Kendrick Meek

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Madam Speaker, we are winding down here. There is one statement, and then we are going to close because we have a minute.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. National security. National security. It is not lying about, well, you know, I flew to Chicago and I really did not have Federal business and I am sorry, the ticket was $450; I need to go to an ethics course. You do need to go to an ethics course. You out a CIA agent; it goes far beyond a firing. This is not an everyday occurrence. Maybe I am just too concerned about the security of this country. Maybe I am just too concerned about it, and I do not think I am out of step by being alarmed by this because I can tell you right now there are some Members on that side that are alarmed about it, but they are not saying anything. Definitely the leadership is not saying anything, and the White House would do what it is allowed to do. If it is allowed to borrow $1.05 trillion from foreign countries, it will do it. If it is allowed to have our veterans waiting in longer lines to cut their benefits and have them pay higher co-pays and Medicare individuals and free and reduced lunches cut in half, they will do it. It is up to this House to rise up, and the majority's just not doing it. We can only do it for so much as it relates to bringing this back into check.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Hello, ethics course? Hello. No. Like I told you once before, I do not blame the special interests for getting what they get because they do not get it unless the Republican majority gives it to them, because they are in the majority. Many of the unexplainable events that have taken place here on this floor and in committee, the mind boggling, how can that pass, how could they get all of this money, all this taxpayer money from the Congress? They do not do it. The vote has to go up on the board for them to allow them to do it. I will say the same thing as it relates to the President, not a mumbling word from this House on outing a CIA agent. All of the speeches that were given here in this well right before me, give us the responsibility of national security, we are tough, we will make sure that we have what we need to have and we will fight the war on terror. And guess what? Someone in the White House, two people in the White House, probably even more, out a CIA agent, a CIA agent that did what? Went out to make sure that we were able to head off countries from getting weapons of mass destruction. This is not a small issue. For far less, far less, the House of Representatives have called out Travelgate, Whitewater, all these kind of individual decisions that were made and had some possible ethic issues going along with it, but not the outing of a CIA agent, not saying, hey, you know something, she is a CIA agent and there are a number of people that are working with her, and we want you to know about it. Not a mumbling word out of this House, not one floor speech calling for resignations, not one committee cranking up a committee meeting and calling people from the White House down here before the people's House to question how could this happen, not one. Not one. Guess what. If the Democrats were in the majority, I would tell you right now Democrat House, Republican White House, there will be hearings, and not a mumbling word, just crickets on that side of the aisle as it relates to outing a CIA agent. So what you are saying is not alarming. The President is doing that because he is allowed to do it because the investigative body here in the House that has the responsibility of keeping this government in check is not doing its job.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. And it is very interesting because Members are going to be trying to run out of here and catch planes and falling over each other to go march in a parade with those that have laid down, literally put their lives on the line, lost limbs. Some will be pushed in wheelchairs. Some will be remembering the fallen members of our country that went and fought in all of the past conflicts. And just before Friday, there is a vote scheduled to set them back and what we told them we would do for them and provide them for health care. I yield back. I just wanted to talk about the gall of this whole thing at this particular time.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. What holiday is coming up?

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Sunday news show.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. You talk about third-party validators, but if I may for a moment, the reason why the alleged activities that have been identified in this indictment and alleged activities that are in the stacks of these papers today, just today, this is not papers from the week or the month or over the past year. That is just today, and I cannot even hold up the number of papers. We could not even bring them all down here to the floor. There are just too many. Mr. Speaker, I do not know how it would look if I rolled in a cart of the newspapers that are reporting what we are saying. I can tell you this, it even comes back here to this Congress. The fact that we are not carrying out our oversight responsibilities and we are not calling this administration into check and balance as it relates to oversight, this is the reason why this activity is going on. I just want to share some frustration here with trying to get information from the majority side of what happened in the Clinton administration as it relates to subpoenas and what has happened in the Bush administration as it relates to subpoenas because, Mr. Speaker, I do not just want to come to the floor and say there were a plethora, a number of subpoenas that went to the Clinton administration for far less, for far less, and now we have the outing of CIA agents. We have the possibility of some hanky-panky with the intelligence that was given to the Congress of the United States. We have the possibility of other questionable activities out of this White House and from this administration, and there are not any committee chairmen that are running around saying we are going to subpoena this person, we are going to put them under oath, and they are going to come before this Congress and they are going to respond. Let me just mention something here. September 16 of this year, I put one of my best staff people on this. I was standing there and I told him, I said, listen, I want you to make a request to the Congressional Research Service, which is the service that we use here in the Congress to give us the facts that we need to know as it relates to putting together legislation coming to the floor, sharing with the Members, with the American people, and I want you to find out how many subpoenas were issued from not the Senate but the House of Representatives during the 8 years of the Clinton administration versus the going-on-now 5 years of the Bush administration from this Congress. That was September 16. He makes a request. We call over to the Congressional Research Service. God bless them. I like them. Okay. These are the nicest people, Mr. Speaker, that are involved in this whole atmosphere here in Washington, D.C. They are over at the Library of Congress. Some of these folks have been there 30-plus years. Some of them are very young, bright, intelligent folks. I mean, all of them are. They are the nicest people. They come over and they brief us. They shudder. They are concerned, because they said, whoa, you are asking for something and we have to go over there and ask them, okay, the very same government that we are dealing with here. They go over, and I continue to call because usually it takes one or two days to get this kind of information. We call back between the 9th and the 16th. The Congressional Research Service spoke to the office of general counsel and was told the records are not complete. Now, let me tell you something. The records are not complete of what? Wait. The subpoenas were given out. Obviously, the House general counsel had to have something to do with the subpoenas being issued.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. It gets better. Let me just tell you. Because it is so detailed between September 19 and September 29, the Congressional Research Service spoke to four House committees and was given the following response. This is when you talk about the Potomac two step here. Someone is asking for records. Oh, my God. Well, people would assume here in the Congress that records is one of the things that we do so we know what we have done in the past, so that either we can do better in the future or not make the same mistake in the future. But here is the response: The committee does not have records. That was the first one. The other one: Committee does not have records of previous Congresses.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. So we do not know what is going on under this majority.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. If the gentleman will yield, I can tell you why this is not personal. It is not personal for this Congress and it is not personal for the leadership, but it is personal to the American people. We have taxpayer dollars we are trying to nickel and dime. We want to nickel and dime Medicare, we want to nickel and dime Medicaid, we want to nickel and dime free and reduced lunches for poor people here in this country, and then we want to get excited about possibly saying something about someone in power? We respect the rules of this House. We appreciate the integrity that is in the rules of this House. We do not want to abuse the rules of this House. But as it relates to the majority leadership and the majority on the other side and the majority in the Senate and as it relates to the White House, I want them to live by the same rules that everyday Americans have to live by. I want it to be personal for them just like it is personal for the person that can only afford to put $10 in their gas tank because they do not even know what it means to have their gas tank full because gas prices are so high. I want the folks that get driven around this place, that are being chauffeured around here in cars that do not know what it means not to put a debit card into a gas pump but only be able to get $15 out, I want them to feel it just as personally. I want them to feel personally what the mother who has to think about whether her son, who is living in the heart of America, and she may very well be in a trailer park, and because I was federalized, I represent her, too. I want them to feel personally the decision she is going to have to make when the budget is passed by this Republican majority controlled Congress cutting free and reduced lunches. That is personal. That is personal. So I could care less about the folks of power and influence and what they say and how they do it. We are going to stay within the rules. We are going to stay within the rules, but I want to make sure that folks understand that we have individuals out in this country that are suffering, white, black, Native American, Hispanic.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. And Asian. They are suffering, and we have to give them voice. We have to give them voice, sure, when we start outing CIA agents, when we start seeing the majority side looking the other way. Even though they know what is going, they are not going to look because their friends are there and they do not want to do that. In the Clinton administration, Democrats called the administration officials out on things that they were doing that was wrong. That is our responsibility in the Constitution of these United States. So when the gentleman from Ohio speaks of not putting party over country, I think that if we were to look at what we do now and what we have done in the past, we have always put country over party. The everyday Republican does not want his government operated by what the national GOP leadership says that it should be, that we need to do that and do this, but they are messing with the lives of everyday Americans. They do not endorse that. So the problem here in this House is that we are sharing that information with the American people. We are not over at the Democratic National Committee sitting there sharing it with Democrats only. We are here sharing it with the American people; and we are letting the Members of this House, the majority and the minority, know that we all must go see the wizard and get some courage and some heart and stand up to some of these very few individuals that are in the minority on the majority side that are running and pulling the sticks behind the curtains on behalf of the American people. Now, that is personal.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. The next one is: The committee is not sure they have those records. They could be archived. And the fourth one: The committee does not have records for previous years, and previous records may be at the National Archives. Now I am going to put the majority on notice right now. If those subpoenas, which I believe were sent out and issued under the Clinton administration, are in this Capitol, and I do not know of any subpoenas, but if they are out there, and I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt, if they are in this building, somebody better get an intern and run them over to the National Archives because we are on our way over there. This issue of covering up this whole thing, this thing of I got your back if you have mine, enough of it. People want change. We are trying to bring about that change, and we are being stymied. We are being locked out of information. One Member said, this is the people's House. I question that at this time. I question that because I think, and I am coming in for a landing here, I think there are some people that are very, very worried about the facts we are bringing to light to the American people and to Members of Congress, letting them know that we know what is going on in the back halls of Congress. Right now, like I said before, as it relates to governance, the country is going through some hard times; and there are some folks on the majority side that are not willing to govern on behalf of the very Americans that sent us here to represent them. In this House, we have to be elected. Not one Member of this House has been appointed. In the Senate, you can be appointed by a Governor if someone leaves early in their term. But in the House there has to be a special election. So whether it is Democrat or Republican, you are elected. There is one Independent. By virtue of the fact we have been elected to come here, we have been federalized to make sure we stand up on behalf of everyday Americans. So the hypocrisy that is going on in the House as relates to oversight, I am saying this on behalf of CIA agents right now worrying about whether their government is going to out them, and I am saying this on behalf of national security, which I serve on two committees which deal with this very issue. Our integrity and how other countries see us and how individuals that want to go into the clandestine service, that want to serve in the CIA, I want them, I want the best and brightest to come, but I do not want them to think or anyone in the State Department to think if they get on the opposite side of an administration that they will go after their wife. We have not even talked about that. Because Ambassador Wilson had something to say outside of what was on the script of the White House, and they could not get him because he is a person that dotted his I's and crossed his T's, they decided to go after his wife. We are going to go after your wife. To women in this country, you need to be concerned about that. Someone cannot get to your husband, but they are going to come after you. We need to disabuse ourselves of that.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I can tell the gentlewoman that, as it relates to national security, protection of our homeland and as it pertains to this case, you have the question of a CIA clandestine agent whose job was charged with finding out more or tracking down possible chemical weapons that can be used, weapons of mass destruction that can be used against the United States of America. Now, Mr. Speaker, we are in the minority, and that means that the majority, which is the Republican majority, has the responsibility of governance, has the responsibility because they have the committee chairmanships. They have the Speakership. They have all of the leadership, and I will say at least I am not even going to talk about the Speakership or the leadership. I am going to talk about the committee chairpersons that have the responsibility to protect and have direct oversight over the Federal Government, making sure that we keep children, women, men, everyday Americans, safe. What are we doing as Democrats? What we have done, not only have we put light on what is wrong as it relates to outing CIA agents, but also, there was a letter written today by four of our ranking members. A ranking member, I want to make sure I explain, that is the highest ranking Democratic Member on the said committees of jurisdiction or concern over a particular issue, in this case, security clearance. This letter went to the associate director of division of security, and it is questioning Mr. Rove's security clearance. This did not come from the chairmen of the committees, did not come from any person of power on the majority side. This came from the minority side, on the Democratic side; and it is done by very fine Members, the ranking member of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, Mr. John Dingell; the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee, Ranking Member David Obey; also, Defense appropriations, veteran, marine, Mr. John Murtha from Pennsylvania; and also the Armed Services ranking member that we serve with, Mr. Ike Skelton of the Armed Services Committee. They questioned the security clearance of Mr. Rove. What the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz) just finished saying is the fact that no one is that important when it is a question of outing a CIA agent and others for political gain. So that is what we are doing right now.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Highest security clearance.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. How do we know that? From the notes of the chief of staff of the Vice President of the United States that said the Vice President told him in the indictment. I mean, that is not what we are saying.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. ``Meet the Press,'' syndicated affiliates, one of the most respected journalists in Washington, D.C.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, just a second. I just want to make sure you identify who Mr. Libby is.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I think it is very evident that nowhere in this budget is it talking about cuts in tax breaks to special interests. There is nothing in here that says that we are going to make sure that we tell billionaires that we have some things that we need to do here in this government and we can no longer give them that tax break. We are not saying it to special interests, but we are saying it to those who cannot fight for themselves. We are saying it to not only students, but we are saying to parents that if the majority side have their way, they need to go out and meet with their college fund adviser because you will be paying more for higher education so that your children will be able to be a part of this workforce or what is left of it and has not gone to China and other countries. I think it is also important to understand that child support, like Ms. Wasserman Schultz said, has been cut in this budget, and now over on the Ways and Means on the committee side is $8 billion as it relates to the cuts over 5 years. The cuts come where? Human services, child support and foster care. So I want to warn States, including my State in Florida, I want to warn you, you are going to have to deal with enforcement of making sure that single moms are able to get money from deadbeat dads or vice versa. You are going to be responsible as it relates to kids that are orphans to find some sort of shelter when they have to go into a foster home environment because the Federal Government, we are not partners with you anymore because we are trying to clear the way so that we can keep our promise to billionaires and special interests here in Washington, D.C. I want to also put the States on warning, every State, red, blue or purple, I am giving you forewarning that you are going to see the largest what we call devolution of taxation in the history of this country, where we back out of the responsibility of being a part of making sure that we have vibrant communities and making sure that we treat people like they are supposed to be treated because you are going to have to make the cuts because you have to balance. You have to balance your budget. So what we hand down with the philosophy that if you are middle income in this country, if you are not a billionaire or a millionaire, good luck. Good luck on health care because we do not have health care, real health care here in the United States. There is story after story about small businesses telling folks to go sign up for Medicaid because they cannot afford to give them real health care. Sign up for Medicaid. But guess what, I want to say this to the small businesses. There is a $10 billion cut in this budget. So, guess what, that option is no longer going to be there if the Republican majority has their way. If they continue to have their way, it is okay for them to go into what is left of a poverty, if you want to call it, health care program out there for people that need health care to be able to make sure that they provide tax cuts, not for you, small business person, not for you, company of 100 or 200 people or company of 500 people, not for you, Republican, Democrat or Independent, but for the individuals that have the ear apparently of the majority at this particular time. We know that this is the people's House, and I have said it before and I will say it again. It is supposed to be the people's House and we are the only body here in Congress, the Senate you can be appointed if it is in midterm, but only in the House of Representatives is it that you have to be elected. That is in every State, and no one can touch that. If a Member was to say I resign today or I am moving on to something or I am appointed to this position, you do not see someone here tomorrow. There is a special election set, and the local people in that district will vote to replace that individual that left Congress. So I think you could not get closer to the people of the United States than we should be here in the Congress, and I will tell you this, that I am very, very concerned about what is being done here in Washington, D.C., right now. I am going to just show this quick chart because I showed it at the beginning, but I just want to keep reminding folks. Folks feel that, oh, they are alarmists. Some people walking around here in the Capitol, they are saying something and what is the problem. What is the problem? There is no problem. What are you talking about? Things are great. You know, I had lunch today, did you? But when it comes down to security and financial security, 42 Presidents, and I am going to say it again and I am going to keep saying it, 42 Presidents, $1.0 trillion loaned from foreign holdings, and this is from the U.S. Department of Treasury that we have gone to other countries to borrow money, World War I, World War II, you name it, Depression, all 42 Presidents, one President $1.05 trillion in 4 years.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I want to say to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) and the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Larson) as they depart, I just want to say what they are saying is right on. We do not have to be concerned with what outside people and outside groups say and do. We must be concerned about what our colleagues are doing or not doing on the other side. I think it is very important for us to remember that. Talking about this budget is something that really needs review. And I encourage the American people, I also encourage Members to figure out what is in it and what is not in it. The cuts that are being made in the budget, well, let us just call it what it is. Let me ask the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz), I know she has a third-party validator, the cuts that are in this budget, in the light of hurricane relief, the cuts that are being made are really to clear the way for the $106 billion tax cut mainly for special interests and billionaires in this country on the backs of Medicare, on the backs of Medicaid, on the backs of free and reduced lunch for children. And the reason why they were on the backs of those, and some may call it dependency, I call it making sure that the seniors can get their prescription drugs. I call it making sure that children that happen to be born into a poor community and in a poor family and a struggling family that is trying to make way to get a hot meal in the morning, to be able to get lunch, I guess left up to the majority since there is something about this dependency thing that is going on, I guess it is okay to have 60 percent of the kids eating lunch and 40 percent of the kids looking outside of the lunchroom inside wanting lunch but they cannot have it. I guess it is okay to have those kids then to go to the classroom for the second half of the education day in front of a teacher hungry, while the other half of the class are picking their teeth from the lunch that they are able to afford because the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz) is able to provide that for her children and I am able to provide it. So I guess those of us that have, we are going to be okay. It is just those other folk out there making up beds, popping sheets in hotels and driving cabs around here, good luck to them. I guess when faith-based organizations in my district and throughout this country are trying to do all they can to hold this thing together, providing after-school programs with parishioners, giving money to fill the gap that is no longer being filled because we have cut the local commitment in juvenile justice and prevention programs. When we say ``prevention'' we are talking about programs. We are talking about programs that help young children stay out of trouble, homework centers. All of those activities that we have put in Leave No Child Behind and will not fund those, Mr. Speaker. We will not fund those. I guess that is a dependency for afterschool homework. But guess what? We have a nice cozy jail cell if someone was to step out of line. So I think it is important for us to remember that this is very, very serious. Now there was an amendment in committee by the Democrats that said that, okay, let us talk about the tax cuts so we can expose the real reason why we are going through this exercise. Let us talk about the tax cuts for the special interests and billionaires first. Let us bring that up first and make that a part of this budget and reflect it and put it out front so everyone can see it. But the majority did not want that to happen because it just would have been too easy for the folks back home. So say, okay, you are raising fees on students, our future workforce, by $5,000 apiece, to the tune of $14 billion. And then you turn around and this particular industry is receiving a $10 billion, what you call, ``incentive,'' we call tax cut, even though they have record profits to go out and find oil off the coast of Florida. Yeah, that is the ticket. That is. And that is actually happening. So that is why it is important that we come to this floor every time we get the opportunity, within the frame of the rules, Mr. Speaker, to share with the Members on the majority side that we know what they are doing, and the American people know what they are doing, and that is why the American people see this Congress on the approval end at 35 percent. We did not do the poll. That is what the American people are saying. It is not only Democrats, it is Independents, Republicans and others. So we are here to make sure that all Americans know exactly what is going on and let the chips fall where they may and make sure everyone understands and we have transparency in this process.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. These are children. It goes beyond empty tummies. It goes down to kids prepared and ready to learn regardless of their economic background. It is not their fault. It is not their fault that they are in a poor household and they are eligible, eligible because the Federal Government has found, and an education committee and all of these folks came about during a time here in this Congress and said, you know, kids that are coming to school hungry, we cannot actually teach them in the way that we want to. They are thinking about food. We need them thinking about preparing themselves to become the next workforce here in America.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, we want to thank the democratic leadership for allowing us to be here and for this hour, and we want to continue talking about the issues that we were talking about in the hour before the last one, the issues that are facing Americans. As you know, within our working group we talk about what we are doing and what the other side is doing or not doing and how we want to put this country and build a partnership, put it on a new direction. The only way we will be able to do that is making sure that we are able to get some of the ideas on this side of the aisle to the forefront, make sure that we work in a bipartisan way. Mr. Speaker, with all due respect, I must say that that is not happening right now on a lot of the major issues, issues that are facing everyday Americans, issues as it relates to the budget that is coming to this floor next week. I can tell you that this so-called budget was put together on the backs of everyday working Americans. Some may say that it was in light of making sure that we can respond to Hurricane Katrina and the gulf coast, but cutting the very assistance that these individuals need is almost like saying I am going to take $5 out of this pocket and then I am going to try to put it, the same $5 I took out of your pocket, and put it in your left pocket and we are done. That is not good enough. I think it is very, very important to also be mindful of the fact: If the job is so good here in Congress, if we are doing everything that we are supposed to do as it relates to the American people and they feel so good about the economy, they feel so good about security, they feel so good about health care, they feel so good about the environment, then why do American people, poll after poll polls this Congress at a 35 percent approval rating? Thirty-five percent. I mean, if I was to call down to my district and they were to take a poll on how they felt about me and it was 35 percent, that means that I need to start doing something right for me to be reelected to this Congress. So when we start, our friends on the opposite side of the side come in and say, well, we are doing a great job and I do not know what the problem, and folks are saying that we are not, and I hope our friends on the other side starts to join us. I can tell you right now, I do not want to join anything where the American people feel that you are doing a great job by 35 percent. That is not a team I want to be on. If I am going to go join a team or be a part of something, I am going to be a part of a winning team. I am going to be a part of a team that is going to make sure that we stand up on behalf of everyday Americans, that makes sure that we do not have States out there with over $85 billion in deficits, deficits that they have to clear up, they have to balance, unlike this Congress. Mr. Speaker, I want to remind the Members, last night I brought this chart out and I just want to remind once again, because I want to make sure that Members understand, American people understand, Mr. Speaker, this is not the doing of the Democrats. This is the doing of the Republican majority. Forty-two Presidents. Forty-two. And this is from the U.S. Department of Treasury. This is not the Kendrick Meek Report. U.S. Department of Treasury of the United States of America, in case anyone gets confused. Forty-two Presidents, all the way from the Whig Party before we had Republicans and Democrats. Since 1776 to the year 2000, Democrats and Republicans, Whig Party and other parties alike, 42 Presidents only borrowed $1.01 trillion from foreign nations, from foreign countries. One, one President with the majority here in this House, Republican majority and in the Senate, has trumped 42 Presidents, 42 Presidents, $1.05 trillion and counting. So we bring to the floor the issues at hand. These issues are real, and it is the reality of America right now. And so when our friends on the other side start saying, I do not know what is going on, I have a job, I think everybody else does, I think everything is okay, somebody needs to go out and tell the American people that it is okay, because they do not think it is okay. Thirty-five percent of Americans feel that we are doing an okay job. What does that mean? That means a number of Americans feel that we are not doing the job that we are supposed to be doing, whatever that may be. I just want to go back again, Mr. Speaker, in case a Member was walking around, had a phone call or something, did not quite understand. Forty-two Presidents, you name it, they are here, 1776 to 2000, 224 years, 224 years. In the 224 years, they did not borrow from foreign governments as much as one President and the majority Republicans here in this House have done. The President did not do it on his own. 224 years, Mr. Speaker, World War I, World War II, Vietnam, Korea, other crises in the country, depressions, you name it. Things that my grandmother and my father told me about took place in the time of these 42 Presidents. Under this one President, one majority, they helped us get to this number. So you know, the facts may hurt. The facts hurt. The facts hurt. The facts hurt when you sit down at the dining room table trying to figure out how you are going to get past this month dealing with the money that you are making. Now, how are you going to get past this month? Those are hard facts. Well, the hard facts are, like it or not, it is not, you know, not the 30-something Working Group; it is not, you know, the Democrats. It is prepared and served by the majority here in this House, and the majority in the Senate and the White House; and that is a fact, Jack. I do not care. You can go and use big words, you can go around, read reports that someone gave you that kind of paint the pot black with the fact that a lot of people out there use a lot of numbers, charts and graphs; but the bottom line is we are borrowing our country away to foreign nations. Then we want to call a budget up on the backs of the very people that we say that we are trying to help

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Just to add to what I was saying before the gentlewoman made her statements, October 7 the board was open for 40 minutes to pass the ``energy bill,'' as relates to home heating. Special interests were able to get their profits out of that. The board was open for 40 minutes, even though it was a 5-minute vote. November 22, 2003, broke the record here in the House of Representatives by holding the vote open. It was originally set for 15 minutes but lasted over 3 hours into the middle of the night. It was obvious on the prescription drug bill that it was a failing bill, but it took 3 hours for the majority to get their way. The reason why there are two dates on this, July 27 and 28, is because the board was left open, the voting board was left open for an hour, well past the 15-minute voting time on CAFTA, which actually passed by 227 to 215. So when the majority says I wish the Democrats would join us, I wish that the Republicans would join the Republicans on it, because they know exactly what is not happening. I want to give our Web site out here. It is 30somethingdems@mail.house.gov. That is 30somethingdems@mail.house.gov. We want to make sure that everyone knows exactly what is going on here in Washington, D.C. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from Florida, as well as the gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Larson) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan), who joined us here today; and we will continue to work hard not only to bring fresh ideas to the floor but to make sure that we point out where the inequities are within our own institution.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I am coming right back. I am not going into Iraq. This is an example. That is fine that the Senate came together, three Democrats, three Republicans, who will come together with a report on the intelligence piece. Okay. Okay. Do we have a strategy for success? Well, we do not have that answer. Do we have a strategy of when we will be able to have American men and women come back home? Well, you know, we are fighting a war against terror, a global war, and we have got to go after the terrorists. Okay. But what is our strategy? Well, we do not have one. So we are spending billions and billions of dollars of the taxpayers' money in Iraq at this particular time. And it is not about the troops; it is about some other things that we are trying to accomplish. What is the strategy? Well, there is no strategy, and why are you asking, by the way. Why are you asking what is the strategy? I am on the Armed Services Committee, and folks say, do we have an exit strategy? Democrats and Republicans have asked that. And I want to say that on the minority, the majority of the minority of the members over there, in the majority, have asked that question, along with several members on the Democratic side, because we want to know exactly where we are going. Are we going to be in Iraq as long as there is a small insurgency? So that is the issue when it comes down to oversight and governance and making sure that we do what we need to do. So I just wanted to mention that because the ideas that we have, the ideas as relates to pay-as-you-go, the ideas as relates to being energy efficient by 2010, 2012, those ideas cannot surface in this Congress because the majority has their foot on those ideas. So when folks come to the floor and say what is the problem, I guarantee when that budget comes up next week, and there is talk on the other side of, I wish our friends on the Democratic side would join us in this budget resolution that is coming to the floor, well, I have to say this to the Republican majority: I hope that Republicans join you on it, because that seems to be a problem, Mr. Speaker. Every time there is a major bill that comes to the floor and it is a 15-minute vote, that 15-minute vote turns into a 2-hour vote. Why does it turn into a 2-hour vote? Not because Members cannot make it from their offices to the floor. No, it boils down to whose arm can be twisted, who can be pushed into a corner, and who can be pushed into voting for an unjust budget to clear the way for special interests and for billionaires. So, Mr. Speaker, if someone wants to impress the American people that the budget is so good, let us follow the House rules and do the vote in 15 minutes. Do the vote and do not have the Members standing here at 3 a.m. in the morning saying, well, Mr. Speaker, they said it was a 15- minute vote and we are now on 90 minutes. When are we closing the board? I think the reason why the voting board was not closed, and probably will not be closed next week, is that as long as the majority is not getting their way, they are going to change the spirit of the rules of the House of Representatives, and that is the problem too.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. All of these Presidents combined could not do as much as this administration has done as it relates to borrowing from foreign countries to support mainly tax cuts that we cannot afford for billionaires and millionaires and special interests. I could see if it was something where there was billions of dollars going into U.S. cities and to rural America to build economic development, to be able to help farmers that are trying to compete with foreign countries, thanks to us, okay, or thanks to the majority. I can see if we were going into schools and saying that we are going to be the leaders of the world in educating engineers, that we are going to have science and math and we are going to lead the world in education. I could see that. I can see if we had real homeland security where our border would be protected and that we would have the enforcement officers out there with the tools that they need to make sure it is protected and have a process to be able to deal with the issue of illegal immigrations and even if they are in this country, I can see if those dollars went towards that. I can see if we said we want to deal with energy with those dollars, Mr. Speaker, to be able to say that we want to pull back on our dependency on oil and that we will use alternative energy sources. I can see that. But I do not see people coming to the floor and saying, well, on behalf of the economy, billionaires need another tax break, millionaires need another tax break, this special interest group with record profits, unprecedented history of these oil companies, that we need to give them additional billions of dollars in taxpayers' money to go out and do what they should be doing with their profits anyway. You get a small business that makes a profit, some of that goes towards a security fund and some of that goes towards what? Growing their business. No, no, no, not in this majority, no, no. You get the profit and then you come over here to the Congress and you get the taxpayer money to go out and do the things that you should be doing in the first place. It does not make sense, Mr. Speaker, and I do not care who says different. I do not care if the chairman of the basket weaving committee was to come to this floor and say what is the problem. What is the problem? We have enough baskets. What are you complaining about. Well, there is a lot to complain about, and there is a lot to let the Members know and the American people know that we are willing to lead in the area of individuals who are not leading in right now on the majority side as it relates to energy, as it relates to making sure that we have a health care plan here, making sure prescription drugs are affordable for Americans, making sure that our men and women in Iraq have what they need. And let me just mention something for a minute, since I mentioned Iraq. The bottom line is that on the majority side and the President you start saying, okay, let us talk about Iraq. All right, we had bad intelligence, and that is a big question right now. We do not know if the Congress was given bad intelligence or not, but there is very little that is happening on that. And thanks to the Democrats in the Senate that pushed a----

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I can tell the gentleman that when we start talking about what is happening here, and I think the problem here within the Beltway, the fact that we are here on this floor, or there is a report in the newspaper, whichever newspaper it may be, they do not know what they are talking about, because the majority sees everything in their world, everything is fine. I am going to tell you the reason why we are here, Mr. Speaker, is Republicans permitted Democrats to offer only 4 percent of the amendments submitted to major legislation in the 108th Congress. And when this Congress is over, and we get the statistics on that, we will probably find the same. On prescription drugs, the energy bill and the tax bill, only 4 percent. So much for bipartisanship. To shift the debate, for example, in the summer, the Republicans brought the consideration of amendments that drastically shaped three important measures before Congress. When you start looking at the issue of CAFTA, medical malpractice, and the Chinese trade, these amendments were not even allowed to be heard on the floor, or were limited and restricted. We are talking about bipartisanship. We talked about the Katrina Commission in the hour before last. They do not want an independent commission like the 9/11 commission that the country was pleased with because it was bipartisan, and it was out of the reach of this Congress. They know the reason why we passed the 9/11 bill is because we had an independent 9/11 Commission that was able to have equal subpoena power, getting the facts. Guess what? Democrats, Republicans, Independents, those who do not even vote in this country applauded it, the work that that entity, the 9/11 Commission, brought about. So to say that we have a partisan commission here in the House of Representatives does not serve the American people in the way that they should be served. We talked about that for months. Right now I want to yield to you, because we do have a special guest here with us, and a great Member of this House. I want to you introduce him