Kendrick Meek

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I thank my colleague from Ohio for joining me. Mr. Speaker, I also would like to thank the Democratic leader for allowing us to have this first Democratic hour.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. The President of these United States, our President, you want to talk about being a conservative, has not even vetoed one spending bill. As a matter of fact, of the transportation bill that has more fat, pork, everything else, a couple of raccoons in there, he did not even have the nerve to stop that. We have bridges going to nowhere. Meanwhile, we have got folks around here in shelters, and we are asking no one to sacrifice. No. As a matter of fact, the majority side, the Republican side, they are asking poor people to sacrifice. They are asking people that their kids are in Iraq right now and Afghanistan to sacrifice. Meanwhile, you have billionaires saying: Do not worry, you do not have to say anything. This is what the majority is saying. You do not have to say anything, we will protect you. We will protect you, Republican majority. So I think it is important that we continue every time that we get the opportunity, need it be out in the hall, in our office talking to our constituents, or on this floor talking to our colleagues, that we know and the American people will know exactly what you are doing to them, and it will not be something where that: I do not know, I did not understand what I was doing on that vote. And, if I would have had that opportunity. Do not come creeping in here under the doorjamb writing something into the Congressional Record saying, well, I know I voted for this budget, to cut the budget of a lot of my constituents, but I really feel this way. Do not do that. We do not want to have to pick up the Congressional Record to find that you have a conscience about the vote that someone told you to do, a twist your arm. The gentleman from Ohio and I talked the other day about violating the spirit of the rules of the House of Representatives. The so-called energy bill that went and passed this floor just a couple of weeks ago, held this board open, the voting board here in this House open for 90 minutes, 90 minutes on a 15-minute vote. We came up to these mikes and called: Mr. Speaker, point of order. What is going on here? Did we not have a vote? Oh, wait, I am sorry. You mean to tell me you are not winning and the special interests are not winning on allowing them to stick the drill anywhere they want to drill, and you mean to tell me you are not winning because this is not a true energy bill that is going to talk about conservation and independence and go against price gouging? You mean to tell me until you are able to twist enough arms, or I must add, hammer people, okay, to the point where they are going to change their vote based on their thoughts of coming in here and based on the information that they have on this bill that it does nothing, you are going to hold the voting clock open until you have your way. It is almost saying that we are at a little league football game and I happen to be the guy that bought the jerseys for one team and my cousin happens to be the ref that has the stop clock, I am going to tell him to stop the clock because we are behind by 7 points and I have got to go over and try to twist some arms and try to change the rules so that we can come up by 8 points, and then I want him to start the clock all over again. That is breaking the spirit and that is violating the rules. They are doing things because they can. But I can tell you one thing, Mr. Ryan. Just like you talked about that decorated veteran that has worked in the State Department and worked with Colin Powell, the American spirit will prevail over politics, and that is what we have to bank on as it relates to this. So those individuals that have a problem with us coming to the floor and sharing exactly what is going on, this is fact, not fiction, then they have a problem with the spirit of America. They have a problem with the blood, sweat, and tears. They have a problem with folks that are sitting in Walter Reed right now that laid it down on behalf of this country that we would come here and represent them. They are white, they are black, they are Republican, they are Independent, they are Native American, they are Hispanic, they are Americans. And we are charged with the duty of coming to this floor and making sure that they are represented. Even if the majority does not want to represent them, even if we are in the minority, we do not have the option to say we were bigger, they were smaller. They had the majority, we had the minority. Oh, we could not do anything. We are doing everything. As I speak now, we have Democratic members fighting in committee to make sure that they can get amendments on to bills to be able to help Americans. As we speak right now we are preparing to come to the floor to fight the battle with what we have. What my colleague from Ohio is saying is 110 percent right. That bill that you have there, we have over 40,000 citizen cosponsors on it right now.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I will take some of that, too. Because those of us that are here in the Beltway, and when I say Beltway we are talking about here in Washington, D.C. there is a Beltway that goes around this entire city. Those of us that are drinking the water, breathing the air, and eating the food here understand exactly what is going on, and it is our duty as Americans to make sure that we put light where light is not. And even where you have light, like here under the lights here in this Chamber, that we illuminate it even more as it relates to making sure that every Member knows exactly what he or she is doing or not doing as it pertains to issues that are going to blanket, blanket and increase cronyism and corruption and going to increase the whole, or going to promote the whole theory of borrow and spend. Folks, it is interesting, and the thing about being in Congress is that it is important that you understand that we all must tolerate one another. It is not personal, it is just business. And the bottom line is, is that if you want to talk about the business and you want to talk about spending, you want to talk about fiscal responsibility, you cannot just have a backdrop in the back of you at a press conference and say fiscal responsibility, and fiscal responsibility, that makes you a conservative. That does not make you a conservative. What makes you a policy maker and what shows that you have the ability to lead is being able to march down to the White House and tell the President: We are concerned about spending. Why don't you veto a bill for once?

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton) for her leadership. As I said at the top of this hour, we thank the Democratic Caucus of this Congress for standing up on behalf of the American people. When we start talking about issues, these issues we are all talking about, these issues are affecting the American people. It is up to us to be able to share this information. I am glad that the gentlewoman went further into the budget. Mr. Speaker, we need to balance the budget. We are the only Members of the body that can actually say we balanced the budget and we had a surplus. The majority side cannot make that claim. I was not here, but the gentlewoman was here. They passed the budget that gave us a surplus. The other side cannot even say it because they all voted against it.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, once again I want to thank the gentleman for taking the time to come and join us here this afternoon. Mr. Speaker, I am also joined here by our great local delegate, the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia (Ms. Norton), who has been in the Congress quite some time and who has seen quite a bit, so I am so glad she is here and I yield now to her.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is almost like we need to have an opportunity to come to this floor like every 3 hours. There is so much going on here, the Members need to know that we are watching them. The American people need to know and the Members need to know that we have alternatives, and we are going to present those alternatives legislatively in committee, we are going to present those alternatives here on this floor, and we are going to present those alternatives in Special Orders to let it be known that we are not going to sit by and watch this country start to slide, not because of the American people, but because of the majority who are willing to stand on behalf of the most able Americans as it relates to finances on the backs of everyday Americans.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for his comments, and I am glad the gentleman came down to the floor. I think it is very, very important to have as many voices as possible from different parts of the country sharing with not only the Members but the American people what is actually going on right now. Because by the time the American people find out what we do here, it is too late. It has already happened to them and they are saying, how did this happen. Many times they cannot follow the paper trail back to the source. The gentleman mentioned the war in Iraq. Well, we have to remind ourselves that Republicans are in control of the House, Republicans are in control of the Senate, and the Republicans are in control of the White House, so it is not just the agencies that respond to the White House. They are the Federal agencies that are out there that are appointed by the President of the United States. So it is not our fault that things are going the way that they are going as it relates to dealing with Americans. And what we are doing in Iraq is at top dollar. I must add that it is not like building a school in your neighborhood. It is top dollar, because you have to pay those contractors big money. And a lot of that money goes towards these special contracts. Four of the contractors that are carrying out Katrina work in a no-bid contract are under investigation by this government for mishandling taxpayers' dollars. So we are going to reward them for wasteful spending and possibly stealing. People get all teary-eyed when they come to the floor and they start talking about the troops and how they support the troops; and some say, well, I support the troops more than you. Well, I support the troops. Who does not support the troops? We all support the troops. I want to meet the caucus that does not support the troops. It does not exist. So let us take that away and start looking at the realities of governing and oversight and not rewarding corruption and cronyism. The gentleman talks about the money that it is costing. It is borrow and spend. The Republican majority is borrowing and spending at the highest interest rate possible. A lot of Americans receive mail, I do, and I open it and there you might find a free credit card. You can just sign right here. And then you read the fine print and you see that after the first 6 weeks it jumps up to a 21 percent interest rate APR. It is not a deal. So we are chest beating and talking about how we have to help these poor Iraqis, but, meanwhile, when it comes down to Americans here on our soil, suddenly we want to become fiscally responsible on the backs of those very same people. There is a lot of hypocrisy in the democracy within this Congress when it comes down to looking at that. And that is not just because I am saying it, that is what is actually happening, and that is the unfortunate part about this whole argument. If we could wait until the next round of elections and the American people could have their way with some of the individuals that are running to the floor and cutting the very things that are helping their own local communities in the light of being seen as fiscal conservatives, it would be fine. But guess what, there is too much out there for us to wait that long. It has to happen now and we have to fight now.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, once again it is an honor to address the House. I can tell you that this week has been quite eventful. As you know, Mr. Speaker, we come every day to the floor to share not only with the Members but the American people what is actually going on in this House, and what is not going on in this House and what should be going on in this House, and it is the House of Representatives. And there has been a lot going on this week as it relates to the budget. As you know, many Members came to the floor to speak pro and con of this. I will not use the Washington language, but I will use it in a way that everyone can understand: our relooking at the budget and making more cuts from the budget that have already been made. And when I have been coming to the floor recently, Mr. Speaker, I have been bringing the local publication, the Washington Post to the floor, just to serve as a third-party validator to the arguments that have been made here on the floor. I am proud that our leadership on this side of the aisle, the Democratic leader, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), has stood against the winds of power in saying that there are certain things that we will not do. We who are Democrats on this side, we will not turn our backs on the American people. We will not turn our backs on the survivors of hurricanes Katrina or Rita. We will not stand idly by and watch this country continue legislatively to go down the tubes because certain people and certain individuals in power would like to see their priorities and their projects and their special interest breaks or opportunities prevail on the backs of the American people. I am proud that we have the leadership on this side of the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Menendez) and also the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn) to say no. I am proud of the fact that we have men and women in this Congress that are willing to stand up and say no to the majority, I must add, on the majority side who want to see their goals and objectives carried out on behalf of individuals that have suffered. Now, I have to commend some of my colleagues here and some of my colleagues even on the other side of the aisle for standing up to the leadership and saying no, we will not cut Medicaid. We will not cut free and reduced lunch. That did not just come about because folks thought, well, it is okay to stand up. That did not come about within the Republican Conference. But I will tell you how it came about, Mr. Speaker. It came about because Members came to this floor mainly on the Democratic side and said, if you are going to do it we are going to turn the lights up. We are going to raise our voices, and we are going to let our constituents and your constituents especially know that you are allowing this to happen. Mr. Speaker, this is not a victory lap in any way. I do not want anyone to feel that the tide has changed because as far as I am concerned individuals that are fighting on behalf of billionaires in this Congress to make sure that their tax cut is not touched and that we take away from those that cannot fight for themselves, they are sleeping in shifts. They are sleeping in shifts because they know that that is what they have to do to prevail. I will tell you on this side, even though we are in the minority, even though we are not in the majority, even though we cannot bring a bill to a committee and expect for it to pass with the majority vote because everything is on partisan lines here as of recently, unfortunately, but I can tell you that even though we cannot agenda some of the things that we would like to agenda that will help this country move to the next level and will put us in the right direction, we are willing to fight with what we have. And what we have is the opportunity to come to this floor to share not only with the Members, let the Members know exactly what they are doing so we are not around here hugging and smiling and cheesing and grinning and scratching where we do not itch, saying ``that was a leadership call.'' Well, I can tell you right now, Mr. Speaker, as we look at third party validators, I just want to make sure that folks do not believe that this is the Kendrick Meek Report and that I just sit in the office and come up with whatever we want to say. I want folks, I want the Members to go to the WashingtonPost.com editorial page just today. Like I said once before, I do not have to go back and pull publications or pull Time from 2 weeks ago or pull Newsweek from a month ago about something they wrote about and say that was a great story from the Sioux City, Iowa Journal about a month ago and I want to bring it to the attention of the Members. You pick up the paper any day and it is filled with what this Congress is doing to a certain group of Americans. Now, like I said, there has been a lot of discussion about the budget. It is truly, truly beyond me of all the power and influence of Members of Congress, you have all kinds of leadership on the other side of the aisle that has the opportunity to shine in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and some of the biggest natural disasters that have hit this country in recent days. Do they take the opportunity to lean on behalf of those that are suffering right now and displaced? No. Do they take the opportunity to go in and deal with these Federal agencies who do not even want us to talk to them directly because they feel that they are protected by the White House and why do they have to listen to Congress? We take this opportunity to say that you had the opportunity to perform and you did not. And because you did not perform, we are here as the elected people representing the people of the United States, be if from the affected area or from an area outside of the affected area, your constituents have federalized you to lead. No. We are not doing that. The majority side is not doing that. No. They are seizing the opportunity to carry out the motives of the special interests. So, Mr. Speaker, when we talk about this issue of a culture of corruption and cronyism, this is a perfect example here in the Washington Post editorial number two, entitled ``Katrina's Costs to the Poor.'' What it is saying here basically is that the Congress voted earlier this year here on this floor, I must add that I did not vote for it but the majority did on party line, vote a $35 billion cut in spending for the next 5 years as it relates to the issue of entitlement programs, Medicaid, Title I. All of these programs that help financially challenged Americans that are federally mandated were cut. Now, we have forces on the other side saying that we will not even get it up to $50 billion to help the Katrina victims. Well, I can tell you right now that has nothing to do about health. It has everything to do about the priorities that the majority side leadership has picked that they are going to represent. $70 billion in tax cuts mainly, in this editorial, this is not what I am saying, I am reading verbatim from this editorial, mainly for the most wealthy, the most wealthy Americans in this country. They are fighting on their behalf. They are saying it is okay. I do not blame the top half. I do not blame the billionaires in America for what the majority is doing on their behalf on the backs of the suffering of the American people. I do not blame those individuals. I blame the people that are saying that they want to save our country money by cutting entitlement programs to the very people who have sent us here to protect them. They do not have, the average American does not have a million dollar lobbyist to walk into the office and represent them. They have a Congressman that they sent or a Congresswoman that they sent to this floor to represent them. And if we fail in that duty, then it is beyond personal responsibility, it lies on the majority. I want to make it clear that you have to make the decision on if you want to lead or you want to follow. And I will tell you there are some folks in this House that are winning right now because we are not having a debate. We are just straight out saying that we are going to cut again the very programs that we just finished, that the majority just finished cutting, that are supposed to be helping the very people that we are trying to help. Better yet, we have asked billionaires to do nothing. We have given them tax cut after tax cut. We have men and women with sand in their teeth over in Iraq and Afghanistan and we are asking everyday punch-in and punch-out, retired, on Medicare Americans to suffer and to pay a price and to take a cut. We are not asking the most able Americans to do the same. Now, I can tell you that this editorial goes on to say, Mr. Speaker, that the individuals that are being protected in this are the high- priced lobbyists and enriched constituencies. What it means by that by saying if you can pay to play in this House, then you are in good shape. You do not have anything to worry about. We have you, or they have you. And so I am glad that we are coming to the floor to be able to let not only the Members know but the American people know that this is an unacceptable practice, that I am glad that we are prepared on this side of the aisle to be able to put forth an amendment when you come to the floor with your budget that is going to not only move Americans forward but decrease the deficit. This editorial goes on to say, You are saying that you are going to cut the budget and you are going to be fiscally responsible in managing the money of this country, but better yet, it does nothing to reduce the deficit. It increases the deficit. Mr. Speaker, it is almost laughable if it was not true. And this is not just Democrats or Independents or some study group out there. You have the Washington Post, you have a number of other publications out there that are saying, wait a minute. You are doing this in the light of being fiscally responsible, but you are not. You are increasing the deficit. You are finding your money for your tax cuts for billionaires on the backs of working Americans, and I guess we are just supposed to sit here because it is in the light of trying to help Katrina victims. Now I have a personal problem with that and I know the American people are going to have a problem with that also. We talk about this issue of a culture of corruption and cronyism, and I think it is important that we have an opportunity to talk about this a little bit more. This whole cronyism and individuals that are not qualified to lead is prevalent here in Washington, D.C., and it is continuing to happen, and I can tell you right now that it is truly unacceptable. You want to talk about saving money on behalf of the American people? According to the AP, four out of five companies that won the largest Katrina contracts are being reviewed for possible waste and abuse. Four of the top 10 companies. So what we are doing here is we are saying, hey, listen, it is okay for you to mismanage the taxpayers' money. Not only is it okay, we will reward you again with a no-bid contract. That is almost like saying, I have a bad contractor working on my house. I have already given him $200,000 to fix my house. Let me run out and get another loan and see if I give him $500,000 to see if they can really mess that up. But the sad part about that is I would be doing it with my own money. But the majority and this administration is doing it with the American people's money, and so it is very disheartening. Mr. Speaker, I am so glad to see my good colleague from New York. We are not in the race for the World Series Championship this year like we were a couple years ago, being from Miami and New York. But the gentleman from New York (Mr. Serrano), I am so glad he came down here today to share in this hour with me.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, my colleague from Ohio could not say it better because that exactly goes to the marrow of this whole issue, of making sure that we engage not only the Members but also the American people. If it was something dealing with total politics, you could say, well, you know, in 2006 it will be dealt with. But there are so many things that are happening to Americans versus for Americans that we need change now.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Like I said, he is right and we are going to see.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, we need to clarify who we are and they are.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I just want a point of clarification. The folks that are going to suffer under these cuts, they do not make political contributions. Their only contribution is their vote to send a Member of Congress up here. I do not know when I go to these health care centers and they say, well, we had to cut 10 employees, we cannot even meet the people from the community that are coming in and need our help because the budget has been cut. It is the evolution of taxation. We make the cuts up here and then the States, they return the favor to the local folks, and they cannot do what they are supposed to do. The folks that are being cut and dealt with and manhandled by the majority on this, they do not make contributions to anyone. They cannot afford to. These are the people that are punching in and punching out every day. I think it is important that everyone understand the proposal that the majority is talking about now will do nothing but weaken the country. That is the bottom line. That is what it does. I want to make that point of clarification because even when I check my campaign reports, there are not a lot of Medicaid recipients there saying, we are writing a fat check to the Congressman. They cannot write $10 to the Congressman because they are too busy trying to pay for gas and the heating oil.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Do not forget cronyism, please.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I just want to tell my colleague from Oklahoma that he is supposed to do exactly what he is doing. We are doing exactly what we are supposed to be doing, and that is represent our constituents. That is why we are up here. We are not up here to be friends, buddies, and pals. We are here to make sure that folks who woke up early one morning, whether they be Democrat, Republican, Independent, no party affiliation whatsoever, an individual that was in a nursing home could not make it, did not have an absentee ballot, they deserve our representation. And the reason why this bill did not come up and hopefully will not come up in the form that it is in now, and some folks ask what do Democrats do in the minority? What do you do because you do not have the ability, not we do not have the physical ability or the mental ability to do it, but by rule we cannot bring certain things to the floor. We cannot agenda bills here on the floor. There are a lot of things that we cannot do because we are in the minority. But what we can do is propose. Now, this very bad budget amendment that is coming up that is going to cut the opportunity for families who want to work to be able to have child care and to be able to, like the gentleman from Ohio, provide for their families. And so I think it is important that we realize that this is not a partisan conversation. The only thing partisan about it is the fact that the majority, which is the Republican leadership here, will not do what they are supposed to do. The last point. This whole issue on this we are going to cut, this exercise as it relates to looking at the budget has gone off the focus of helping the victims of Hurricane Katrina and Rita to we have got to prove to America that we can govern. That is what it has turned into. It has turned into that by saying, well, we can govern because we know how to cut. We know how to cut. Well, who are we cutting? We are cutting those that cannot fight back. You might as well just answer the question the way it really is. Let us talk, let us, like they say in some places, let us put the cookie on the bottom shelf so that we can all reach it and understand what is going on. So I think it is important, need it be if someone has a bus pass in their hand, they carpool to work, they have to go out and do certain things in their car before they turn it over because they cannot afford to buy a new car. I have been there before, I put my hand up. Those that are running around here know that they can only put $20 in their tanks and some of them have to shut their car off at certain times because they know they just cannot spend that money because they do not have it. These are individuals that we are standing for. These are the individuals that we are leading on their behalf. So it is important that we put these things out there. It is important that we come to this floor, and not let Democrats in the House or America know what is going on, to let Americans know what is going on. But this stuff does not just happen. It happens because we want them engaged, we want Members engaged in representing their constituents.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I can tell the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) I am just so glad to be here with you tonight, and I know that the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Spratt) was here a little earlier, our good friend from South Carolina and the ranking member on the Committee on the Budget, to point out some of the variations you have been talking about now. I can tell you also that I was concerned. I think it takes more than a press conference that the majority did today down in the basement of the Capitol here saying we are fiscal conservatives. All of the sudden, after all of this time, after all of this borrow and spend money, no one said a mumbling word. Now we have Americans that are displaced, Americans that are looking for assistance from its government, Americans that are still in shelters, and now we want to be fiscal conservatives. We want to all of the sudden say, oh, well, you know, the American people know the Republican majority here in the House, that we are fiscal conservatives. Let me just say something. The budget does not reflect the highest deficit in the history of the republic or one of the highest. Definitely when it comes down to the war in Iraq, there is no real accountability as it relates to corporate greed and corruption and cronyism of companies that have stolen the taxpayers' money under the lights, and they are still getting contracts from some of those very same companies that got contracts in Hurricane Katrina to make the taxpayer victims all over again. Now folks over there want to get religion about being fiscal conservatives, saying we are going to find some, what, $55 million or whatever the figure is, off the backs of poor people. So I think it is important that we talk about this. I think that I just want to do this again. Maybe the folks over here on the other side forgot about this. Maybe they forgot about this community. This is the before picture of the Category 3 levee, and this is the after picture. Maybe they forgot about those Americans that lost their homes. All under this we are going to be fiscal conservative. Maybe they forgot about this lady here with her children, finally getting out from the water after 4 days right here in New Orleans. She is carrying her kids out when 30,000 people were trapped there. Maybe we forgot about that. Maybe we forgot about these folks here that had to improvise and find their way back to safety, and these kids stroking here on the refrigerator with a board, maybe they forgot about that. Maybe they forgot about this, too. Let me just say that I want to make sure we do not get confused on the reason why we are having this debate in the first place. This is all about helping Americans and making sure that local government and the Federal Government is able to respond in a way that it is supposed to respond, appropriately, to taxpayers when this happens. Now we are going to make the country pay even more of the 67 percent cut that took place under regular order under the last budget that the majority held the clock on once again, open a little bit longer, the Republicans on the majority side did, and now we are going to go back on top of the 69 percent, and the goal is to do an additional 50 percent cut, okay, 50 percent more going into cutting these programs like Medicaid and Medicare and free and reduced lunch for children. What was so disturbing and I think the Members should be aware of, I watched this on C-SPAN. It was down in the basement. There were about six Members, the temporary majority leader and all of that stuff. They were down there talking, beating chests and all. In closing my opening statement, I am so happy that there is a God, and I am also happy that there are some folks in this Congress that are willing to put the pressure on the majority side on this issue. As you know, today we were supposed to do some voting on this, on the budget, and tomorrow we were supposed to do some voting. That vote has been pulled now, and it is not going to happen. I do not think that it is not going to happen because the staff could not necessarily get the paperwork together. It is not going to happen because it was the wrong thing to do on the backs of the wrong people. You do not go to a family saying we are here to help you, but first of all we are going to take back at least $1,000 of the services that you had coming to you due to the fact that Federal-mandated law, as it relates to health care, we are going to take it back from you. Matter of fact, take that cookie out of the kid's mouth. Did he get that in the free and reduced lunch program? Take it back from him because we are going to cut that, too. What they did that I think is important and I think the Members in their offices that are watching now needs to know, what they did, they said, well, we are definitely not going to deal with the billionaires. We are having this press conference to send a code to let them know that you are safe. I want to make it clear we have a Republican majority here in the House, and it has been that way for 10 years. We have a Republican majority over in the Senate and definitely a Republican White House. So anyone that would come and say anything publicly on this floor about, oh, the Democrats are stopping us from governing in a compassionate way, that is not true.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I think it is important to note that everyone has some sort of inquiry going on. I mean we have this partisan commission here in the House that obviously we tried to push an independent commission. That is out of order. We cannot do that. We do not need to do it because we have control, and since we have control, we are going to keep control of this situation to make sure it does not get out of hand because there may be some political reasons that we do not want certain things to come out. Well, this happened in America. It did not happen somewhere across in some foreign third world land to a group of individuals who are not a part of our democracy. These are people that live within the borders of the United States of America, born here, and I think it is important that we do not leave any American behind because the whole country can learn. So why deny the whole country from that? Someone may say, Congressman, Congresswoman, we got it covered. We are dealing with it here in the House. What are you talking about? We are all Republicans, but we got it. We will take care of it. As a matter of fact, the White House appointed someone inside the White House, a high-ranking Homeland Security adviser to the President. Well, that is interesting. We are going to keep the adviser who advises the President on the part of Homeland Security to do a report to let him know what went wrong. If something went wrong, then maybe the adviser did not do what she should have done in this case, maybe some of the conversations that we know that the President's Chief of Staff had with the folks on the ground and the Deputy Chief of Staff that happens to be the boss of the person who is doing the inquiry. I always tell people, I come to the floor and say, listen, this 30- Something Working Group in looking at what is happening and what is not happening, this is not a game. This is serious, and we went on the White House website 2 weeks ago. This thorough review that they are doing, not a mumbling word about this review. Not anything where Americans can be reassured that our country is doing all that it can to make sure that we do not make the same mistakes, have the same kind of loss of life that took place. Now, here is the front page, and our President is there and honors Buckley, the anniversary and all. It is good stuff. I mean this is stuff that the President does. And then we have the little thing that people can click on. I want to make sure that folks know that this is not the Wasserman Schultz-Ryan-Kendrick Meek report.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. When you think about it, some people may say, well, what are they talking about? What are these three Members of Congress talking about that happen to be in the minority, a few votes shy from being in the majority, to be able to make what we are talking about reality? This would not be a discussion about an independent commission to look at Katrina or what did happen or what did not happen in Katrina, best practices, so when another U.S. city goes through a situation where they have to evacuate the entire city, families being displaced, living with others, some people living in arenas, some folks living in gyms and church fellowship halls and synagogue fellowship halls throughout the country, how do we bring about the kind of organization that is needed to make sure that we can get Americans back into their normal lives so that hopefully it will not be a burden on the U.S. taxpayer for a very long time? The way things are set up now, A, there is no oversight, especially in this House. There is no oversight about the urgency of making sure that we save as many dollars as possible through a functional government doing what it is supposed to do on the timelines. It is not there. Money is still going out for vouchers to stay in hotels. I mean, folks need to have shelter; but if there is a cheaper, better way that will get them back home and to get them helping them, being able to get the paycheck or even open their business, then let us do that to make them self-sufficient. That is not the conversation. The conversation here is to say, well, let us make some budget cuts, and we do not want to talk about Iraq. We did want to talk about that. Oh, my goodness, if something comes out about Iraq, get out of the way; we have got to fund it. Matter of fact, can we add another billion to it, can we, because I want to make sure we give our commitment to the Iraqi people. Let us get another billion. But when it comes down to the Americans, our people, once again, I will say we salute one flag. I do not know, we have to look at these student loans and grants, and we have to also look at Medicaid, additional cuts on top of cuts that we have already made. Well, my colleague said something that I thought was very interesting, and I know our time is coming to an end shortly, about the fact that we have to ask millionaires. We are not talking about folks that make a hundred, not even $400,000 a year. People that make millions a year, the Congress has to ask if we can roll back some of the tax cuts that they are enjoying right now in the hundreds of thousands to help the country after it was hit by the biggest natural disaster that it has ever been hit with. We have got to ask. But guess what, no one is asking folks on Medicaid, no one is asking kids that receive free and reduced lunch for the reason because they are poor. No one is asking them. No one is asking States as it relates to rolling back their Head Start money to make sure that kids are ready to perform in this working world and that they go to school ready and prepared. The gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz) worked on that in the Florida legislature. No one is walking around here asking about that. Folks just say, well, you know what, this is what we are going to do; tough talk for hard times. We are not going to pick on someone that can pick back. We are not going to hit a person that can knock us to the floor, because they will be able to give campaign contributions to my opponents. No, we are going to get the folks that we say we are trying to help. We are going to hit them. Matter of fact, we are going to floor them, and we are going to do it because we can. That is what makes this such a tragedy. That is why we need this independent commission. That is the reason why we need H.R. 3838, an anti-fraud commission that will oversee all of the contracts that are going on in the present to be able to review it all, to make sure that it is not left up to some bureaucrat so that I am sitting somewhere in the Committee on Homeland Security and they are saying, well, you pick up The Washington Post or New York Times, whatever the hometown paper may be in someone's area, and say there were millions of dollars that were spent and someone charged $1,000 for a roll of toilet paper, and we do not know what happened, but we are looking into it. No, that is after the taxpayers have already been raped of their money and the victims were made victims again because the money ran out. So we do not have time for an Iraq-Halliburton experience that we have an investigation going on, meanwhile thousands of dollars are going out the door. If folks want to have tough talk about budget and fiscal responsibility, then we have to have management, and we have to have oversight. You just cannot let billions of dollars out the door and expect the people who have already made mistakes again and again and again say here is another $62 billion, see if you can do better this time. It is just not going to happen, and that is the reason why we have to have it.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I think what the gentlewoman is saying is so very, very important. We talked last night and spent quite a bit of time on the culture of corruption and cronyism, and we know that it takes a while to get a culture. It is not like an incident here and an incident there. It is a culture.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman has the website at the bottom.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Third party validators. Then they can go over to the Homeland Security responding to Katrina and Rita and the same picture that was there a couple of weeks ago, the President hugging an emergency worker, rightfully so. I think that is important. But it says nothing, not even a press release, about what we are doing and if what we find we are going to make corrections and these are the subject areas that we are concerned about. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. So we know under the drape of not only corruption, cronyism, but this culture that we have here that the majority does not have the ability to even have an inquiry on themselves. I said this as a joke several weeks ago, and I am going to say it again because it is very real. It is like my coming to the floor saying, Listen, my name is Kendrick Meek, and I have made some possible mistakes, and to make sure that I do not make these mistakes ever again I am going to investigate myself and I will be back in a couple of weeks to let you know what the findings are. That is how off balance, I am just trying to find the right words, that this whole theory is of the fact that the White House can look into itself and that we are going to have some findings that are going to save American lives in the future and that the House is going to have a partisan commission that is going to look at the agency that we did not give proper oversight to and still do not. The Committee on Homeland Security right now, I am here and I am giving the report, I am on the committee, has not even had one, hear me, not even one hearing since Katrina, not one public hearing to talk about what has worked and what has not worked and why do we have this problem and why do we still have people in shelters. Not a mumbling word. Not one. I am telling my colleagues if I am lying, I am flying, and I am still well footed right here. Not one hearing. That is horrible for the Department of Homeland Security, for the committee that deals with it. And I told my colleagues we are here to take care of the Federal business. I like some of my colleagues. We go and we talk about baseball games and all of these things, and they are nice people. I consider myself a pretty nice person. But let me tell the Members something. This is about business. It is not personal. It is about business. It is about the business of protecting the American people, and if we are going to sit here and act like nothing is really going on, something is really wrong, and that is the reason why we need this independent commission.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I did not want you to leave out, he raised the ceiling as it relates to small businesses to a quarter of a million dollars that an agency could spend on a credit card and not necessarily have to do business with the small businesses in the area. That was also suspended. These are small and the minority businesses, too. When we say small businesses, these are small businesses, period. This is not something where you say just women-owned businesses and minority businesses. These are small businesses, period. So I think it is important we realize that any outrage in this Congress is not from the majority side as it relates to it. If you start talking about, well, first of all, I want to help you out, we are going to respond to the disasters, matter of fact we want businesses to move back, we are going to let the businesses back in before we let the residents back in, you have got to do more for our small businesses than give them a boon and say good luck. They have no employees. In the meanwhile, we want the people to come back, but as it relates to the construction, to build the bridges and rebuild the schools and do all the things that need to happen to make this a functional community; but we do not want them to make too much money. We want them to make the minimum wage on these jobs, or whatever wage you want to pay them, but not a prevailing wage that is this Federal law. Because this happens to be an emergency, and this is the President's thinking, since this is an emergency, I can just suspend Davis-Bacon. I could not do it under calm waters; let me do it now. Let me just hit you while you are down on all fours.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan). I am glad you were able to sum it up for us. The gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz) is right to let us focus on things we are doing. We mentioned the pieces of legislation the Democrats have offered to this Congress. The Congress and the majority side have not accepted that legislation. We are still willing to fight on behalf of the American people.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. It is not random. It is a way of doing business here in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, it is affecting the entire country and in some cases it affects some parts of the world that we are also concerned about, and there are also parts of the world we are concerned about outside of Iraq. I think that is important to point out. I just want to mention something that the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) talked about, this H.R. 3764, which is the House bill that will create this independent commission just like the 9/11 Commission. The only difference between the bill we see by the gentleman from Ohio, House Resolution 3764, and the 9/11 Commission is the fact that it says the independent Katrina commission versus the 9/11 Commission. So it is language that we all understand and eventually, like the 9/ 11 Commission, the majority side came around and voted for it. Some did. I think it is also important for us to understand that independent commissions are not a new phenomenon to the way to deal with issues in correcting wrongs that took place or possible mistakes that could have happened. For instance, I mention the 9/11 Commission, which is the most respected commission that came after 9/11. Also, if we look at the commission after the Challenger space accident in 1996, the Presidential commission that looked into the NASA program and things that we needed to look at. And also in the aftermath of the accident at Three Mile Island in 1979 there was an independent commission; and numerous independent commissions established by the White House after plane accident tragedies to make sure that we do not make the same mistakes and correct issues that might have contributed to loss of life. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, there was another independent commission. These independent commissions are given authority to go out and make sure that we do not continue to repeat some of the same issues that we are seeing right now. We are seeing a repeat on issues that are facing Americans time and time again. Now, I want to say to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) on H.R. 3764, how many Republicans are on that bill?

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, once again it is an honor to be here before the House, and I would like to thank the Democratic leader, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), and our elected leadership team, the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer), and also the gentleman from the great State of New Jersey (Mr. Menendez) and the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn). We come to the floor, as you know, Mr. Speaker, almost every day to talk about issues that are facing Americans; some that we are working collectively on, others we are not working collectively on but should be working collectively on. Tonight, we are going to talk about some of the issues that we did not talk about last night, but I can tell you that the themes continue to run together. I am here tonight with the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz) and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan), Youngstown, Ohio, and as the gentlewoman from Florida was not here, I can tell her that what we are hearing and what we were talking about last night was the fact that now we are looking at how are we going to move forward in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, how are we going to respond to those Americans that have paid taxes all of their lives, and how are we going to correct past wrongs. From the beginning, the majority side has come off the block saying, well, the story is kind of changing now, which is interesting, but I have a copy of yesterday's Washington Post where there is a lot of bold talk about, well, first we are going to start with Medicaid, which is a program that provides health care for financially challenged Americans throughout this country, and we are going to find this $500 million to offset some of the Katrina cost there; and then we are going to go to some folks who really cannot fend for themselves, we are going to pick on someone that is not our size and we are going to go and cut free and reduced lunches for financially challenged children, and then we are going to hit these small farming programs that we have out here so we can make sure they cannot compete with foreign agricultural interests, which are already cleaning our clock in many ways with the help of this majority that we have here now. Now, this has kind of changed, but it has the same theme. Now we are going to go after young people, 30-somethings that are trying to educate themselves to compete against those kids coming from other countries here to the United States and that are taking their jobs, and I will let my colleague, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryun), talk about China and other countries. As a matter of fact, these days, they do not have to come to the United States. They can stay where they are and they will have good American jobs because the workforce is there. And they will definitely be educated. Yet we are willing to cut Pell grant opportunities and some other things. So there are a number of issues still on the table, but I hope we can talk tonight about the lack of an independent commission. I understand that there are going to be some additional partisan hearings this week here, if that is what you want to call them, here in the Congress on the House side. I hope that we will have an opportunity to talk about the lack of a Hurricane Katrina independent commission that 81-plus percent of Americans have called for. So, Mr. Speaker, I am glad to be here once again with my colleagues, and I look forward to some fruitful conversation with them. With that, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan).