Kendrick Meek

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Almost $400,000 a month. It is between 375 and 400. But when you are dealing with a $4.7 trillion deficit, it seems like individuals that are in control of this House or the White House, they are not really concerned, or the Pentagon. Now, I must say that it is important for us to remember that our credibility is at stake and American troops' lives are at stake. Any time we say that some folks stand behind our troops, we stand with our troops. And I will tell you right now that it is important that this information, that is bad information that we are getting from this gentleman, and also he is turning around and sharing our secrets with Iran. This is serious business, and this is nothing to play around with. Just because we point these issues out, some may say, they are just being political. Let me tell you something. The lives that will be lost because of the information that has been shared with Iran and the information that we need to be able to fight the effort against terrorism, when it puts our troops' lives at stake, no one stops them, insurgents do not stop them and say, hey, let me ask you a question before we explode this improvised bomb here. Are you a Republican, Democrat or Independent? Are you a male or a female or are you black or are you Hispanic or what have you? Are you partisan or Christian? Are you a Jew? They do not ask that question. They just carry out the act. So we have decisions that are being made in the Pentagon, and I must say we have got to get to the whole resignation of the CIA Director, Mr. Tenet, and also what is not happening as it relates to Mr. Rumsfeld, who is kind of hard to find these days; but at the same time some of the bad decisions are still being made at the highest levels of the Pentagon. Everyone wants to get to the bottom of things, but no one wants to get to the top of it.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure hearing the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Davis) and what the gentleman brings to the table as it relates to philosophy and history. Part of our democracy is making sure we level with the American people, the good, bad and ugly. They need to know because they need to be able to prepare themselves. The President recently asked Americans to make the sacrifice that they made in World War II, make the sacrifice that they made in World War I and other conflicts, some of the great wars that have taken place; but it was a different approach to those wars. We planned; we made sure that individuals had equipment. We made sure that we had a strategy going in and coming out. There was a Senator from Missouri, a junior Senator during World War II. His name was Harry S Truman. He had a select committee that was dealing with contracting, dealing with the needs of World War II at that particular time; and he did what he had to do during a time of war. During the time of World War II, they had a number of hearings to make sure that the troops had what they needed and they were able to respond real-time to issues that were coming up during that war. For us to say, well, we do not have time to do that, we should not question the Pentagon about things that they are doing, we are muzzled as a Congress. Not to clear my conscience, not to say this needs to be said, but when the annals of history are reflected upon, I want to make sure that those of us on this side of the aisle, that we did everything that we could to give the facts as we see them printed in documents. A Pentagon report recently released said 25 percent-plus lives could have been saved if we had the right equipment at the right time.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. It is just amazing that you have to sue. I mean, it is amazing that you have to sue to participate in democracy.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is always a pleasure to address the House of Representatives and also the American people on issues of importance. A part of our democracy is being able to provide information to the American people so that they can make the right decisions at the right time when they are given the opportunity. Also, to hopefully have an opportunity to speak to our colleagues about some of the issues that are facing this Congress and the American people, that they can also make the right decision at the right opportunity and at the right time. We have more opportunities, the American people do, to make major decisions. They get an opportunity every couple of years as it relates to the House of Representatives, and in many cases every 6 years as it relates to the other body. But every 4 years they get an opportunity to vote for the leader of the free world, the President of the United States; and it is important that we understand exactly what is going on in our country, what is going on in the world. This is an hour, Mr. Speaker, that the minority leader, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), has put together for our 30- something Caucus that we have on the Democratic side on the aisle. The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) is my co-chair as it relates to our working group. We have a number of members, some 14 Members of this House, that take time out every week to come to the floor. We have an opportunity to talk about issues that are facing young Americans and also middle-aged Americans and older Americans, because when we start talking about education, we start talking about health care, we start talking about jobs. I think it is important we talk about Iraq. It is also important to all Americans, but we try to make sure that we be able to give voice to those individuals that are young parents and those individuals that are going into college and even young people that are looking to go to college to make sure that they have a great opportunity to do what they have to do. I am so glad that my good friend from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) is here with me, who is just an outstanding gentleman. We both serve on the Committee on Armed Services together, and we sit next to each other, almost next to each other, but we are there on the same level on the bottom row. I thank the gentleman for being here.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Well, obviously, he has represented himself as a friend of the United States. But there is a big discussion about him giving away the fact that we had Iran's secret codes and to be able to get intelligence on what they are doing inside Iran. Now that is major. That is major. That is just another investigation that is going on. But how much did we pay him a month? Does the gentleman remember that number? Was it like $365,000 a month? I believe that that was the number that they had. And if I can, I pulled my credit card out last time. I pulled it out of my wallet, and my wife said, do not pull that credit card out. And I told her I was using it as a prop. But with a little help from my graphics people, when we start looking at this we are looking at really $477 billion, which is $4.7 trillion dollars in debt right now. And this is, of course, the U.S. Treasury that this money is coming out of. So not only did we pay for a double spy to be able to share information with Iran, had a relationship, a very close relationship and family ties to Iran, which I must say that day in and day out we are trying to do what we can to make sure that we play down the nuclear threat in the region, but we paid him. We paid him almost $400,000 to provide this information.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I just want to say that the gentleman is 110 percent right. I am so glad you shared the article with the American people and the Congress. Today I wore the World War II pin they gave us when we were there at the dedication. I went with my uncle, King Pitman, and my mother, Congresswoman Carrie Meek. It was a very proud moment in their lifetime, the experience of the time of World War II. My uncle is a Korean veteran and he is a part of the VA. He is injured. He is disabled. He is in a wheelchair. I could not help but look at the other patriots that were out there. They asked for all the veterans to stand up and those that could stand, they stood. Some just put their hand up because they could not stand. These are the individuals that fought such a wonderful, wonderful war on behalf of our freedom. There was a lot going on during that war. There was a lot going on in Congress during that war. But I will tell my colleague this, that I could not help but think on that day we did honor them. And, yes, they were without a place in our Mall for their service. And now they have a memorial that is outstanding. And I commend those that put forth the private sector dollars and also the Members that put forth the legislation to make that happen. But I could not help but think the reality on Tuesday morning that if they went to the VA the line and the wait would have been almost as long when it comes down to health care as it took for them to be recognized by this country. I will tell you this: we say that we love them, we say that we appreciate them, but when it comes down to being able to provide just the simple health care that they were promised, they have to wait weeks and months. VA hospitals are being closed throughout this country. And we are adding more and more veterans as we fight this effort in the gulf, as we fight this effort in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Horn of Africa. More and more veterans are being added to the rolls. I will tell you if veterans are having it hard now, I will tell you, if this Congress, if the American people do not do what they need to do in November to make sure that we have leadership in this House, that we have leadership in the White House, and that we have leadership in the other body that is going to set that as a priority, that we need to make sure that these veterans get what they deserve. And that is respect, number one, and to make sure that they get the health care that they were promised when they signed up. They did not sign up to wait in line, especially every day. My son, we have an American flag outside of our house in Miami. It flies. We keep the light on it. We make sure no matter what is going on in the world that we appreciate and we honor their patriotism and we honor this country. But it is just a sad commentary that we can go and say, fine, you are a wealthy individual, and I am not upset with individuals being wealthy, maybe one day I can maybe in another life. But when we have veterans that are waiting in the lines and not receiving the kind of health care that they deserve and not being appreciated in the way they should be appreciated, I think we can do better things with that money to be able to make sure that we honor them. I thank my colleague for allowing me to be here tonight. I look forward to the Congressional Black Caucus continuing to come to the floor to share with the American people about what is going on under the dome here in Washington D.C.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. The gentleman is 110 percent right. Veterans should not get the voice mail when they call the VA. They should get the person that is going to treat them the way that they should be treated and make sure they are scheduled for whatever appointment they need in a reasonable time and not wait 3 or 4 months just to see an optometrist.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for those very kind words. It is always an honor to address not only the U.S. House of Representatives but the American people. I think it is very important when the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Cummings) was talking about many of the issues happening to Americans versus for Americans, and I think it is important that we speak from the position of fact, not fiction. What we are talking about here is actually fact. This is the President's budget that he has put forth. This House on the majority side has passed a budget that in some instances undercut the President's budget. I thought tonight I would share with the American people some of the things that have taken place in this budget that is really jeopardizing our national security. I think it is very, very important for this time after Attorney General Ashcroft had his famous press conference last week unveiling potential terrorist attacks on our country, possibly these terrorists could be in the continental United States, information that even the Department of Justice admits that they have known for the last 30 days, 30 days prior to that but failed to share with the American people. Also at that press conference, I thought it was very interesting, we have the largest Federal agency in the history of the Republic and the history of the world called the Department of Homeland Security. I thought it was something fundamentally wrong. I am looking at this great announcement taking place, and there was no Secretary Tom Ridge at the Department of Homeland Security because he did not know that this press conference was taking place. I will share with Members that Homeland Security is a very, very important agency in communicating with local government, giving them the kinds of direction and intelligence that they need to be able to fight the fight on the front end. We call it Homeland Security. I would say front-line security when it comes down to cities and counties and even all of the way down to the school boards of things that they have to do to protect the citizenry in their area. But I can tell Members that the budget as we look at it and look at the COPS program that the President has cut, words are inadequate to even describe it. The cut in the COPS Program, which is the community policing program that so many Americans appreciate, so many young lives have been diverted from a life of crime, so many crimes have been prevented in local communities and States, all to have enough money to be able to allow individuals that are making an enormous amount of money to get a larger tax cut, I think that is unfair. I think it is unfair to our men and women that are wearing blue; I think it is unfair to firefighters that are out there where the fire program was cut. We are opening fire stations in Iraq, but we are closing fire stations in New York City. I think it is important as we say that we honor our first responders, that we do not dishonor them by cutting the very funding that they are looking for. The Firefighter Grant program was cut by $246 million. That is a lot of money, Mr. Speaker. It was cut for the sake of making sure that individuals that are well, well, well off have an opportunity to receive their tax cut. Then, on top of that, they try to make it permanent. Also when you look at local law enforcement, for State and local law enforcement, also $959 million was slashed from the budget by the President. As we look at interoperability, when I used to be a State trooper in Florida, sometimes you would show up on an emergency scene and you will have a city or county law enforcement officer there. Many times, because in my particular area we had what we call interoperability, we were able to talk to one another to be able to save lives. Now this has been cut out of the budget. In so many places in America, they do not have that opportunity to be able to talk to one another. In this time of terrorist threat and living under this new threat that we have right now of individuals possibly being on U.S. soil, individuals that wake up and go to bed every night with the thought in their mind and their heart that they want to carry out some level of harm to an American, no matter who you are, if you are a woman or you are a man or you are a minority or you are not a minority, if you are Native American, as long as you are an American, there are people that wake up in this world and in the continental United States saying, how can I carry out terror on these individuals? How can I disrupt their lives? So these cuts that are being made, we are not just talking about school lunch programs. That is important. We are not just talking about hopefully trying to get a health care plan that the 43 million people without health care can have health care one day, affordable health care. That is important. Medicare, being able to make sure that we have an affordable prescription drug program that works for the individuals that need it versus for the individuals that are making the drugs. That is important. But I will tell you what is very important is to make sure that we do not see a disruption in the way that we live our lives day in and day out. And the way this White House, and then the Congress, turned around, the majority turned around and even made it worse in cutting the very programs and the very funding that local governments need. Now, Mr. Speaker, I want to make sure that we are clear on this, because I want to make sure the American people understand what I am saying. If a terrorist was to carry out or attempt to carry out an act in your local town, community or city or State, Members of Congress are not going to run down there and try to take care of things. It is going to be that first responder. It is going to be that police officer, it is going to be that firefighter, it is going to be that paramedic, it is going to be the individuals working in the hospitals, it is going to be the nurse that you look at every day, the doctors that you look at every day that will respond to that act. Guess what? If they do not have the equipment to respond appropriately, if they do not even have the radio equipment to be able to communicate with a number of agencies that they must communicate with, to be able to hopefully contain the situation or prevent it, the penny will outweigh the pound in that instance. So one wonders why the law enforcement community has found themselves running to Senator John Kerry for support or help. They are running there because they do not see it in the budget. They do not see what we are saying in the budget reflecting our real purpose here and making sure that they have what they need. This hits right here, because I was a State trooper for 5 years; and I will tell you, equipment is important, to be able to not only make sure I was able to go home to my family, but to make sure that many others, from the State I am from, Floridians, were able to go home to see their families. If I did not have what I needed to protect them and prevent crime or accidents or what have you, then it is for naught. Now, let us look at this. When we cut the budget here, Mr. Speaker, it is a trickle-down effect. It is something we call here in Washington ``devolution of taxation.'' We say, well, we will cut your taxes here. We will send you a $32 check in the mail, and maybe you can go out and get a Number 2 or Number 3 at Burger King or McDonald's for you and the kids. But in reality we are passing that down to the State government. I have shared this on the floor before in the past, but I want to make sure the American people understand what is happening right now in real time. It goes down to the State, your local State. The State does not have the prerogative that we have. We have the opportunity to take out a credit card, swipe it and just put it on the Federal debt, which I must say right now, Mr. Speaker, is the largest debt in the history of the Republic, in the history of this country. I am not proud of that debt, and we did not get there by providing the dollars that we provided, minimum dollars we provided to local and State law enforcement to say we are putting it out there and we have given some money here and there and had a couple of check presentations on your local television station. But this debt came from the tax cuts for the very wealthy individuals in this country. This debt came from going into war unplanned, which I must say you pull out Time magazine and the individuals that are writing about this and have been following what has been going on in Iraq, and read about mistake after mistake after mistake that have cost American lives, that have cost the taxpayers money. We called ourselves going with the willing. We went with individuals that we helped fund to make it to Iraq. For those individuals that have served, rotated in and out of Iraq, those individuals that are watching us right now missing a limb, have facial scars from shrapnel, those individuals' families that are watching that never made it back, we honor and appreciate them every time we get an opportunity. But there are some individuals that are in suits and ties that are making decisions that are not only sending this country into further debt as it relates to the effort in Iraq, but also because we did it the way we did it, did not provide the troops with the very things that they needed, going back to equipment and going back to following up on our responsibility of making sure that they have the equipment that they need, the armor that they need, of making sure these Humvees have armor around the doors, making sure we are able to head off these bombs that are detonated by cellular phones, we are just catching up. It was a DOD report that said almost 25-plus percent of the injuries that took place could have been avoided if they had what they needed. So when you hear individuals, and I heard the chairman speak when we started talking about devolution of taxation, and I just wanted to go there with the troops for a moment so that individuals know this is not just local government, this is throughout the Federal Government, that when it goes down to the State, they have to balance the budget. And how do they balance it? Well, they cut the resources they would ordinarily give to taxpayers and your local city or town. So when that happens, that means that the local government, they have to turn to the family. That is where the buck really stops. Think about it in your community. How many bond referendums have taken place recently to be able to raise money to run your schools or build your schools? How many opportunities where someone has said, well, you know, we no longer have the feeding program for your grandmother or your aunt or even yourself who is watching right now; we had to cut that because the funding ran out. Let me tell my colleagues, there was a lot of money to work with before the President took office. We were around here, Congress was around here talking about how are we going to spend, how are we going to manage and spend appropriately the surplus, of making sure that we are able to make sure that Social Security was not bankrupt, make sure that we are able to get a health care plan, where we do not have individuals that are punching in and punching out every day at work, working the midnight shift, some working two jobs and still do not have affordable health care. How do we help small businesses provide that health care to individuals? How do we help our young people prepare themselves to be able to be our leaders and Members of Congress and business owners in the future? How do we do that? How do we make sure that we raise the education commitment from the Federal Government to the State government and local governments to make sure that we have a quality early childhood education program? How do we make sure that every troop who goes into a theater of war to put his and her life on the line, every Reservist that goes on active duty, how do we make sure that they have the equipment that they need to be able to defend this country; the very freedom that veterans have provided us right now, the democracy that we live under, the flag that we stand under? How do we make sure that those individuals are not sent in? And we are saying we are right behind you and we continue to drop more and more back as we look at show me the money. Show me the commitment. Show me that you are going to stand with me. We have individuals right now, and this is not the Kendrick Meek report, you can read about it, you can ask a Reservist, you can ask someone who has gone into theater. Yes, they used to write letters and asked to be sent cake or sent candy or sent a picture. Now they are writing letters back home saying, send me a bullet-proof vest. Send me something for my radio. Send me some duct tape because I am having to make sure for my uniform. Send me an extra pair of pants. Send me a cap. Go down to the Army Navy store and buy this canteen for me. Mr. Speaker, individuals are sleeping right now with sand in their teeth. The last thing that they should have to do and the last thing that their loved ones should have to do is to have to worry about equipment. But, better yet, when the question is asked, who is paying on some level or experiencing some sacrifice with what these men and women are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting the war against terrorism, trying to set forth a democracy in Iraq? So I think it is important, I say to my colleagues, that we remember that it is not all about press conferences and talking about how we support the troops. On this floor, every time something flares up in Iraq, someone wants to put forth a resolution supporting the troops. We support the troops. The troops know we support them. We do not have to every time something flares up, well, let us divert, let us see who is going to vote to support the troops and who does not support the troops. Supporting the troops is making sure the troops have what they need. And as we look at it right now, I say to my colleagues, they do not, and we are still talking about how we can get more of them there. So, Mr. Speaker, as I wrap up, I just want to say that what this administration has done has not been a proper response to a post-9/11 experience. Harvard University had former Senator Sam Nunn, who is an outstanding patriot and a member of the Committee on Armed Services for many years in the other body, well-respected from Georgia, and they had an opportunity to look at nuclear weapons and what is the picture right now? What has happened in the last 4 years? We secured more nuclear stockpiles 2 years prior to 9/11 than we did 2 years after 9/11. And what we are hearing publicly from the CIA, they are more concerned about a nuclear weapon coming on a freighter or a container that can shut down the economy in New York or Miami or any of these major port cities, Los Angeles or one of the 361 ports we have here in this country, but, better yet, they are more accessible. So it is important. This is serious business when we start talking about national security. It is serious business when we start talking about men and women in a forward area, and it is very serious when it comes down to the fact that we are making tax cuts permanent for individuals that are out buying Hummers and things of that nature, out with major disposable income saying that we are hurting and we need another tax cut; better yet, we need to make it permanent in the light of cutting the Federal commitment to State government, cutting the Federal commitment to local government, cutting the Federal commitment to local schools, cutting the Federal commitment to our troops when it comes down to what they need. So someone can get on the floor and they can go and talk for 2 or 3 hours talking about how much they love the troops, but it is not reflected in the budget, and it is not reflected as it relates to the equipment that they need on the ground there. So, Mr. Speaker, I think that it is very appropriate that we share with the American people every week that this is not a Democrat, a Republican, or an independent issue. This is an American issue. This is an issue that Americans are fed up with, this continued lack of responsibility when it comes down to the Federal commitment to their local, State and local government.

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter).

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume. I just want to say, Mr. Chairman, that I appreciate the insight, also the insight from the gentleman's staff and the Democratic staff here. This is working towards definitely troop protection in theater and making sure that at the highest levels of the Pentagon that there are some criteria of what is critical to strategic planning and troops in theater. So I want to thank the Chairman for his help. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment. The Chairman pro tempore. The Clerk will designate the amendment.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself as much time as I may consume. First of all, I am so appreciative here tonight. I want to thank the gentleman from California (Chairman Hunter) and also the gentleman from Missouri (Ranking Member Skelton) for the work that both their staffs have put on this amendment. In the Committee on Armed Services we had great discussions about some of the testimony we heard from Joint Chief of Staff Myers and also from Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld about some of the issues that happened in Iraq that did not necessarily make it to the top of the chain of command, but they were committed to making sure that we correct those inequities within the DoD chain of command. What this amendment does that I am offering today is making sure that the critical information from the theater moves up to the Pentagon when that information warrants. It requires the Secretary to make sure that he identifies what kind of information he needs to know to determine the information that is critical to the strategic plan in theater, giving instructions to personnel on how to identify that information when they see it, and allow it to make it to the Secretary for them to determine how to deal with it in a timely manner. The Secretary will also deem what is important information and what is not important information. This is basically giving some level of direction and a great deal of discretion to the Secretary, but making sure that this information can get to the Secretary's desk as soon as possible. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton).

Mr. MEEK of Florida

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Last night, I filled up, and you have to have a credit car when you fill up. No more of that, oh, I will just take 20 bucks out and make it happen. You may get a quarter of a tank in some gas stations. So when you look at these issues it is not within our control. It is not our control. That is the reason, well, we do not necessarily set the agenda here in this House. We had a great debate today on the issue of overtime pay. Please, tell me that we are not arguing about taking away overtime from Americans. Please tell me that. Please tell me that what you are saying, I wish it was untrue about American jobs that are going overseas. Guess what, when they fire you, they do not come and ask you are you a Democrat or Republican or Independent. You are fired because your job is now overseas. So the only way I think that we are going to change that is that the American people help people like yourself, myself, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi) and some Republicans who want to do something about it, and I think it is important. So the only way that is going to happen is that we can bring it here to this floor. We do not have to talk about it in a special order after legislative business. We can actually take action towards making life better on behalf of every American.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, once again it is a pleasure to come before the Members of the House and the American people to talk about issues that are facing all Americans. As you know, week after week we come to the floor, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) and myself and other members of the 30-something Group to talk about things that are facing young Americans, which also I think have a lot to do with the bottom line of American families, as they start to work on their finances, work on their future, and I am glad to do that. The first week we came we started talking about the issues of student loans, the fact that more Americans are graduating from college in debt, unable to purchase a home or take part in the American dream. We also talked about the issues that were facing students in America here with the price of text books, which then also has an issue that is placed on the table of their parents are trying to make sure they come up with the in some cases $800 to $1,500 for text books on top of exploding tuition costs, which I must say is a student tax and a tax on the American people. Last week, we talked about the cost of health care as it pertains to the young people having an opportunity to have adequate health care outside of going to the emergency room, for that level of health care that they so desperately need and is so very, very important that we have a health care plan here in the United States versus some sort of health care savings plan that the average American, that the administration is pushing that does not make as much sense as it should make to the average American. We talked about voter suppression also last week, voter suppression on college campus, and we want to make sure we get the word out that it is important that students and parents of students, where your children are going to be on a college campus this fall, that they can register to vote there in that city, that town, wherever they go to school, because we had an issue and we still do to this day, individuals that are supervisors of elections that are saying, or the Secretary of State that is saying, well, you are a resident of Indiana, but you cannot register to vote at the University of Georgia. Well, you can. The Supreme Court has already spoken to this issue, and so it is important that we get that out and we encourage many people who want to learn more about voter suppression to contact the Rock the Vote organization. On their Web site they have information pertaining to that issue. We also want to continue to encourage people to e-mail us. We have received quite a few e-mails. I know we both will talk about it tonight. I am so excited about the fact that we are getting such a great response from the American people, young and old. And I will say some of these e-mails are really going to help us direct hopefully this House, if given the opportunity to lead in this House in the majority, to make sure that average Americans are heard. And I will talk a little bit about our Web site; I hope the gentleman would. I also want to, as we did last week, I want to thank the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi), who is the Democratic leader in this House, for pulling us together, helping us realize the importance of young Americans, that we have a voice in this process, in this democracy and allowing us to be on the floor once a week to not only respond to e-mails but also share with the American people about what is going on.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, can I say, without one Republican vote. Democrats did that on behalf of our future, balancing the budget.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. And did the right thing.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Congratulations to the young people in your family. They are still young, and they still have a lot to do. 30somethingdems@mail.house.gov, 30somethingdems@mail.house.gov. I want to thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan), for this evening. I look forward to coming back in another 2 weeks to talk about other issues that are facing young Americans.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago? Mr. Speaker, I just want to, if we can, share just a few of our e- mails that we received, and I am going to start off. From Melanie B. of Maryland, and I will just leave it at that. She is a political and science and social worker major at the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus, will be 30 years old this year. And she goes on to say that ``I have noticed over the past 2 years how tuition costs have gone up and continue to go up. Just over the past year, I have gotten really interested in the workings of the Congress. I tune into C-SPAN quite often now, and I was so happy to listen to the 30-Something Group talk Tuesday night. It almost brought me to tears.'' It almost brought me to tears. ``I started my education late at 25. I am working full-time for an attorney to put myself through school. My parents were unable to help me. I live on my own, which leaves me no choice but to work full-time, or I wouldn't be able to support myself. It is going to take me 6 years to complete both degrees. I started at the community college and transferred. ``I received a scholarship from the National Honor Society, but lost the scholarship after the first semester. In order to keep the scholarship you are required to go to school full-time, 12 credit hours, and keep a GPA of 3.5. I was not able to do so, and just by dropping down to 9 credit hours I lost the little bit of money I had for access to school. ``I make too much money to qualify for a Pell Grant, which means that by the time I finish school, I will be in a mountain of debt. I hope to go to grad school, but right now I am not sure that that will be an option. I can't imagine the cost of grad school adding to my already outstanding debt.'' That is a reality of what is going on out there. Community college, had a scholarship, have to work full-time, lost scholarship because she has to work to support herself, had to go to 9 hours, she lost it. She wants to continue her education, but cannot; not because it is not offered, but because she cannot afford it, and also because she will be in so much debt. If you will read one.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I still have some of my textbooks from college at home, because I was so upset, I was appalled by the fact they would not even give me even one-tenth of what I spent for them, and I did not even give them the privilege of giving me $5 for the textbook. I kept the textbook, even though maybe Bush 41 was the last President of the United States in it. Go ahead. That is just a personal issue.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. It is just amazing what we are finding and what we are seeing and what is actually happening out there. One other thing I wanted to mention. I want to talk about a broken promise. President Bush said 4 years ago that he promised to increase Pell grants to $5,100. For the past 4 years the President and congressional Republicans have frozen or cut the maximum Pell grant award. The Pell grant stands at $4,050 today. That is $1,000 off the mark. But meanwhile we are here on this floor to make permanent tax cuts for the most affluent individuals in this country. The only way that this is going to change, not if we do the 30-Something hour every week. We can only inform the American people. They are going to have to act. They are going to have to make sure that we have the kind of leadership that is willing to stand up to special interests and say, no, it is not going to happen. We have a constitutional right to make sure that we watch out for the future of this country and to stand here on this floor today not because of our doing, and we voted against a lot of the stuff that has put us in this situation now, laws or legislation passed. I always say this is the biggest cake and ice cream administration I have ever seen. It is almost like sitting one's kid down at the table and say, hey, do not worry about the veggies, do not worry about eating your baked chicken. Turn those plates around and eat that cake and ice cream, go ahead, all you want. But what happens eventually? Either obesity, diabetes, or something. And that is what we are finding ourselves in. Well, we are down in the polls; so let us see what kind of tax we can come up with today. We will give maybe 30 percent to average Americans and the other we will give to friends and individuals that have money. So I think it is important that we look at that. I wanted to just hit one more Web site because I think it is important we pay attention to this. It is rockthevote.com on voter suppression, to make sure that young people can vote. And, Mr. Speaker, I want to tell the gentleman from Ohio that I am telling school districts in Florida to tell the kids in school to send notes home to their parents to remind them to vote in the general election. Now, those kids have Republican moms and dads, Democrat moms and dads, Independent moms and dads. But anyone who is paying attention to what is going on with their child in school, they are going to have an issue of what is happening here. So if those parents were to go out and vote, it would be a different conversation. We would be on the floor talking about, what, under the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi) as Speaker, we passed on behalf of the American people, not just Democratic kids, not just Democratic 30-somethings, not just senior Democrats, but on behalf of all Americans, and it will be fair. It will be fair to the business community. It will be fair to the other everyday Americans. I am going to let the gentleman go ahead because, like I said, he has a way of being able to supply that information; but once again we as Democrats are looking to make sure that we have opportunities to provide opportunities for young Americans. During the Clinton administration, more than 10 million people were able to take advantage of the New Hope Scholarship tax credit and other scholarships. Students saved $8 billion through the direct college loan program. John Kerry is talking about the same. He is talking about $4,000, not once in the college experience but per semester, per year, credit to be able to allow young people to attend college even though student loans have gone up. That will allow them to be able to receive a college education. Let me share this, Mr. Speaker, before I yield. During the Bush administration, college tuition has increased by 28 percent. That is that devolution of taxation we talked about earlier, when we cut it up here and we hand it down to State governments. They have to find it somewhere. So where do they go for it? The weak prey, seniors and students and young children, cutting back and saying that public schools need to suck it up and do better. 400,000 qualified high school graduates will not attend a 4-year college this year because of financial barriers; 200,000 will not attend college at all. This is not because they do not want to. It is because they cannot afford to. So I think it is important that if we are going to have a workforce that will be able to take those jobs under a new administration, hopefully under a new leadership here in this House of Representatives, that they will be able to get through school to be able to provide the kind of skilled worker that we need versus what we are experiencing now, more and more jobs going offshore than right here in our own communities, State, and country.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. There is one thing coming out at me, like 3-D, 15 gallons of regular gasoline, January 2001, was $18.90. Now, May 2004, is $26.33. Let me just say this, it is one thing to talk the talk, and it is another thing to walk the walk. We have a lot of guys down on Pennsylvania Avenue at the White House. They have the bully pulpit. They are members of the administration talking about what the indicators said, and we believe that the indicator is going to indicate. But when it comes down in the final analysis, the American people more is coming out of their pockets than they are getting in their pockets, if they are getting anything. So when we start talking about young people, once again, I go back to the parents and grandparents. I think the goal of every parent and grandparent or even aunt or uncle is to see their kids or grandkids do better than what they have done. That is their goal. What we are seeing now, and this information can be found if Members want to find it. You can check onto the Web site, this information is there at housedemocrat.gov/areyoubetteroff. It is amazing, people come up with these Web sites.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Yes, and I have a couple of credit cards. None with any substantial balance, but there was once upon a time that was the case. We know better now. I think it is important to understand that young people make youthful indiscretions, and some of those indiscretions are financial. Another thing is, when we set the deck, when we cut Pell Grants and cut opportunities, low-interest student loans to students that need them, and these are Democrat, Republican, Independent kids that are trying to educate themselves, that is another thing. That is indiscretion based on this Congress knowingly doing this. That is a fundamental problem when we have more young people coming out. Are you better off? I am looking at this chart that is next to the gentleman, and you can see it better than I can. The gentleman and I are both Letterman guys. He is coming on in a few moments on another station, and I always like to hear his top 10. We have more than 10 here. When we look at those that are employed, January 2001, 132.4 million were employed. Now we have 130.9 million, and there are more people in the United States of America than there were 3 to 4 years ago. Unemployment, January 2001, was 5.6 million. Now unemployed is 8.2 million. We are going in the wrong direction. Not in the labor force, but want a job, 4.6 million then; 4.7 million now. You would assume these numbers would be heading higher rather than going lower.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, we are in our districts working next week, but the week after next what we should have, we need to get a nice credit card. Just write the deficit in, expiration date unknown, put the credit card there. You know how they have the pictures now with the football teams, we need to talk about that, and I think that is something that we need to talk about over the break.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is also important for my colleague to identify that the majority of the tax cut is going to the individuals with the most money, the individuals that are making over $1 million a year. A lot of my constituents are not. If I had to go out and run the election saying I am only concerned in my district with those who are making over $1 million, I would be surprised if I received 50 votes out of the number that I need. Mr. Speaker, my colleague and I have been very, very on target as it relates to sharing with the American people, with not just pointing out and describing the inequities of leadership or the inequities of our so-called health care plan, because we do not have one right now, but I just want to share this with our listeners here. The amount of young adults 18 to 29 years old who are uninsured has gone up 8 percent since 2000, and in 2000 only 22 percent of all young adults were uninsured. Now 30 percent of the uninsured Americans are young adults, despite the fact that their age group represents just 15 percent of the population. These are uninsured numbers, I just want to add and correct myself. I think it is important that there is a piece of legislation authored by one of the members of our caucus, the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Snyder). He has a bill, House bill 3192, that aims to help young adults without health insurance. I want to also share with the American people that the Federal Government, we in the Congress are supposed to be in the business of not only helping the people that we represent, especially this Congress, but also assisting States. Now, we have the benefit up here, and here I have my credit card here. I do not have any money in my wallet, but I can go back in and pull a credit card out, I pulled my credit union credit card out, and we have the ability here to just swipe the card and add it to the deficit. Swipe the card and add it to the deficit to the point that we are borrowing money by knocking on the bank of China, saying, hey, can you help us pay down our debt. But we are not doing it on behalf of everyday Americans. We are doing it on behalf of making sure that we can provide tax cuts to people who are not asking for it. For the middle-class individual, we support some of these tax cuts. We support the family tax cut as it relates to child tax credit and things of that nature. But when we start talking about tax cuts for billionaires, fundamentally, I believe, especially in this deficit time, in this time when States are running deficits because they cannot take a credit card out and swipe it and say I will put it on the card, they have to balance their budgets. So they balance their budgets on behalf of who? The people in their State. Those people are who? Americans that we represent. And what do they do at the State level? They then in turn pass it on to the county government. Well, county, sorry, but you have to let us know how you are cutting costs. We are going to get down to the bottom of this. What is important is that we start getting to the top of the whole situation, and the top is in the White House, the top is here in this House of Representatives, the top is over in the other body where we have the kind of leadership that we have that is allowing this legislation to pass. This is what some academics call devolution of taxation. We will cut it here, but we will raise it there. I can tell you right now, for the Americans listening to us and Members of Congress and mayors and council members, or city commissioners, school board members, they know exactly what we are talking about. They get it. They know. Tell me if this sounds familiar in a community near you or as to Members of this House or people that are watching us now. Has there been a referendum for a bond issue or something to help pay for schools? Of course there has been. Has there been an extra penny for transportation or something of that level, or a gas tax increase on the local level to try to make up some kind of shortfall in revenue? Of course there has been. It is going on now. To seniors, are you getting the same service that you were receiving as relates to an activity program or a good-will program in your neighborhood or in your community? Of course there have been cuts. The reason why there have been cuts is not the fact that we have not been able to provide the level of service that we have been providing in the past. And I have great concern about being in the Congress and standing over the largest, or be taking part in the largest deficit in the history of the Republic. One would assume, listening to some of our colleagues in the majority, if we were to believe what they are saying, it is those liberal Democrats that brought us here. Oh no, it has been a long time. And they cannot say that. I challenge the other side constantly. I wonder where the deficit hawks are, those individuals that came to this floor, just like we are here on this floor talking about how they cannot believe the deficit is where it is. I cannot believe this. How did we allow the deficit to get out of control? Guess what? Democrats delivered a balanced budget. They got what they asked for. Then they turn around and flip the script and try to make it seem as though the Democrats did something fundamentally wrong. Now we have a deficit that people do not understand how we are going to get it down. I guarantee people are going to suffer. Student loans? Forget about it. The banking community is here, and they are trying to make the situation even worse for students that are trying to pay their loans back. They will never pay them. They will always be in debt to the banks for getting an education. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) gave some great statistics that even when individuals graduate from college, where will they go? Where will the jobs be? Back when President Clinton was President, there were jobs looking for people. Now there are people looking for jobs. And the President says, well, for anyone who is willing to work. Well, I do not have a lot of constituents saying, Congressman, I am not willing to work. They want to have a job. They need that job. It is very, very important that we help them. Mr. Speaker, I just want to share this one point with my colleague, but I have to say I love to hear my friend when he is sharing these statistics and everything. I just sit right here, and I say this is amazing, look at this guy. The way my colleague deploys the information, it is just so informative. And this is good because we are addressing folks who know what it means for someone to call your house and say are you going to pay this bill or this student loan that you have, or what have you? These are what real people go through, receiving a letter in the mail that you do not know how they are going to pay it. For the individuals that own credit cards, because they do not have a job and they are trying to make ends meet, they are paying what the bank or the credit card is asking for, $23 versus paying to the principal because they cannot afford to do so because they are in debt. So it is important for us to share this information. The government spends $900,000 a minute. Every minute, $900,000. That is a lot of money. And it borrows $1.1 billion a day. That is an awful lot of money, $1.1 billion, to pay down on this deficit that is in the trillions. And people talk about our children are going to pay. My colleague, we are going to pay it, and seniors are going to pay it. Because Social Security is not going to be what it should be and how it should be. So when my colleague started talking about are we better off today than we were 4 years ago, and I know my colleague wants to say something. He is ready to get back on the mike, and I am going to give him a chance in just a minute, but I think it is important for us to share this. We shared about a piece of legislation that one of our colleagues has sponsored now to help young Americans without health insurance. I am 37. Individuals such as myself, the 50-somethings, the 60-somethings can say, well, we have health care needs. Of course, we do. But guess what? When that young person, that grandson or that son or daughter finds him or herself in a health crisis, who is going to pay for it? Nine times out of 10 they will mortgage their homes to pay for the health care costs for their children and grandchildren. So this is not an issue; this is interconnected. It is all together, and it is going to be the reality of America, or it is the reality of America.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. Well, I do.