Kendrick Meek

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I will put it to you pointblank. Never apologize for representing not only what you feel spiritually about what is going on, because I think your spirit makes religion act right. That is the bottom line. Spirit brings about the kind of change that we call and pray for in government and in our regular lives. When we talk about young children, when we talk about the weak, physically, maybe financially, these are individuals that are going to pay the high prices for the heating oil. These are the individuals that we ask to go out and vote. They do not need to be Democrat, Republican or Independent, Reform Party, Green Party or no party; and we ask them to go out and take part in this democracy. They are the first ones on the chopping block. As a matter of fact, they were the first under regular order when it came down to even working the budget out in the first place. Now, when it comes down to responding, going back to what is the federal Commitment to the South, I would add also the poor in this country, and then the first time out of the blocks we are going to go after Medicaid? We are going to cut it. We are going to go after reducing free lunch. We are to go after Head Start. We are going to go after small farming programs. We are going to go after those individuals who cannot hit back. That is almost like someone who cannot move their arms and their legs, and we get the world heavy weight champion of the world and he hits them and beats them up and it is over in one round and he jumps up and waves his hand and says, I am the heavy weight champion of the world. They expected you to win because you are the heavy weight champion of the world. But the bottom line is, it is okay to have offsets. Goodness gracious, we are calling for offsets. Let us call for some offsets in some other areas so we can ask some Americans who can afford to take the sacrifice of an offset, or a particular program that this Congress has put forth that has very little to do with right now but it has something to do, hopefully, dealing with the future. And if it is something that is dealing with the future, okay; and we are the superpower of the world, and there is an advanced weapons system that somebody in Congress likes, maybe we need to go to that person in Congress or that person in the other body over there and say, you know something, you know that project we passed, the $400 billion, the advanced weapons project for several million dollars that you wanted, maybe we need to try to offset that. Maybe we can try to do it verses 5 years, we can do it in 8 years. With that money we can have some offsets for the Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita package to help us as it relates to bringing about offsets. No, that conversation was not in The Washington Post. But we are going to take people, real Americans, and say we are going to make you pay because we are not big enough to stand up to the special interests here in Washington, D.C. Let me just take that way out. The majority leadership of opening discussions, this is the opening discussion, this is not even the ``maybe there was a small discussion.'' No, this is a serious discussion within the leadership of the Republican Caucus in this House about cutting those programs. That is a serious discussion.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Let me just say that it is important that we realize the time that we are in now. I think the gentleman is 110 percent right. I was in my district recently and I went to New Shiloh Baptist Church. One of my local pastors was celebrating his third pastoral anniversary of the church. And I went over and worshipped with him and some parishioners. When I was there, a couple of folks came up to me and said, It is really something that is going on in Washington right now. Are you not shocked? And I am, like, I am not. Oh, no, I am not. No. Not only did I see it coming, but some more is to come. How do you know that? Well, I am not a prophet, but I am your Congressman. And when we are not doing our job as Members of Congress, not individuals. Folks make sure to keep the district offices open, respond to constituent mail, return phone calls, this, that and the other, not the individual policing of our own districts, but the policing of the Federal budget, the policing of having oversight over all the Federal agencies. When we are not doing that, then that means we are not doing our job. When we are not doing our job that the Constitution calls for and that the rules of the House calls for of how we do our job and conduct our job and we violate the rules of this House, then we have issues. When we violate the spirit, I must add, of the rules, then we violate this country. When we violate the spirit of the rules of this House and we violate the spirit of fair play and also our oversight responsibilities through a lack of governance or the lack of oversight, then we will see what we see now. Now, I am here to say that I think it is very, very important, we have talked and covered a lot of ground here this evening, but I can tell you that there is so much more to be covered. There is so much more work to be done. I wish, because it gives me no pleasure to come to the floor and to just point out the obvious of what is not happening and what is happening to a certain group of people, and guess what, that certain group of people are the American people. It is not like you start saying, well, there is something happening to the folks over in Iowa. No, it is not. It is happening to the American people. It is happening to your constituents. It is happening to my constituents. It is happening to the Member's constituent that sits right there, and the one that was here a minute ago, and the one that is back in their apartment and the other that is back in their office right now; it can either be a he or she. It is happening to them. So when the historians start looking at what happened and how did we get to the point where we are now when someone turns the lights on here in the Congress, I mean, the real lights, and that ember starts to hit the floor and they start to look and say, goodness, how did this happen, then we want to make sure that there were Members of this House, need it be those Members that put together reports in minority committees of what is happening and should be happening; need it be our friends on the other side of the aisle that are lathered up enough that will stand up to the majority and that will say, you know something, we are doing this wrong and I will use my voice the best way to use it. And I want to say as an American, I thank you. The gentleman talked about religion a moment ago. I talked about this article about where we will make these offsets here in The Washington Post: $50 billion, how are we going to find it? The first thing mentioned is Medicaid. The second thing mentioned is reducing free lunch for poor children, for Head Start and small farming programs. Yes, let us go for those. How are we going to get there? This is just in today's Washington Post. It is not an article found just the other day. It is important. And we talked about sitting in church or a synagogue or a mosque or whatever the religion may be of policymakers here in Congress and you hear about the ills of our society. You hear about the tragedies and the tough times that parishioners are going through. The only difference between the average American that goes to those institutions of religious practice, the only difference between them and the rest of the American people is that they could have done something about it. That is the bottom line. Now, that is not about how I feel about it or how you feel about it. Because I could walk into any religious institution and say, you know something, we are here to govern on behalf of the American people. Period. Dot. If given the opportunity to do more we will do more. Matter of fact, we want to do more. You need us to do more. But I feel for that Member that goes into these religious institutions in their mind knowing that they could have done more and they could have stood up at such a time as this. So there is a spiritual component to what we do. We cannot get religion on certain things and not have it on others. That is what my colleague pointed out when he said where is the faith community when it comes down to dealing with issues such as this. For openers, we will start with the poor. That is what we are going to do, we are going to start with them first.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Let me just say this. There are faith-based groups that are very concerned about cuts to Medicaid and will speak out, that will come to Washington and will talk to the appropriators and to some of the individuals who want cuts; but those individuals that have relationships with the President of the United States, those very high individuals within the very, very conservative groups should go and say this is wrong, in my opinion. I think that those voices on a spiritual level need to be worked on, and also in this House. We need to be worked on about making the right decisions as it relates to the masses of Americans who need us the most. That is just where it is. So that is where the responsibility is. But guess what? Ultimately, we make the decision. They do not. We are elected to make the decision; they are not. And I do not want to put this on an outside group saying it is their responsibility, but as it relates to what people are reacting to here in Washington, DC, as it relates to the leadership and what the leadership is reacting to here in Washington, DC, we just may need that intervention. We may very well need that intervention on behalf of individuals who cannot fight for themselves. And they have a lobbyist. It is supposed to be Members of Congress. All Members of Congress. Not folks that are saying that, well, we care more about our philosophy and we are going to start with the individuals who cannot protect themselves, because I am their lobbyist. They have the power to elect or unelect individuals, but they do not have the money to send a lobbyist knocking on my door saying, No, I know you want to start offsets, but do not start with us. Matter of fact, do not even look at us. Do not even come this way. They do not have that. We are here as Members of Congress to make sure they have lobbyists, because we are their lobbyists. We sit at the table. We come to the floor on their behalf. So when we back out, when we see the majority side and this philosophy being pushed onto the front page of the local paper here and other papers throughout the United States that this is where we are going to start, and we are the individuals that are supposed to be here blocking on behalf of the folks that need us most, then we are in trouble. So we need to start talking about leadership and standing on behalf of every American. We need to start talking about oversight. And tomorrow, if we can, I want us to talk more about this oversight committee, talk about House Resolution 3838 that has this commission that is looking at fraud over contracting. I have a report here that has been put together by the minority side on the committee dealing with the whole issue of protecting against contractor fraud, making sure the American taxpayers are not made victims due to a lack of oversight. One thing I do know is that the majority, not the White House, not any other group here in Washington, DC, has the ability to oversee the Federal tax dollar in an administrative no-bid contract scenario. They do not have it. They are not moving fast enough to be able to protect the Federal tax dollar.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Well, I want to thank my colleague for bearing with me.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Down last week, but came back in on behalf of the country. The fact is we have to continue to do what we have to do as Members of Congress. I think that it is very, very important that we continue to pay very close attention to these issues. I want to commend many of my colleagues on this side of the aisle for standing up in ways that are unprecedented in this institution and trying to change the tide of not only thinking but also making sure that we get back to governing this country of ours and that we stand up on behalf of those Americans who need us to stand up for them. I can tell you right now they come in all ages and all economic backgrounds, and some of them are even children. It is important that we work on their behalf in an honest way. If anything comes out of this, I would be happy if the leadership on the Republican side was to say, you know, I think there are some points that have been made and I think we need to implement some of those things; or at least have a fair discussion on some of those issues to make sure that we will govern in a way that does not violate the spirit of our existing rules. That would be a victory. Or if the American people were to say enough is enough, it has affected my household personally, and make other decisions based on the representation here in Washington, D.C. And this will not be a discussion; it will be action on what we are talking about. So there is a long time before that happens, because the election is not up until 2006. But on behalf of the country, there are some things that just cannot wait that long, and there are some issues that need to be brought to the forefront and hopefully change will come out. So my spirit is the American spirit and dream that things will get better and should get better because it is the right thing to do.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

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

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate the Greater Miami Chapter of The Links, Inc., on their 50th year of outstanding commitment to community service. The ceremony recognizing this important milestone will be held on Sunday, October 16, 2005, at Florida Memorial University, Miami, Florida. The Greater Miami Chapter was chartered on Saturday, November 5, 1955, when founding members Maude K. Reid, Mayme E. Williams, and Susie W. Francis brought together 15 other charter members for an installation ceremony at the Carver Hotel in Overtown. During its 50th anniversary celebration, the chapter will honor 7 honorees: charter member Susie W. Francis, Frances J. Chambers, Gwendolyn H. Welters, Dorothy J. Fields, Ph.D.; Castell V. Bryant, Ed.D., Regina J. Frazier, and Senator Frederica S. Wilson. The Greater Miami Chapter lists among its many accomplishments programs that bolster the arts, promote awareness of international issues and multicultural events, and assist young people in reaching their full potential. Nationally, The Links, Inc. has grown to 274 chapters and approximately 11,000 members who reside in 42 states, the District of Columbia, the Bahamas, Germany and South Africa. Mr. Speaker, 50 years after their founding, the members of the Greater Miami Chapter of The Links, Inc. are a powerful force for change in the South Florida Community. I thank them for all of their efforts, and wish them another successful 50 years of making a positive impact in the lives of others.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Saudi Arabia, too. Do not leave them out.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I have had very little to say in this condensed time that we have. I think it is important for us to make sure that folks are not just, Members are not just watching thinking that we are going, just coming out of the sky with this stuff. We gave it at the WashingtonPost.com. We also said, if you wanted to cosponsor on House Resolution 3764, which is a bill that we have put forth to be about the solution, making sure that we can head off a lack of governance, not paying attention to the things that we need to pay attention to. One thing about Katrina, Madam Speaker, and Rita was the fact that we are not ready to respond to a catastrophic event here in the United States. And I can tell you that our military is ready, but the question is, are our American leaders ready to respond? Do we have what we need to have in place as it relates to the management? And if you want to cosign on this independent commission, that I must say to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) that we talked about before, 81 percent of the polls show that Americans want to see an independent commission, you can sign on to this bill just as a regular U.S. citizen, HouseDemocrats.gov/Katrina. With that, I say to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) that we have a lot of work here to do. No one is saying that anyone is guilty or whatever the case may be because we know that there will be a court of law that that will take plays and on behalf of the institution, I hope all works well as it relates to democracy prevailing. But I will tell you that it is important, and it is embarrassing to be a Member of the 109th Congress with this cloud over this institution. And people are going to look at, they do not care. They look at you as a Member of the House, not as a Democrat or a Republican or the one independent that we have here in this House. They look at us as stewards of this democracy that people have died for us to have the opportunity. And I yield back to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan).

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Ryan, where are we getting the money from?

Mr. MEEK

Mr. MEEK. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to submit for the Record the information I will be referring to regarding the White House Web site.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Madam Speaker, once again it is an honor to come before the House. We would also like to thank the Democratic leader for allowing us to come to the floor. We usually have a 30-something Working Group, which has now picked up on many new purposes, and tonight, once again, we have the opportunity to come to the floor on behalf of the American people, to inform the Members, and to make the process better. With us tonight we have the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone), who is an outstanding Member of this body, and I am also joined by the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan), and I know others will be coming. I just want to say that usually we deal with issues that are facing young people, but today there are a number of issues that are facing Americans in general and I am very, very concerned about not only what is going on here in Washington, D.C. but also what is not going on, and I think it is important to talk about those issues in this democracy that so many Americans have lost their lives for, that so many Americans have lost limbs and their mobility to allow us to come to this floor to represent them and represent everyday Americans. Madam Speaker, we talked last week about the issue of the independent commission, and I think it is important that we look at this independent commission and look into what happened not only with regard to Hurricane Katrina but Hurricane Rita. I strongly believe that we can do a lot more than what we are doing right now. I know there is a committee that is looking into this effort, but it is not a bipartisan committee. And once again I want to go on the record commending the Democratic leader for not making appointments to that committee, and I will discuss the reasons why later. I think also tonight we will talk about what is happening here in Washington, D.C., or what is not happening here in Washington, D.C., and I think we will help crystallize this not only for the Members but also for the American people. Mr. Speaker, I took the opportunity to go on to the White House Web site.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Two hundred died. His constituents died. And how dare the CIA Director or the President or the Congress sit by and watch this happen. All of those lives, firefighters, police officers, individuals who just said, I am going to work today, folks that have lost loved ones, we are going to say, oh, well, we passed legislation, but we are not willing to stand by it. Mr. Speaker, I am saying this to make a point that this leadership and this administration, and there were Republicans, Democrats, Independents, even individuals who said, I am not voting because I do not care about the political process, there are individuals that died here and this is not dealing with the issue of, oh, well, they are a bunch of Democrats that died and Democrats in the House are concerned about it. There are a couple more stories here that I know the gentleman is going to talk about, but that is just section A of the Washington Post, and I am not even at the Federal section yet. But I want to make sure to highlight it for the Clerk so they can enter it into the Congressional Record. There are couple of other stories that I want to get to, to share with the Members, because I want to make sure that we are all paying attention to what is going on because, when all is said and historians look at the 109th Congress on who was doing what and who stood by and watched it happen, I want to make sure that people know that many of us in this Congress were on the side of saying that we were about doing the right thing, that we wanted to make sure that things happened. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone).

Mr. MEEK of Florida. As we look at oversight and accountability, will the gentleman please talk about H.R. 3764?

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Madam Speaker, reclaiming my time, I just want to say that we have a cosponsor form here for H.R. 3764 sitting here on the table. There is my pen. Anyone from the majority side, the Republicans, that want to get down to making sure that this never, ever happens again, that we do not have people dying because they did not have insulin, we do not have emergency responders not able to talk to one another because they do not have interoperability where they can talk to one other to save lives, and where we can save $200 billion hopefully in the future, because we could have saved New Orleans if we were on our job, our j-o-b, maybe, not maybe, this independent commission will point out, this independent commission, which the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) pointed out before, it is a group of individuals that are outside of the Congress, like the 9/11 Commission, that will not be here in Congress to carry on about trying to cover up on behalf of the majority side. So we have this here.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Madam Speaker, I want the gentlewoman to do that, but I also want to point out, being on the Committee on Armed Services, some of the other issues that are in this bill. It is very unfortunate. I am not going to be one to talk about the oil companies and special interests and the lobbyists and the K Street project and all of that, because guess what? The American people elected a Congress to protect them from greed, from doing it because we can. And we just passed, the majority did, an energy bill 7 months ago, but they are doing it on the backs of individuals of devastation, communities that are not in place to be able to come to Congress and lobby against this kind of action. This is what is happening within this bill, I say to my colleagues. We just went through a BRAC process, military base closures. If they close, that means that the government can give this land to oil companies to go in and drill. Local communities have plans for military bases to help their economy, to be able to do the things that they want to do, because it is within their community. Here is the kicker in this whole thing. There are a number of kickers. You can get kicked to death under this bill. If an oil company was to move in and contaminate or do something to harm the public, if the mayor of that city or county or parish or State were to bring a lawsuit against the oil company, and they were to lose, they would have to pay the oil companies' legal fees. Now, on the other side of the coin, if the local community, parish, county, State was to file a lawsuit against an oil company for not carrying out their environmental duties or whatever the case may be, put their constituents in harm's way, and they were to win, the oil companies, by Federal law, if this passed tomorrow, if the majority has their way, do not have to reimburse the local government for their legal fees. So here is the U.S. Congress majority that is going to stand on the side of industry to say, we are on your side versus we are on the local mayor, the parish, the county commissioner, or the State government's side, the side of the taxpayers, and that are the individuals who elected us to come to Congress. Madam Speaker, I warned my friends on the Majority side, I warned them. Because tomorrow we have 5 hours of debate and around 2 or 3 o'clock, we are going to be here on this floor and we are going to see the followers versus the leaders. On this side, we are going to lead because we are going to have an alternative amendment that is not going to have any of that language in there that is going to be able to bring gas prices down, that is going to be able to deal with our issues of conserving energy and things of that nature. So I think it is important that we realize, and I want to warn the Members, unfortunately, if you keep voting for what they tell you to vote for on the Republican leadership side, you will find yourselves making a career decision, bottom line. Because I think the American people are fed up with this stuff here in Washington, DC. We are trying to do what we can. Someone may say, well, why are you all on the Floor arguing. The gentleman from New Jersey has talked about what Senator Dodd has done. The reason why the Department of Defense wrote those rules several months later after the congressional deadline was the fact that a Democrat raised the issue and threatened them, that he will take it to the next level, and that is the reason why they did it. They did not do it because they were supposed to by law or that it was the right thing to do; they did it because they came under pressure. I am telling my colleagues that we are within our right to put the pressure on, put it on the Record, and we will be here every opportunity that these lights are on to talk about what is not happening and what we are trying to do, and the reason why we cannot do it because we are in the minority. If the Republican Conference betters itself and it starts to get leadership that is going to lead on behalf of the American people, then God bless them, but I can tell my colleagues right now for the last 10 years, that has not happened. It has not happened. That is the reason why. It can be a Republican parish, it can be a Republican mayor, it can be a Republican governor, if you bring suit against this industry, which is what they are bringing to the Floor tomorrow on the Majority side, you are going to find yourself paying legal fees if you are not successful. That is to intimidate local communities for not bringing suit against individuals that violate environmental law. That is what that is about.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Madam Speaker, we understand the majority has about 10 minutes. We are going to come back another 10 minutes after the Majority side; we will have 10 minutes after that, and I think the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) is going to be sponsoring that. We have a couple more minutes and we are going to turn it over to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan). But first, let me just say this real quickly, the articles that we talked about tonight, and this is just one publication. Washingtonpost.com. If you want to figure out how you can be a cosponsor on House bill 3764, that is housedemocrats.gov/katrina, you can go on-line and become a cosponsor of that legislation as a citizen to be able to push the drive for us to make sure that Americans never, ever have to go through the lack of response that they have received, and that is for Federal, State and local.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. We will give it out next time. CIA Rejects Discipline for 9/11 Failures Goss Cites Fear Of Hurting Agency (By Dafna Linzer and Walter Pincus) The CIA will not seek to hold any current or former agency officials, including ex-director George J. Tenet, responsible for failures leading up to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, CIA Director Porter J. Goss said yesterday, despite a recommendation by the agency's inspector general that he convene an ``accountability board'' to judge their performance. Goss's decision, coming, four years after hijackers commandeered four jets and killed nearly 3,000 people, appeared to end possibility that a high-level official will be held responsible for what several investigations found to be significant failures throughout the government. The inspectors general of the departments of State, Justice and Defense completed their own investigations without publicized disciplinary actions taken against anyone. The CIA's report, which severely criticized actions of senior officers, will remain classified, Goss said in his announcement, which was welcomed by some former officials mentioned in the document but assailed by families of victims of the attacks. Goss said in his statement that the voluminous report by the CIA Inspector General John L. Helgerson, ``unveiled no mysteries,'' and that making it public would only bring harm to the agency when it it trying to rebuild. Goss said that the report in no way suggest ``that any one person or group of people could have prevented 9/11. ``Of the officer named in the report,'' he said, ``about half have retired from the Agency, and those who are still with us are amongst the finest we have.'' Goss had supported an internal CIA review in December 2002, while he was chairman of the House intelligence committee. The CIA report, which was mostly completed in February, is the last known government inquiry on the counterterrorism failures ahead of the attacks and has been the most secretive. It also had the potential to pit Goss against his own agency. Convening a review board could have embarrassed his predecessors and renewed questions over, President Bush's decision to award Tenet the Presidential Medal of Freedom. I think it is utterly reprehensible for Director Goss to be hinting towards not holding anyone accountable, particularly since he was in an oversight capacity as house chairman and is now in a position to atone for his own failures,'' said Kristin Breitweiser, whose husband, Ron, was killed at the World Trade Center. ``He is either avoiding embarrassment or trying to hide something.'' More than a dozen intelligence officials, including Tenet; his former director of operations, James L. Pavitt; and J. Cofer Black, former head of the counterterrorism center, are faulted in the CIA report, said officials who have read the classified findings. Tenet vigorously disputed the findings, arguing that he and his officers had done more than anyone else in the intelligence community to warn about al Qaeda. The report also names some current undercover operatives working in the counterterrorism center. Officials had said exposing them to public criticism would harm their work and the agency during a time of war. Tenet had no comment yesterday. Pavitt said he was relieved. ``He did what was right for the institution and its people, and for their work,'' Pavitt said of Goss. Goss's former congressional colleagues, who have urged that the report be declassified, reacted coolly to his decision to forgo accountability reviews. They said Goss and John D. Negroponte, the director of national intelligence, will be summoned to appear before the Senate intelligence committee to answers questions this month. ``I am concerned to learn of the Director's decision to forego this step in the process,'' Sen. Pat Roberts, (R-Kan.) said in a statement. ``However, I spoke with Director Goss and Negroponte earlier today and they both strongly believe that this is the correct course of action.'' The CIA's internal report was done in a response to a recommendation of the House-Senate committee that looked into the attacks. The committee called on the CIA's inspector general to conduct an investigation ``to determine whether and to what extent personnel at all levels should be held accountable any omission, commission or failure to meet professional standards'' to prevent or disrupt the attacks. Based on these findings, the CIA director was to take ``appropriate disciplinary or other action,'' with the result to be passed on to the President and the House and Senate intelligence committees. But Goss declined. He noted that before Sept. 11, when he was chairman of the House intelligence panel, the CIA suffered from cutbacks and reduced budgets. ``Stars'' were singled out and asked ``to take on some tough assignments,'' he said, ``Unfortunately, time and resources were not on their side, despite their best efforts to meet unprecedented challenges. ``Risk is a critical part of the intelligence business. Singling out these individuals would send the wrong message to our junior officers about taking risks--whether it be in operation in the field or being assigned to a hot topic at headquarters,'' he said. Citing classified information about intelligence sources and methods, Goss said the report should not be made public. Rep. Jane Harman (Calif.) the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence panel, said she will work to get some elements declassified and said Goss has a responsibility to ``persuade the public that he has dealt fairly with his agency's past mistakes.''

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I know the President put forth a task force with his homeland security adviser as the head of it. He mentioned this in an announcement, and I assumed that it would be something where this task force would actually have some findings which would come back to not only the Congress but to the American people. So I checked out the White House Web site, at WhiteHouse.gov, if any of the Members in their offices want to go on to that Web site to find out what is there and what is not there. This is actually the front page of the Web site. It has a lot of things on here. It talks about what the President is doing, about press briefings, and a number of other things, such as the war on terror. There is a little box down here that says Hurricane Relief Efforts. You click on that and then move over to this particular page here. Madam Speaker, it goes on. The President is hugging emergency management personnel in Texas. That is fine. We want to commend those Americans who are doing what they are supposed to be doing. It talks about a number of things, speeches in the news, Federal Government Hurricane Rita preparedness. It goes on further down the page, which is the first page if you are looking at it on the computer, President Bush declares a state of emergency for the States of Louisiana and Texas. It goes on and talks about his major speeches. Madam Speaker, the point is that the President mentions nothing about this review, what went wrong, where it went wrong, and why it went wrong. We know that hurricanes and natural disasters are acts of God; but we also know in the case of Hurricane Katrina, and I can tell Members there are some who came to the Capitol today saying that in the case of Hurricane Rita, and we will be voting on the energy bill tomorrow, one Member said it is the worst bill we have seen in 7 months, and I can tell Members there are some real issues that are going on in that bill that we will talk about a little later. Madam Speaker, I think it is important that the American people understand that I believe we are not taking this issue seriously. The 9/11 Commission came out saying that many of their recommendations were not enacted, such as intraoperability to allow emergency workers to talk to one another. We had Coast Guard people who could not talk to the 82nd Airborne. We had local police officers who could not talk to one another because we did not do what we were supposed to do years after 9/11. I can tell Members, the number of Democratic amendments to come up with intraoperability to make sure that emergency workers can talk to one another was voted down on a party-line basis. I want to make sure that everybody understands what is not going on here in Washington. This is not only national security; it is responding to the Federal taxpayer in the way that they deserve, the State, local and Federal response. But we will never know because this Congress would not allow an independent commission to take place. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan).

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Madam Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz).

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Madam Speaker, reclaiming my time, as the gentlewoman shows, it is beyond sad. Sad would be if we could not do anything about it, but we can, and the American people can do something about it. I will tell you right now, all that we are talking about here, and I will tell you, because we like to talk about solutions, we also like to point out the problem. Time after time again, and the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) is the Member who has been here the longest, from New Jersey, the fact is that Democrat amendments that have gone down on partisan lines to make sure we take care of the kind of oversight that the American people called for. Well, let us just say the Constitution calls for from this body. We have oversight and investigative powers that we are not exercising. I think it is important, and I just want to make sure that we put on the record, I have asked the Congressional Research Service to go in and pull the number of Congressional subpoenas that went out in the Clinton administration versus the Bush administration. I will tell you I personally, my chief and staff and others had to call the House Counsel's information to get this information, to allow the Congressional Research Service to go in, and the Congressional Research Service said, ``Well, somebody said that it may be political.'' No, it is just a history of the House. We did not call the GOP or the Democratic National Committee on this. If subpoenas went out under the Clinton administration, that is a matter of record. What is political about that? Now, I will tell you, this is not a witch hunt or any kind of hunt you want to call it. It is the truth, and it is the fact that we cannot rely, and that is the reason why we need an independent commission to make sure that not only the act of God, when we watched television, it was the act of a lack of governance. It was an act of cronyism, of the Corps of Engineers stopping work after 37 years on a levee that they knew would be breached. And look, the American taxpayers now have to pick up $200 billion. I will yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) to talk about his bill, because I think it is important that we get colleagues on the other side to come down and sign on it. Before we do that, I want to make sure as we move through section A of the Washington Post, I feel that all of this should be enshrined, because I think it is important within the Congressional Record, which it will, that before the historians look at it, that the American people will have an opportunity to look at it and know that they have an option to bring about change in their government. They deserve better. I am telling you right now, they deserve better. I know they do, and they know they do. This is national security. This is Americans we are talking about. This is what I could not believe, Madam Speaker. ``Pentagon Releases Repayments Rules.'' Now, we had a big discussion here on this floor about body armor and we went to war saying that we are prepared to go to war. Well, that is what the generals and the four star guys were telling us in the Committee on Armed Services. ``We got it covered, Congressman. Don't ask any questions. Either you are with us or with them. Don't ask us any questions.'' That is from Mr. Ashcroft over in the Senate, I must add. Thank God for Senator Dodd and many others here in this Congress that fought to make sure that our men and women had the body armor that they needed. You would have some folks come to the floor and make you believe that they are the leaders on watching out for our men and women. It is not a partisan issue, it is an American issue, the fact we were talking about body armor, and the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton), the ranking member on the Committee on Armed Services, I would say some folks on the majority side were concerned about the body armor. Men and women were dying because they did not have what they needed. Guess what they did? They did what they are supposed to do. Moms, dads, uncles, brothers, sisters alike, sons and daughters, bought their loved one body armor, kevlar, to wear in Iraq and Afghanistan. They did so. Then we passed a bill saying they should be reimbursed, rightfully so, unfortunately after the fact, and some folks died. The Congress called for, once again, the WashingtonPost.com, you go on and check it out yourself, it goes on, ``The guidelines, from Undersecretary of Defense, David S.C. Chu, comes nearly a year after Congress passed legislation ordering,'' this is not asking, ``ordering the Department of Defense to come up with the reimbursement policy. The law required that the Pentagon issue the rules by February 25 of this year.'' Not 2006, but 2005. Here we are in October, in October, and because there were threats from Senator Dodd and others in this Congress that they will do something drastic legislatively because they did not do it, these are families that still have not been reimbursed. These are Americans. These are Americans. These are not folks in a foreign land. So when folks start getting upset about what we are talking about here on this floor, I can tell you something, I am glad that somebody fought for the opportunity for us to raise these issues, because this is beyond belief. Here in the United States, our own people. These are our people. Now, I am just going to share this with the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone). This is not something as it relates to people saying, ``Oh, you are being partisan.'' No, we are not being partisan. We are telling the truth. We are making sure Members know exactly what they are doing and not doing. If you are a Member of the majority side and you want to see the kind of change that these men and women deserve, that these men and women deserve to get reimbursed for their body armor, that are financially challenged right now, that are paying too much for gas, that will pay over $1,000 for heating oil or LP gas, this winter, they need that money. And, guess what? You go on the DOD website, there is no mention of it. There is no mention of the fact where they can go on and find out how they can be reimbursed. So, we are going to work on that. I tried to find that today. This is on behalf of the entire country.

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

Mr. MEEK of Florida. I yield to the gentleman from Ohio.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate the Greater Miami Chapter of the Links, Inc. on their 50th year of outstanding commitment to community service. The ceremonies recognizing this important milestone will be held on Sunday, October 16, 2005 at Florida Memorial University. The Greater Miami Chapter was chartered on Saturday, November 5, 1955 when founding members Maude Maude K. Reid, Mayme E. Williams, and Susie W. Francis brought together 15 other charter members for an installation ceremony at the Carver Hotel in Liberty City. During its 50th anniversary celebrations, the chapter will honor seven honorees: charter member Susie W. Francis, Frances J. Chambers, Gwendolyn H. Welters, Dorothy H. Fields, Ph.D., Castell V. Bryant, Ed.D., Regina J. Frazier, and Senator Frederica S. Wilson. The Greater Miami Chapter lists among its many accomplishments programs that bolster the arts, promote awareness of international issues and multicultural events, and assist young people in reaching their full potential. Nationally, The Links' organization has grown to 275 chapters and approximately 11,000 members who reside in 42 states, the District of Columbia, the Bahamas, Germany and South Africa. Mr. Speaker, 50 years after their founding, the members of the Greater Miami Chapters of The Links, Inc. are a powerful force for change in the South Florida Community. I thank them for all of their efforts, and wish them another successful 50 years of making a positive impact in the lives of others.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is my sad duty to bring to the attention of my colleagues the passing of Miami Gardens City Councilwoman Audrey J. King, an accomplished professional and tireless community activist, who died Friday, September 30, 2005. A longtime community leader and an integral part of the incorporation movement for the City of Miami Gardens, Councilwoman King was elected as the first representative of City Council Seat 3 in July 2003 and served in that capacity until her passing. Prior to the incorporation of the City, Councilwoman King was twice elected to the Miami-Dade County Community Council 3, where she served as chairwoman and vice- chairwoman from 1996 to 2002. She also served as vice-chair of the North Dade Community Development Task Force, volunteered in numerous charity activities and was honored throughout her career for her dedication to the people of our community. She was a life member of the Miami-Dade Branch of the NAACP, serving for several years as the Political Action Chair. Councilwoman King was also a devoted member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority; the First Baptist Church of Bunche Park; and a founding member of UP-PAC, Unrepresented Peoples Positive Action Council. She leaves behind a legacy of achievement and inspiration, for she was an example of what genuine caring and unrelenting commitment can accomplish. Councilwoman King gave tirelessly of herself for the benefit of those around her and will be sorely missed. Funeral services are scheduled for Saturday, October 8th at First Baptist Church of Bunche Park.