Tim Ryan

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. We cannot leave out the Harvard grad.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Let me read this since we have come back to it. Here is a young kid, a young student, a graduate of Ohio State University, still residing in the 12th District in Ohio. She was told a few years ago by the local Franklin County board of elections when she registered herself to vote, told by someone in the office that if she registered in Franklin County she could lose access to college funding because her parents were of another voting district. On and On. Currently I'm an assistant manager for a bookstore across the street from the Ohio State campus. In March I went to the Franklin County board of elections office on Broad Street in Columbus to pick up 500 voting registration forms to set on display for the many students that walk through our doors each day. So here is someone who wants to go out and try to recruit people to make sure they get registered to vote. Put them on display. The lady at the office that provided me with the registration form asked that we warn students that their financial aid could be affected if they should choose to register in Franklin County. Being that this information was consistent to what I had heard when I was a student, I assumed this was accurate information and placed a warning sign near the applications. After watching Representative Ryan on C-SPAN last night, I have realized that what I was told may be erroneous, illegal information and this really upsets me because I have noticed that some students have been hesitant to pick up the application. I would like to know if this is indeed a case of voter suppression. If not, I would be glad to help fix the problem. So here is a student that not only wanted to vote for themselves, they were willing to go and get 500 applications, set them down at the bookstore, and say, let's register to vote, let me get these young kids involved in the process. She actually was so confused that she put up a sign saying they may lose their financial aid. The gentleman from Florida and I are here tonight to tell the Speaker and everyone else who is listening that that is not true. The Supreme Court ruled in 1979 that students can register to vote on campus even if they live in a dorm or off campus. They can register wherever they want in most States. Do not be deterred. Do not let anyone tell you that you cannot sign up to vote. I am 31 years old. The gentleman from Florida is 37 years old. I know this is probably going to be the biggest election of my life. And there are people who are 60 or 70 years old that are telling me that this is going to be the biggest election of their life. Do not let someone tell you that you cannot register to vote. We have the 1979 Supreme Court decision. We have the WWE wrestlers. If you have a problem at the local board of elections, we will call up the Hurricane, we will call up the Maven and we will do what we have got to do.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I practice reading these e-mails. I do not just come to the floor and expect myself to have the rhythm. I practice.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. What is interesting is that after having discussions, both of those gentlemen, they were in Cleveland a few months ago, maybe last year some time, and they came to Kent State University to have this discussion. We had a chance to talk a little bit. One, and I will not say which one, is a Republican. The other is a Democrat. And so it is a very bipartisan issue of just getting kids registered and getting them out and engaged in the process. Last week, since you brought it up about the soldiers, and then I want to quickly move back to the voter suppression because I have someone who wrote in, e-mailed in from Ohio State University after hearing me last week talk about voter suppression.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Big time.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. That was really the issue yesterday when we were here. There is a huge voter suppression issue where young college kids, and I talked about it last week, how young students who live in college towns are going to register to vote at the local board of elections or supervisor's office, and they are being told they cannot vote there because they are not a permanent resident. Or if they do register to vote in that town, they will lose their financial aid, they may be prosecuted for fraud, lose their health care coverage. There are issues which have dissuaded young college students from actually registering to vote. Once we started hearing about this, we went back and did some research. The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) did most of the research. He found a Supreme Court decision back in 1979 that said that even if you live in a dorm, you can register to vote in that community. We have just been getting flooded with e-mails from people all over the country, young students who have tried to register to vote in certain areas and have been denied. They have been told that the local prosecutor would prosecute them for fraud or that they would lose their financial aid. So if you tell a young student that they are going to lose their financial aid if they register to vote, they are not going to vote. Then we turn around and say why do young people not participate in the process? So to have the Hurricane and the Maven here was special. It was special.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. The Hurricane is in the green hair, along with the Maven. I have not watched professional wrestling since Jimmy Superfly Snuka and the Wild Samoans. And so to now meet the next generation, and I am sure the gentleman touched on this, how great it is that they are taking part in trying to reach young people to get out the vote. They have registered over a million kids already. Did you get into the voter suppression?

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. That hurts me.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, did the gentleman explain that I was not the man with the green hair in the picture? Was that clarified?

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Absolutely.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. If the gentleman will yield, we are trying to engage young people here in the voting, participating in the process, and they hear this garbage that ``we are not going to tell you until after the election. Then, you know, then we will give you the truth.''

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. They have not made a mistake.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. The first administration in the history of the United States of America that has not made one mistake.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. 30-somethingdemocrats@mail.house.gov. 30 as in the number, somethingdemocrats@mail.house.gov. I agree. We are wrapping things up this week. This will be our last 30-something probably until September. We will be here for a few weeks, and then off to the elections. So, hopefully you can send us an e-mail. Let us know what you think. But part of what we are trying to do here is share with the American people what we are learning while we are down here and just present the facts. It has not been partisan, but we have, I think, illustrated tonight and over the past few weeks kind of what we want and the direction we think the country needs to go in. So I appreciate the opportunity to be with the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) here. The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) does a fine job, and I am happy to be his wing man.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. We have 2 minutes.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) has got to give me a chance to drop the thing.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I know help me out.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Article I, Section 1. The people govern.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. This is unbelievable. This is unprecedented.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. That is because when he was in the Senate with Senator Leahy, he keeps swearing.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, when the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) was talking about Timken and all the issues with China and how it really has tilted the playing field to benefit really the top 1 or 2 percent of the people who can benefit from the increase in stock prices and the increase in their own personal wages because they have to pay someone 50 cents an hour, as opposed to $50 an hour with health care benefits and all that, I think what we are trying to say here, beginning to wrap up, is all we are trying to do here is to create a system where everybody gets to play along. It is like there are only certain kids that can get into the sandbox, and if you are not born to the right gene pool or you are not born in the right hospital or in the right neighborhood or belong to the right church, somehow you do not get to play. All we are saying is, there are ways that the government throughout the history of this country has played a role in moving these people along. We mentioned earlier with the Title I funding, which deals with at- risk youths who need help, Title I funding, the 2005 President's budget underfunded it by $7.2 billion. $7.2 billion. So we could talk about China, and we are getting our clock cleaned, and the top 1 percent is really benefiting. The question the American people are asking and the people in my district are asking is, how do we help those people who are not able to play along? And the answer that we always have come up with in this country is to make sure everybody is educated, that everybody has health care, that everybody has a shot. You may not finish the same, but you should start the same at the beginning. All I am saying is, we are trying to argue that if the system does not help everybody, the system is not working; and this system is not working. The threat when people do not move along with everyone else is, the whole system collapses.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me, and I welcome our good friend from Lorain, who is here. A couple of points. We are, talking about how the wealthy are doing very well, and I think most Americans would say George Bush is an all right guy, and this is not a personal debate that we are having here. These are statistics that we have. These are facts that we are presenting to the American people and let them make the decision that they need to make in the fall. But I really think that this administration, very similar to the first President Bush's administration, has really gotten out of touch with average American families. The gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Schakowsky) was just saying $600 for a hotel room. For people in my district, that is 2 months' rent. They are spending it for one night in a hotel room. I mean, that is out there. But I think this President has really become out of touch, and a couple of examples, one in particular, that I want to use. Last year, last Labor Day, the President came to Ohio, and all the problems that we have talked about tonight, all of the issues that we have talked about with all the different cities in our communities and Youngstown, this President on Labor Day, the most job loss since Herbert Hoover, goes to Richfield, Ohio, which is one of the wealthiest suburbs in the State. He does not go to Toledo or Youngstown or Lorain or Akron or Cleveland or Steubenville. He goes to Richfield. I mean, if one really wants to empathize with the people who are suffering in our country, one does not go to the suburb. Go to where the people are hurting. And two times ago when he came to Ohio, he was in a very small little county that had the best unemployment rate in Ohio. In the city of Youngstown, the unemployment rate is almost 17 percent. In the city of Warren, it is 14 percent. He goes to an area that is doing okay and says the economy is really turning around. So I think that this administration is clearly out of touch. They are not understanding that we have lost 14,000 jobs in the State of Ohio just in June. This was not over the last year. Just in June we lost 14,000 jobs. Tuition has gone up by 10 percent. We are getting our clock cleaned by China. So I think all of these issues tell me, as a new Member of Congress, that this administration is not really getting the point.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I thought the economy was doing great. Did I miss something?

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And staggering, staggering in the sense, and the gentleman has been here a lot longer than I have, but he will remember, every trade agreement that we have signed, from NAFTA on, the great phrase, the permanent normal trade status that we have granted to China, at one point it was most-favored-nation, and Singapore and Chile and then Australia and now Morocco later this week. In each instance, when we were talking about this, we were told that the high-wage jobs were going to stay here and that we were going to give the lower-paying jobs, the jobs that Americans did not want, we would let them go to China. We were told that all this new high technology, all these new high-tech jobs that we were going to be creating here in the United States of America would stay here, so our people would benefit with the jobs and health care and everything else. I want to just share with the American people these pie charts. This is the top five exporters of electronics in the billions of dollars in 2002. Top five exporters of electronics, one of the industries that we thought when everyone was talking about these trade agreements, we could keep here. Who is actually exporting these electronics? The United States of America in 2002, $2.5 billion; China exporting electronics, $8.8 billion worth. The United States, $2.5 billion; China, $8.8 billion. That was in 2002, top five exporters. Then it goes on, it has Italy is at $5.9 and Germany and the Republic of Korea. Then we get to the top five exporters of telecom equipment in the billions of dollars in 2002. United States of America, $21.6 billion; China, $36.4 billion. In electronics, in telecommunications equipment, we are getting our clock cleaned. Wake up and smell the Starbucks. Next pie chart. I will start over here. The top five exporters of assembled computers. When we were hearing NAFTA and GATT and permanent normal trade, these were the jobs. We are going to start making computers in the United States of America. You are going to go from making steel to computers. It is going to be great. You are going to make good wages. You are going to be able to move your community forward and increase your tax base. Top five exporters of assembled computers, United States, $2.4 billion; China, $3.8 billion. They are cleaning our clock in the computer industry as well. Ireland, $4.6, Mexico, Malaysia. So the point is well taken. Electronics, telecommunications equipment, assembled computers, we are getting our clock cleaned by China. And so the point I want to make is, it is easy to sit up here and say, what do we do? We are getting beat up. We look like Rocky Balboa at the end of Rocky I. We have the bloody eye and we cannot see. We have the Band-Aid and our nose is broke. That is how the United States looks as we are competing with China. And so what do we do? It is easy to make that analysis. The only thing that we can do is invest in education in the United States of America, and we have not done it. This is a staggering statistic that I want to share with the American people that will explain and illustrate why we are having the problems that we are having today with China and why, if we do not fix this problem, we are going to continue to have these kinds of troubles. Top five sources of engineering graduates: United States of America, 59,000 in 2001; China, 219,563 engineering graduates. If we want to create the new economy, if we want to compete in electronics and computers and telecommunications equipment, if we want to start exporting, we need to have engineers graduating from universities in the United States of America who are going to go out into our economy, who are going to create jobs, start businesses, work for American companies. There are not many Americans that want to move to China. There just are not that many. That is not a jingoistic statement. That is not slamming the Chinese. The Chinese have a proud culture, as they should, as every country does in some capacity. But quite frankly, I was not elected in China. I was elected in the United States of America. And when you see a problem like this, a problem that can be fixed, 219,000 engineers in China graduating every year compared to 59,000 in the United States of America, that is something that the United States of America can fix. We can make it a national priority. We can fund Pell grants. We can lower tuition costs around the country. We can provide incentives for people to graduate in math and science and engineering and the different kind of technological industries that we need them to graduate in. We need to fund No Child Left Behind. We need to start at the beginning and we are not doing the job here in the United States of America. There are a lot of problems here that we cannot fix. There are some problems that you hope, you say your prayers at night that the problems get fixed. This is not one of them. This is a problem we can fix. The unfortunate thing is, as I go through these educational statistics here, title I, underfunded by $7.2 billion. The No Child Left Behind Act that was passed by this administration and the Congress, the last Congress, just in Ohio, the No Child Left Behind Act with all the Federal mandates in Ohio, Ohio local school districts are underfunded by $1.5 billion this year, $1.5 billion. Pell grants, in the 1970s when they started, they accounted for 80 percent of a person's college tuition. Now they account for 40 percent. Student loans being run by the banks. The banks are in on the deal now. We have to worry about making sure the banks make their cut instead of making sure students have the opportunity to go to school. There are 250,000 people that are college eligible that do not go to college because they cannot afford it, 250,000.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I thank the gentleman for the opportunity here tonight and for taking the leadership to put this together for us for the Ohio delegation. We have suffered unlike any other State, I think in the country, as far as job loss goes. The one statistic that former Secretary Reich shared with us last week was that one in five of the jobs in the United States of America that were lost have been lost in the State of Ohio. One out of every five. And so if there is any constituency, if there is any State that has something at stake in the upcoming election, I think it is the great State of Ohio. I would like to shift gears a little bit, not too much, but to talk a little bit within the same context of job loss and talk a little bit about China. Ohio has had over the years an extremely strong manufacturing base in a variety of sectors, an opportunity to really grow our economy over the last 30 or 40 years and to provide a great opportunity for immigrants who have moved into the State of Ohio an opportunity to have a good wage and a pension and health care benefits and be able to send their kids on to school. We are now competing with, really, the great country as far as manufacturing goes that is China. We cannot deny it any longer. In many ways we have let this happen, but we have to deal with the facts as they present themselves today. I was going through Wired Magazine last week, and I want to share with the American people and the citizens of the State of Ohio some statistics and some pie charts here. I do not know if they can read them at home so I will share them with them, but they can get this at Wired Magazine. I do not know if it is on their Web site or not, but their last publication had these, or maybe it was two publications ago, had these statistics in there. I want to share them with the American people because I think they are very indicative of the situation we are facing, the critical situation that we are facing in the United States of America. Let me just say, first, that this is not an issue that we can deal with 10, 20, 30 years down the line. This is not an issue where we can say, ``We're just going to wait. We're the United States. We're the superpower, the only superpower. We're going to wait and we'll deal with that later. We've got to deal with Iraq, and we've got the budget deficits.''