Kendrick Meek

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I am so glad that Mr. Ryan has joined us, and it is so good to be back here in 2006 with the 30- Something Group once again. I yield to the gentleman.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. But go ahead.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I have already mentioned it.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Democrats. Democrats. And Mr. Ryan, in the 30- somethings we like to tell the truth, so a few Republicans, just a few in this House, stopped the Republican majority. And guess what? And everyday-working Americans, Mr. Ryan. The millions of Americans that wrote their Members of Congress. But on the Democratic side we had hundreds of town hall meetings informing Americans about what this Congress was going to do to them on behalf of special interests. The only guarantee was special interests were going to get their money off the top and their benefits were going to go down. But, guess what? Now the President is saying that because it takes a little blood and fire in this thing, oh, maybe we can put together another, and another, I think it is the fourth or fifth so-called bipartisan commission to look at Social Security. I'm going to tell you, Mr. Ryan, the only way we fight, the only way we win as Americans against special interests, coupled with the majority side, is by fire and through commitment and the American spirit. I must say that I am very excited about the fact that we have energized Members on this side of the aisle that are not willing to take it. Now, I'm saying some people might say take it any more, but we never took it. We are making sure we bring the fight to the majority side. If they want to work against the will of everyday American people, we are going to give the American people the voice. Even if they are Republicans, even if they are Independents, even if they are part of the Reform Party, they are Americans. We have been federalized to represent them, and they will receive their representation.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. If you are not passionate, if you did not have a special place in your heart and your mind, then something would be really wrong. You are one of the Members of Congress that knew and appreciate what it meant when someone or a constituent of yours went to go vote for representation. That is what they voted for. They voted for someone that was willing to stand up for them, even if they get strange looks by certain Members the next day or right after we leave the floor. That is what this thing is about. That is the reason why we serve. That is why we make sacrifices, to be here on this floor after everyone else has gone home and flipping cable channels saying, well, you know, today I have done my part. We still have an America out there that is suffering, and I am not talking necessarily about poor people. I am talking about folks that work every day. I am talking about small businesses trying to figure out how they are going to control their health insurance costs. I am talking about victims of natural disasters in our Nation. I am talking about families of troops, men and women in harm's way, that are concerned about their loved ones and the lack of vision and leadership and direction that we are not providing and sending the signals to other governments and taking the training wheels off of them and saying now, listen, there has to be an end or a strategy to bringing our men and women home and saving the U.S. taxpayer money. That can be accomplished and protect America at the same time. Mr. Speaker, I think it is important that we speak truth to power when we talk about those kinds of things because you cannot let statements just float saying that we just stay as long as we have to stay. What does that mean? Stay the course, what does that mean? It is not giving the very men and women that have sand in their teeth as we are speaking here on this floor a piece of mind on our vision as a Congress and as a White House. I think that is important. The reason why you were speaking so passionately, I just want to reflect on tax cuts. As we start talking about them, I can tell you right now I was in the State legislator, Mr. Speaker. I voted for a number of tax cuts. Yes, I did, for people that worked every day, for small businesses that were trying to make a way out of no way, helping them achieve the American dream, even for some large businesses that wanted to create more jobs. I did it. I did even a hearing in this House as it relates to tax cuts for middle class families, and so did a number of colleagues on this side even had proposals that would help small businesses more than the majority proposals would help small businesses or recommended helping small businesses. I think it is important for us to look at when we talk about tax cuts and urge the Congress to make the tax cuts permanent, okay, well, let us break that down. Let us put that in English. That is another theme. That is a slogan. That is an old Burger King theme, have it your way. There are a couple of other themes that are out there: Stop by, we leave the lights on. Those are themes. Those are slogans. That is a marketing campaign. That is not governance. Let us just share this for a moment. Let me just translate for the President. What he is talking about, and the majority of the House of Representatives is talking about, the extension of capital gains and dividend tax breaks were provided to the top 1 percent tax cuts up to $14,361 in 2010. Meanwhile, using the same timeline, middle class, low-income families would only get $41. I can tell you, either everyone in America has to be part of the top 1 percent to enjoy the majority's vision on the Republican side or else. That is it. Either you pull yourself up by your bootstraps, Republicans, Democrats, Independents, Green Party and Reform Party members, or you get the $41. That is just where it is. You get what kind of tax cut? $41. It almost costs $41 to prepare your taxes. So the tax guy takes that right off the top. You do not even see that. It is just enough to prepare your taxes and report to this government. I think it is important that we break this thing down for the American people, that they understand exactly what is going on and that we let the majority side, as we did with the K Street project, as we talked about the Republican culture of corruption and cronyism and incompetence, I cannot say it enough because there is no better vindication than being right. I tell you, some people wait years. Some folks say, well, maybe 10 years from now they will realize what this Republican majority has embraced as doing business in Washington, D.C., but there is a higher power that will reveal to his people what is going on in this government that has he ordained. You say you have 12 years of Catholic school. I have got about forty-some years of Mount Table Missionary Baptist Church in me, and I have been in the neighborhood where when folks pray hard, they pray hard. I have been in street revivals. I have seen evangelists on television. I have seen them under a tent, but the bottom line is whether it be Christian or a Jewish person or a Muslim, I am going to tell you right now, regardless of what one's faith is, right is right and wrong is wrong. I would tell you, if we make things permanent and totally lock in middle America, poor people in this country into what the President is talking about, we better all try to be part of the 1 percent because if you are not, you are going to get shortchanged. Not only are you going to get shortchanged, your child is not going to have the education dollars that they need to even prepare themselves to be a part of the 1 percent. That is where it comes down to. Members need to understand that the American people are going to have to make a choice, and they will make a choice in the coming months. You said it and I will say it again. We are ready, prepared, we have our chin strap buckled, Super Bowl coming up, to lead, not next year but right now. If the majority side wants to have a paradigm shift and say that we want a bipartisan working group on making sure that we do things the way we are supposed to do it here, then, fine, we can get to work now. But as long as the Republican majority feels that they need to hold us down, Mr. Ryan: oh, we got to keep those Democratic ideas down; oh, we have to procedurally not allow them to bring ideas to the floor; oh, we need to gavel them down in committee when they try to present these ideas because we don't want our Members to vote for them because they may be judged by their constituents, I can tell you, and I am so glad I thought of this, Mr. Ryan, and I know you have the next hour, but let me just say this real quickly. A perfect example: vindication within our lifetime is wonderful, within our political lifetime of the 109th Congress. Social Security. The President last night said, Well, you know, we have to work on Social Security. Well, the Congress stopped the President and the majority side from the privatization of Social Security last year.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Ryan, as you know, we believe in making sure that we share with the Members that we are prepared, we are ready and able to lead. And we are going to present a case every time we get an opportunity to have the Republicans join the debate on some of our ideas. We are willing to even share some of our ideas with the majority. And we have offered procedurally to the Republicans our ideas, but since we are not a part of the legislative writing, the legislative creating, the legislative process here, where we have folks outside of this process that are unelected that have more input than our caucus on a piece of legislation of significance to the American people, we have to make sure that we share our case. I want to make sure, I want to make sure that the Members on the majority side know that they can go to www.democrats.gov and pull up our innovation agenda, Mr. Ryan, pull up our innovation agenda. And this is just the executive summary of it on how we are talking about how we are going to make America better, how we are going to find alternative energy, how we are going to make sure that our next generation is ready to lead the world, not the United States, but the world. How we are not going to leave our young people behind, how we are going to invest in technology so that we do not have to come up with special visa programs. Let me just break that down. Special passports or credentials from foreign countries because we do not have the know-how here in our country to do what we need to do as a country, and to continue to stay the superpower of the world. If we continue on this track, we are going to have some real financial issues, Mr. Ryan, that you mentioned earlier. And we are going to have a brain drain, because we have some folks that are more interested on the majority side on giving special deals to the special interests. I also want to add, and you mentioned this, and I just want to refer to my notes, but I want to make sure that we are crystal clear, and that everyone understands what we are saying here. We have an energy independence plan within 10 years, like Mr. Ryan said with new investments and clean energy and technology, calling for the repeal of the $8 billion subsidy to the oil companies, and use it for consumer relief. Now, I think that is important. We are going to take $8 billion from the special interests. This is our plan. $8 billion. This is not a new program like they like to say, this is taking away from the special interest programs, Mr. Ryan, our friends who you made mention of, record profits, all of the way up. I know you mentioned Exxon and Mobil, but there are a number of other companies taking the cookies from them because they are making money. I mean, it is not like, you know, a small business would love to say, well, you know, I made money this year, but I do not even have to spend my money to invest in future profits. I will just spend the taxpayers' money to invest in my own profits and to my stockholders. So folks want to talk about fiscal responsibility, I think it is important that we understand that there are people working out there that are paying more for heating oil and fuel and LP gas than at any other time in history of this country. But meanwhile the corporations that are able, that are a part of the legislative process here in this Congress, Mr. Speaker, and a part of writing legislation over in the White House as we have read reports on, they are getting what they want. What about the folks that woke up early one Tuesday morning to vote for representation? So there is a clear choice. Just like we were talking about the K Street Project for 2 years, 24 months. One member of the K Street project, a substantial member on the Republican side admitted guilt, willing to, you know, okay, go spend some time in jail. It was all right. And then when he did that, then all of a sudden the K Street Project, it is not good. We need to do away with it. We have been saying that on the Democratic side for a long time. It was not only working toward the demise of bipartisanship here in this House of Representative, it was working toward the demise of the American spirit. And making sure democracy rings, and making sure that every individual received the just-due representation that they voted for, not the just-due representation of the special interests, the just-due representation of what they voted for. Yes, Members, it is painful. It is very painful, Mr. Speaker, to come to the floor and speak truths. But I think it is important that Republicans, Independents, Democrats, Green Party, you name it, Reform Party know exactly what is going on under the Capitol dome. We were not sent here to be cozy-cozy and buddy-buddy and allow this country or the leadership of this country to in many ways turn their back on future generations and this generation. You mentioned today, the budget once again passed by 1 or 2 votes, passed by 2 votes today. That cut substantially student loans and student opportunities to our young people, but better yet, the President stood up here last night around this time, or last night, an hour from when we are talking now, and said we believe in innovation, we believe in making sure, because, you know, what the President saw our plan and saw that we were talking about, our plan, and heard about our town meetings, that we were having as Democrats, about our plan on innovation. So he decided to talk about it. But he is talking the talk but he is not walking the walk. It is not in his budget. It was not in his budget last year. And the action by the House today, by the majority that voted to set back the clock on so many Americans that work every day. Parents work every day, Mr. Speaker. They pay taxes every day. I mean they pay the highest taxes because, guess what, they do not get the big breaks like special interests get. And yet we made their job even harder today in making sure that they educate their children. So, Mr. Ryan, I would be uncomfortable in saying what they have been saying, and saying what we have not been saying for a very long time. I want to remind the Members once again that if we were in the majority, when I say we, I am talking about the Democrats, there would not be a lot of talk about what we should do or we could do, it will be the fact that we are doing, and that we are working on behalf of everyday Americans, and if they are a police officer, a teacher, a person mopping up the floor at a hotel on the midnight shift, they are retired, they are trying to figure out how they are going to make ends meet, or if that they have reached the American dream, had a small business, it is now a big business and providing jobs to everyday Americans, and making sure that they are equally represented. It would not be a question. Mr. Speaker, it would not be a question, and we would not even have to talk about bipartisanship, because we would have bipartisanship, because that is what we are supposed to do in this House, and what the American people voted us in and expect from us to do is to work together, not only on naming post offices and bridges like we do to Americans that deserve it, I am not belittling that process. We all bring legislation here to honor our constituents and Americans that have served our local communities. We all vote for it, with a few exceptions, but on issues such as health care, on issues such as tax reform, on issues such as the rights and body armor for our troops, we should be united on that. It would not be a question if we could or we would, we would be doing it. So that is the programs that we make from this side, Mr. Ryan. And guess what? We have history to prove that we work in a bipartisan nature. So when you talk about election time in November, and you talking about the fact that people will be coming forward, the American people in an interview, as though they are applying for their job once again, or we say an evaluation, when they sit down to that evaluation, we want to make sure that the Members know exactly what the American people, the kind of questions they are going to be asking or what kind of action they will be taking.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Well, it is interesting, Mr. Ryan, that when you started talking about health care, I think it is important that we have plans to cut health care costs. We also want to reduce the number of the uninsured and provide tax credits for health insurance for small businesses. Mr. Ryan, there are a number of small businesses in my district that say, you know something, Congressman? I would like to offer a real health care plan to my employees, Mr. Speaker, but they can't. They can't do it because they, A, cannot afford it, and, B, the insurance is too high. Even when you have insurance, you may call it insurance, but the premiums are too high. Also making sure we allow patients to buy into a CHIPA program, and also allow Americans age 55 to 64 to buy Medicare, and also provide proposals to bring down the cost of prescription drugs. Mr. Speaker, the President mentioned nothing, absolutely nothing, you can check the speech on the White House Web site, nothing on prescription drugs, nada, even though we have seniors throughout the country trying to figure out where is the cost savings in the bill that was passed are. I mean, absolutely nothing. I can see at least like one little word. ``Well, I want to address this.'' Just one line. Nowhere in the speech. So the American people know as far as the majority, the Republican majority, you have the Republican U.S. House of Representatives looking forward to the status quo. If you are happy with the status quo right now, I think you need to stick with it. If you are not happy and are concerned, like many millions of Americans are, I think you need to be able to put that on that interview you have with your Member of Congress.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Forty-six million.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. It has been wrong for a number of years. Guess what, Mr. Ryan? We came to the floor definitely within the last 2 years and since the creation of the 30-Something Working Group and brought this to the attention of the Members that this is wrong. You even called it Shakedown Street. We didn't even want to call it K Street, because it promoted too much. People laughed in their offices at us saying, look at them on the floor. They are talking about it. We are in control. This is no biggie. One article that I read, one Member that will go unnamed at this moment, we all know, had a little booking office. If you were not in the book, you did not get to see me, or that particular Member. So I think it is important, Mr. Ryan, that we make sure that Americans know and the American people know, no matter where they live, that under a Democratic-controlled Congress, and this is the message to the Members and the majority, because there are some Members in the majority that feel the way we feel, Mr. Ryan, but, unfortunately, the majority of the majority doesn't feel that way. So maybe we can have a paradigm shift as we start working on this job interview that you mentioned, which we call in broader terms an ``aka election day,'' that hopefully there be a paradigm shift where these Members will say, you know, I think it is important that we work in a bipartisan way to benefit Americans, and I think it is important that we make sure that the American people feel they are getting their vote worth out of this Congress, versus a K Street Project or Shakedown Street. So, Mr. Ryan, I am glad to report that we, the Democrats, have worked very hard in making sure that we bring this honest leadership to this Chamber and to this institution to benefit the American people. It is nothing against certain individuals and Members that have made bad decisions. That is what they have to deal with individually, okay? But when it deals with the overall function of this House, and I am so glad in our legislation that we have, Mr. Ryan, on the Democratic side, that we are doing away with those in-the-dead-of-the-night special interest votes while Americans are sleeping because they got to go to work in the morning and punch in and work with very little health care benefits; that at 2 and 3 o'clock in the morning their Congress, their House of Representatives, took their vote, took their confidence, and gave it to the special interests. We are saying we want to disabuse this Chamber of doing that, we are saying we have a plan to do it, and we are saying that we have been amplifying this kind of what some may say is illegal activity that has been taking place in so many different areas and what has been reported in the media, we have been reporting this. Mr. Ryan, I would feet uncomfortable saying what I am saying right now on the floor of the House of Representatives if we hadn't been saying it for months and months and months. Finally there is validation that is happening, that it was happening, and that it is time for a change and it is time for us to make sure that this country gets its votes worth out of this Congress.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. You call Shakedown Street. The deal was, and I am not talking about the deal with cards, the deal was, and may still be, as far as we know, is that corporations and special interests had to hire, okay, quote-unquote, former staffers from the Republican side to work in their corporation. The leadership of those lobbying groups had to be a Republican person that was trusted by certain Members and certain former Members of the majority. So that was the deal. You do that, and then you have to make sure that we have a line of communications, because we are in this thing together. I can tell you it has resulted in a lack of health care policy. And now the President is talking about health savings plans, which is very interesting, because we already have something similar and it is not working, Mr. Ryan. Higher prescription drug costs, okay? Not allowing us to negotiate with drug companies. I must say, Mr. Ryan, I don't blame the industry. I don't blame the industry. I don't want to walk around here and say ``you bad industry.'' You made us, or you made the majority. No. The majority voted for it, and that is what happened. The bottom line is that it wasn't these special interest groups that voted to have Members of Congress. They didn't go to the polls. I didn't see a special interest group say, well, I am going to go to the poll and vote for this Congressman because they are going to serve me when they get to Washington. No, an individual American did that. I think it is important that we realize what is going on here. So now we have the majority saying we are going to disband the K Street Project. Well, it was wrong from the beginning, Mr. Ryan, and they all knew it, and we knew it. We talked about it.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. It is a job interview. Thank you, Mr. Ryan. We need to write that down. It is a job interview, where you come, you are being interviewed by all of your constituents, and they are going to evaluate, is my Congressman doing everything that he or she can do to make sure that my life is better? A grandmother, is my Congressman or my Congresswoman doing what they should do to make sure that my children and grandchildren have better opportunities than what I had? Is my Congressman or Congresswoman making sure that my health care costs are under control and that I have to with my prescription drugs choose between whether I am going to eat or take my medication like I should? Do I have a community where we have a sound community? Is my Congress passing on unfunded mandates to my local government that I have to then pay additional taxes just for general services? Those are going to be some of the questions that people are going to ask. Is my Congress playing a leadership role in the area of the culture, okay, Mr. Ryan, the culture of corruption and cronyism and incompetence that permeates throughout this Chamber and throughout this Congress? This is not the Kendrick Meek-Tim Ryan report. Just pick up Newsweek, Time, the Washington Post, the Washington Times. You can pick up the Miami Herald, the Chicago Sun. Pick up any paper you want to pick up, and there is no secret that there is a culture of corruption and cronyism and incompetence. Let me just say this: it means more, it means more to the American taxpayer, the people that are paying taxes every day, when they have to pay more because of certain special interests having worked their way into getting sweetheart deals from this Congress. It hurts, because we are here to represent those individuals that have sent us here to represent them. Mr. Ryan, you have heard me say this once before, and I will say it again: the American people, all of them, just about all of them that participate in the electoral process, woke up early, Mr. Speaker, one Tuesday morning, 7 a.m. in some cases, to cast their ballot for representation in the U.S. Congress. They didn't cast their ballot for a K Street project. They didn't cast their ballot for a corporation who is running an operation here on K Street for some sort of agreement which was not an open agreement. Mr. Ryan, I just started to think about this K Street Project, and I can't help but think about what is going on now that we don't know about similar to a K Street Project. K Street was fine a couple of months ago. Now it is not fine. Let me just talk a little bit about the whole K Street piece and make sure the Members don't get amnesia as it relates to the K Street Project.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Unfortunately, the burden has been the American burden, the American taxpayer. Mr. Speaker, I must say that it is very important. Mr. Ryan was speaking about this whole honest leadership piece, and I think it is important. We know that we have some Members that have made some bad decisions, and we are not going focus on that, and past Members. People make mistakes. I am just going to fall on the side that people make mistakes. But when you have institutions such as this one that is making mistakes that cost American taxpayer more money, that is when we have a problem. Now, the good thing about this is in the next 9 months the American people will be able to make some decisions. It is something that we have in the U.S. Constitution. You know, when you come to the House all of us have to run every couple of years. I call it a time where we are judged by all of our constituents throughout this country.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. The European markets when they opened, they said ha. You know, they were concerned because before the speech it was all of this talk about what he was going to say. But they did not even respond to what the President said, because they did not even take him seriously. So I think it is important that we understand, that the Members understand, it is not about the President of the United States. It is about what this House is going to do on behalf of the American people. That is what it is about.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. And governs well with others, and that is something we want to do here in this Chamber on the majority side. We want to move in a bipartisan way.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I want Mr. Ryan to talk about this. I know it is a chart that I usually speak from, but he is making a valid point here and I think that the Members need to be able to see it.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to come before the House of Representatives once again. I want to give a special thanks to Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi and also Democrat whip Steny Hoyer and our chairman, Mr. Jim Clyburn, for leading us in the way that Americans are now seeing that we are moving in the right direction. Just today, Mr. Speaker, we had an election of Mr. John Larson, who has become the vice chairman of our caucus. We are continuing to move in this area of not only bright ideas about also a forward lean to make America stronger. It is also a great day for us to reflect on where we have been and where we want to go as a country. And I think it is important to take note of what took place last night. We had the State of the Union address. We were all there. We paid very close attention to what the President had to say, the Commander in Chief, about his vision for this country. Also, some of the vision was embraced by all of us. Some of the vision was embraced by a few of us. And some of the vision that he was saying that he had we heard once before as a vision. A reporter called me, Mr. Speaker, and asked me for a response to the President's address, and I had to scratch my head for a moment because it was a lot of what we heard in the past. Theme language. We have to get tough on them before they get tough on us, we heard that before. We have to fight them over there so we do not have to fight them here, we have heard that before. We have to stay the course, we have heard that before. A lot of themes, a lot of slogans. I think what the American people were looking for was some direction on where we are going to go and how we are going to get there, sending a very strong message to our young people, to our middle-aged people, and also to our seniors that are out there, also to our troops. And I think it is so very important that we pay very close attention to what our troops are learning and what they are hearing from this Congress and what they are not hearing as it relates to the direction that we are going on the stateside. When I say state, dealing with diplomats in Iraq and Afghanistan and other areas, and also as it relates to something as simple as body armor and also continued support for our troops. Of course, I did not see anyone say that we do not support the troops. We all support the troops. Every American supports the troops. I think it is important for us to understand that we have to make sure that they have what they need. And, Mr. Speaker, as you know, this 30-Something Working Group meets constantly to not only promote the ideas that are bipartisan in nature but also the ideas that on the Democratic side we want to share that not only with the majority side but also with the Americans, and I think it is important. I think it is important for us to even look at issues as it relates to national security. We must stand behind the American military. That is what the President said. But I want to make sure that everyone understands, here on this side of the aisle and I would even say a couple of my friends on the majority side, Democrats were calling and have been calling for the last 3 years for implementing plans to strengthen and revitalize our overstretched military at this time. It is also important for us to understand that we have to be ready to fight other wars and other conflicts when they do arise, and we need to make sure that we are ready. We need to make sure we have Humvees. We have to make sure we have the body armor. We have to make sure that we have a clear task and mission so that our men and women know exactly what their purpose is, they know what their mission will be, and they know when they will be coming home. It is not a big secret to say when you are coming home. Maybe it is a secret as to when you are leaving to go to war, but when you are coming home is something that I think our troops need to know. We hear little words like, well, they just want to stop or they just want to cut and run or whatever the case may be. You can use your slogans, but what we are now seeing in the polling, Mr. Speaker, is that American people are saying, You have to be a little clearer with us on this. You just cannot say, well, stay the course, we will stay there as long as we need to be there. Well, that would be great. I am pretty sure many of our U.S. city mayors, many of whom just left town, Mr. Speaker, would love to hear, with our community development blocks grants or what they had with their COPS program that they no longer have the funding from the Federal Government. If the President were to say we are going to stay the course in those areas and make sure that we build small and big communities, that we are going to stay the course in making sure that police officers have the dollars they need to be able to get the things that they need to fight crime in communities and have afterschool programs, that we are going to stay the course, they would love to hear that. But fiscal responsibility and just simple common sense, Mr. Speaker, would say that you have to be able to set some benchmarks. You just cannot say I would like to spend billions of dollars and do not ask any questions and if you do, you are being a pessimist.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, pursuant to the order of the House of today, I move that the House do now adjourn.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the passing of a tremendous voice in the struggle for equality, Coretta Scott King. Mrs. King was best known as the wife of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but she was a key advocate for civil rights in her own right. Mrs. King was with Dr. King when he received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 and marched by his side in the Selma march. Following Dr. King's assassination in 1968, Mrs. King championed her husband's work, leading the effort to establish a national holiday in her husband's honor, and founding the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social Change in Atlanta, a center dedicated to learning and activism. She worked to keep Dr. King's dream alive by keeping his ideology of equality and social change at the top of our Nation's agenda. She became a symbol of her husband's struggle for peace and brotherhood, but developed a voice separate from that of her late husband. She branched out from issues of race and was outspoken on a number of international human rights concerns. Mrs. King continued her husband's mission with a keen sense of devotion. She has kept his work alive and evolved his mission of equality to confront new times and new challenges. We must now work to renew our community's commitment to the ideals that Mr. and Mrs. King embraced, and ensure that generations to come never forget the groundbreaking contributions of these two legends.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Well, Mr. Spratt, I want to thank you once again for coming down and bringing clarification to that. But this is just an ongoing issue. I can tell you, I had the opportunity, I wanted to share with the Members, to be a guest at 8 a.m. this morning on Washington Journal. And Mr. Ryan knows, as Ms. Wasserman Schultz knows, not to put me in charge of an 8 o'clock volunteer breakfast. It is kind of rough for me at 8 in the morning, even though many mornings I am driving my kids to school. But I do not have to speak on the issues that are before the Congress. It was very strange, like Mr. Spratt mentioned. There are a lot of things that happened just today, today, that do not ordinarily happen here under the Capitol dome. To be able to have an authorization bill, to try to put some sort of campaign, let us take the roof off the limits, on to a must-pass bill is very, very unfortunate. To have the whole discussion about the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve where we have Senators on the other side of the aisle saying, well, we are not going to vote on the budget. Before we vote, we will vote on the Defense appropriations bill, and we want to put this in because it cannot pass on its own merits. So it is very, very unfortunate. I always say, I do not fault the special interests for fighting for what they want. That is their job. That is what they are supposed to do. We are sent here to represent the people of the United States of America, and if we allow it, then shame on us. I can tell you, fighting against this, any Member can come and can file a piece of legislation, and in some cases we have seen legislation filed early one day and passed later on the same day. In this case, for this to come in on the back of national security and Defense is just beyond me. I think the American people need to know about it, and the Members need to pay close attention to it. When you have a majority that feels that they can do exactly what they want to do it when they want to do it, that is okay when it is a personal decision. We talk about that. If we make a personal decision and there is a mistake, it is on us. When we make a decision affecting the American people, the men and women in uniform, need it be here, we have a number of military bases that this bill helps for those troops that are here and the civilian personnel that is involved with the Defense Department and other measures throughout, even contractors in this bill. For them to come in and do this to those individuals right now, putting something on the bill, I hope through our efforts and through many efforts and through, hopefully, some of our friends on the other side of the aisle, we can take this off the bill and be able to take care of our business and give our troops what they need.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I am so happy that Mr. Spratt came to the floor tonight to share with the Members what is important in this bill. And this was an authorization bill even before it went to conference that a super majority of the Members voted for because they believe that many of those provisions needed to be enacted on behalf of our security. And we hear a lot of talk about what needs to happen now, what the troops need, what our Armed Forces need throughout, rank and file, officers, flag officers, individuals who are interested in being a part of our military, and to be able to send a very strong signal that we support them 110 percent. And for it to be held up for political purposes, and I can tell my colleagues for political purposes because in that 527 bill, there are a lot of special interests that would like to have access, more access than they have right now, to this majority. And it is very unfortunate that it is being held up. Of all things, the Defense authorization bill. It is hard to explain with a straight face. And Mr. Ryan was there in committee when we voted this bill out, and he was here on the floor and also Ms. Wasserman-Schultz. For this to be happening now in the closing days of the session and possibly held off in the authorization bill until 2006 is beyond reproach, in my opinion.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, once again, it is an honor to come before the House, and we would like to thank the Democratic leadership for this opportunity, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi; our whip, Mr. Steny Hoyer; and also our chairman, Mr. Bob Menendez; and chairman to be Mr. Jim Clyburn. As the Members know, Mr. Speaker, we have a 30-Something Working Group that comes to the floor every opportunity we have to talk about the good things that are happening here under the Capitol Dome and also some of the bad things that are happening and the things that are not happening at all that should be happening on behalf of the American people. Today, as the Members know, Mr. Speaker, there has been quite a bit said in the Capitol, very little done in the first session of this Congress, facing some of the needs that the American people are wanting to be addressed. The American people want to have issues such as health care, veteran affairs, also making sure that we have a strategy in Iraq for success, making sure that we stand up on behalf of those Americans that have been devastated by natural disasters, making sure that we get down to the bottom and get rid of a culture of corruption and cronyism and incompetence under the Capitol Dome, and also making sure that we can expand jobs for Americans and also for small businesses. But in the last 24 to 48 hours, there have been quite a few strange things that are going on here in the Capitol. There have been bills that Members have tried to put amendments on that are not passable and should not be even honored with the paper that they are printed on, of personal agendas and agendas on behalf of the special interests. So with that, Mr. Speaker, I would like to share this hour tonight with Mr. Ryan and also Ms. Wasserman Schultz but also with a respected Member this House with whom Mr. Ryan and I serve on the Armed Services Committee with, and he is also the ranking member on the Budget Committee and has been working very hard on a number of pieces of legislation. He is from South Carolina. I yield to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt).

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I just want to say to my colleagues here, and Mr. Spratt, who was here earlier, that it has definitely been a great joy and honor to be a part of this group that we have that is working so hard, and also Mr. Delahunt and many other members of the 30- something Working Group. On behalf of all of us, we want to thank not only the Speaker-to-be, hopefully in the next Congress, Leader Pelosi, but also our Democratic whip, Mr. Hoyer. And I want to congratulate Mr. Bob Menendez on being appointed to the Senate in the very near future, and also to Mr. Clyburn.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, this Republican majority is willing to borrow as much money as possible to give millionaires a tax break.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I have a tail end to that statement on this whole abuse of power, and I am glad you have the perspective from the 108th Congress about what actually took place and how you served with this past-chairman and past-member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee. The change was widely denounced by leaders of several veterans groups. Richard Fuller of the Paralyzed Veterans of America said in response to that, ``The Republican leadership has made a statement that the country is making too much of a commitment to the men and women who have served in uniform.'' This is from the New Jersey Star Ledger. I think it is important that this is a man, this is obviously a man that has served. He is the president, or was the President, at that particular time of the Paralyzed Veterans of America in response to that. And they have made a very strong statement that they are not willing to make the commitment to men and women that have served in uniform. So when we talk about the abuse of power, we look at this budget that is under consideration right now. We have been talking about the budget now for several weeks. I think if this Republican majority could give millionaires and billionaires a tax break, they would borrow as much money as they have to borrow to make it happen.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. It is one thing, Mr. Speaker, it is really rough to be removed as chairman and then to be kicked off the committee that you served on for 24 years.