Kendrick Meek

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Are you a patriot. Are you with them or are you with us. It is to assault individuals from asking the questions constitutionally we are supposed to ask. To say that on the expiration date we have is a carton of milk is really it is not a question of the expiration date. It is a question of since we have a coalition of other countries and single digits, as they may be, of those individuals that have pulled out, since we have those individuals there, what is our strategy of being able to exit? Is it to train Iraqi troops? Okay. We have been doing that now for just under 2 years now. We are still under the numbers and they are not ready yet, and we still have a lot of work to do.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. And that is the reason why we are here on this floor. Many Members have gone home and they are having dinner or watching some sort of program in prime time, but we opt to be here letting not only the Members know, Mr. Speaker, but also the American people know what is happening in this House. We want to bring true meaning to the fact that this is the people's House. We want the American electorate and Members to know that the people of the United States of America elected us to be here to represent them. We may be from different districts, but we have been federalized by the fact of our elections to represent all Americans. And the question that is before us now is what kind of government do you want? Do you want a government that is going to set the stage, a stage for a grandmother to make the decision if she is going to contribute to her grandson's or granddaughter's college education in jeopardy of losing her Medicaid benefits for nursing home care if she needs it? Are we going to set the stage for a veteran who wants to see an ophthalmologist who has to wait 3 months now, maybe 6 months? Are we going to ask legislators from environmentally sensitive States to jeopardize the very trademark of their State on behalf of special interests to drill oil just miles off the coast? Is that the kind of leadership that we want? Do we want the kind of leadership that is willing to protect those industries, the industries that make record profits, not we are just making it or we are just barely holding on and we need some assistance or an airline bail-out? It is not that. It is individuals eating lobster and steak and telling the shareholders it has never been better ever in the history of the world. But better yet, you are going to come to the people's House, or what is supposed to be the people's House, take the taxpayers' dollars, put it in your pocket while you hold on to your profits in this pocket and for you to expand and continue to prosper, that you are going to do it on the backs of everyday Americans that are paying taxes, need it be Democrats or Republicans. We should be very alarmed. Americans should be very concerned, and we should every day in this 109th Congress rise up every time we have the opportunity to give voice to those individuals that have sent us here or those individuals that wish that their Congressman or Congressperson would stand up on their behalf. We challenge those individuals in the majority to make the right decision. Make the right decision, because history will reflect on what each and every one of us did in this moment, in this time when you are cutting school free and reduced lunch for poor children. I mean, I am not a preacher or anything, but I am here to tell you for poor children and then walk around chestbeating that we are balancing the budget and just a couple of weeks from now going to try to pass a tax cut on behalf of who? Not the people that you have just taken from, but the people who are receiving benefits on the backs of the people that you just took from. So it really does not make sense. The only thing that really makes sense here is the fact that those with financial power not only in this country but in this city and the special interests that they are going to get what they want, bottom line. And if you question it, you are in the line of fire. So when you start looking at this very real standpoint of what we may call the ``political two step,'' I may say the political look left, we are going right or look right we are going left. The bumper sticker theme politics that are there, we have to make sure that we break this thing down for people who are not voting politics over principle, but they are voting principle over politics. And that is Democrat, Republican and Independent. These are the things we have to focus on.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I am just so sorry. I know we have two other colleagues here who are very respectful Members of this body, but I just cannot let this moment pass. The fact that we are forgiving from the beginning, we forgave the money that we gave to Iraq and the money that we continue to spend in Iraq, which we have appropriated the largest U.S. embassy in the world in Iraq; but let me just make this point here. Katrina, Rita, Wilma. Those Americans that were identified to receive individual assistance when they called that 1-800 number, FEMA, something FEMA, you know what they get back when they say when they filed for FEMA assistance? They do not get a check back immediately. They get an application from the Small Business Administration to fill out for a loan when they are on their knees. You fill out that loan application first. And if, and this is a big if, if you do not qualify for that Small Business Administration loan, then FEMA comes and they actually try to figure out how much money they can grant--you what they call ``mitigation''--to put your house back together. So for billions of dollars, 87 billion-plus continuing to give and there will be another supplemental soon for not only the troops but also to pay for other operations in Iraq with companies like Halliburton and other companies that are under investigation that are enjoying Katrina contracts right now, we are asking Americans when they are on their knees to fill out a loan application.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. No, it is universal health care. It is something that we talked about here, and it just did not happen

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I believe the Iraqis have universal health care. They have universal health care.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I can say that it is within the billions, and some may say it deals with HMO administrative costs, but they will affect the delivery of services, managed care services to many of the people that are in the managed care area.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. The American taxpayer, Mr. Delahunt. The American taxpayer is paying for it.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Missouri, I yield to him.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. We have CIA agents being pointed out by people in the White House who have the highest national security clearance to know what is going on throughout the world, getting daily briefings. We have a situation where we had Hurricane Katrina, which we have asked for an independent commission, not just for the affected area where Hurricane Katrina and Rita hit, and if we want to add Wilma, it is not just to deal with that. It is to make sure that we have a 9/11-like commission outside of the partisan commission that we have here in this House to look at the way FEMA and the State and local governments respond to natural disasters, or disasters, period. Now, we do not even have the ice and water situation down yet when we start talking about FEMA and the response to Americans in need, and I am going to take from Mr. Ryan, taxpayers when they are in need. We do not have that down. Not if, but when a terrorist attack happens in another city here in the United States, what will be the response from the Federal, State, and local governments? I am on the Homeland Security Committee, and I have come to the conclusion that we are not ready, regardless of what the Secretary says, regardless of whatever podium the President wants to get on in the situation room and say that we are ready. We are not ready. Even if someone had an alcohol problem, the first sign of recovery is saying first we have a problem so that we can work on the problem and start cutting through the egos, cutting through the bureaucracy, because people need help, and we need to be there for them. So we should be alarmed. We should be alarmed about what is going on and what is not going on in this country, and it should be something that Americans should be very concerned about. The majority side beats their chests. They give floor speeches, tearing up and voice cracking, talking about how they love the troops; but meanwhile here in Congress less than 48 hours from now, many of them are going to put their voting card in the machine that I took out earlier in the last hour and they are going to vote against making sure that veterans are able to get health care in a timely manner, making sure that individuals that are financially challenged in our country have some level of health care, making sure that students pay more and their parents pay more and their grandparents pay more. So we have a scenario where we have a family that is financially challenged trying to make sure the first person, whether it be black, white, Hispanic, or Asian, is trying to better their bloodline by saying we make sure we send the first member of our family to college. We want to make sure that my daughter can become an engineer, as we have very few female engineers in this country. I want to help. We are going to ask our family to pool in. If grandma is on Medicaid and she wants to go into a nursing home, the bean counter is going to come and say, well, you wrote a check to Warren County Community College for your grandson, so that means you do have some disposable income. And this is from the AARP letter, this is not the Kendrick Meek report. Then she will be denied the opportunity to go into a nursing home. This is callous, and it is un-American. So I want to make sure that the Members know exactly on the other side what they are doing, when they are doing it, because I am going to tell you something. It is not going to be a well-kept secret here in Washington, D.C., and it will not go away. We will continue to remind not only them, but the American people, Mr. Speaker, of the fact that they took their card and they voted against those very things, and other things. They are asking Floridians to vote for drilling off the coast of Florida, I mean, the place where the Everglades is located. People travel across the world to come to Florida, across the world to come to the beaches and to the Everglades. We want to drill there; that is what this budget is saying. So many of the members of the Florida delegation, when I say the majority are Republican, they are going to have to make a real hard decision, and it is something that we must encourage those Members to vote for our alternatives. So should we be alarmed? We should be alarmed. There should be a line of Democrats and Republicans outside the door of this Chamber. I will tell my colleagues this: there still has not been a mumbling word from the said committees that have oversight and something to say about who has a national security clearance and who does not. I think it is pretty evident from reading the indictment that there are some questionable issues there as it relates to folks in the White House maintaining their national security clearance. The President's response to it? Do not take it from me; take it from his own lips of what he said in The Washington Post and other publications that are out there. The President has ordered the White House staff to attend a mandatory briefing beginning next week on ethical behavior and the handling of classified material.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, my good friend from Ohio and my good friend from Missouri, the ``Show Me'' State, they say, we are in a situation right now where we should not be acting like what we call here in Congress under regular order as though it is just another day in Congress, another day at the office, no big deal, everything is fine. Mr. Speaker, I can tell my colleagues that we should be very alarmed. We should be very alarmed at the fiscal situation we are in. The highest deficit of the history of the Republic. We are borrowing more from foreign countries, breaking records. One administration breaks the record of 42 administrations before it. We have CIA agents being outed.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for giving out that Web site. That has been very useful; and we want to thank Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and even some Members for letting us know some of their thoughts. With that, Mr. Speaker, we would like the Democratic leadership for allowing us to have this honor.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, we have a little administrative transfer to make here. I yield to Mr. Ryan so he can give the Web site.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is what we are all doing, making sure that not only the Members know exactly what they are doing when we come in and push the red and green button, and endorsing or not endorsing an idea or a plan. I think it is important for us to not only highlight the $14 billion in cuts which mean higher fees for students because the States have to balance. When we make those cuts, they have to make cuts. This is not the end of the cuts to the average student. When you look at higher education, college education, preparing the next generation, that is not just on that 20-something or 18-year-old. That is on the parents of that 18- or 19- or 20-year-old. That is another burden on their backs. I just wanted to mention quickly, I was reading this letter as both of you were sharing good information with the Members and the American people. Mr. Speaker, I am holding a letter dated November 8. It is from the president of AARP. AARP is the largest retirement organization here in the United States and also on the face of the Earth. This is from the CEO. What he is saying here, basically, is that they oppose the Medicaid cuts that are in the House bill. They are for reform, but they oppose the cuts. I just want to make sure that the Members, and one Member came from the opposite side, the Republican side, and said I wish my friends on the Democratic side would join me in voting for this budget that we have put forth. I said first you have to work on some of your own Members who have not come to grips on how they can vote for something that AARP is against. Basically, this letter says that AARP opposes the 2006 reconciliation bill now awaiting consideration before the House. ``We strongly oppose the changes.'' Not that they oppose the changes. They strongly oppose it because they know what it will do. Basically, it goes on further. For example, they say: ``The House package, in effect, would prevent a stroke victim from entering a nursing home, even if there were no other alternatives, simply because she has helped a grandson with college tuition costs.'' This is basically where a bean counter would go in and evaluate the financial situation of the person that wants to go into a nursing home under Medicaid. They would go in and say, You wrote a $500 check for your grandson to go to college. You can afford to pay for this nursing home. We will not. This is not what I am saying. This is what the AARP is saying, which has thousands of members and is the largest retirement organization on the face of the Earth. It goes on to say that a private nursing home could evict a person, force a person out of a nursing home for a period of time, even after the assets were all exhausted, if they contributed to a hurricane recovery victim. Once again, the bean counters would go in under this budget. This is not fiction. This is fact. Under this budget, and then say they are denying them assistance in a nursing home. This is the reality of what is in the House budget right now. We talk about Veterans Day, and I am going to mention this as many times as I can because I think it is important, many of us, Mr. Speaker, are going to leave here on Thursday and go do the things that we need to do. Some Members have already entered into the Congressional Record recognizing Veterans Day observances throughout the country, the past contributions of our veterans. But at the same time, on the Democratic side what we have called for is we provided $1.6 billion more than the Republican budget for veterans programs for 2006 and $17 billion over the next 5 years. The Democratic budget reverses what the Republican budget has put forth on the $798 million over the next 5 years in Republican cuts that they have asked the Veterans' Affairs Committee to do, not even talking about what they have done as it relates to cutting $14 billion over the next 5 years. So, Mr. Speaker, what this really means is that when the veterans go to the VA in some rural areas that some of us in this room represent, there are some VA clinics that are only open once a week, not because that is all they can do, but because they have been cut so much, they cannot provide the health care for the veterans, that when they signed up, they held up their end of the deal. We are not holding up our end of the deal. But meanwhile back at the ranch, we are giving breaks and tax cuts and some may call them incentives for companies that are making record profits in the history of the world. So when we start talking about these cuts, it is a reality. They are a true reality. And I just took the veterans out for a minute because I knew what we were talking about. But it is an irony that Veterans Day is Friday and Members are going to come here and they are going to take their voting card out, and they are going to put it in the machine, and they are going to look up to see how the leadership is voting, nine times out of 10, and they are going to vote the way the Republican leadership has asked them to vote, and that is very unfortunate. But I want to warn the Members to take this card, and let me tell them, there are some people who woke up one Tuesday morning at 7 a.m. to vote for some representation. The people that gave Members of Congress this card to vote and put into these machines, I mean, it is not like I have a Miss Mobil in my district or I have a Mister Special Interest in my district. They do not cast a vote. The people that I represent cast a vote. So it is important that we keep that in mind, and I want to make sure that the Members understand, because veterans will be prepared and the American people will be prepared. Why do I have to pay more for health care because they want to make room for the billionaires to receive tax cuts? Mr. Ryan has that chart there that shows individuals that are making over $500,000. Let us talk about these individuals just for a minute. They are Americans. I do not blame them for the tax cut that they are getting. I blame the individuals that are continuing to build on a tax cut that is already there for that group of people and there is very little that is for the individual that is even making $91,000, a household that is making $91,000 to $179,000 a year. It is not fair. So when we have people fighting in Iraq, we have three natural disasters here that we are trying to manage and trying to help Americans bounce back from, and then at the same time we want to build on even more incompetence and cronyism as it relates to giving to the special interests, it is just unconscionable; and I hope that Members really weigh heavy. And I am just going to say this: I am from Florida, and what the Republican majority is asking the Florida delegation to do is to vote for oil drilling miles off the coast of Florida. Oil drilling miles off the coast of Florida. Everyone comes to Florida for what? Tourism. What else? They come to the beaches, from all over the world. It helps our Florida economy, and it helps our national economy. But yet Members of the Florida delegation are being asked to vote against one of the very principles where the Florida Everglades is located, where we have hundreds and thousands of miles of coastline so that when people come to Florida now they can step into a patch of oil and they can see a rig off the coast of Florida. That is a high order to call a Floridian to do. Both of our Senators are against this, I must add. We have some Members in the House that are going to have to go see the wizard, get a little courage and go to the leadership and say it is not going to happen, bottom line. I will tell my colleagues what I am prepared to do. As long as that language is in there and we are talking about drilling in the ANWR, let us just take our national parks, and let us just start drilling there. Forget about what we already know, that there is very little oil in many of these areas, that the oil companies just want to go out, not at their expense but at taxpayers' expense, and start to drill in those areas. So, Mr. Speaker, I think it is important that we continue to come to the floor to not only share with the Members but with the American people by letting them know what is going on in this House and what is not going on in this House and that there are alternatives and we are putting forth those alternatives in a fiscally sound way that will place us on the road to balancing the budget but at the same time not hurting the very people that some folks come to the floor saying they want to help.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. If the gentleman will yield, this feeds into the incompetence that we talk about. We talk about it, and we do not use the term loosely. We use it because it is well founded. We take this chart out every night, and every time we get an opportunity to share with not only the Members on what they are doing. Members need to realize what they are voting on. I am not saying that some do not, but they have to realize what they are voting on. Here is basically what President Bush has done in 4 years that other Presidents have managed not to do in 224 years, as it relates to foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury debt. This statistic is from the United States Department of Treasury, a third-party validator. This is not from me or Mr. Ryan or Ms. Wasserman Schultz. Let me say this, $1 trillion in debt that was accumulated over 224 years, from 1776, borrowing money from foreign governments, President Bush, who did not do it by himself, and I have said this before, and I can guarantee he could not do it by himself, $1.05 trillion in a period of 4 years. In a period of 4 years, he has accomplished something with the Republican majority that has not been accomplished by 42 other Presidents, 224 years in this country of having the Democrats, Republicans, Whig Party; and this President and this administration and this majority have done the job that 42 other Presidents did not do as relates to putting this country in the posture it is in right now.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. And change.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Well, I want to thank my colleague from Ohio for yielding. The gentleman must have read it on my forehead when he started talking about how this Republican majority has led us into an area we have never been before as a country. And I am not talking about leading in a way that Americans will be proud of the situation we are in now or how other countries are now looking at the opportunity of owning a piece of the United States, which is basically what is happening financially.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Please.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to address the House once again, and we would like to thank the Democratic leadership for allowing us to have one more hour on the 30-something Working Group tonight. We have been coming to the floor daily and mainly speaking recently about the budget and what effects it is going to have on the American people throughout this country. We have asked our colleagues within the working group to come to the floor, share some of their concerns, talk about our Democratic alternative, which failed in committee, not because it was not an alternative of merit and of commitment and making sure that we place ourselves in heading in the direction towards the balanced budget by 2012, but it failed because we were in the minority. One Republican on the opposite side of the aisle did vote against the proposal that will be coming to the floor in the coming days, seeing it in a way that fiscal responsibility is important but making sure that we do not leave Americans behind who sent us up here to represent them. I am honored tonight to be joined by the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz) and also my good friend, the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Davis), who has been a part of this in making sure that we put American priorities forward. But I must say that there is a lot of work that needs to be done. Tonight we are going to make sure that the Members know and also the American people know exactly what they are going to be voting on coming the next couple of days. There will be a bill in the Committee on Rules, and we will have debate here on the floor; but Members need to know exactly what they are voting for because as we, Mr. Speaker, look at this bill as written, veterans are going to have longer lines, they are going to pay higher co-payments, they are going to pay higher premiums. And those individuals that are coming out of theater, some 130,000, now we have 150-something thousand in theater of war, when they come back and they find themselves waiting in longer lines for what we promised them as it relates to health care, as it relates to benefits and not leaving out their families and children, I think it is something we need to pay very close attention to. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz).

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Ms. Wasserman Schultz, would you just yield for a second.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Madam Speaker, let me just say this. I will not say the Republican Study Committee, I will say the Republican Conference. I mean, the bottom line is, we would not have the philosophy of a few come to the floor, pass the Budget Committee, and possibly a threat for it to come to the floor by the end of the week if it was not for the help of the Republican Conference. Now, they are our friends. We are coffee together, we ride the elevator together, we walk down the hall together, we talk about raising our children, and all of the things that people do who work together. We all work together, but we have a difference in philosophy and priorities. And I will tell my colleagues right now, and I just want to make sure that Members, if you have a family member that is a veteran, I want you to go grab them because I am about to say something. I want to make sure that we understand that these cuts, and we are talking about 60 million Americans, 60 million that are on Medicaid right now, enrolled in Medicaid, 60 million Americans, not 60 million Iraqis, not 60 million Somalians, 60 million Americans who pay their taxes every day, that know what it means to punch in and punch out at work every day, know what it means to have a 15-minute lunch break, or a break in the morning if they get it, 15 minutes in the afternoon, and a 30-minute lunch break, if they get it. These are the people that we are talking about. Also, children are enrolled in this, too. So it is very, very important. I am looking here at the Families USA, which is a voice for health care consumers. I mean, basically they are saying these cuts, this proposal, will force low-income people to pay, like you said, higher premiums that they cannot afford, and copayments. So let us just call it what it is. It looks good when you look at the numbers and, oh, these are the cuts that we are making, but let us translate what those cuts mean. It means that for the premiums and copayments that people are making under the Medicaid plan now, which is not the greatest, because this Republican Congress has increased it time after time, now we are about to do it again. They are not going to be able to afford health care. So we might as well say that we do not have it. We have companies now that are telling people to go and enroll in Medicaid, because they we do not have a national health care plan. They cannot participate in that program. So when folks start talking about weaning people off, let us talk about this. I have also said, we talk about the difference between Democrats and Republicans. Now, here is one for the veterans that allowed us to be here under the lights in this Chamber, fought for this country, still fighting for this country, and also I want to call special attention to our Members who come to the floor and give great floor speeches about how we love the troops. Well, I have not seen a Member come to the floor yet and say, hey, listen, I do not like the troops. So to say that I care about the troops, we all care about the troops. We all want to make sure the troops are okay. But what happens when they come home? What happens? What happens when, after the parade, what happens? What happens after they turn their uniform in? What happens to those individuals? Let me tell you what is going to happen under this budget. The bottom line is that the Republican budget cuts that are being made in health care are $14 million below current service over the next 5 years. Now, I am going to tell my colleagues something. Maybe I represent too many veterans. Maybe I have heard too many stories about when someone who wants to see an ophthalmologist or a podiatrist or some sort of specialty at the VA, and they have to wait 6 months for an appointment, 6 months for an appointment, and in rural areas it is even worse. There are areas where they have VA facilities and clinics that are only open once or twice a month. And under this budget, with a straight face, they are going to come to the floor, and that is the reason why periodical after periodical is saying that it is hard for the Republican Conference to even vote for their own budget. Now, folks come to the floor, well, we want our friends on the Democratic side, if they could support us; yes, we want to balance the budget, but we do not want the veterans who have been waiting 6 months now to have to wait a year, because the majority side has made a 5-year cut of $14 billion. That is not chicken feed; that is a lot of money. And then it goes further. Because facts hurt, facts hurt. Reality hurts. We are here to make sure that we give voice to those Americans that sent us here. Some folks use it very loosely: This is the people's House. Well, guess what? We believe it. We do not use it as a punch line. We are here because people have elected us. Furthermore, it goes on to require the Veterans' Affairs Committee to make $798 million in additional cuts over the next 5 years. Also it imposes new fees for veterans for health care by reducing veterans' benefits such as disability payments, pension benefits, and educational benefits. Now, let me tell my colleagues something. Like we say sometimes, let us put the cookie on the bottom shelf. The bottom line is that folks are sugar-coating a number. We are making these cuts and we have to do this. One says we have to do it on behalf of the Katrina Commission. Another person says, well, we want the Katrina Commission, but because of Hurricane Katrina, we have to respond to those individuals. Some say, well, we have to make sure that we reduce the national debt and that is the reason we are making these cuts. And we all know that even in the Senate there is a lot of chest- beating, because there is a $6 billion tax break, mainly for the top bracket and mainly for the special interests that they are going to push through this chamber. Why? Because if there is going to be a tax cut, there should be a tax cut that is going to help every day Americans. But how can we with a straight face, when we have veterans waiting 6 months for basic health care, when we have folks in devastated areas, with the three natural disasters that we have had, that cannot even get a housing voucher that were made homeless because of the natural disaster, when we have a government that is trying to figure out how we are going to continue to pay for the war in Iraq, how we are going to be able to pay for incompetence, incompetence in the government. How we are going to continue to condone cronyism, a culture of cronyism at the same time? The bottom line is, ladies and gentlemen, I believe the majority side really needs to have a meeting. They need to have a meeting and talk about the true priorities of America. And then, one of those points in that meeting should be, you know, we really need to move in a bipartisan way. Oh, wow. That is a great idea. Hey, let us work with the Democrats and Republicans and let us save the country. Now, I am coming in for a landing now. I am going to tell you something. People are saying, why are you all on the floor every night? Why? Why are you on the floor every night? Some people are saying it is a great thing, Democrats and Republicans. We are glad the people are breaking this thing down so that we can all understand, because we can use CBO and all the acronyms and folks can come to the floor and say we want to make America stronger. What I am describing here is making a country weaker, not because of the country and the people that live in it, but the leadership that is supposed to govern it on behalf of making this country stronger. These are the facts. Third-party validators, these are the facts, like it or not. One other fact, and Ms. Wasserman Schultz, I am getting ready to yield to you, I am going to take this chart out. You know, if I could, Mr. Ryan, I would put this chart on the front of my truck so that people can see it. If I had the resources, I would get a billboard so that people understand what is going on. This is not a woof speech. This is a reality speech. The bottom line is that the majority that is in control now, need it be the House or Senate or need it be the White House, the policies that they are putting forth are not helping and strengthening our country. Period. Dot. I do not want to make it seem like it is some sort of extreme statement. It is not an extreme statement. What I just described was happening to veterans. The last 15 minutes we talked about what is happening to Medicaid, and Medicare is on the table, Mr. Delahunt. The bottom line is 42 Presidents, 1776, we were not even thought of, you know, as Members in this House here. To the year 2000, 42 Presidents, $1.01 trillion that we borrowed from foreign nations. President Bush, not by himself, with the Republican majority, not by himself, I just want to make sure that everyone understands that the President does not have the ability to do this all by himself. Trust me. 1.05 trillion from foreign nations, Mr. Ryan, including China. And so I think it is important that people understand. This is not Democratic talk. This is not Independent talk. This is not even Republican talk. This is reality. And unless we rise up, I just want to make sure that we let the Members know we know exactly, on a majority side you can have a study group. You can have a caucus within the caucus. You can have subcommittees. The bottom line is the policy will never see the light of day if it was not for the Republican majority here in this House pushing it to the floor. And that is the reason why, that is the reason why you have Republican conference members that have big problems. They are, you know, they are even looking at their calendar saying, well, goodness it is my son's birthday on Saturday. Maybe I can tell leadership we are going to celebrate it on Thursday because I do not want to be here for this vote because how can I explain back home how we are increasing the wait list for veterans, how we are cutting benefits for your children to go to college, and we are going to put the responsibility on your back to take up the slack because we want to give tax cuts to special interests to billionaires. I mean, that is a hard thing to explain, especially when you are by yourself back in your district and you are not hiding behind the press release from the majority office of this House of Representatives. And that is the fact, Jack. And the bottom line is we are going to man up and woman up and leader up and say no. And that is the reason why it has not been to the floor, and I hope that is the reason why it will not come to the floor in its present form and that we go into, if we had rule XXI, which we do have rule XXI here in the House, but if we had a rule XXI like the Senate, we should go into closed session. Folks grab the mike, the leadership, and the bottom line is work out a plan that we can all work together, take from the Democratic budget, the Republican budget and do what Americans want us to do. They do not want us here talking about one another back and forth. But the bottom line is that is the road map that has been laid out by the majority. Ms. Wasserman Schultz.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Madam Speaker, it is an honor to be before the House once again. We would like to thank the Democratic leadership for allowing us to have this hour. This is the 30-Something Working Group. Madam Speaker, we come to the floor night after night when we are in session to talk about the differences as it relates to the budget or response to natural disasters or the general functions of the government and how it can be better on behalf of all Americans. Tonight, as usual, we are joined by the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Delahunt) and the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan). I would just like to talk for a moment on the issue of budget, just to kind of set the Democratic principles that we have within our budget, our budget alternative to the majority side. And to explain to some of the Members and staff here in the Capitol that as we know, and everyone does not know, that the majority side, because they have more Members here in this House, they actually prevail as it relates to legislation. They would like to see a budget passed out of the Budget Committee, and it is passed just on simple numbers on partisan lines. We do commend one member of the Republican Caucus for voting with the Democrats for a budget that balanced by 2010, and also does it in a way that does not hurt everyday Americans or will play a counterproductive role in achieving the goal of fiscal responsibility. The Democratic alternative to the Republican budget, which we will talk about tonight, does balance the budget by 2010. It also makes sure that we include enforcement measures to protect Social Security, making sure that we have budget enforcement procedures there to block tax or spending legislation that would borrow large amounts of money or any amount of money from the Social Security trust fund. I think that is very important to the preservation of Social Security. Also, we do more for education. There are $14 billion in cuts that the Republicans have proposed. In our budget, we make no cuts whatsoever because we know education is the future of this country, the whole argument of making sure that our young people are on equal footing, and even adult education is important. Vocational education is important, to make sure that we cannot only compete, but we can be the country to provide young people to make our country strong, not only in the present but in the future. I think it is important to point out that in our budget we have protection for veterans, some $1.6 billion more than the Republican budget, and over the next 5 years, $17 billion more than the Republican budget. The cuts that the Republicans are making to veterans we will talk about a little later. It is very unfortunate that that is a proposal which has been put forth. Also we have a commitment in our budget to communities and families. I think it is important that we reflect on that, especially during this time when we talk about devolution of taxation. We want to cut certain taxes here and say we are doing a wonderful job and saving families and communities from paying more taxes. In all actuality, the majority side is cutting Medicaid. Medicare will be on the table as it relates to this budget when it goes to conference; if it goes to conference, that is going to turn the clock back on many families, and they are going to have to kick in more to be able to make it happen. I just wanted to start off really talking about some of our principles within our budget that we would like to see prevail, not only here on this floor, we would also like to see, we talked about last week, that the majority side, the Republicans, respect the spirit of the rules of the House. We know when the budget comes up, if it comes up, the gentleman from Massachusetts has been here longer than any of us here, the majority side, they usually hold the voting clock open not only for several minutes but as of recent several hours to see it their way. There are a number of articles that are out that I know that we are going to reference today that allude to that. Last week the gentleman from Massachusetts brought out Congress Daily A.M. This is what we get here in the Congress, we get an a.m., a p.m. There is also a Congressional Quarterly magazine that comes out. This is the outlook on the week at the beginning of the week. We all get it here. We find out what is going on in different committees. Here is a story which is the head story, House leadership this week are putting some Members on the spot with the fact that they are going to take one of their toughest votes in recent years. A $53.9 billion deficit reduction package that is drafted would hit child support enforcement, food stamps, Medicaid beneficiaries and student loans and would open arctic and coastal areas to energy exploration. I think it is important for us to understand that, of course, it is going to be a tough vote because they are calling for tough cuts that is going to hurt America.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, those are the same constituents and my constituents that are going to get hit by the Medicaid cuts, the same veterans that will be paying more on their copayments, waiting longer for their services. Those are the same individuals that the gentleman is describing. And the gentleman is 110 percent right, and I am glad that he is warning the majority that this stuff is not going to be quiet.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. With that, we want to thank the Democratic leadership for this block of time, and I yield back the balance of our time.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Ryan.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Madam Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.