Kendrick Meek

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to come and address the U.S. House of Representatives. I want to thank Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi and our Democratic Whip, Mr. Steny Hoyer, and also our chairman, Mr. James Clyburn, and I think it is also Mr. Larson who is our vice chair, and the rest of the ranking members and other members of the Democratic Caucus. Mr. Speaker, an hour ago we were talking about the issues of fiscal responsibility. We were talking about trying to make sure that the American taxpayer gets what they deserve out of this government, this government that they have elected to come to Washington, D.C., to represent them, to make sure that they get the biggest bang for their tax dollar. I think it is important to point out, Mr. Speaker, that we are having some real financial issues right now. Some may say on the majority side, and I do respect the members on the majority side, and I know that there are a few members on the majority side that feel the way we feel here on the minority side, on the Democratic side of the aisle, that we have to get our fiscal house in order. And we are not there yet. I can say here boldly and honestly that we are not there. There are a number of third-party validators that are talking about the fiscal irresponsibility on the majority side and by this President that has put this country in financial jeopardy. You have individuals saying we want to cut the deficit in half, but, meanwhile, back at the ranch, they want to borrow from countries like China. They want to borrow from countries like Saudi Arabia and give those countries a piece of the American pie, Mr. Speaker. I think it is important that in the last hour, when we talked about innovation, we talked about putting America first. We talked about not cutting student loans to everyday Americans. We talked about assisting that next generation and the generations that we expect to be able to stand up and make this and continue to make this country free and put us ahead as it relates to inventions, as it relates to innovation. We are talking about on this side of the aisle, Mr. Speaker, that we embrace and we appreciate our troops and our veterans. But, meanwhile, in the President's budget, it talks about cuts in veterans affairs. It talks about higher co-payments for veterans. I must say, Mr. Speaker, I am a Democrat, but guess what? I represent Republicans, Independents, green party, and Democrats back in my district; and they feel the way that I do. I have not had one constituent say, Congressman, I want you to go to Washington, D.C., and make sure that you borrow as much money as possible so that I can pay it back with interest. Congressman, I want you to go to Washington, D.C., and be irresponsible with my tax dollars and make sure that we do not have accountability as it relates to unbid contracts. Congressman, I want you to look the other way when it comes down to making sure that you have the proper oversight so that we do not have this culture of corruption, cronyism and incompetence that we are seeing on the majority side and in the White House right now. I think it is very, very important, Mr. Speaker, the perception that the American people and the reality that they are seeing right now. This is not the Kendrick Meek or the 30-Something or the Tim Ryan report. This is what is being printed every day in the papers. It is not that the Congress is taking a bold step to make sure that the children of America have what they need; making sure that we have the kinds of innovation that the President spoke about, Mr. Speaker; making sure that the veterans do not have to pay a higher co-payment for health insurance that we promised them as a country. We salute one flag right now, Mr. Speaker, not because of coincidence. Because individuals have died for that opportunity. We have individuals that have served and served in many theaters to make sure that we can salute one flag, and the bottom line is we should not turn our backs on those individuals. What Mr. Ryan and I are going to talk about in this 30-Something hour is the tax on corruption, the corruption tax that the American people have to pay and the American children have to pay, and men and women that have worn a uniform have to pay. Guess what? It is not just Democrats. It is not just Republicans. It is not just independents. It is the American people. It is not just the folks that vote. It is not just the folks that do not vote. It is not the folks who are seeking status that have green cards in this country that are legally here. It is happening right now. Mr. Speaker and Mr. Ryan, I just want to say before I yield, I feel good about the fact that we were talking about the K Street Project 2 years ago. Night after night, week after week, we talked about it. We were honest and upfront with the American people that something was fundamentally wrong when you have a K Street Project, talk about it, put a press release out about it, about how we have this relationship with the special interests. What about a relationship with the American people, Mr. Speaker? So now we have a lobbyist here in this town that has admitted to guilt, Mr. Ryan, that has said, I have broken the law. We do not have to have a trial because the evidence is so strong. We do not have to have a jury pool. We do not have to have people come in and waste 6 months of their lives on a jury pool and a jury selection. I will admit to guilt. Days after this particular lobbyist said, I am guilty, I am willing to help the government in seeking out those Members that were part of this.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I am closing in a minute, Mr. Ryan, because we have been talking about this. I admit to guilt, and I am willing to help the government. All of a sudden, all of a sudden, Mr. Speaker, the Republican majority says, you know, we are done. The K Street Project is no longer in existence. As a matter of fact, this little thing that we call K Street, what are you talking about? I do not know what you are talking about. We are just going to rip it up. It is not anything that we really care about. We are going to do away with that. It is almost like, as I would say, Mr. Ryan, and as I will yield to you, the game warden cannot be the lead poacher. I will say that to you right now. I think it is important that we be upfront with the American people because they are paying a hard, strong corruption tax, Mr. Ryan.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for pointing that out. I have a picture here of Secretary Snow, appointed by the President and confirmed by the Republican Senate. I think it is important to understand, when you start talking about what is going on, how we are borrowing and how they are out of control on the Republican side. Here is a blown-up letter dated December 29, 2005, literally the Secretary of the Treasury begging that we need to raise the debt limit because we will be able to continue to finance government operations. This is not government operations of Iraq or Afghanistan. This is government operations of these United States. Secretary Snow, I go back, and repetition is good because I want to make sure that folks understand. Gentlemen, I want to say this, and you cannot say this enough. They have broken records, borrowing $1.057 trillion from foreign nations. Like I said before, the President cannot just do this by himself, so I am going to put a picture of the Republican leadership there to say they are a part of this incompetence as it relates to borrowing from foreign nations that we have concern about like China. So, Mr. Delahunt, you have hit the nail right on the head. Mr. Holt, you are 210 percent right. We cannot talk about innovation, but in the meantime we have other priorities with the special interest. I think it is important. I want to make sure that staff gets a picture of the Republican conference because I think it is important. I think we need to put the pressure on not only on individual decisions but on decisions that the majority has made that has put this country in the back seat as it relates to innovation and as it relates to many other areas that we should be leading in.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. He was not asking, he was literally begging for the Congress to work together in a bipartisan way to make it happen. Just the day before he was with us, the President gave him the National Technology Award. We are talking about walking the walk, not just talking. The bottom line is he came and he understood. We were committed prior to the technology award being awarded. We have a chart before Mr. Delahunt, and it is one thing for us to let the Republican majority know what they can do if they really want to do it. It is another thing for us to break it down. I want to make sure that the American people understand that we are about making something happen. Regardless of who gets the credit, we are working on behalf of the American people and the American spirit, taking from Mr. Holt and what he says all the time. That is what took us to the moon. That is what brought us up front as it relates to innovation and inventions, being the first. Mr. Speaker, I yield to Mr. Delahunt.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, could you say that again just in case a Member might have walked into his office and walked away?

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I will admit to that.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. They borrowed $1.01 trillion, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Great Depression, and every other issue that we had facing the country, economic slowdowns, what have you, gas prices, what have you, were unable to borrow from China, Saudi Arabia and other countries. So when we talk about the will of this administration and what they are doing and what the President says and they do another thing, he cannot do it by himself. He needs this Republican majority, and that is the reason why the American people, Mr. Speaker, have to make a change in providing the kind of leadership that they need in this Congress to make sure that they are represented. So I am so glad that the gentleman from Washington (Mr. Inslee) is here because you represent the very people, they are in your district, that are talking about innovation. Mr. Ryan read it off. These are statements that these CEOs have made. They are literally begging. They are saying we hope y'all work together. We had the creator of ``Star Wars'' here the other day. He said I hope y'all get together; you are talking about the same thing. The difference between what the Republicans are saying and what we are saying, we actually mean it. We will do it if given the opportunity. They are in control. They have the majority. They agenda the bills before committee. I am sorry, but we both asked for 10 seconds and we took 20.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Do not leave out the oil industry.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I just want 10 seconds, too. The Republican side says, trust me. I guarantee you that the President cannot do it by himself. He needs this Republican Congress to do it, and they have given him everything that he has asked for. This President, who is so-called conservative, oh, we want to watch spending, has not vetoed one spending bill. This is the biggest borrow- and-spend administration almost in the history of this country. Here is the chart to prove it. It is. The President, not by himself, his picture is here. We should have the Republican Conference here because they helped him make this history. Unfortunately, it is bad for Americans. There was $1.05 trillion borrowed from foreign countries, $1.05 trillion that he has done and accomplished in 4 years. Forty-two Presidents, including his father, were not able to accomplish that goal.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. They deserve it.

Mr. MEEK

Mr. MEEK. We would like to thank the Democratic leader, Mr. Speaker; and, with that, it was an honor addressing the U.S. House of Representatives.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. They don't want oversight.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. One other thing that I want to make sure that we add, Members, so that Members will know exactly, because I believe in third-party validators. I also believe in sharing information. I know, Mr. Ryan, you will give this information out, but I want to make sure that folks understand and the Members understand. Because I know some Members are in their offices saying, I need to know this, Republicans and Democrats. I want to get a copy of this, and you can, www.housedemocrats.gov/30something. You can go on there. All of the charts that we have here tonight will be posted, and the articles that we have will be in the news section so that the Members can get it. Because I think it is important, Mr. Delahunt. It is one thing to do something and not know. It is another thing to do something and know. I will tell you supermajority and Republican leadership know. Okay, maybe some Members may be a little bit confused about what is actually happening, maybe. It is easy, because there are a lot of things that are going on. But while we are driving up the debt, and the highest that it has ever been, and while that whole interest piece that you have there, Mr. Ryan, Mr. Delahunt, that is not to build schools, that is not to put the gulf coast victims into homes, that is not to help our veterans, that is not even to have world-class health care. That is to make tax cuts permanent for millionaires.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Can I just get a third party validator in it for you? Just today, NewYorkTimes.com, the Members can go on to it: Huge giveaways were in the works for the oil industry. Not the veterans, not the working Americans, and it spells it all out here. Mr. Speaker, I do not have a conspiracy theory, but it is right here. It is clear. I do not know. I am so glad that I am not a member of the majority because I do not even know how I could come to the floor and defend this. How can I even shape my mouth to say this is good? But somehow there must be some sort of in front of the mirror in the restroom kind of I can do this, because this is wrong. The sad part about it is that the country is paying the price; and the folks that are wearing the suits, being driven around with tinted windows in cars and sedans and all, do not even know the price of a carton of milk because they have someone else go out and get it. They are getting paid by the U.S. tax dollar. Meanwhile, we are telling veterans, schoolchildren, U.S. cities, to suck it up.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. It is the cost of corruption and cronyism. It is the cost. Who pays it?

Mr. MEEK of Florida. A track record, a pattern of those who have made youthful indiscretions in their lives, need it be on credit, need it be some sort of criminal activity, you can no longer have access. You used to have the capital, if you do not have a good credit record. Am I right? Let me just tell you something right now as it relates to the United States. I am looking at Japan. You can put Japan in the State of Florida, and the State of Florida will swallow geographically Japan. But, better yet, look what they are holding of the U.S. apple pie. The bottom line is this is about, Mr. Speaker, the incompetence, cronyism and, in some cases, corruption of these individuals being able to get access into this institution and into the executive branch to be able to get what they want. I want to drive the point on here. I want to make sure this is crystal clear. It has to be crystal. The bottom line is the only way that we will be able to have a paradigm shift not only in thinking but in policy and action on behalf of the American people and unless the American people like you say, the majority, they do not have to be the majority. The American people can make that change. They can say that we are willing to allow the Democrats to lead so that we can hopefully start taking care of some of these issues that we have to take care of here at home, with our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and throughout the world so that we can get the respect of not only the world but our country, our own country. Veterans, they signed up for all the right reasons, allowing us to salute one flag, as we see it now, are being asked to do more financially, meanwhile $1.5 trillion in tax cuts for the wealthy, while we have individuals, while we are having veterans affairs centers closing in rural America and in urban America. They are closing. Some of them are only open on Wednesday now. But, meanwhile, we have individuals, we have the President every time he gets a chance he is talking about let us make the tax cuts permanent for people who are not even asking for it. So this is very simple. This speech on what the majority, Republicans, say, well, trust us, we know what we are doing. We showed the letter from Secretary Snow. I think we already know this. We did not write this letter. The guy has said the fifth time, the Secretary is saying we will not be able to operate the government. That is one letter. Here is the other one here. Forty-two Presidents, this President and Republican majority has borrowed $1.05 trillion, but, better yet, saying let us make a bad idea permanent, let us drive this number up, let us put a two here instead of a one. It does not make sense. Only the American people can stop this crowd. $27,526.77, the average American owes right now. This is not brought to you, Mr. Speaker, by the Democrats. This is brought to you by the Republican majority and this White House. We have to save this country, and the American people have to save this country, and we have to get the word out to them that all of the rhetoric, all of the big money machine. And, look, here is another one. This stuff is just here. It is almost too much to share, Mr. Speaker. We do not have enough time to share what the Members and the American people, clients reward keeping K Street lobbyists thriving. I never blame the special interests for what happens here, but I am going to tell you right now they have a tax shelter right now where $100 billion in U.S. taxpayer dollars are not going into the coffers because they have an offshore deal with this administration and with this majority. Meanwhile, we are sitting around here trying to figure out how our veterans are going to get health care. Meanwhile, we are trying to figure how small businesses will be able to afford health care for everyday Americans to be able to buy into; and, meanwhile, we have troops still without body armor and the things they need to be able to fight on behalf of this country. So we ask everyday Americans to go out there and suck it up. Meanwhile, the majority, the Republican majority, based on incompetence, some may say corruption in some cases as it relates to the White House, I mean, every day, I am sorry, every day we turn on the television. What is new? What is going on at the White House? What is being held back from the American people? What is being held back from the Congress? Who came to the Hill today and conflicted a story that they told just months ago about the fiscal outlook on the country? Meanwhile, you have Members that come up to this well on the majority side and say we are doing fine, I do not know what these Democrats are talking about. But it goes against logic. We have letters from their very own administration that are saying we have got to raise the debt limit because of our irresponsible policies.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. It goes a little further. They are going to pay higher copayments, too; and what the majority has to understand, Mr. Speaker and what the Senate has to understand and what the President has to understand, this is not going to change. This is business as usual.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Do you know what is interesting, Mr. Delahunt, is the fact that we have the issues that are floating here in Washington, D.C., and it is just kind of hard to keep up with them. There are so many things that are going on, and so many things that are happening to the American people. It is important that we get our house in order, and this House and the Chamber across the hall, including the executive branch, of getting back to the business of the people of this country. We have families in the gulf that had visited the Capitol last week, coming with demands for their government: do not forget about us; do not leave us out; do not leave us behind. And reports are being released, but not only a summary report from the partisan House committee that was formed here about some of the mistakes that the administration made and where this Federal Government failed Americans. Another report that Secretary Chertoff is talking about, he was supposed to come before the Senate today of the Homeland Security Committee, and they canceled the committee meeting because of Senate votes, to get down to the bottom of why we still have not prioritized the emergency management response. I also think it is important that we point out the fact that the partisan commission here in this House that is charged, Mr. Speaker, with getting to the bottom of what happened and what did not happen in the case of the response and preparedness for Hurricane Katrina fell short of its duty to be able to make sure that we had sound, concrete recommendations to be able to move forward. We still ask, Mr. Speaker, here on this side of the aisle, for an independent Katrina commission so that we can really get down to the nuts and bolts of what happened in this natural disaster and the disaster that followed that was the Federal Government's response. I think it is also important that we talk about our fiscal situation, and some of tonight and tomorrow we will talk about what has happened with the reconciliation, budget recommendations that passed through this House and through the Senate, and where we are falling short there and being straight with the American people as it relates to the Republican majority. Mr. Delahunt, I think it is important to point out the fact that so many Americans under this administration and under this White House have found themselves left behind economically and also socially. The President talked about his health care plan here in this Chamber, a health savings plan that is already not working, and the way it should work and could work for Americans because it is not the right prescription for coverage for families. To set aside money, to ask Americans to set aside money that they do not have in the first place is an oversight in itself. So many American families are living from paycheck to paycheck. It is not because they were so unfortunate to have a job and a family that they could not afford some of the high prices they are paying for fuel at this time and heating costs and other energy-related costs, but to say that we will allow you to put money aside for a rainy day for when a family member gets sick, that is not insurance. Right now there is legislation here in this Congress to stop the Veterans' Affairs Committee from going up on insurance rates against veterans. And I want to also, if I can point out a few of those articles today just in the local Washington Post, Mr. Delahunt, I think maybe we can talk about some of the things our third-party validators are talking about here in this town.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Well, without family where would we be?

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to be here on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives again. As you know, we have our 30-something Working Group that Leader Pelosi has formed over 3 years ago. And we meet constantly on issues that are facing the American people, and we ask the U.S. House of Representatives to address those issues in many cases. And there is an awful lot, Mr. Speaker, that is going on here in Washington, D.C. I must say that I am really, really pleased at the innovation workshop we had earlier today that allowed Americans to be able to get a view of what the Democratic side has to offer in the area of innovation. And we are going to talk a little bit about that tonight. But we are also going to talk about the ongoing costs of corruption and cronyism and incompetence in this institution that has brought about bad policies for the American people and affects the very lives of the American people that we are trying to serve. As we work to try to better ourselves here in this Congress, we continue to point out the fact that we are not working in a bipartisan way to be able to get the best results for Americans. And we are going to talk about that also, Mr. Speaker. I think it is important to point out the fact that we want to wish everyone here, not only in the U.S. House of Representatives but throughout our Nation, a happy Valentine's Day. And Mr. Delahunt is here, one of our esteemed colleagues. We are so glad tonight, Mr. Delahunt, that you can join the 30-something Working Group on this Valentine's night. I know a nice man like you had to call a couple of folks and wish them happy Valentine's Day, including your family members, and it is a good day.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Ryan, in the same breath, the President is talking about we want to embrace innovation. We want to prepare the next generation to lead. We want to make sure that we put our fiscal house in order.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I can tell the gentleman what took so long. What took so long is that we have an administration and we have a Congress that did not give the proper oversight. The Department of Homeland Security asked the questions when they should have been asked. The American people were told, trust us, trust us, trust us. When you talk about the Republican majority and really Homeland Security, FEMA, the White House, and oversight committees were not prepared to do what it was supposed to do and we failed the American people. Now, let me just say this. The American people have been asked to trust the words of this majority time after time again. Trust us on the fiscal outlook for the country. Trust us on taking down the deficit. Trust us on making sure what they tell you is actually the reality. Trust us on your health care costs and your coverage. Trust us, trust us, trust us. And almost in the same month the American people, it is revealed to the American people that it was not about them the whole time. It was about special interests having their opportunities and privacy through the executive branches in this Congress. Now if I can just take a minute just to bring in third-party validators. You talked about what you read in your hometown paper. I just want to put this picture right here. This is Secretary John Snow from the Department of Treasury. I want to put his picture there so folks know that this is not the Meek or the Delahunt report. This is a report in a letter from the Secretary of the Department of Treasury to Senator Mitch McConnell, and it says the administration now projects that the statutory debt limit currently at $8.184 billion will be reached in mid-February of this year. At that time, unless the debt limit is raised or the Department of Treasury takes the authorized authority, extraordinary actions will have to be carried out, we will be unable to continue financing the government operations. It goes on to say, I am writing you to request that the Congress raise the statutory debt limit as soon as possible or we will not be able to carry out government functions. That is basically what it is saying. I have blown this letter up here because I think it is important. This letter is signed by the Secretary of the Treasury. Basically what he is saying in this letter is that, unless the debt limit is raised, the Department of Treasury will not be able to continue to finance government operations. Our government operations, not the government operations of a foreign country, not the government operations of the Republican party, not the government operations of the Democratic party, the government operations of these United States of America. Now give me a couple more minutes. This came from the Secretary of the Treasury, the office right next to the White House, Mr. Speaker, appointed by the President of these United States and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. This is a letter that he wrote on December 29 of 2005, just the end of last year. Better yet, Mr. Speaker, the American people are being asked, trust us with the money and the decisions. Let us have a treasurer here. Mr. Delahunt is familiar with this chart. The President of the United States, George W. Bush, has borrowed more, and he could not do it by himself, he needed the Republican majority to do it, $1.05 trillion from foreign countries. Foreign nations like China and Saudi Arabia and all of the countries that we are concerned about, we have borrowed more money in four years since 2001 to the present, to the end of 2005 than 42 Presidents combined, and that is $1.01 trillion. Now we had World War II, Mr. Speaker. We have had the Korean War. We have had World War I. We have had Vietnam. We had Gulf I. All of these wars, all of these conflicts, the Great Depression, a number of challenges to our country. This President and this Republican Congress has borrowed more, I cannot say that enough, has borrowed more from foreign nations in the history of our republic. And we can say that from a standpoint as Democrats to say that we put forth a balanced budget recommendation here and it has actually happened. I just want to make sure, and I know this is one of Mr. Ryan's charts here, but I am going to go ahead and say this is our debt right here now as you see it as of February 14, as of February 14 which is a special day on the calendar, and we talked about that a little earlier. This is what the American, this is what each American, if a baby was born when we started this special order here tonight, they already owe $27,526.77 and counting. So I go back to Secretary Snow's letter. Did the Democrats write this letter? No. The Democrats put forth recommendations of pay as you go. Is the Republican majority embracing that doctrine? No. Is the White House embracing that doctrine? No. So when we start talking about fiscal responsibility and competence and saying no to corruption and cronyism that has an effect on the American people, this is the result of it. You have got a letter. That is what the we are about. We are about shedding light on what is happening under this Capitol dome. If you let the majority tell you, oh, well, the Democrats have done this, that and the other. This is the biggest borrow-and-spend Congress in my opinion in the history of the Congress, borrow and spending in the worst way with interest.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. In my last 2 minutes, I am bouncing back to you to give the Web site address out, but I just want to make sure that we have a moment of clarity here. Mr. Speaker, we are not pointing these issues out as though we have not tried to stop these runaway majority borrow-and-spend Republicans here in this House. For the Record, Congressional Record, I must add, not the Democratic Congressional Record, but the Congressional Record, Democrats have repeatedly tried to reinstate the pay-as-you-go philosophy. On March 30, 2004, Republicans voted 209 to 209 against Democrats, which killed the motion that was offered by Mike Thompson of California to instruct conferees on recommendations as pay as you go. All right, that is the first example. The second one, May 25, 2004, Republicans voted 208 to 215. Republicans voted 215 to reject a motion by Dennis Moore, another Democrat that voted on the pay-as-you-go principle. November 18, 2004, Republicans took another vote to block former Member Stenholm's amendment to stop the debt limit from being increased. Time after time after time again. You can go on to our Web site. The Members can get this information. We have tried to stop this Congress. The only way you can stop this Republican Congress from doing what they are doing is make sure that we have more Democrats here in this House.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, rarely has a single person left so great a mark on a community as Sister Jeanne O'Laughlin. When Sister Jean, as she is universally known, assumed the presidency of Barry College in 1981, it was a small all-girls institution. When she left nearly 25 years later, it was Barry University, a 9,000 student co-ed institution of higher learning, complete with a law school and a national reputation for excellence. However, Sister Jean's achievements, as great as they are, pale when compared to the power of her personality and extraordinary impact she has had on virtually everyone she meets. Last fall, South Florida CEO magazine did a profile of Sister Jean which I think captures some of the spirit of this remarkable woman, and I would like to share it with my colleagues. The Nun on the Run It is not every day you meet a nun whose license tag reads ``Hugs 1'' and whose sentences are punctuated with an endearing ``honey.'' But then again, there is only one Sister Jeanne Marie O'Laughlin. A few hugs here and a few ``honeys'' there--along with bulldog tenacity and a refusal to compromise her convictions--have helped O'Laughlin forge bonds with everyone from religious figures to football stars to dignitaries. Her new office at Barry University, where she recently become chancellor, is proof. The corridor is wallpapered with framed photos of O'Laughlin with the pope, presidents, sports stars and scores of other influential people. About 100 plaques, keys to cities and the Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce's ``Sand in My Shoes'' award overwhelm glass-enclosed display cases. O'Laughlin says it was tough to choose from the hundreds she received during her 23-year tenure as president of Barry University. ``They just delivered the furniture today. You are my first external guest, honey,'' O'Laughlin, 76, says in a grandmotherly tone as she points out her private prayer closet. She proudly displays her collection of icons-- artistic representations of sanctified Christians that are an integral part of worship in the Catholic faith. Directing attention to an icon of ``Jesus the Teacher,'' O'Laughlin reveals. ``With this one I look at the world through his eyes and see the humanity of children.'' She has a special place in her heart for children of all ages, perhaps because her own childhood, including World War II years spent in Detroit, was strained. In 1935, when O'Laughlin was barely 6 years old, her mother died in childbirth. Her family became a single-parent household long before it was a societal norm. She describes her father, a draftsman at the Dodge car factory in Detroit, as a ``good old Irish dad'' who prayed the rosary every day and read the Bible to his family on Sundays. Her childhood memories are a mixture of pain, love and poverty. ``At times you had to pretty well fend for yourself. So maybe my creativity in fundraising came out of that,'' O'Laughlin laughs now. ``But my core values came from my father's training and education. Our family always cared for each other and loved one another. Sharing became an integral part of what we did. My dad cared. He even took in my mother's two brothers and two sisters when they got married, So I had a model even though our family was poor and motherless. I learned that family was important.'' O'Laughlin's mother lived on in her imagination, stoked by her Aunt Edna's frequent recounting of stories. One tale in particular would forever direct the course of O'Laughlin's life--and arouse her passion for education. ``Aunt Edna told me that my mother valued education and that her whole desire when she died at age 29 was that her children would be educated. My dad promised her on her deathbed that we would be, and we all got college educations,'' O'Laughlin solemnly shares. ``Missing a mother made me yearn to protect other mothers and babies.'' Detroit left its impression, too, and an early experience with racism there, says O'Laughlin, led her to a lifetime of social action. One day when she was 13 years old, a streetcar O'Laughlin was riding in suddenly jolted. Two black children fell into her lap, and she embraced them during the rest of the journey. To her surprise, when she stepped off the streetcar, a white man spit on her. ``I asked my dad why that man spit on me,'' recalls O'Laughlin, still obviously disturbed by the decades-old event. ``He told me it was prejudice. I asked him what caused prejudice. He told me it was ignorance. I asked him how you get rid of ignorance. He said education.'' The experience left O'Laughlin with a burning desire to help people--all people, and it eventually led her down the path towards joining the Dominican order of nuns. Three years later, she joined the Adrian (Mich.) Dominican Sisters, an international congregation of more than 970 vowed religious women whose roots go back to St. Dominic during the 13th century. O'Laughlin began professing her first vows at age 17, That initial step towards becoming nun was followed by several years of exploration and training, until she became a permanent member of the order of the Dominican Sisters of Adrian. O'Laughlin took her final vows when she was 21--lying flat on her back in the midst of a battle with respiratory illness so severe her father feared it was her last breath. After taking her final vows as a nun, O'Laughlin's next priority was getting the education that her mother had wanted for her. She earned a bachelor's degree and began her teaching career in the 1950s. She taught throughout Michigan at St. Agnes in Iron River, Detroit's Dominican High and Dearborn's St. Alphonsus. After she earned a master's degree in biology, the Archdiocese of Tucson, Ariz. hired her as a supervisor of schools. Even then, she continued to attend school, earning a doctorate in education from the University of Arizona. A watershed moment in O'Laughlin's life was Pope John XXIII's issuance of the Vatican II documents between 1962 and 1965, which made several reforms to the Catholic church, Among the reforms were options for nuns to choose not to wear a habit, the traditional head covering and garment worn for centuries, and to have the choice of returning to their baptismal names or keeping their religious name, That is when O'Laughlin chose to exchange her religious name of Sister John Anthony for her baptismal name, and became Sister Jeanne Marie. Shortly thereafter, in the late 1960s, O'Laughlin was appointed superintendent of the Adrian Dominican Independent School System, overseeing schools in Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and California. The administrative position left her with the experience she would later need to build a thriving university. ``I learned a great deal about diversity during that time because I worked with Indians [Native Americans] and Hispanics. I gained a great respect for various cultures. I learned to look at sameness instead of differences,'' O'Laughlin says. Along with her development as an administrator, O'Laughlin continued to evolve her concept of being a woman in the religious order. By 1970, she shed her habit, after examining the rationale of wearing it in light of Vatican II's redefining of nuns as members of the laity and not of the clergy. O'Laughlin says it seemed logical, in that light, for her to dress like the laity. Her sister helped her pick out clothes, which included the fashion of the day. While today O'Laughlin wears business suits with sophisticated style, she says at the time it was like going from adolescence to menopause in 10 minutes as she began to understand what it meant to be a woman. ``All of a sudden my identity was not neuter. I had to worry about hair and clothing. It was a whole new experience for me. I had no idea how to dress,'' O'Laughlin says. ``I had to learn the things most women learned in the normal maturation process from girl to woman.'' She also further reexamined her relationships with non- clergy. ``It was always very easy to define in the habit. I just kept my place and my distance,'' she says. ``As part of the laity, I had to begin relating to the laity on their level as who I was as a woman.'' As her career progressed, O'Laughlin became the executive assistant to the president at St. Louis University in St. Louis and also spent time as an adjunct faculty member at the University of San Francisco and Siena Heights College in Adrian before assuming the presidency at Miami Shores- based Barry University in 1981. transforming barry When O'Laughlin first took the helm at Barry, it was a small all-girls college. When she retired in June 2005, it was a 9,000-student co-ed university with a law school, an athletics program, and a $22 million endowment. After dropping to her knees and dedicating the school to ``the Lord''--saying, she recalls, that it was his institution and he had to save it and develop it because she couldn't do it with her own strength--she set out to instill what she calls the ``midnight shakes.'' Her goal was for Barry's mission to be so clear in the minds of the staff that if she suddenly awakened them at midnight they could recite it, nearly in their sleep. The mission was (and still is) to offer students a quality education, assure a religious dimension to that education, offer a caring environment and provide community service. O'Laughlin saw the biggest challenge to fulfilling that mission and building Barry into Florida's fourth-largest private university was finances. ``It's easy to have dreams and visions, but you need the resources to fulfill those dreams and visions. The most awful thing was worrying at night about the people who worked here getting paid: their mortgages, their car payments, their children,'' O'Laughlin recalls. ``When I got here the payroll was about $250,000 every two weeks and then it got up to $2.5 million every two weeks. The greatest challenge to me is to try to reward and keep the people who shared this mission and ministry with us.'' O'Laughlin embarked on an exuberant fundraising campaign, often using the sheer force of her personality to fulfill what had become a true mission for her. In fact, some have described her as a cross between P.T. Barnum and Mother Theresa because of her unusual fundraising efforts, which included a lot of arm-twisting and the acceptance of a dare or two. There was the time she took a $2 million dare to learn ballroom dancing. O'Laughlin became the first Dominican nun to debut at the US Ballroom Championships, wearing a floor- length royal blue gown. She donned a feather boa and white satin gown on a millionaire's yacht and sang ``Don't Cry for Me, Argentina'' for a $1.5 million donation. O'Laughlin's 16-hour days were not only spent building Barry University, but also building the community. In 1987, when Boynton Beach-based community radio station WXEL was plagued with personnel problems, plummeting membership and donations--even a lightning strike on its transmitter, the station turned to Barry University for help, and O'Laughlin led the university's takeover of the station. Talk of turning the community station over to a Catholic school drew its critics, but those voices were muted when O'Laughlin herself spearheaded the move to wash away the station's $2.5 million debt with the help of a single donor: Dwayne O. Andreas, retired chairman of agricultural giant Archer Daniels Midland Co. Andreas had donated the money to Barry at the urging of his wife, an alumnus. O'Laughlin asked Andreas if she could use it to save the radio station and he agreed. O'Laughlin hired Jerry Carr, a broadcasting veteran and turnaround expert who had helped revive Miami's Channel 33 and Paxson television stations. Carr credits O'Laughlin with single-handedly rescuing WXEL from bankruptcy. Many didn't believe O'Laughlin could keep a Catholic agenda out of the station's programming, but Carr says she never told him what to air. In fact, Carr even ran a Planned Parenthood advertising campaign, a taboo subject in the Catholic church. ``I did not even have to ask Sister Jeanne for permission because I knew her heart was to do whatever was necessary to serve the community in a non-sectarian role,'' Carr recalls. ``She always told me I should not do anything other than what was expected in the world of broadcasting. She was the greatest boss I ever had and the most wonderful lady I've ever met in my life.'' WXEL rebounded and revenues skyrocketed. When Barry took over, the station's net value was $354,573. It was valued at $5.93 million when O'Laughlin handed over the chair of the station to Sister Linda Bevilacqua. O'Laughlin smiles when she talks about WXEL, but admits it wasn't quite a dream come true in every respect. ``My dream was to use the radio station as an instrument to increase access to education in the community,'' she says. ``We just didn't have the resources. But God used me as an instrument to save it, and if that's all he wanted and all he wrote, then that's OK. It's a huge success. I am proud of that.'' In 1999, O'Laughlin oversaw the launch of Barry's law school in Orlando. She battled for three years to gain accreditation from the American Bar Association (ABA). Barry law professor Stanley M. Talcott, who was dean during the battle, says he will always remember O'Laughlin's determination. ``I watched Sister Jeanne as she advocated for the law school. I found her to be extraordinarily effective, well- informed, and just powerful,'' he says. Changing the Meaning of ``Nun'' O'Laughlin has never taken the easy path, and her life has been tinged with controversy since the Detroit streetcar incident. She proudly calls herself ``the nun on the run'' because she is constantly on the go and knows she has helped quash some stereotypes about Catholic religious women and women in general--things she never intended to do. As she sees it, she was just following her faith. In a time when nuns did not typically fraternize with political potentates and influential business leaders, O'Laughlin was the first woman on Miami's influential Orange Bowl Committee and the Non-Group, an informal fraternity of local power brokers. She has served on countless boards and committees and has been urged to run for political office. Never afraid of being outspoken, O'Laughlin has worked to do more than educate her students. She has labored to fight drug abuse, feed the homeless, assist immigrants and protect children. ``We have to understand the dignity and beauty of each human being, even though we don't agree with them because of a different tradition or history,'' says O'Laughlin, who has also fostered the most diverse enrollment in Barry's history, with 47 percent of its students identified as black or Latino. Among her many exploits, O'Laughlin took responsibility for 300 Haitian immigrants when they were released from the Krome Detention Center in 1982 and placed with sponsors who provided them with food, housing, and employment; took in Romanian detainees; helped get residency for an Iranian couple and their children; and found a home for a Chinese baby. Certainly O'Laughlin's most controversial engagement was her role in 2000's Elian Gonzalez saga. Moved by the little boy whose mother had died while they were fleeing Cuba by raft to the US, she initially acted as a neutral mediator, hosting meetings between the boy's Miami relatives and his Cuban grandmothers in their tug-of-war for custody. Hers was an unpopular position that spawned death threats, bomb threats, and plenty of hate mail. Then, suddenly, the neutral nun became an ardent advocate for the Miami relatives, urging the government to allow Elian to stay in the US. O'Laughlin says her emotions included fear, compassion, and rejection during a period she describes as one of the most difficult in her life, but insists her faith got her through. ``When I went to bed at night, I had to tell the Lord it was in his hands, and, `If I offended, I ask pardon. If I haven't, I sure hope you'll help me the next day,''' O'Laughlin reveals. ``When I talked to [former Attorney General] Janet Reno about Elian after it was over, she quoted Truman. She said we were both searching for the truth.'' Generally, O'Laughlin's disarming manner has been key to her success in helping people, say those who have worked closely with her. ``With the `honey' here and the `honey' there, she gets a lot of things accomplished,'' says Leslie Pantin Jr., chairman of Barry's board of trustees. ``She continues to instill in Barry a unique, caring environment while being involved in every major cause we've had in South Florida, from the airport to rebuilding after Hurricane Andrew to the fight against drugs, and of course the Elian Gonzalez position.'' O'Laughlin may be loathe to admit it, but one of her toughest fights was her personal battle with lung cancer. She underwent two lung cancer surgeries in the past few years (she never smoked) but has hardly slowed down. After stepping down as Barry's president last summer to allow a new face with a new perspective to take the university to the next level, she continued to focus on education, albeit with a slightly different twist. O'Laughlin's mission now is to teach women how to open universities in developing countries. ``It would be really great if the Lord would let me, before I turn up my toes, play a role in getting schools started and I don't care at what level--because we'll never have peace, we'll never have a legitimate fight against poverty, unless we have education,'' she says. In her quasi-retired life, O'Laughlin remains involved in various South Florida organizations, and has faith that the region will become a model that the whole world will envy. ``South Florida has all right ingredients: good people, an embracing climate, and welcoming shores,'' O'Laughlin says. ``My vision and hope is that we continue to open our arms and caress our people and energize them to create a greater state and a greater South Florida by giving their gifts back to this great place.''

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Thank you, Mr. Ryan, for joining us. We are going to spare the great staff here in the Chamber. It was a long night last night. We are going to call it a night with this hour. We will not take our second hour. We want to once again thank the Democratic leadership for allowing us to have this hour, Mr. Speaker.