Kendrick Meek

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I rise in strong opposition to the amendment by Representative King of Iowa to repeal the language in the Voting Rights Act that requires certain jurisdictions with concentrations of citizens who don't speak English very well to provide language assistance to voters who need it and the American citizens who request it. My district is one such jurisdiction. Over 34 percent of my district is made up of foreign-born American citizens. Besides that, nearly 45,000 U.S.-born citizens in my district speak some language other than English in their homes. These are Americans. They live here, work here, raise families and pay taxes here. They vote here. This amendment is an attack on the fundamental right to vote for millions of citizens across the country. It's crucial that everyone in our democracy has the right to vote. Yet, having that right legally is meaningless if certain groups of people are unable to accurately cast their ballot at the polls. Voters may be well informed about the issues and candidates, but to make sure their vote is accurately cast, language assistance is necessary and reasonable in jurisdictions with concentrated populations of limited English proficient voters. Some try to tie this to immigration, but this is not about immigration. According to the most recent information from the Census, more than 70 percent of citizens who use language assistance are native born, including Native Americans, Alaska natives and Puerto Ricans. Even though most new citizens are required to speak English, they still may not be sufficiently fluent to participate fully in the voting process without this much-needed assistance. Ballots are often too complicated even for native English speakers. To deny needed assistance to American citizens goes against who we are as a democracy. Before the language assistance provisions were added to the Voting Rights Act in 1975, many Spanish-speaking United States citizens did not register to vote because they could not read the election material and could not communicate with poll workers. Language assistance has encouraged these and other citizens of different language minority groups to register and vote and participate more fully in the political process, which is healthy for our democracy. Some try to say that language assistance costs millions of dollars. Language assistance is not costly. According to two separate Government Accounting Office studies, as well as independent research conducted by academic scholars, when implemented properly language assistance accounts only for a small fraction of total election costs. The most recent studies show that compliance with Section 203 accounts for approximately 5% of total election costs. Let's examine what is at stake here: In 2003 in Harris County, Texas, officials did not provide language assistance for Vietnamese citizens. This prompted the Department of Justice to intervene and, as a result, voter turnout doubled and a local Vietnamese citizen was elected to a local legislative position. The implementation of language assistance in New York City had enabled more than 100,000 Asian-Americans not fluent in English to vote. In 2001, John Liu was elected to the New York City Council, becoming the first Asian-American elected to a major legislative position in the city with the nation's largest Asian-American population. In San Diego County, California, voter registration among Hispanics and Filipinos rose by over 20 percent after the Department of Justice brought suit against the county to enforce the language minority provisions of Section 203. During that same period, Vietnamese registrations increased by 40 percent. Those who have tried to master a second language know the near- paralysis that sometimes grips you. Confusion, embarrassment and frustration are constant companions for those trying to change the way their tongues work and their minds think in the important, pressure situation of voting. Such mundane tasks as ordering at a restaurant or going to the bank become challenges--every word a potential mistake in comprehension. The language in section 203 is not about coddling immigrants, and this amendment shouldn't be about punishing new citizens for having to learn a second language under fire. Section 203 is about making sure that a fundamental right, the right to vote, is without obstacle. I urgently ask that my colleagues join me in defeating the King amendment and standing for the rights of all Americans to cast the vote they intended.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Maybe.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Thank you, Ms. Wasserman Schultz. Just because they say it, ``they,'' going back to what Mr. Gingrich has called the Republican majority, he who used to be Speaker of the House but now calls his former colleagues ``they'' because it is foreign to him now, ``Just because you say it doesn't necessarily mean that it is true.'' Now, Mr. Delahunt, this is true. What is true is the fact that we have borrowed $53.8 billion from Canada because we can't afford to pay our bills, so they bought our debt. Korea, $66.5 billion. Germany, $65.7 billion. OPEC nations. Who are these OPEC nations? We hear about them on the news, but we don't know who they are. They are Iran, they are Iraq, they are Libya, they are Saudi Arabia, they are Venezuela, Nicaragua, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Ecuador, and on and on and on, Qatar, on and on and on. They have said, since America and the United States majority House of Representatives and the President wants to overspend and give away the money and they can't afford to do what they are doing, we will buy their debt. Taiwan, $71.3 billion. The Caribbean, $115.3 billion. The U.K. is at $223.2 billion. And you have China that is at $249.8 billion and Japan which is at $682.8 billion. And folks wonder, why are we in the situation where we are now? It pains me to silhouette the country, silhouette of the continental United States and put those countries over it, but we have to break this down and let the American people know this is not about party, this is not about what you may feel about a man or a woman representing you. This is about representation for you. Forget about what convention you went to last time. Forget about if you have an R or an I or an Independent. It is about America. And what the Republican majority has done effectively, they have borrowed themselves into a situation so that when parents are going to schools, let us just look at this, here is the education budget and what we invest in education and this is in the billions as relates to this chart. This is what we invest in homeland security. This is in the billions. Our veterans allowing us to salute one flag, Mr. Ryan, this is what we invest in veterans and their health care and their needs. And, this is what we invest, thank you, a la the Republican majority here in this House, the rubber-stamp Congress and the President of the United States, who I do not fault personally. I don't fault the President for doing what he does. I fault the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate for allowing it to happen with very little oversight.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I will give you my chart.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I know you are just making a point, sir. Mr. Delahunt, I am so glad that you were witnessing that. I was in the oversight committee and I could not see it.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. We have got to have a chart. Because, folks, they cannot quite capture those numbers on that small piece of paper you have. If a Member was in his office or her office watching us here on the floor, we want them to visually see their track record on what they have done. It reminds me of when the President flew over the Hurricane Katrina- affected area and came back to the White House and said, We are sending food and water down, and blankets, and this is just the beginning. Well, that was 3 days after the storm. And I can tell you this right now, in the heat of the summer, I do not know what good blankets would have done, but that is a whole other issue. The bottom line is, just because they say it, and I am taking from Gingrich, just because they say it, ``they'' is what Mr. Gingrich is calling the Republican majority, just because they say it does not necessarily mean that it is true. It does not necessarily mean, just because they say it, that it is true. I will share what Mr. Gingrich has called this Republican majority. We do not have to do it; Republicans and Americans are saying it. This is the former Speaker of the House, Mr. Speaker, who said in the Knight Ridder newspaper, Friday, March 31, 2006, ``They,'' talking about the Republican majority, ``are seen by the country as being in charge of a government that cannot function.'' And this is what we are seeing, Mr. Delahunt. Folks coming to the floor seeing things that they know are altered. They are altering it. They are saying, well, this is the written word and these are the facts. But that is not good enough for me; I am going to erase it, and I am going to go to the floor and I am going to fool the American people. I am going to mislead the American people, because it is an everyday occurrence here by this majority. And the reason why so many Democrats, and I would say a very few Republicans are outraged by the fact, when they hear the facts, when we all sit in our offices and we hear altered information; we have third- party validators. If we say the U.S. Department of Treasury came up with these numbers, they came up with the numbers. If we say that the deficit is record-breaking borrowing in the history of the Republic, we have third-party validators. Some Members come to the floor, and it is their prerogative, and if they want to mislead, let them mislead. But we are going to make sure that we continue here in the 30-Something Working Group and on this side of the aisle, in sharing the truth with the American people. This is not a place where someone comes up and says, this is a Democratic Party meeting or this is a Republican Party meeting or this is a Reform Party meeting, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, this is the U.S. House of Representatives, the People's House the only Chamber that you have to be elected to. You can be appointed as Senator by a governor. But you have to be elected to the House. There are no appointments here. So I think it is important that folks really appreciate what we are doing here. Ms. Wasserman Schultz, I want to thank you for bringing those numbers, and I want to make sure that we get it into a chart. Let me just say this real quick. I have got this chart here, just as an example of who we are as it relates to sharing information that is accurate, versus some on the majority side that are well documented for not sharing accurate information to not only the Members of Congress and the minority side and some of their own Members, but also the American people. Case in point: $1.05 trillion that President Bush and the Republican Congress that you see here, borrowed from foreign nations, foreign nations, between 2001 and 2005. $1.05 trillion have dethroned--that is the new word--42 Presidents before this President; 224 years of the history of this country, they have only been able to borrow $1.01 trillion. Now, Mr. Delahunt, this is my point. This is from the U.S. Department of Treasury, it is right here. Folks can go on the Web Site and get it. Now, if we were meeting in the 30-Something Working Group and say, well, $1.05, well, maybe we need to, even though it happened all in 4 years and it took 224 years for this to happen, let's say $1.09, that sounds better. That would be misleading the American people and the Congress. Members are on the floor, and they take what we say to be truth to power, that we come and we are here leveling on behalf of the American people. We are not here to say what sounds good or what would sway a certain segment of the population to feel one way or another. Folks woke up early one Tuesday morning from representation, not for someone to mislead them through statements here on this floor that are not accurate. That is the reason why we are in the situation that we are in now. Even when it comes down to the war in Iraq. Even when it comes down to the pursuit of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan. The information is not accurate that has been shared with the American people and that is the reason why so many individuals are suffering as it relates to gas prices. These gas companies and these petroleum companies have been allowed to come into this Chamber with Members carrying their will and voting the way that they want them to vote against their constituents. This is something that we all feel passionate about and the American people feel passionate about. And, Mr. Ryan, as I yield to you, as they go to the pump and hesitate before they put their debit card or credit card or whatever it may be into that pump about, how much is it going to cost me today to fill my tank up, they need to think about the individuals that are allowing these petroleum companies to take advantage of the American people, misleading the American people. And if I had my way and we were in the majority, I tell you, I guarantee you, that that practice would no longer take place. And when it does take place, we will come to the floor and knock it down. I commend Mr. Delahunt for bringing the misleading of the American people as it relates to information on who is sponsoring immigration bills in the Senate, and pointing out the fact that there would not be an immigration bill that passed out of the Senate if it was not for the Republican majority voting in the affirmative for the legislation, the same way as here in the House.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. So this is a consistent theme of not being straight with the American people. They take value in not being straight with the American people, need it be deficit spending, record breaking borrowing. I read an article just last night or the night before as it relates to the President saying that we have to send a message to Congress that we want control on spending and their appetite on spending the taxpayers' dollars, to let the American people know that we are fiscally responsible. Then the next day signing the largest pork barrel bill, transportation bill in the history of the republic. Being straight with the American people. Not a week later, but the next day. Telling us here on this floor that a prescription drug program costs one thing, find out a week or two later that it has doubled in costs, and then months later, several hundred million dollars more. So when we start looking at being straight with the American people, and I think that is the frustration of Republicans and Democrats and Independents, and voters, period, out there is the fact that the Republican majority has decided that being straight with the American people and leveling with them is not a value. Oil prices, price gouging, protecting special interests, K Street Project, a number of other issues that are here on this floor with the special interests takes the high ground, and they are protected and the American people are not. When we talk about the minimum wage, Mr. Ryan has the charts over there, 1997, there has not been an increase in the minimum wage since 1997, and on that chart we have the Republican leadership saying not over my dead body is this going to happen, in so many words, that we are not going to allow it to happen. Here on this chart you have the minimum wage down here. Mr. Delahunt is familiar with this. 1997, you know, starting with the oil, starting with the minimum wage here, zero. Here in 2006, it has been that way since 1997. Whole milk has gone up 24 percent; 25 percent, bread has gone up; 4-year public college has gone up 77 percent; health insurance has gone up 97 percent; and regular gas has gone up 136 percent and still climbing. We have folks here that are saying, hey, give us a pay raise. I am going to tell you right now, if someone has to keep two homes and travel between and do all of those things, yeah, I would like a pay raise, but at the same time I have a conscience about this. Our leadership has said, and we have said that we are not going to take a pay raise unless the American people get a pay raise.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Well, he is a good friend of mine, but I am just going to read this because I think it is important. I guess this is the position here: I have been in this business for 25 years and I have never voted for an increase in the minimum wage. I am opposed to it, and I think that a vast majority of our conference is opposed to it. That was just June 20 of 2006. I mean, obviously this is the philosophy that has been picked up all the way from the former Member of this House who was the majority leader because it has not been increased federally since that time.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I think the President and some members of his party are struggling to know what his party affiliation is. Because I know some Republicans that are very concerned about what the President has done and what he is doing. But he says he is a Republican under the line that he is a fiscal conservative, but that is not the case. So we do not know what to believe. Ideological wise, he is a Republican President, but at the same time some of the stuff we hear here on the floor would say that it is some other kind of party or philosophy that is out there. But to the answer your question, yes, he is a Republican President.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I personally, I am representing the 17th Congressional District of Florida, you know Dade and Broward County. But, you know, I do not want to be them, Mr. Delahunt. I do not want to come to this floor and start talking about what they are saying, so we are going to rebut what they are saying. I do not want to be them. I want to make sure that we are who we are. We are being straight with the American people. If it is the Bush- McCain or it is the Kennedy-Martinez bill II, Arlen Specter bill II, so that if someone sees us here on the floor and they heard, well, they call it the Bush-McCain bill, they say, well, they left the Democrats out, and then we have just done what they have done. I know how that can be contagious sometimes because it happens so much here on this floor.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, number one, we need Mr. Manatos and others to get us a chart on that.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Because you came in on the back end of my words, I am telling you this. The President is the President of the United States. At the end of his term he can no longer run for President of the United States. Guess what the difference is between Members of Congress and the President. We are up every 2 years. The American people can bring about change in November, and then a transition of power in January for representation. No matter what their party affiliation is, I know Republicans personally that I know that I represent in my own district and outside of my district that have a problem that we are spending more on the debt, paying down the debt, than we are investing in education, homeland security of all things, and veteran affairs. There are individuals right now, and I just went through the veterans hospital during the Fourth of July break to go visit those individuals that just returned to Iraq and Afghanistan and those individuals that fought before them, and I can tell you they are not getting what they deserve. They are having to wait in some rural areas because the rural clinic is only open 2 days out of a month. These are the people that have laid their blood down. These are the people that their friends have died beside them, and they are asking them to suck it up. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, the Republican majority is allowing this debt to overwhelm. You can stack eight of the veteran investments up to the debt, you can stack lower homeland security probably 10 up to the stack as it relates to the $250 billion that we are paying on the debt. And as it relates to education, you can go two more times as it relates to investment in education. And, meanwhile, folks come down here with a straight face, Mr. Delahunt, and say that we are fiscal conservatives and we know how to govern? The American people know it. That is the reason why the polling is showing they are fed up with what is going on here. They are willing to give Democrats or somebody else an opportunity to lead. Mr. Ryan, that is the reason why I said that I am not concerned with the President of the United States. He is going to do what he has been doing and will continue to do. Just like he said, if there is going to be a change in Iraqi policy, that is something for future presidents, not him. He said that as though he lives in a kingdom. This is a democracy. The only way we will be able to represent those troops and those individuals that deserve representation is that the American people are fully aware and educated with the facts, and that is the reason why we are on this floor, to share that. Mr. Delahunt, thank you for yielding, sir.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, well, let me just say that it is an honor being here tonight with my colleagues and 30-something Working Group, and I am so glad that Mr. Ryan was here to catch the hour. I notice that he has taken the high road here or the high ground here tonight, and it is so good to be in the well. But I just want to say to Mr. Delahunt, it goes back to our discussion the last two evenings. Our Republican colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle, which is the majority, what is not a great value of that majority and the leadership is being straight with the American people.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Yes, sir.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. That's correct, yes, sir.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Yes. It says you cannot use your Mobil credit card, and then it has another sticker that says, not a Mobil product. But at the same time, neither are the potato chips, neither are the cigarettes, neither is a six-pack of beer.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I would like to yield to Mr. Delahunt.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, once again it is an honor to come to the House floor. We would like to thank the Democratic leadership for allowing us to have this hour. The 30-something Working Group, as you know, comes to the floor if not daily every other day when we have the opportunity to do so, to share with the Members of the House initiatives and plans that we have on the Democratic side of the aisle that will make America better and stronger. As you know, we have been on the message of a new direction for America, and we have been working very hard on that because that is the message that we have and that the American people are looking forward to seeing implemented. So many times here on this floor, we talk about ideas and concepts, but they never really make it to the legislative debate, due to the fact that here in the House, Democrats are in the minority; and the majority has adopted a rule that there is not a true bipartisan spirit here in this House, only when we vote on post offices and naming bridges. But when it comes down to policy, policy that is affecting the people that we represent every day, there is a great divide, a divide to where we are not sitting down at the negotiating table, in committee, in subcommittee, and definitely not sitting down before legislation comes to the floor in a conference committee to talk about what is best for America and how can we make it better. The American people yearn and hope for Democrats and Republicans and the one Independent in this House to work together. I think it is important to outline the fact that our leadership has said if given the opportunity, earning the opportunity of the American people to lead, that you will see a bipartisan spirit, not only spirit, you will see bipartisan action in this House on major pieces of legislation dealing with health care, education, how we are going to balance the budget, just not talk on how to cut the deficit in half or we may cut the deficit in half, really breaking down the deficit so that we will not pay more than what we are spending and investing in education, homeland security, and veteran affairs. That is why we come to the floor. And we start talking about a new direction for America, making sure that health care through prescription drugs, and also making sure that HMOs eliminate wasteful spending and a number of other reforms that should take place there so that we do not have so many Americans going into emergency rooms. Also lowering the price of gas and achieving energy independence is one of our major goals. There was just a report that was released by the Agriculture Department that is now having some sort of discussion about ethanol and what we can use, how we can use the ethanol and how it can play a role in making us independent, the E-85, and our proposal of putting America on a new direction or in a new direction. We talk about the importance of alternative fuels, not just investing in the Middle East and not investing in the Midwest. So we look forward to continuing to push that philosophy here on this floor as we have the opportunity to lead this House, knowing the American people can deliver that, making sure that working families making more than what is presently the minimum wage, increasing that minimum wage, making sure they are able to bring home more to their families. Millions of Americans are living on the minimum wage. It has been very difficult. And we have charts here, Mr. Speaker, that would illustrate how the minimum wage, we haven't seen a national minimum wage hike since 1997, but we have seen increases in other areas where families are still expected to perform under those circumstances. And I think that is where we are finding our shortfall as it relates to individuals being able to afford college. Cutting the cost for college, making sure that there is a tax deduction for college tuition and expanding the Pell grants and cutting the student loan costs in half, making sure that college is affordable, and rolling back the increases that Republican Congress have put on students. Not just students. When people talk about students, they think that we are just talking about young people that graduate from high school. We are talking about families that have invested their entire lives with their children to make sure that they can go to school, that it is affordable, that we don't continue to move the goal post the closer families get to making sure that they can provide for their young people to achieve a college education. Also, preventing the privatization of Social Security, coming up with real Social Security reform, and making sure that folks can retire in dignity knowing that they have a Social Security plan and a Social Security card that is more, that stands for the security of their retirement. Also, those individuals that are on disability, those individuals that are receiving survivor benefits, making sure that they don't end up in some line somewhere reporting to some private institution because someone thought it was a great idea to make money for individuals on Wall Street, And, lastly, I would say a part of a new direction for America is really being fiscally responsible. Now, the first Democratic hour out here, Mr. Speaker, we had the Blue Dog Democrats that were here, and they spent the entire hour talking about fiscal responsibility. And I think it is important that the American people and the Republican majority House understand that we have the will and the desire and the track record to show that we truly know how to balance the budget, surpluses as far as the eye can see when President Bush went into office and a Republican majority was emboldened, and now we are borrowing at a rate that one writer in the Washington Times, Mr. Chapman, had said that the President has dethroned Lyndon Johnson as it relates to spending. And that is a heavy statement to make, even though I feel very strongly that President Johnson at that time of transition invested truly in America and not just in billionaires and millionaires receiving tax cuts, and also oil companies running away with public dollar giveaways to them and record profits at the same time. I am so honored tonight, Mr. Speaker, as usual, to be joined by my colleague just north of my district and just west of my district and east of my district in some areas, Ms. Debbie Wasserman Schultz from Florida, and also Mr. Tim Ryan from Youngstown, Ohio. As you know, last evening, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, I was sharing with the Members we don't just come to the floor, we actually meet to talk about these issues that are facing Americans. And I think it is important that we continue in that spirit and moving America in the right direction, in a new direction than what they see right now from the Republican majority.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Ryan, you did such an excellent job with the Web site. I want to thank Mr. Delahunt for coming down and joining us this evening. We know that he could not join us yesterday evening. Ms. Wasserman Schultz, always a pleasure working with you here on the floor and off the floor. What is good for the American people; and with that, Mr. Speaker, we thank the Democratic leadership.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. This one?

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Delahunt, I don't want you to get too far away from ``they believe in smaller government.'' They believe in big government. The government has grown larger than any other time in recent history. Out-of-control discretionary spending, pork barrel spending. An article I read last night, they said that the President has dethroned President Johnson as it relates to spending. What they say and what they do, that is the reason we are here on this floor. We are saying ``they'' because that is what Newt Gingrich called them, ``they.''

Mr. MEEK of Florida. We had a debate right before the July 4 break. When I was a State trooper in Florida, we used to have these little different details around the State of Florida. I was in Sebring, Florida, which is Highlands County, and I was talking to this farmer, and he said that ``Pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered.'' And I am going to tell you right now, the oil companies and the access that they have to Members of Congress on the majority side to give them what they want, they are getting it all right now. Let's look at the oil leases. They want to drill off the coast of Florida. Less than 1 percent, super less than 1 percent of 4,000 leases that they already hold, that they are actually going and drilling in those areas, but they wanted even more. They wanted more, Mr. Delahunt. They wanted more because you know something? They can get it. It is like a kid sitting down at the table and they are eating ice cream and they have a tummy ache and they have ice cream all around their face, and they say, give me another gallon. And you give it to them. And that is exactly what this Republican majority, this rubber-stamp Congress has done, everything they have asked for, because they have access through the K Street Project and other programs that allow them to see through the doors of this Chamber and have Members vote ``yes'' for what they want and ``no'' for what they don't want. And what they don't want is for the American people to be on a level keel to be able to push back on this feeding frenzy of not only their tax dollars and special interest giveaways, but to kill them at the pump. I mean, I see people hesitate when they get out of their cars because they are, like, I don't know if I have room on my credit card. I don't know how much is it going to cost me today. The gas stations can't even change the charts out front fast enough because gas prices are going up.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Ryan, just very quickly, the bottom line is, Mr. Delahunt, to your point, sir, the reason why the chairman hasn't called ExxonMobil in, the reason why everything that we have described here today is that we are on the total opposite side of their position. We are not willing to rubber stamp everything that the President and the administration says must happen in this Congress. We are not willing to rubber stamp the special interests just because they are contributors to a particular campaign or something. We are willing to stand up for the American people. And the reason why we have this rubber stamp down here on the floor, just to illustrate exactly what the Republican Congress has done, and that is the reason why we are in the situation we are in now. Ms. Wasserman Schultz.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Last night, and Mr. Speaker, I hate to keep referring back to last night for the folks who did not see us here on this floor, the Members who did not see us here on this floor last night, we talked about the chart Ms. Wasserman Schultz broke out with minimum wage at zero, and we talked about the White House meeting in the complex, and I am not going to read The Washington Post article again, but it happened in 2001, Mr. Delahunt. And these are the profits that oil companies earned, record profits. In 2002 it paid off immediately at $34 billion in new profits to oil companies. And in 2003, it went to $53 billion in new profits. This is not something just coincidental. There was a strategy. They wrote the energy bill. They came up with the plan and they had access in the White House and here in this House of Representatives under the K Street Project and got what they wanted. In 2004, $84 billion. In 2005, $113 billion. Now these oil companies, as far as I am concerned, they are just doing what they have access to do. I am more concerned with those of us with voting cards, Members of Congress, those of us who have an A pass over at the White House in the East Wing, that allow oil companies to go in, say what they want and get it on the backs of the American people. Those profits don't just come out of the sky. They come out of the pocketbook and wallets of everyday Americans. While they are reaching into that credit card and while they are reaching in for that cash, they are passing their voter registration card. It can have REP on it, it can have DEM on it, it can have IND on it. Whatever the case may be, the bottom line is it is the same amount of money coming out of those wallets, not because of their doing, the American people's doing, but because of the special interest influence over the Republican majority. So that is what I am mainly concerned about here. The last chart I want to share, oil companies, they are telling our friends they are trying to head towards energy independence. They will come to the Hill and say this is what we are doing with the money you've given us, the taxpayers' dollars. I will tell you what they are doing. I happen to be one of these ``Today Show'' watchers, and the CEO of ExxonMobil was on there, a really nice guy with a deep voice and everything: ``I thought I would come in.'' This was before Katie Couric left. ``I thought I would come in and give our side of the story. We are for energy innovation. We are for getting oil and gas prices down.'' This is what they are doing. This is E-85, what we call ethanol. This is supposed to be the alternative to help us with our energy independence. This is regular, special, and super plus. This is their deal. This is the old-school way of doing things. This is the expensive way of doing things. I am going to show you how this discourages you from getting ethanol. You can use a Mobil credit card to buy the three levels there where we invest in the Middle East versus the Midwest. This is the Midwest investment using corn and other resources to make it happen. But it says here ``Cannot use your Mobil credit card,'' period. Now you can walk in the store and you can buy a bag of chips, you can even probably buy a carton of cigarettes with your Mobil credit card, but you can't get E-85. The reason you can't get E-85 is because they don't want you to get E-85. So when the President is running around here talking about Americans being addicted to oil, well, guess what, oil is addicted to the free- fall access that they have here in this House of Representatives and in the White House. They are getting their way. The American people are not getting their way, and it is point-blank. And I would like to break this thing down to where everyone can understand. I don't need to tell you that I am on your side as a Member of Congress on this side of the aisle. I think those who are paying attention know whose side we are on. They know based on the record. It seems like they are more interested in helping the special interests. That is what the record reflects. The record reflects that the special interests are getting exactly what they want. It is the best time in special interest days. It is not the best time in America; it is the best time for all of the big guys that wear nice ties and ride around in big cars, being driven around here in Washington, D.C. It is the heyday for them. It hasn't been better for special interests. There are record-breaking profits for the oil companies. It hasn't been better in the history of drilling into the ground for oil. And guess what, it is on the backs of the American people. I mean, they are riding the backs of the American people, riding them down into the ground until their faces hit the ground and they scratch their forehead, on the backs of the American people, a la the Republican majority, the rubber-stamp Congress and the White House. When you say that, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, we just have to break it down.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Well, Mr. Delahunt, I think it is important to take it away from the political debate here on this floor, between what we believe that the American people want and need versus what the special interests must have. The only way that people are going to win on this floor is if we give them voice. Last night, we got into a passionate discussion about the minimum wage and why it was important. And we, I think, all agree that we give those individuals voice that are punching in and out every day and catching the early bus. We give voice to that mother that is trying to figure out how she is going to get the kids to school and make it to work making minimum wage, working more than half a day to even cover the gas costs, let alone having to buy groceries and do all those other things; and that father that catches the early bus and is trying to make it happen. So I think that as these fuel prices continue to go up, as it relates to Medicare, there is this quiet inching up the storm of new requirements and new loopholes for seniors to jump through in the hopes they will not follow through or go through all those hoops, so that they do not get what they deserve.