need to have to ask the tough questions, to be able to know how much this effort in Iraq and also the lack of effort as it relates to, we just had a hearing on Afghanistan and the poppy plants being harvested earlier that is funding the Taliban to fight against our American troops, and it is the number one threat to this country and did have a connection to 9/11; asking those tough questions to people that had made the decision, not someone five tiers down within the Department of Defense, but at the very top of the Department of Defense, because the country's reputation is on the line. Every veteran that suited up and went into war, need it be World War II, Korea, the Gulf War I, need it be when individuals went into theater in Granada, anytime that we got ourselves together in Vietnam, making sure that those veterans know that the rest of the world, we appreciate their service and that we will not allow individuals, because they want to make sure that other individuals do not take fault for what has taken place thus far with bad intelligence, going to war, not for the reasons why the country was told, and also losing so many lives in that process. So I am proud that we are here. I hope that we can come to the floor even more. I hope that the American people understand that there are Members on this. And I do not want to even put partisanship on this, because I know that there are Republicans who feel the way that we feel on this floor, and we want to make sure that those voices rise to the top. For those individuals who may be standing in the door of oversight by this Congress, I hope that they do not take personally our quest and our need to be able to address some of the issues that are facing the needs of our troops in theater.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. This is about who is for real and who is willing to put their future in the House on the line on behalf of what they believe in. That is what it is about. And guess what? We have elections here in this House every two years. And guess what? Any American can run for office when they are ready. And another thing that we have to do, we have to do and we have to live through the day, because guess what, tomorrow is not promised. As it relates to doing the right thing, the right thing is making sure the Americans get their fair shake out of this Congress. I am going to talk about a few statistical issues, talk about the voter suppression, and if you can do your e-mail thing. See, I do not want to even give the e-mail address out, because that is your thing. David Letterman has his Top 10. You have the e-mail address. You have a couple of e-mails after you read the e-mail address. This is what I like watching you do, because you do it so well. You mentioned something as it relates to the tax cut and really what it means to working Americans. Health care premiums are escalating, middle-class tax increase, I must add. Health care costs increased by 13.9 percent nationwide last year, the third year in a row double-digit increases and the largest increase since 1990. Florida, the State that I am in, the Florida region health care insurance premiums have increased by 65 percent since the beginning of the Bush administration. Nationally, the increase in family health care insurance premiums over the past 3 years has tripled. The amount of the tax cut that is ongoing for middle-class income families over 4 years, now, that is fact. Okay. Also you have the college education issue. We talked about that. We talked about raising taxes on college. These are raising tax on middle- class working families. Guess what? Millionaires and billionaires, they do not have to worry about paying for college, because nine times out of 10, their kids are welcomed into the university and their grandchildren are welcomed there because of the legacy, because they have given money to the institution. But guess what? Those individuals, I mean, we may not know their story, we are not saying that we are upset with them. We are just saying that we should not have two Americas. We should have an America that everyone has a fair shake at a fair opportunity towards higher education. When we look at the whole situation, and I cannot help but continue to talk about Florida, because it is the reality in many of the States that are out there, the cost of college education has increased by 29 percent in Florida's region since the beginning of the Bush administration. At the same time, Republicans are refusing to increase funding for Pell grants and also for Perkins loans to defray the costs of higher education. The cost of college has increased steadily in the Florida region. Tuition for a 4-year public college education has increased by $852 over the past 3 years. I will tell you, this is from the college board. There are a number of issues that are out there, but I just want to say that it is important that we share this information with the American people. It is important that they understand that they do have a choice in the matter. It is important that they know that Democrats in this House are willing to be able to carry a bucket of heavy water on their behalf, because we look forward to the opportunity. Matter of fact, we pray for the opportunity to be able to govern, to be able to make a better situation and homefront as it relates to health care costs, health care access, making sure that we have a stronger America in the future, that our children when they graduate and they walk across that stage with that diploma, or as an individual walk across the stage, at a technical high school, that they are guaranteed a future in this America, that they do not have to move offshore for the job that they have trained and hopefully educated themselves for, that this it will be here for them and that this government will not have them in debt, leaving a 4-year institution and even those individuals that are fortunate enough to qualify for future student loans to get through a graduate program. This is about America. This is not about what the people of Iraq want or what people of another country want. This is about making sure what Americans want. I can tell you, there is no partisanship there. I mean, so leadership is important, and we need it and we need it desperately. Last point, and I want you to do the e-mail and read the e-mails and do the e-mail address, we want to give a big shot out to Rock the Vote. We are getting a lot of response from the voter suppression issue. I just want to share with the Americans we had supervisors of elections telling people that they could not register to vote if they go to school. Right now we have a lot of young people that are in school, summer school right now. The fall semester will start in mid-August. Ladies and gentlemen, when you go back, you can register where you are going to be in September or late August, and definitely in November you can register to vote there. There is a 1975 Supreme Court decision that was made saying that if you are registered in school, even if you are from Sioux City, Iowa, and you are going to school in Georgia, you can register in Georgia.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Rockthevote.com.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. The largest agency in the history of the world, Federal Government agency created by this Congress, the largest contract they have given out thus far has gone to an offshore company. No taxes, no benefit to the American people, no benefit of helping to pay for education, no benefit to be able to provide for alternative fuel sources or towards a health care program. Hopefully, my colleague, we can share with the American people, and we always say this is not the Tim Ryan/Kendrick Meek Report, this is facts. We spend at least 7 days prior to what we are going to talk about in the upcoming week getting the facts. So anyone that wants to line up on the other side of the aisle and start refuting or just saying, well, that is not true, this is not true, well, we have the facts. And folks who want to e-mail, we will send them the facts. A lot of this is hard to digest and a lot of it is hard to believe. And, to be brutally honest with you, we are all wrapped up in patriotism and we understand that we have to protect the homeland, but yet we give the largest contract from the Department of Homeland Security to an offshore company. Now, I am from the South. I am from Florida. We have people in South Carolina, in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi who are sitting around not because they want to sit at home watching cable television. They want a job. They need a job. But they do not have a job because we are sending the jobs overseas. And who am I to talk, because my colleague is from Ohio.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. That can give you more information on voter suppression. I want to thank those individuals that have sent us e- mails and said, listen, we thank you for letting us know. We had one young man who had to go and get a lawyer to register to vote in America. Can you believe it?

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I know you have to give the address out and then read the e-mails.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Nothing. Zero.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. You said you were looking at the e-mails, and I thought you were going to read those. What you are saying as it relates to 61 percent, we will have more Americans writing their name on the orange juice at home after they graduate.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I will, when I have time.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Some demographic.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, my colleague mentioned Bermuda, and I cannot help but think of the largest Homeland Security contract that was given to an offshore company. Now, this was once a U.S. company.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. What a country. Let me just, if the gentleman would start, I started out with some opening comments, just to kind of share with the American people and the Members of the House our purpose for being here. Once again, we pay all respect and opportunity to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), the Democratic leader, that has made a commitment that young people in America will have a time on this floor. This is just an hour. They are going to have time they have not had in the past so we can raise those issues to the level of the national debate, have people here in this Congress pay respect and treat 30-somethings on down to 18 or 16 or 15, those that are looking to participate in this democracy that we serve under, have them use their power that they have as it relates to voter registration cards, have them use their power in talking with their Member of Congress, to let it be known that throughout they have issues, they have concerns. I also made the correlation between the parents and grandparents. I mean, obviously, parents want their children to do well. Grandparents especially want their grandkids to do well and make sure they are able to have a better and safer America for the future. So I just wanted to tell my colleague once again I look forward to this. We were talking earlier today when we were going through some of the subjects we are going to talk about here today because we try to be as factual as possible, also come out with solutions; but guess what, there was a great announcement today. Maybe the gentleman wants to talk about that.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Is that not something? What a country.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, let me tell my colleague, if it was not for our wives, I do not know where we would be, to be honest with him; and I thank God. Coming up October 12, it will be 13 years for me; and, amen, I got married young.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. We come together. We have this thing here on the floor. We have special guests sometimes from the 30-something Working Group. I like the new haircut that the gentleman has going on there.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, well, I do not want to pull my credit card out. I have a couple of credit cards here, but that is later on in the program. We have our whole David Letterman, Top 10 thing that we have to do, and we have to read some e-mails that we received in the previous weeks. We had last week off. I can tell the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan), I missed him.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. There is nothing like family. Nothing like family. I say to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan), it was an outstanding pleasure once again. God has made it able for us to come back again to be able to speak to the American people and Members of the House. Mr. Speaker, we appreciate the opportunity to address the American people and Members of the House tonight.