Kendrick Meek

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Thank you. A Doug Flutie Hail Mary pass when the clock has now hit almost 0:00 and trying to sensationalize a speech or just saying that, well, I will just say this even though it is not true. I know it is not true. And we even have Republican leaders that have made those kinds of statements and have been asked by the press about them and then said, well, I didn't really mean that, but they thought it was important for them to say it here in the Congressional Record in the House of Representatives for several generations to see beyond this one. So I think it is important, Mr. Speaker, that we talk about the facts. And if I can for just a moment, the fact is this: We borrow from foreign countries like we have never borrowed before. And I think it is important that I pull this chart out. This Republican Congress and President Bush, and he couldn't do it by himself, borrowed in 4 years $1.05 trillion; versus 42 Presidents, 224 years in the history of this country, have been only able to borrow 1.01. I will say that until the 109th Congress and beyond because in the 110th Congress, if the American people will see fit, we will pull this chart out again and we will talk about our guarantee to knock this number down. Forty-two Presidents, 224 years, World War I, World War II, other conflicts, the Great Depression, you name it, it has been a part of the history of this country. One the President, one Congress, $1.05 trillion, and counting, borrowing from foreign nations. Mr. Speaker, where did we get these numbers from? Why don't we start with the U.S. Department of Treasury. Who are the countries? Let us look at this: Japan, coming in at a whopping $682.8 billion. China, coming in at $249.8 billion. We have Members coming to the floor talking about we are going to be the superpower and economic power of the world. Guess what. We owe these people money. How could we go to them with a straight face and say this is what we are going to do and this is how we are going to do it because we are the United States of America? First of all, you need to let go of the money that you owe me as a country. You owe us. That is almost like going to your next-door neighbor and borrowing $300 and then coming to them and telling them about what kind of plants they should be planting in front of their house. How can you tell them, Mr. Speaker, when you owe them money? First of all, you can't even get into the conversation about what they should do and how they should do it as a country and working in whatever cooperation it may be. It could be a G-8 summit. It could be an issue dealing with the environment. They are going to say, First of all, before you even get that out, now that you are finished, when are you going to pay back this $682.8 billion you owe me as a country and my people? So the Republican majority, with the White House, has placed us in a situation that we have never been in before. This is a rubber stamp. The Republican majority knows it. It is on the floor every night. Just like this mike is here, this Republican rubber stamp is here. Mr. Speaker, one guarantee. When the Democrats take control of this House, we are going to have a ceremony maybe about 150 yards away from the Capitol building so that we can burn this rubber stamp, so that we can then hold up the Constitution, so that we can hold up article I, section 1 of the U.S. Constitution and say we will legislate. We will have oversight. We will not have Katrina contractors running away with U.S. tax dollars. We will not have a farm field full of trailers and meanwhile we have people in Mississippi and Louisiana homeless. This will not happen. We will not wait, as the Federal Government, for 3 to 4 days and watch people suffer on international television and then come back to Washington, DC, saying that we are sending blankets and ice and we just started. We will be there for the American people. This Constitution here, Article I, section 1, of this Constitution says that we have the legislative powers of this country and it lands here in the Congress, the Congress that consists of the House and the Senate. But we cannot do it in a rubber-stamp atmosphere. If there is a Republican, Independent, Green Party, Democrat, somebody that is thinking about voting, somebody that is about to turn 18, they have to have a problem, Mr. Speaker, in the way this country is being operated. Now, I am going to turn this over to Ms. Wasserman Schultz in a minute, but let's talk about dollars and cents, if we can talk a little bit about the whole domestic piece, the priorities. There are some people that would love for us to talk about the war in Iraq. Well, guess what, there is pain and suffering that is going on right here in the United States of America every day from community to community, need it be a parish or a county, need it be a city or a town, or need it be a suburb, they are going through real issues. Talk about the minimum wage. Here is a sheet right here, Mr. Speaker. This year alone, nine attempts by the Democratic Caucus to raise the minimum wage in America that has not been raised since 1997. Since 1997, $5.15 an hour. You know, it is very, very unfortunate, Mr. Speaker, that that is the fact. The Democratic plan that we have been pushing for a very long time is to move it from that number up to $7.25. But look what happened, Ms. Wasserman Schultz. You would think these are minimum wage increases. Oh, no, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Speaker. These are Members of Congress. Oh, yes. We are starting to buy a couple of new suits, a couple of St. Johns. I am not calling anyone out, I am just saying that is what it is. And the bottom line is that since 1997, the Republican majority has been in control, they have been getting paid, and I mean paid, every year. And I am going to tell you, as a Member of Congress that has to keep a home in Miami and one here in Washington, D.C., it is a strain on Members of Congress. And you know something, I don't think the American people have a real huge problem with the issue of Members of Congress being able to support their families, this, that, and the other. But when we don't support them, when we don't have their back, then that is the problem. And I know, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, you are dying to get in on this, but let me just mention this. 1998, $3,100 for Members of Congress, zero for the American people. $4,600 for U.S. Members of Congress, zero for the American people. $3,800, zero for the American people. $4,900, zero for the American people. 2003 on to 2006, you see the numbers. 2006, $3,100, zero for the American people. Now, let me just make sure I am factual, Mr. Speaker, because that is what we do in the 30-Something Working Group, because this is not about dancing in the end zone. The Republican Congress brought up a bill talking about the minimum wage, and they put together a bill that would not see the light of day in the U.S. Senate, would never see the desk of the President of the United States. But just to say that we passed a bill off the floor, that is what they wanted to do. Well, we called it the Potomac Two-Step. And the bottom line is this, Mr. Speaker. The American people, they don't want slogans, they don't want talk; they want action. And this Republican Congress has not put forth the action. Now, to let you know in very blunt terms as I yield to Ms. Wasserman Schultz, we are going to go 5 minutes and 5 minutes. I am into almost my fifth minute here, but I am going to turn it over to you. Let me just say this. Within the first 100 days of a House majority by the Democrats, the minimum wage will be raised, period. Not a lot of talking, not a lot of dancing around. The bill is already filed in this Congress. But, guess what, the Republican majority doesn't have the will or the desire to pass it. And this is what it means for salaried workers: If the minimum wage moves up to 7.25, then you will see workers that are on salary that are making over the minimum wage, their wages will nine times out of ten go up. Because to be able to get a workforce to what businesses need, they need to pay their workers; that will then help hopefully pay for the cost of health care that they have to pay. Some folks have to make the decision, am I going to have health care or am I going to live? And that is very, very unfortunate. But what has happened in this situation is that the Republican majority has guaranteed that the minimum wage will never be raised, will never deal with the issue of health care because there won't be any dollars to deal with it. So I think it is important, Mr. Speaker, to know exactly where we stand. Homeland security, fully implementing the 9/11 recommendations. Border security agents, the President sent to this Capitol Hill 216 in his budget; we ask for 2,000 border agents to be able to protect our borders just like the 9/11 Commission called for. If they were to implement the Democratic amendments that came to this floor that were voted down in a partisan way, the majority took over, we would have 6,000 new border agents working now on the U.S. border. So when Members come to the floor on the majority side, on the Republican side and start talking about, oh, we are tough because we say we are tough. And the Democrats, they are holding us back. They are in the majority; that is not true. I will go ahead and say it: That is not true, Mr. Speaker. And the bottom line is that, the fact is that we have come to this floor to bring about real security in this country; and we will in a new Congress if the Democrats are in control. Ms. Wasserman Schultz.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Well, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, I think it is important for me to just share some information with the Members, Mr. Speaker, is the fact that what Ms. Wasserman Schultz has just gone through is not only factual, it wasn't written by the Democratic minority, it wasn't written by some person over at the Democratic National Committee. This is from the 9/11 Commission, and they just recently released it, a bipartisan commission. Number two, it is almost not fair, Mr. Speaker, for us to share this information, not only with the Members, but with others, because it is so accurate and it is unfortunate that it is accurate. At no other time in the history of this country have we found ourselves in this posture. Now, Members can come to the floor and start talking about what we are going to do with other countries. We owe other countries money. We are borrowing from other countries like we have never borrowed before in the history of the Republic, and that is the reason why we feel encouraged to come to the floor night after night, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, and put it on printed paper in the Congressional Record. So when historians look at this time and wonder where was the U.S. Congress when all this was happening, I believe that historians are going to look back on this time and say the American people rose up, Democrats, Republicans, independents, those that could not vote that made themselves eligible to vote to stop this from happening. Now, Ms. Wasserman Schultz mentioned something about military preparedness and the fact that we cannot even respond to other issues that may happen in the world. I am on the Armed Services Committee, and we come to the floor to conduct serious business. This is not some sort of news show where someone asks you a question, some sort of trick question, and you try to respond within 3 minutes. This is the U.S. Congress. This is not a 501(c)(3). I talked about that last night. What we have here, Mr. Speaker, is a rubber stamp Congress that is willing to rubber stamp anything that the President sends to Capitol Hill. It is very unfortunate that this is the case. And because of that, we have ourselves in this situation. Under the leadership of the President and the Secretary Rumsfeld, U.S. military readiness has dropped to historic lows. The U.S. Army readiness, in particular, has dropped to levels not seen since 1970 and will continue to be stressed by combat in Iraq which falls most heavily on the Army and Marine Corps. Two-thirds of army operating force, active and reserve, is now reporting in as unready, and there is not a single nondeployment of an army brigade combat team in the United States of America that is ready to be deployed. What is the reference point here? It is not the Democratic National Committee. It is not even the Democratic Caucus. It is the National Security Advisory Group. When? August 1 of 2006. These are individuals that are supposed to be the watchdog of national security. That is with what they are saying. How did this happen, Mr. Speaker? It didn't happen because the Army and Marines said, Hey, we want to overextend ourselves and we want to put ourselves in a position to where every brigade has been deployed to Iraq. This is the situation that we are in when we go alone. Now, let us just put Iraq aside just for a second. When you look at the testimony and those retired generals that are now free to say whatever they want to say since they are no longer in the Department of Defense, and, Mr. Speaker, I must say for the record, Secretary Rumsfeld just said recently, the last couple of days, anyone who comes to him about the issue of redeployment within the Department of Defense can go find another job, in so many words. Was there a chairperson of a subcommittee in Armed Services or the Appropriations Committee as it relates to armed services, the Department of Defense? Was there the Chair of the full Committee on Appropriations in the U.S. House? Was there a Chair of the Armed Services Committee that said wait a minute, hold it, I am sorry? Is this the same administration and the same Secretary of Defense that said we take our lead from the commanders in the field and from those experts that wear the uniform that have made a statement such as that? If I was a four-star general, a three-star general, or want to be a three-star general, a two-star general or a brigadier general or a colonel that wants to one day become a colonel, I think I may step back and say, well, one of two things. Either I am going to be quiet in the Department of Defense in this democracy that we call the United States of America or I am going to retire. Guess what. These generals have retired and they are talking, and they are talking about their frustration. These heroes for our country are now taking it upon themselves because they allowed us to this point to salute one flag, and they said they will give up their careers and they will step out of the Department of Defense to be able to let the American people know what is going on. Look at these generals. Look at them. You would have some Members of Congress who say why are they speaking against the Department of Defense? Why aren't they still in the fight? Well, they are in a fight for democracy and the truth. They are in a fight to make sure that the American people know exactly what is going on. They are in a fight for the very reason why people have fought and died for this country to allow the American people to know better. Now, let me just mention something very quickly because I want to make sure that all of the Members know exactly what they need to know as it relates to the national security plan. Real Security, housedemocrats.gov/30something. You can go on there and get the Real Security plan. Energy independence. Folks talk about Saudi Arabia. We, the Democratic Caucus here in this House, want to invest in the Midwest versus the Middle East. We want to use our natural resources. We want to use coal. We want to use E-85, which can be made out of corn and what have here in the United States of America. Energizing America. Go on housedemocrats.gov. You want to talk about innovation? You want to talk about education? You want to talk about domestic issues? You want to even see quotes from CEOs, Democrats, Republicans, and independents, that are trying to find a workforce innovating America? You want broadband access throughout America? We are nowhere close to where the Republican majority and the White House have said we are going to be as it relates to broadband. Right here: Innovation Agenda. We have six points, Mr. Speaker, in 2006 to make sure that American people know that we have the will and the desire to lead this country in a new direction versus the wrong direction. This is not talk. This is action. There are bills right now filed in the 109th Congress in this second session that will deal with the issue of education, health care, national security, the war in Iraq. We have a plan for the war in Iraq. What is the Republican majority plan? Stay the course? That is one line. Stay the course. Stay the course what? What is your plan? Where is the coalition? You are in control. It is almost like someone driving a car and you are a passenger in the car. You are trying to grab the wheel, but meanwhile someone is there hitting your arm, saying, ``You can't grab the wheel because we are in charge. We paid for this car. We are moving this car in this direction, and this is what we are going to do.'' And the bottom line is that may be okay in a trip from Washington, D.C. to Richmond, Virginia, but it is not okay when you are talking about the United States of America and protecting America. You want to talk about what we want to do as it relates to homeland security? We want to implement what Ms. Wasserman Schultz talked about, the bipartisan commission, the full 9/11 recommendations. What are they? Well, we have got individuals going to the plane, giving up hand sanitizers, guzzling down water, taking off shoes, belts, and what have you, having to leave a picture frame or something there at the Transportation Security Agency, TSA, there at the gate. Meanwhile a container comes in on a truck, a cargo container, goes right in the belly of the plane. It could be packed full of explosives. We will never know. But it does not satisfy me in any way to come to the floor after a terrorist attack happens to say I told you so. That is not what the point is here. The point is it is protecting America by doing what the 9/11 Commission called for. What else did they call for? Something very simple. Other countries are doing it. A 100 percent container check on cargo ships that are coming into the ports of the United States of America. Oh, wow, that is something simple. That are then loaded on trucks and that are going out to the United States of America in towns and cities and counties and urban areas throughout America. The terrorists are patient, very patient. 9/11 took a long time to plan. Why should we wait to learn what the terrorists' new plan may be? There are Members on this floor that are making personal attacks on other Members of Congress. What are those personal attacks? Well, you know, we feel that the Democrats are holding us back and are they for the terrorists or are they for the United States of America? That is silly. I am just going to go ahead and say that is silly. I won't even go so far as saying that the Republican majority is helping the terrorists. I wouldn't say anything like that. But that is what happens, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, when you are gasping for air. When it is desperation.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to come before the House once again. As you know, the 30-Something Working Group has been coming to the floor for 3\1/2\ years with great intensity in the last 2 years because a lot has been happening to America versus for America as it relates to national policy in the area of health care, education, economic development, helping small businesses and large businesses provide health care insurance for their workers. We can go from as large a company as General Motors having to cut back on their employee workforce and having to make major cutbacks at U.S. companies because of a lack of a policy dealing with health care. You can go all of the way down to the small business that only has 5 or 6 employees that are encouraging their employees to get on Medicaid because they can't afford to give them a package that is affordable for those individuals to provide health care insurance for their families. Those of us in the 30-Something Working Group, we don't come to the floor to say Republicans, Democrats, Independents, what have you. We come to the floor to give the American people the straight talk and also Members of Congress straight talk about what they are not doing for their constituents and Americans in general. We are the leader of the free world as it relates to a democracy, but our democracy and economy is suffering because of a lack of oversight, a lack of adhering to Article I, section 1, of the U.S. Constitution that says we are supposed to be the legislative body. Mr. Speaker, I must say there are a number of Republican Members that are coming down to the floor because I can tell you, if I was on the majority side, I would be quite nervous right now. When the election is 50-some-odd days away and the American people are looking around and saying, why don't we have the essentials, such as a health care policy? Why do we have a number of red and blue States suing the Federal Government over lack of funding for Leave No Child Behind? Why do small businesses have to tell their employees to get on Medicaid, a government program, when they could provide health care insurance for their employees? Why do we have veterans that are going to see a specialist at a VA hospital and have to wait over 3 weeks, in some instances 2 months, to see that specialist when they have a problem? Those individuals shed blood and watched their friends and colleagues and comrades die. Those individuals come here to the Washington Mall, right down the street from this Capitol, to see the names and sometimes visualize the faces of those individuals who lost their lives. These are individuals that may not have legs or arms. Some are living the memory of what they went through, but yet they have to stand in line. If I was a part of the Republican majority, I would have an issue as relates to the wrong direction that they have led this country. I wouldn't say the Republican majority has led the country in the wrong direction. They have followed the President in a rubber stamp atmosphere. They haven't stood up to the President and said Article I, section 1 of the U.S. Constitution says we have to legislate, we have to have oversight. So shall it be written, so shall it be done, by the President of the United States, and now we find ourselves in a situation that we have never been in the history of the United States of America. This is not political rhetoric, this is the fact. This is a fact. Now we have a President that is running around here saying that he wants to privatize Social Security, if he has a Congress that would deliver it, a majority, in the next Congress. Now, I can tell you, the President came in, he had privatization, he had 2 privatization commissions that went out and tried to find information on how they can privatize Social Security. We spent a lot of time in the first half of the of the 109th Congress last year trying out how we could please the President, the majority, how we could please the President by privatizing Social Security that would cut benefits for survivors, that would cut benefits for retirees and cut benefits for individuals that became disabled at the time of war. The only winners in the privatization of Social Security would have been Wall Street to the tune of $530 billion. I can speak boldly here today. I don't have to look at notes, because I already know this. Those of us on the 30-Something Working Group had well over 1,000 townhall meetings throughout the country with a coalition of Americans, Democrats and Republicans to push back the President and the rubber stamp Congress and not allowing seniors not to have that security that they signed up for. So I must say that this is not rhetoric, this is fact. I just want to mention something, since I am joined here with my friend, Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the 30-Something Working Group. We don't have to quote what Democrats have said about this Republican majority. We can quote the past Speaker of this House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich. There is not a day that you pick up the paper and he says he doesn't understand what is going on in Congress right now. This is an individual, that led the quote, unquote, Republican revolution that took place. They were supposed to balance the budget, they were supposed to make sure that they have accountability, they were to make sure that they have maximum oversight. None of that has happened. If I can just take, about, maybe 4 minutes, and just kind of go down the line, because I know the previous speakers kind of painted this picture that the Democrats are stopping something great from happening. Well, I just want to break this down for the Members in case we don't understand the majority and minority rule here. We can't bring a bill to the floor, not that we don't have the desire to do so, it is because we are in the minority. The bottom line we are in the minority, especially in this partisan House of Representatives, because only the majority can allow bipartisanship, true bipartisanship. We have already said, if given the opportunity within a little bit over 50 days, that we would work in a bipartisan way starting in January, tackling the major issues. Now, here are the facts, the only party in this House that has balanced the U.S. budget, the Democratic majority at that time, without one Republican vote. We balanced the budget. We were not borrowing from foreign nations. If someone wants to ask a question, why don't we have a true coalition in the war on Iraq? We don't we have the cooperation that we need to be able to go after Osama bin Laden and Afghanistan where poppy plants, I must say, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, is the main funder of the al Qaeda network in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, we have troops and coalition forces that are saying that we need help, and we cannot respond. The reason why we cannot respond, because we have this war of choice in Iraq. Over 2,000 Americans have lost their lives, the second largest coalition there outside of, without looking at notes, without looking at notes, the largest coalition that is there outside of the U.S. forces are, what, U.S. contractors, at the tune of over $300 billion that has already been spent on the war, as far as I can see. Republicans on the majority side are saying, the super majority of Republicans, because I do believe a few of them have spoken out on the fact that we need a plan in Iraq. The plan is, is what the President has said, stay the course. If I was a CEO of a company, and we overspend, mismanagement, scandals as it relates to U.S. stockholders, I would say to the U.S. taxpayers in our case that have lost money, report after report, attacks are up in Iraq. We have the President of Iran and the Prime Minister of Iraq, look at this right here. It is not a handshake, this is embracing. These two countries were at war. I have been to Iraq. I have gone in the parade stadium that Saddam Hussein had where the helmets are embedded in the ground there as you march into that parade stadium, stepping on the helmets of Iranian soldiers, that they defeated Iran in past conflicts, and, look. This is the Prime Minister of Iraq that came and spoke at that podium, here, that the U.S. taxpayers paid for, democracy over 224 years, came there and spoke to this U.S. Congress in a joint session. I was sitting right there. I remember it vividly. He had very disparaging comments to say as it relates to Israel, and he has gone on to Iran. What happened at that meeting, Ms. Wasserman Schultz? He said, we have a bond, we have cooperation, and we are going to work together as it relates to defense for the region. Here is a man, the President of Iran, that has said, I want to debate the U.S. President. Not only do I want to debate the U.S. President, we are willing to do everything that we have to do, and he has nuclear weapons right now that are in development that are pointed at our allies in the Middle East and could be a threat to the United States of America. When we started talking about the facts, we have a notebook of facts. As a matter of fact, we have a whole milk carton here of facts. The fact is that the Republican majority can't come when they have full control. It couldn't be better. It could not be better. How can you have the majority in the Senate, a majority in the U.S. House, the presidency of the United States of America, all of the cabinet secretaries are on board, and it is a streamline. It is a streamline of rubber stamping. The President sits in the Oval Office, and we have evidence that the private sector is welcome to the Oval Office, those individuals, special interests, I wouldn't say private sector, I say special interests that are sitting at the table, that are taking out their pens and writing policy, and they send it to Capitol Hill. When they send it to Capitol Hill, they are met at the front door. The Republican leadership says, Mr. President, if you say that this is the right thing to do, without a hearing, if a hearing even takes place, because we have had bills that have come through the door of the U.S. Capitol, and have been on the floor by the afternoon, this brings a whole new meaning, Members, to that old cartoon that says, I am just a bill on Capitol Hill, and it goes through a process. Guess what, that whole cartoon has to change now, because that is not the case. It talks about the House and the Senate, and it says it goes to the President, the President vetoes it, it comes back to the House and Senate, they want an override, and it becomes law. But in this new version on Capitol Hill, first of all it starts with the writing of the bill of a special interest here in Washington, D.C. The special interests write the bill and someone over in the White House says, oh, would you, okay. That is fine. This is good. Okay, done. That is not a democracy. It comes here, and it goes through the process, and it starts with a special interest. So we have to rewrite that cartoon. I look forward to Ms. Wasserman Schultz. You said tonight you wanted to talk a little bit about the homeland. You ran out of time last night as to some of the facts. I also have some other facts over here, but I think it is very, very important, as we start looking at www.HouseDemocrats.gov/30Something, our whole plan as it relates to moving America in a new direction versus the wrong direction. Like I said at the beginning, I would be very nervous if I was a Member of the majority side. I would be very nervous, and I would run down to the floor and take every minute that I can take, every hour that I can take on the floor, trying to come up with the words of how they explain why things are not what they should be in the war in Iraq, in Afghanistan as it relates to, you know, Osama bin Laden releasing audiotapes and members of his regime, audiotapes constantly, videotapes, why we don't have health care in America, why do we have a number of red and blue States suing the government, lack of Federal education funding, why small businesses can't provide health care, why we have an out-of-control deficit. Why don't we have bipartisanship here in the U.S. House of Representatives that the American people have asked for? Why do we have veterans that are waiting for weeks, months sometimes, for health care? Why, in our own words, why aren't we dealing with meaningful legislation in the last 8 days of this Congress?

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Actually it was Boston College, and it was with the University of Miami.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. We are going to lay this on the table here, so the U.S. taxpayers know what they are paying for and also the Members know what they are paying for.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Thank you, Ms. Wasserman Schultz. I want to thank the 30-Something Working Group for all the hard work. And we will be back next week, Mr. Speaker. We would like to thank the Democratic leader for allowing us to have the time.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor Rabbi Solomon Schiff who, after more than 40 years of public service, interfaith cooperation and community achievement will be retiring from his leadership positions with the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. By any standard, Rabbi Schiff has had a remarkable career. He has served as Executive Vice President of the Rabbinical Association of Greater Miami for 42 years and as Director of Chaplaincy for the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. He has served as Chairman of the Dade County Community Relations Board, as President of the National Association of Jewish Chaplains and as Director of Chaplaincy for Mount Sinai Medical Center. Throughout his career, Rabbi Schiff has been honored for his dedication and community leadership. He has been awarded the Distinguished Community Leadership Service Award from the National Conference of Community and Justice and the Peacemaker Award from St. Thomas University. Rabbi Schiff received these awards for his efforts to develop an open dialogue between the Christian and Jewish communities in the Miami area. Rabbi Schiff was recognized as the ``2005 Man of the Year'' by the Men's Club of Douglas Gardens and has received a Special Recognition from the Founders of the Miami Jewish Home and Hospital for the Aged at Douglas Gardens. Rabbi Schiff also has made great contributions to the community through his service. He was appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1992 to serve on the ``We Will Rebuild Committee.'' This committee helped restore the areas in South Florida that were severely damaged by Hurricane Andrew. Lawton Chiles, the late Governor of Florida, appointed Rabbi Schiff to serve on a task force to study the problem of homelessness in Miami. Thanks to that task force, two new homeless assistance centers were created in Miami-Dade County. More recently, Florida Governor Jeb Bush appointed him to the Governor's Faith-Based Advisory Board. Rabbi Schiff also has served as a guest chaplain for the United States Senate in July of 1999 and for the United States House of Representatives on several occasions. We pay tribute to him for his service and thank his wife, Shirley, his three grown sons, Elliot, Jeffrey and Steven, and their seven grandchildren for sharing him with a grateful community. Mr. Speaker, Rabbi Schiff has set a high standard of service for us all. I wish him happiness and success in the future.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Thank you, Mr. Ryan.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor coming before the House once again, and I must say that I am excited about being here tonight. It is another great day in this great country of ours. And as you know, the 30-something Working Group, we come to the floor to share with the American people, not just Democrats but Republicans, Independents, those that are thinking about voting, those that have been turned off by political processes who are thinking about being engaged in the political process once again. To those Americans who are not registered to vote, I would encourage them to register to vote. They can still vote in the upcoming November elections because there is a lot being said on the floor, Mr. Speaker, and we talked last night, the 30-something Working Group. We took 2 hours last night talking about the initiatives that we have with our Real Security Plan, talking about the memory and the sacrifice of those that gave their lives on 9/11 and those that are still living with the effects of 9/11, whether it be losing a family member or a first responder or someone that worked in the World Trade Center or was around the plane going down in Pennsylvania or the Pentagon here in Washington, D.C., those that are still living through it. Today we had a resolution on the floor, Mr. Speaker, that dealt with addressing the memory of those that lost their lives on 9/11 and things that we have to do. The Republican majority found it fit to kind of put in a resolution about some things that they thought that they accomplished as it relates to making America safer. Some of that I join with them on as an American and as a Member of Congress, but a lot of it has not been achieved. We have the 9/11 Commission Report that came out that said that we have to not only inspect 100 percent of cargo containers that are on ships and 100 percent of those cargo containers that go in the bellies of airplanes that are flying throughout the United States of America, it is still not accomplished today. We still have a dismal amount of Border Patrol officers to protect American borders. Democrats, we have asked for 2,000 Border Patrol officers; the President's budget request to this Congress was only 215 or 216 Border Patrol officers. Now, the Republican majority can come to the floor night after night, day after day, do 5-minute speeches, 1-minute speeches, or take a special order and talk a good game. But I used to be a football player, Mr. Speaker, I played for Florida A&M Rattlers. I was an outside linebacker. And before the game, you would read all about what the other team is saying and all of the talking and taunting. And then you have folks that tailgate before the game, and the bus would roll in and they would talk about what they are going to do to us, and then the coach would talk about how better the other team is. But it really doesn't count until that whistle blows and that kickoff takes place and that you have an opportunity to get out there and hit somebody. And when you hit somebody and when you run the ball down the field and you end up winning the game, all of that talk was for naught. But what is unfortunate about this situation, even though I use that analogy, Mr. Speaker, this is not a game, this is for real. This is flesh and blood. This is flesh and blood. And the bottom line is, is that one can come to the floor and talk about, well, you know, Democrats and this, that, and the other, and they are holding us back. What are we holding the Republican majority back from, Mr. Speaker? That is what I want to know. That is the prevailing question here. The bottom line, the Republicans in this House have been in this control for double digit years. So who is holding them back? Now, let's talk a little bit about control. I want to make sure that every Member understands what control and majority means. The majority means that any amendment, any bill, any appropriations that you want funded will be funded because you are in the majority. You have more numbers than the Democrats do at this particular time in the House. Why are the American people saying that they want change? Why are the American people saying that they want to move in a new direction? They want to move in a new direction because they want accountability. They want oversight. They want Article I, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution to be adhered to. They want to make sure that their vote counts here in the U.S. House of Representatives. Right now, it is just a lot of talk. And I can tell you, as a Member of the House and someone that studies what happens here on this floor and what does not happen here on this floor, I feel it is my obligation not as a Member of Congress but as an American to be able to come to this floor and say that it is just not happening. We can talk about the facts, and like we do every night we talk about the facts. We have the vote number, down to the vote number when we start talking about border protection. No one can come on this floor in the Republican majority side and say that we have done an outstanding job as it relates to protecting our borders, period, dot. They cannot because they have not done it, Mr. Speaker, and they know it. So I guess spending the time of 9/11, the fifth anniversary, coming to the floor, having control of a resolution dealing with the issue on 9/11, you can put anything that you want to put in it because you have the majority. It doesn't necessarily mean that it is true. And if the Americans want to move in a new direction, they will have an opportunity. And as we start looking at this whole piece on a new direction and real security, you go on HouseDemocrats.gov. I challenge the Republican majority to go on HouseDemocrats.gov, I challenge the Republicans to pick up the Democrats' bill here on this floor that fully implements the 9/11 recommendations. I ask the Republicans to do that, because it was a bipartisan commission that is respected by this whole country, had a Republican chair and a Democratic vice chair, and had former Members of Congress, members of the Intelligence Committee, the National Security Director come before them and the President of these United States come before them, 9/11 survivors come before them, clandestine organizations that we have within the Federal Government come before them. We have a number of individuals that put forth testimony, frontline first responders that came before them, individuals in academia who have been looking at this issue of homeland security come before them, and they put forth this document called the 9/11 Report, which was a book. Americans can go out to Barnes and Noble or what have you and go out and buy it, go on Yahoo and buy it. It was ready and accessible, and a number of Americans picked up and read it. And in that book, in that text and body: Safety for America. What do we do in a democracy when the Congress put forth in the Commission to find out what we need to do? We try to implement at least 95 percent or 100 percent of it. But as I stand here today, Mr. Speaker, very little of that has been implemented as it relates to real security. The Brits ended up intercepting a plot as relates to liquid explosives. Just today, Mr. Speaker, I am the ranking member of the Oversight Committee on Homeland Security, Management Integration and Oversight, and I must say that that in that committee the Under Secretary said, well, we are now starting to do tests as it relates to liquid explosives, 5 years later, Mr. Speaker. Foot dragging process. And we start talking about the whole issue of how do we get technology involved and how do we get industry involved in helping us resolve threats to the United States, 5 years later. Do you know why the Department of Homeland Security is foot dragging on this issue? It is the fact that they don't have Members of Congress that are willing to call them out on the carpet and say that we are willing t protect Americans now. We don't want to wait to be a Monday morning quarterback. Mr. Ryan, we don't want to talk about, well, you know, we could have, should have done it, and then we have another commission, it may not be named 9/11, it may be 10/11 that will come forth with a report saying that we found the Department of Homeland Security didn't prioritize the issue on liquid explosives because they felt that there were other threats that are out there. Well, the bottom line is this: The oversight is not happening, and this Republican Congress has rubber stamped everything that President Bush has handed down and said, so shall it be written, so shall it be done. Let's do it the way you originally wrote it; we are not going to ask any questions, you are the President of the United States. Forget about our legislative responsibilities, forget about oversight, and forget about moving in a new direction. The bottom line is this. The leader took this podium on this floor here today down in the well and said, if you really want to honor those individuals that have lost their lives on 9/11, if you want to honor those first responders, if you want to honor every American that is fighting abroad as it relates to Afghanistan and the war in Iraq, then implement what the 9/11 Commission called for. We have got American passengers, we have individuals, law-abiding citizens taking off shoes, giving up hand sanitizer, gulping down water before they get through security screening; meanwhile, containers unchecked, unchecked, there can be 10,000 explosives in the container. We would never know it because we haven't prioritized. We haven't said that we are willing to implement what the 9/11 Commission called for. I don't want to give the 9/11 Commission an opportunity to say, we told the Congress to do it and they didn't do it. I wish they would say we told the Republican majority to do it and they didn't do it. So, one can get on the floor and say all they have to say, but the facts are this. The fact is that they have not implemented the 9/11 Commission Report. They have not implemented making sure that we go beyond 6 percent of containers that are going throughout the United States of America on 18-wheelers. I used to be a State trooper. They move throughout this country, in the heartland of this country, into the ports of major cities, and they are unchecked. I don't want to be able to say I told you so. I want to see it implemented. Now, Mr. Speaker, I said last night, Mr. Ryan, I am done with asking the Republican majority to do the right thing. They have had double digit years to do it. They don't have the will nor the desire to do it. But they do have the will to come to the floor, Mr. Ryan, and to try to say, well, you know, we are doing all we can and the Democrats are holding us back. How can we hold the Republican majority back from securing America? That is not possible when you are in the minority. The bottom line is, is that Republicans, Independents, Democrats, those that are thinking about voting, those that have not voted in a number of years will show up at the polls to put this country in a new direction. If you allow this kind of landslide policy making, this K Street Project policy making, pay-to-play, here on this floor, then we are going to find ourselves in a dismal situation. I don't have to say it. Republicans are saying it, Independents are saying it, the media is saying it as you pick up the paper, as you turn on the news. So, you know, it is not like this is a Democrat-Republican issue. I will go ahead and give the benefit of the doubt, Mr. Speaker, and say that there are some Republicans that see it the way that we see it on this side of the aisle that we need to do better by the American people. But, guess what, they are not in the majority; they are not in the leadership of the American Congress. They are not the individuals that move policy through this process. We have the will and the desire to work in a bipartisan way if given the opportunity to make sure that we honor our member and women that have served in the military, that are now serving right now. There are men and women that have sand in their teeth. Mr. Ryan and I have been to Iraq, I have been to Afghanistan, I have been in the Middle East talking to these leaders, I have been to Central Command. I have been there in Qatar, and I have talked to these individuals, and they are dedicated and they have the will and the desire to follow up. But when we have a Secretary of Defense that is saying that he is going to fire the next person that starts talking about how do we move out of Iraq and how do we replace the force there to be able to empower the Iraqi people, I have a problem with that. And the only reason why Secretary Rumsfeld is not front and center in front of the Armed Services Committee is the fact that Republicans have control of this House; otherwise, there will be Article I, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution that is blood, sweat, and tears that are on that Constitution right now that he will be front and center making a statement like that. The Secretary of Defense of the United States of America said, if one other person comes to him talking about how are we going to have this transfer of power, how are we going to draw down and redeploy U.S. troops, that they are going to be fired. That is not a democracy, that is kingdom politics, Mr. Speaker. And I will tell you this. The only people that can bring the kind of paradigm shift that we need in America right now is the American people. We can't count on the Republican Congress to do it. They have already shown that they cannot do it. The attacks on U.S. troops are well above 700 attacks a week and climbing. Al Qaeda is sending more troops, more individuals to Iraq to train to carry out terror throughout the globe. And the bottom line is, the President said some sort of statement yesterday. Well, you know, if we were to redeploy troops or we were to leave Iraq, then they will follow us to the United States. Well, you know something? We have this big department that is called the Department of Homeland Security that is supposed to protect Americans. And I can tell you this, under a Democratic controlled Congress we have already said within the 100 hours that full implementation of the 9/11 Commission Report will be implemented by this House and the Senate. We have already said it and we will do it, just like we balanced the budget without one Republican vote. Mr. Speaker, the facts are on this side of the aisle. The will and the desire is on this side of the aisle. I am excited. I thank God that He preserved life long enough for me to make it here tonight to be able to share the sentiments on behalf of those that are on the National Security Committee, on behalf of U.S. troops in Afghanistan right now that are saying, ``We need help.'' On behalf of those veterans, individuals who can't even walk straight right now, individuals that are still going through reflection, or memorizing what they went through in past conflicts. Those individuals in the PFWs, those individuals that possess what this country is all about and allowed us to salute one flag. On behalf of them, Mr. Speaker, I come tonight with the truth, to say we stand up for those individuals and for those Americans that prayed up our troops over the years: World War I, World War II. You name it. Korea. You name it. Grenada. You name it. Somalia. You name it. Gulf War I. You name it. We come to the floor on behalf of those individuals, those individuals who are veterans right now that have to wait twice a month for the veterans' assistance center to open, for the VA clinic to open in their rural America area, for those individuals that have to wait 4 months to be able to see an ophthalmologist, who served our country. We come to the floor for them. We come to the floor on behalf of those families that are praying for their loved ones that are in harm's way right now and making sure that we don't allow their sacrifice and their commitment to go to the side because someone came to the floor of the House to say that, Oh, well, yeah, we have al Qaeda and this, that and the other. We have to worry about those Democrats over there. You don't need to worry about us, Republican majority. You need to worry about the American people and what they think and what they feel. And when they show up on Tuesday, come this November, they will let you know how they feel. They no longer want a rubber-stamp Congress. They want a Congress that is going to legislate and oversight on behalf of the American people, regardless of who they may be. And so, Mr. Speaker, I am excited about being here tonight. I think I have said that about three times. I think it is important that we continue to come to the floor and give validation to those individuals that need the representation, if they are in our districts or not. They are Americans and they deserve it.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I have to come in at this point

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Ryan, I want to say that Ms. Wasserman Schultz is going to get an opportunity to go through her homeland security piece when we are on the floor again. I want to encourage members to go on HouseDemocrats.gov and get a copy of the real security plan that we have here. We even have it in Spanish. Also energizing America is on there, and also an innovation agenda that has a lot of CEOs and leaders in the education field. They say they endorse our plan. With that, we thank the Democratic leadership for allowing us to have this time. It is an honor to address the House once again.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Ryan, I don't give the President total credit for all of this. He couldn't do it by himself. You have to have a rubber stamp Congress to give you full power, full power to be able to take the country down the track it has gone down. And the bottom line is that a Republican majority, from the leadership on down to the newly elected member of the Republican conference, has to take credit for giving the President the kind of power that he has right now. We are fighting wars abroad for ``democracy,'' when here at home we don't celebrate that very democracy that so many people speak of. We have individuals that are on their third and fourth deployment. I am on the Armed Services Committee, so I get the reports. I get the letters from my constituents saying my husband, my wife, my mother, my dad, my niece, my uncle, my next-door neighbor is on his way back to Iraq again. Because we went alone. We didn't go with a true coalition. So I think it would be hard, if I was a part of the Republican majority, to try to muster up some talking points for the floor right now; to be able to say, well, okay, some of this stuff is not believable, so let's try to attack some members of the Democratic caucus. Let's try to muster up and embellish a ``record'' on possibly being weak on terrorism or being weak on national security. That's where the Republican majority is now. Mr. Speaker, they are gasping for political air right now. But you know what is so important about this issue and this discussion about national security is that it is supposed to be nonpolitical. And, unfortunately, it is. And that is because the majority hasn't allowed bipartisanship in this House for so many years, and so they can hang it around their neck and say it is our war. It is our failure as it relates to national security and border security. Don't act like it is a crisis right now. You allowed it to happen under your watch. You have been the rubber stamp Congress. Now, Mr. Ryan and Ms. Wasserman Schultz, let me just tell you what the rubber stamp Congress has accomplished borrowing $1.05 trillion from foreign nations in 4 years. In more than 224 years of this country's history, with 42 presidents. $1.01 trillion they were able to borrow in 4 years, and this Republican Congress and the President has allowed that to happen. These are the countries here that own a part of the American apple pie: Japan, China, the U.K., the Caribbean, Taiwan, Germany, and OPEC nations. You know, this whole oil thing that we will talk about in a minute. Korea and Canada. They all have their hands in the pockets of the U.S. taxpayers, not because of the U.S. taxpayers but because of the Republican majority's out-of-control spending. Oil companies? Oh, wow. At this time in history, when they unearth what happened under this Republican majority and this Presidency, they will see these record breaking profits. There was a meeting in the White House, I have the article to prove it, and I talk about it all time. It was a special meeting that took place in the White House, and the Vice President's aides and all met. And then the policymakers came here to the Congress, to the rubber stamp Congress. Now, let me set this up here, because we believe in the 30-something Working Group, in third-party validators. Washington Post, Wednesday, November 16, 2005, White House document shows that executives from big oil companies met with Vice President Cheney's Energy Task Force in 2001, something long expected by environmentalists but denied as recently as last week by the White House. Last week, industry officials testified before Congress. Document obtained by the Post on November 2005 shows that officials from Exxon Mobil, Phillips, Shell Oil Companies, and BP of America met in the White House complex with Cheney aides to develop a national energy policy, parts of which became law, and parts of which are still being debated in Congress. That was 2001, Mr. Speaker. Look what happened: 2002, $34 billion, record-breaking profits; 2003, $53 billion; 2004, $84 billion; 2005, $113 billion in profits for oil companies. Meanwhile, average Americans are spending through the nose and trying to make it to work and to drop their kids off. Look what happened here. This is what happened under the Republican majority and a rubber stamp Congress. So shall it be written and so shall it be done. E-85, we talk about alternative fuels, flex vehicles. Every magazine I open talks about flex vehicles. Here is the bottom line. The Republican Congress have allowed these oil companies to be able to do anything they want to do when they want to do it. This is an actual pump here at an Exxon-Mobil station. It says you cannot use your Mobil credit card to buy E-85. Meanwhile, we can continue to feed off the Saudi Arabian Middle East, what got us in this thing in the first place policies. You can use your oil card there. You can buy a bag of chips, you can buy a carton cigarettes, but E-85 that is produced in the Midwest versus the Middle East, you cannot use your Mobil credit card for that. And on retirement packages, and I don't know very much about Lee Raymond, but the bottom line is he is a retired executive from Exxon- Mobil with a $398 million retirement package and a $2 million tax break. This is what happens with a Republican majority. Again, the Republican majority rubber stamp, don't worry about balancing the budget. Democrats, we tried to balance the budget. We have done it before. We have tried to do it under this Republican majority. Not one Republican vote to balance the budget on rollcall vote 87, March 17, 2005. Ranking Member Spratt and the Budget Committee put it forth again. Failed. Not one Republican vote on rollcall vote 91 in 2004. Their will and desire is not there. The American people deserve balance. Minimum wage. Yes, there was some bill that came up before we left for the break to talk about minimum wage, a bill that the Republican majority knew that the Senate would not take up and would never make it to the President's desk. But because we were hammering them on it, they said let's pass this. They added all kinds of stuff. It is called the Potomac two-step. This chart, the bottom line is these are not minimum wage increases, these are increases for Members of Congress. This is our pay. This is what we make. Oh, look at them. Since 1997 there hasn't been an increase in the minimum wage, and you not a minimum wage worker right now, and I am not talking to the Members of Congress, I am talking to the American people, the bottom line is if the minimum wage goes up, and that means if you are a salaried worker, then your wages will go up. But the bottom line is that it is a fact that the Republican Congress has said not over our dead body. We are going to get our increase, but we are not going to give the American people a minimum wage increase. It goes on and on and on. I am going to close with this, the Prime Minister of Iraq and the President of Iran. Mr. Delahunt brought this picture out last night. I don't care whichever way you cut, $300 billion of spending, over 2,000 troops, thousands and thousands of American troops injured, here in Washington, D.C. ``stay the course,'' no plan. The Secretary of Defense says if you talk about or say anything about redeployment of troops or withdrawing from Iraq, you are fired. No question from the Congress, no response from the Congress. The Secretary of Defense is not called to the Hill immediately. The Republican Congress, what are they saying? They are saying nothing, Mr. Speaker. So accountability is not there. They are embracing and guess what, this is a la the U.S. taxpayer through the Republican majority because of a lack of diplomacy and a lack of plan and going to a war of choice versus after Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan and giving those troops in Afghanistan the support they need. So Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Ryan, I rest my case. The bottom line is that was not a message for Democrats or Republicans. It was not a message for Independents or the Green Party or other party affiliations. That is a message for Americans. The bottom line is whatever you may feel, if you are a member of the Republican Executive Committee or you have always voted Republican or you always voted Independent, you have to have issues with what the facts are. I yield to Ms. Wasserman Schultz.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is over at the Department of Defense, it is almost like having what they call a 501(c)(3), kind of a community group that goes out and does good on behalf of the community. You go out and you pick board members to be on your board of this 501(c)(3). Let's just say it is the Boys Club or the Girls Club of America. You are the chairman of the board. You are saying, ``I'm going to get everyone that says yes and agrees with me. I don't want anyone to disagree with me.'' We do know for any great organization that you need individuals that are going to question your original thoughts. What we have now in America, in the Department of Defense and in this government, this Federal Government of ours, is a ``yes'' board of directors. The U.S. Congress, the Republican majority, is a ``yes'' board. They are a rubber-stamp board. They do anything and everything the President of the United States says, does, or whoever his advisers may say we should do. But what is unfortunate is the fact that we are the superpower of the world and we are the United States of America. This is not the Boys and Girls Club. This is not One-Two-Three 501(c)(3), we want to do good for you. This is national security. This is protecting women and children. This is making sure that our troops that have gone in past conflicts, that their memory is not stepped upon. This is making sure that individuals have health care. This is making sure that small businesses are able to provide health care. This is making sure that we balance the budget. This is not a 501(c)(3). This is the government of the United States of America. And when you have the Secretary of Defense saying, ``If anyone comes to me that doesn't believe in what I believe in, you can get out of here. If you want to talk about an exit strategy or redeployment of troops in Iraq, you can't be around me. You're fired.'' And all you hear is cricket sounds from the Republican majority. Quiet. No one is saying anything. No one is doing anything. No one called a hearing. No one called the Secretary to the United States Congress to say, ``Excuse me, Mr. Secretary. Wait a minute. I heard you give speeches saying that whatever the men and women need and the commanders need on the ground in Iraq, that you're here to hear their call. You want to hear from them.'' The President of these United States, the Commander in Chief, said, ``Whatever our commanders tell us on the ground or over at the Pentagon, we're here to take on their recommendations.'' But, Mr. Speaker, things have gotten so bold now, because no one is here to question kingdom politics here in Washington, D.C. So shall it be written, so shall it be done politics from the White House and from the Pentagon. And so that the Secretary of Defense feels so confident that he can publicly say, anyone who has anything to say about redeployment of troops in the Pentagon, they are gone. That is not a democracy. That is a rubber-stamp democracy.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. You are making a great point, but I just have to come in at this point.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Yes, I do, Mr. Delahunt.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. If we can focus on this picture here, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, you raised a very good question, because when Mr. Ryan and I went to Iraq, we went through the whole Saddam Hussein parade area where they have the podium, usually he would have the gun, and the troops would be marching which, and they will be, you know, whatever, little missile that they may have, will parade on along. But as you go into that parade route, the helmets of Iranian soldiers that were killed by Iraqi soldiers, are embedded into the ground of that parade route so that they can step on the helmets, which, in the Middle East, is disrespect when you take the bottom of your shoe, and, you know, like, slap it or hit a picture or image of someone. That's the kind of hatred that these two countries have for one another. Let me also say, which is also important, that Iraq and Iran, it is interesting that Iran, a lot of the insurgents, are coming across from Iraq and Syria and other countries into Iraq. That has never happened before prior to the U.S. invasion. There are a number of other things that are false, but I would go back even further. I am no longer, as a Member of Congress, concerned about what happens in the White House as it relates to the President's decisions. I am concerned, as what is not happening here in this Chamber, and what is not happening in the other Chamber, as it relates to the oversight in the war on Iraq. I am very concerned about that because in our Constitution, could someone just bring the Constitution in. I want to hold it up for a moment so we are reminded it is not just a rough draft, it is something that people died for and defended in this country the Constitution calls for three plans of government. When someone tramples a U.S. code or Constitution, it is the Supreme Court that is supposed to stand up on their behalf. When we have a White House that is willing to do anything they have, and you have a rubber stamp Congress, I missed my rubber stamp during the break, a rubber stamp Congress that is rubber stamping everything this administration does, that is what you get. You get those kinds of pictures, you get Members of the majority side coming to the floor saying things they know are not true, with all due respect. I don't mean to say this. The American people know the facts are here, they pick up the paper, they watch the news. I just wanted to say that conflict that you pointed out saying how did this happen. I mean, that is worse than a family feud. This goes back for years and years and years. Now, I have my Constitution here. The bottom line is, we need to follow this. People need to vote for the Constitution. You need to vote for what we said we wanted in this country, what we stand for and people have died for. We need to make sure that we bring balance back.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. And, Mr. Delahunt, as we close here, I believe Ms. Wasserman Schultz is going to claim that next hour so we will continue. Democrats, we call for the redeployment, a number of Members and some Republicans, redeployment of U.S. troops. Due to the fact that Mr. Ryan talked so eloquently about section 1, Article I of the Constitution that says we have legislative powers, but it seems the Republican majority forgets about that. Thus far, the new Pentagon report shows that the situation is worse in Iraq. Every day we go now, the attacks are up to 700 attacks per week, 792 attacks. We also have U.S. troops and taxpayers continuing to pay a high price for the war in Iraq. We are approaching 2,700 U.S. troops dead, 20,000 wounded, and the U.S. taxpayers are paying more than $300 billion on the war in Iraq alone. That picture next to you, Mr. Delahunt, is very revealing, these two quote/unquote leaders are embracing that the U.S. has questions with.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Ryan, we are showing you a level of respect here today.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Yes, I am. I spoke at their dinner.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I am an honorary Rotarian.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. But we left, and now we have commanders on the ground in Afghanistan saying, we are losing ground now. We need help now. But guess what, Madam Speaker? War number two, that has nothing to do with the war on terror but now has become a war on terror, or we are trying to connect it, and the President spent almost more time trying to connect the reason why we went into Iran with 9/11. And that is not the case, and I think everybody knows it. The Taliban wasn't in Iraq. They weren't there, Madam Speaker. They have operatives there now as it relates to al-Qaeda. That is after we invaded.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. They are training there and becoming stronger.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. And they are going back and training. I am going to yield to you, Mr. Delahunt, but I know it is hard because this stuff is so much in the face of the American people, but we want to make sure that we break it down. But let me just make one more point, please. Let me just try to get this out and then I will happily yield, Mr. Delahunt. The fact that we have two wars going on, and the Democratic leader of the Armed Services Committee that Mr. Ryan and I serve on, Mr. Ike Skelton, he came to the floor, and I have his statement right here. It was a 5-minute speech he gave last week, and I heard him give this speech last week on the two wars. Right here on this floor, Mr. Delahunt, we were standing right over there, I said, Mr. Skelton, can I have a copy of what you shared with the American people and the Members of this House? He gave it to me. These are the three pages right here. Talks about the two wars, Madam Speaker. It talks about a war on terrorism, which we had Osama bin Laden pinned down, and then we went into this other war in Iraq that took troops away from Afghanistan, that stretched U.S. forces to the point to where they are now. It is kind of hard to keep up with the whole recruiting issue. We are almost giving away a Chevy truck for people to join the military right now. And it is very unfortunate because the U.S. taxpayers are being drained. Now, when I said that it comes down to the failure, I am talking about the failure of the oversight and governance on this side of the ball, Mr. Delahunt, Mr. Ryan, and Ms. Wasserman Schultz. We must do a better job. Now, how do we do that job? Mr. Ryan speaks all the time about article one, section one of the U.S. Constitution. It is right here. It says the Congress, not the executive branch, has legislative powers. That means the House and the Senate. We oversee legislation. But that is not happening right now, and so that is the reason why we have the breakdown in government that we have right now, Madam Speaker. This is very simple. We, the Democrats, are willing to put America in a new direction. Now, let us just talk about this new direction for a minute. It is not rocket science. It is just doing what the Constitution says. It is doing what the American people federalized us to do, is to represent them and not to be a rubber stamp for the White House. We have borrowed more money than we have ever borrowed from foreign nations in the history of this country: $1.05 trillion in 4 years versus $1.10 trillion in 224 years. That is where it has gotten us. Oil companies, record-breaking profits as far as the eye can see. The next numbers are going to come in even higher. There was a meeting in the White House in 2002, and look at how the profits have just taken off in the billions for U.S. oil companies. That's a lack of oversight by the Congress allowing the White House to have their way and to make sure that oil companies get what they want. Here are the countries that own a part, a big part of the American apple pie. Japan comes in at a whopping $682.8 billion, along with other countries. This is what happens when Article I, Section 1 of the U.S. Constitution is not adhered to. This is not Republican and majority stuff. This is not anything when it comes down to Democrats versus Republicans. This comes down to if you are willing to suit up and put on a tie or a St. John's and you come onto the floor and represent the American people. He is all of our President. Goodness gracious, I am an American. President Bush is my President, period, dot. The election is over. This is not about an election; this is about governance, and it is not happening right now. One thing that this Republican Congress does well, that is giving themselves pay raises. That is something that they do well. In 1998, a $3,100 pay raise; zero to the American people as it relates to the minimum wage. It goes on and on all of the way to 2006. We have said on the Democratic side it is not going to happen because we are going to stand up on behalf of the American people. Yes, there was a bill on the floor and we have talked about increasing the minimum wage. There is a lot of trickery in the bill, and it is not going to pass Congress, and it is not going to the President's desk. I just want to say, I started with Article I, Section 1, which Mr. Ryan talks about all of the time. It has nothing to do with being Democrat or Republican. It comes down to if you are willing to be in the majority and say we are willing to legislate on behalf of the American people. I have gone through a litany of things that have gone wrong because we haven't had balance in the three branches of government working in the way that they should. If you are an Independent or Republican or a Democrat or a Green Party or a young person, 17\1/2\ or going to be 18 by election day or whatever the case may be this November, you have to be concerned about the direction that the country is going into. We are saying on our side of the ball, the Democratic side of the ball, that we have the will and the desire to lead in the direction that we need to be led. We won't let people down, and we won't let it go out so far that it becomes too late.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I just want to say it is outstanding what you pointed out, but I really do like what the Rotary and Kiwanis Clubs do in my local area. I just want you to know that. We have a very strong Rotary in my area, Opelika Rotary, doing a very outstanding job.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I think what is important here, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, is the fact that we know we have a real security plan. Members can log on to housedemocrats.gov and get this plan. It is there, Madam Speaker. Folks can't say that we don't have a plan or that we are not thinking about what we should be doing as it relates to terrorism. That is not the case. We have two wars going on, one is against the war on terror and one is the war in Iraq. The war in Iraq is a miserable failure, as we look at it from a governance standpoint of this Congress and the leadership in the White House doing what they need to do. Our troops and the commanders on the ground are doing the best they can with what they have to work with. But the bottom line is we didn't do diplomatically, and when I say we, the Republican majority and the White House, in making sure we had a true coalition before we went into Iraq. It is a coalition we paid for. The American taxpayer paid for whatever 25 troops that the country sent there, or the second largest force in Iraq, Madam Speaker, that is still there in the war in Iraq are contractors, that the U.S. taxpayers, where you get that $300 billion from, Mr. Delahunt. So as far as governance, it is not happening from our side. The war that Mr. Gingrich referenced is the war that had the connection with al Qaeda and the Taliban government. That was the response to 9/11.