Tim Ryan

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this amendment and first want to thank Mr. Miller for what he has been able to do with this piece of legislation, and also thank the gentleman from New York. And congratulations on the New York Giants' victory in the Super Bowl. This is an issue that is near and dear to many people's hearts in this Congress, the cost of college education. When you think about what a lot of these kids have to go through, application fees, lab fees, parking passes, meal tickets, rec center fees. You get a bill from the bursar's office, and you don't even know what it is for, but it is for $150. And one of the key factors in the increase in the cost of a college education is textbooks. You buy a textbook for $100, you use it for the semester, and you bring it back and they say, We will give you a dollar for it. So you end up keeping it. This amendment creates a pilot program across the United States authorizing $50 million over 2 years to allow pilot programs for book rentals. There have been programs across the country, several here or there, that have showed savings for students up to a third of the cost of the textbooks. This pilot program gives the Secretary of Education great discretion to start up to 10 pilot programs where they can begin to share books, rent books, put them back into circulation and save students some money. This is an opportunity for us to figure out what pilot programs work, what is best for a big school, and what is best for a smaller school, but give us an opportunity to figure out how we can save these students money. We talk about being competitive in a global economy, we talk about investing in education, but if we continue to have these kinds of barriers for our students, we are not going to get the entries that we need, and we are not going to get the production of diplomas that we need in this country to continue the kind of economic growth we need. I think this is a good amendment that gives a lot of discretion to the Secretary of Education to make sure that we try to figure this out and do it the right way. I would appreciate support for this amendment. I know that the chairman supports it. I think it is a good thing to add onto this bill. I think it is good for the country, and it gets us into an innovative mindset as we try to address the cost of college education. Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Chairman, can I inquire how much time I have.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I think you have done a great job today, Mr. Meek, and I just want to say how proud I am to come down here with you and make these points and listen to you break down the issues of the day where you are putting the cookie on the bottom shelf.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. You mentioned bipartisanship. I think, as we are closing out here and as we had the vote today on the SCHIP bill, that it's important for us to recognize how far away the President is from bipartisanship on some of these issues. Here we have the SCHIP, State Children's Health Insurance bill. This was a program that was started by Newt Gingrich and President Clinton to invest money into the health of poor and middle-class kids. The program was $35 billion over 5 years. It passed this House in a bipartisan way with many, many, many Republican votes, mostly Democratic, but many Republican. The President vetoed this bill twice. So a bipartisan bill drafted by Newt Gingrich, signed into law by President Clinton is vetoed a couple of times by President Bush. His reason is it costs too much money. It's $35 billion over 5 years. This is the same President that raised the debt limit five times and ran up $3 trillion in debt and turns around days later and asks for another $200 billion in Iraq, but he doesn't have and doesn't see the sense in the investment of $35 billion over 5 years for kids' health care. So when you hear ``bipartisan,'' you have got to be skeptical. Now I want to kick it to who we very affectionately refer to as our ``mother'' here in Congress, Stephanie Tubbs Jones, who, I know I saw her on TV at the Presidential debate the other night, Madam Speaker, and I think Mr. Meek, and you were there too, that it seems like Mrs. Jones may have gotten more TV time than Hillary Clinton got during the Presidential debate.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. They should get some back. You are exactly right.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And I know you have water projects there and education projects there. You have energy projects there. If we are going to have the kind of development that we have, the economic development that lifts up all congressional districts, we have to make all of those investments.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I know you talk about appropriations all the time, especially when you are trying to get money from appropriations for very important projects and investments in your district. In Hollywood and Miami, there are a lot of needs there.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Now.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And the latest report is 650,000 Iraqis who have been killed as well.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I appreciate you, just in general.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. The point, too, is the decisions that you make, I think, and so articulately explained here, the decisions that you make have long- term ramifications. If you make bad decisions, as we have seen, now, regardless of where you were on the war, what your position was before it started, or when it started or how your vote was, we now have to calculate and figure out $1.3 trillion was spent on this war that we elected to go into that now has been proven time and time again that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with 9/11. Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction. As policymakers, we need to look back and evaluate whether or not this was a good decision; $1.3 trillion at the end of next year, or at the end of this year will have been spent on this war. We look all across our country, and has it helped reduce gas prices? No. Has it helped create stability around the world? No. Did it decrease the number of terrorists around the world? No. It actually increased the number, and every intelligence report from all over the world will tell us that. We need to understand that as we make these decisions, whether it is on the stimulus package, whether it is on our Tax Code, whether it is on the investments that we are going to make in this country, these are big decisions, because the ramifications are pretty big when you look 5 or 6 years down the line and could be as costly when you get into an elective war as $1.3 trillion. These are the kinds of decisions that we are making here, and I think it is very important for us to recognize, as we make them, that these have long-term ramifications. The tax cuts, you combine the war and the tax cuts. When our friends were in charge of this body for 6 years, since President Bush was in, and President Bush was President, a Republican-controlled House and Senate, $3 trillion was borrowed from the Chinese, the Japanese, to increase our debt. So our debt went up by $3 trillion. They raised the debt limit five times. So when you combine the Bush tax cuts with the war, some very immature policy decisions were made.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Madam Speaker, I think what is happening now highlights a lot of what has already been going on in a lot of areas around the country. I think when you start to look and see people are talking about the downturn in the economy and jobs and what is happening now: Unemployment rate going up, people not having the disposable income. When you look at a lot of areas, and it is not just Niles, Ohio. It is not just Youngstown, Ohio. It is not just Akron, Ohio. It is in Des Moines, Iowa. It is in Waterloo, Iowa. It is in Detroit, Michigan. It is in all of the industrial Midwest where, quite frankly, globalization has had a negative impact on a lot of the communities there. So this stimulus package, I think, as you have been talking about over the past 30, 35 minutes or so, it needs to be targeted to those families that are going to spend the money to stimulate the economy, those small businesses, I think, that are going to reinvest back whether it's in a machine shop in Streetsborough, Ohio, or wherever the case may be. But make that money available. But I think it's also important for us to talk about what we've been doing since we've been in the majority to affect the long-term growth of the economy. And I think, you know, one of the past Federal chairman's said that they're just too many bubbles, you know. That was the problem that we have had here. We had the tech bubble in the 1990s and the low interest rates and the housing bubble, and now we are looking at that bubble bursting. Just to give you an example on how this ripples throughout the economy, we have an aluminum extrusion manufacturer in Gerard, Ohio, 300 pretty high-paying jobs that's going to close down because they supply the aluminum for the housing market, not commercial but the housing side. So this downturn, this bubble busting has this ripple effect throughout the economy, and that's why I think you see us in the position that we are in today. But if you look at what we are doing long term, for long-term stimulus, what we've tried to do with stem cell research here in the Congress, that opens up whole new vistas of opportunity in the health care field. That opens up opportunity for research and development in a growing field. If you look at what we are trying to do with alternative energy, you will see that these investments that we are making into the research and development of a lot of these alternative energy technologies, those are investments that are going to yield great benefits for us, because long term, you know, someone has got to make the windmill. Someone's got to make the hydraulics for the windmill. Someone's got to make the blades. These things need to be trucked around. These components need to be assembled. That is a direct investment once this technology is purchased or at least improved and able to produce some sufficient amount of energy, that's going to be American manufacturing. If you look at solar panels, that could be a potential opportunity for American manufacturing. So before I kick it back to you, it's important that we recognize some of these long-term investments that we are making here. And one of the ones that we saw, if you were looking at some of the economic indicators from the summertime when the wage was passed and implemented, there was actually an increase in consumer spending. It shouldn't be much of a surprise because if you put more money in the pockets of these folks, that's what happens. Finally, before I give it back to you, it's important to recognize for the American people that this stimulus package, what we are seeing here is going to stimulate the economy, is what we have been arguing about here since President Bush came in with his lopsided tax cuts for the top 1 percent. Now, if you give somebody who makes millions and millions of dollars a year--and God bless you if you do. We want you to make money. We are not against you. We understand the importance of people investing in business in our country. But that person is not going to take a couple hundred thousand dollars that they get in a tax cut and go out and spend it. What are they going to spend it on? When you have that money, you have everything that you need. You are not going to go out and say, ``Well, I got a couple hundred thousand dollar tax cut. I'm going to go out and buy a new pair of shoes now.'' You have everything that you need. So that cut does not have the economic stimulus, and if it is getting invested, let's be honest. That is getting invested in Asia. If you are looking to make money and put it in the market or you are looking to buy a particular stock, you are going into a certain area, and it would behoove you to put that money somewhere in Asia. So, having said that, the tax philosophy that we have here that you should give middle class tax cuts to folks, if it stimulates the economy now, if it is good for the economy now, it should be a good fiscal policy.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And this is all about, you know, borrowing of the money. And as the gentlelady from Florida said, I think everyone at some point has mentioned it here tonight, $3 trillion in the last 6 years borrowed from foreign interests, raised the debt limit five times, borrowing from China and Japan. And my nephew, little Nicky Ryan, who's, you know, 2 years old is saying to us, what are you doing? Uncle Timmy, what are you doing? We're passing it down, passing it on. Someone's got to pay this bill. And it's your kids and your kids and Kendrick's kids who have to do it. I yield to my friend.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Will the gentlewoman yield?

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. That would be the Democratic party.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. We are moving in a new direction. We pushed and pushed and pushed with this AMT to get it paid for--$50 billion. And what we were going to do is close down loopholes where hedge fund owners and hedge fund operators are putting money offshore and basically hiding it. And the Democratic Party, Speaker Pelosi, our Blue Dogs united, liberals, Democrats, conservatives, all of us united saying pay for this. If not, the tax is going to tax people making 50, $75,000 in New Castle and Scranton, PA and Youngstown and Florida, so we wanted to pay for it. The Republican Party opposed us paying for this by going after hedge fund managers period. You can read all the articles. Read all the analysis of what happened here. So they sided, Madam Speaker, with hedge fund managers who are making billions of dollars a year. Then we tried to repeal some of the issues dealing with the oil companies and making sure they're paying their fair share. The most profitable industry in the country is getting subsidized. And we're saying, no. We need to take some of that money and we need to invest this in alternative energy. Again, in the Senate the Republicans stood strong to make sure that that did not happen. So in two instances, whether it was with hedge funds managers or with the oil companies, we were trying to make sure we brought some equity into the system and paid for making sure that our middle class doesn't get a tax increase.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. We are going to plow through them.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I appreciate the gentleman giving me an opportunity to share a few words. I think yourself and the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek), my good friend, and other Members of this body agree, it has been a long year. It has been a long slog, and I think there have been in many ways a very complicated political scenario where in some instances where we are trying to pass children's health care, we have 80 votes in the Senate, enough to override a Presidential veto, but a rabid group in the House would back the President's veto and not allow us to override. Some of our Republican friends were standing in the way of us getting SCHIP. My point is it is a very complicated political situation. I think within that context we have a tremendous amount of success. I think that as these bills begin to hit and get signed into law and the investments are made, I think the American people will begin to realize there has been a change in the direction of the country. Believe me, we are nowhere near where any of us want to be. Nobody is happy, but we are satisfied to some extent that a lot of the programs that we have pushed forth will be signed into law, and have already in some instances been signed into law. And those people who are in our congressional districts who are feeling the anxiety of globalization, of trade, of the economy, of the squeeze that is being placed on the middle class, I think we will see next year, if they are trying to put their kids through college and they go to take out a loan, and they recognize that last year when they took out the loan it was 6.8 percent and next year it will be 3.4 percent for college, they will recognize that something happened there, that it was the Democratic-led Congress who allowed that to happen. When they go and apply for a Pell Grant and there is a few more hundred dollars that they qualify for, a thousand more over the next few years, those families will recognize that it was the Democratic-led Congress under Speaker Pelosi's leadership that allowed that to happen. When you are working for minimum wage, whether it is two or three jobs, trying to piece your family together, you will recognize it was the Democrats who came in and made that happen. When you see the auto industry begin to transform because of the amount of pressure that was put on them, CAFE standards and some other issues that we were able to work out to allow the auto industry to move forward and make these investments, that is because of the Democratic- led Congress.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I think you make some great points because, you know, we have the veterans piece, the education piece, but I think you touched upon something when you started talking about the NIH and the energy research and investment that we're making in alternative energy. What we're trying to do, people are struggling. You know, people in our districts are wondering, especially in the Midwest in the manufacturing areas, what are we going to do? And what we're trying to do, I mean, you can't just give a job and the government hires everybody. But what we're trying to do, which I think Ms. Wasserman Schultz has said, make these strategic investments in alternative energy, green-collar jobs, solar panels, I mean there's a lot of opportunity here. And in the health care field, the more research we do in the health care field the better off we're going to be, the more efficient the system, the more medical devices, the more research our scientists can do. There's a lot of opportunity here. So not only are we trying to raise the minimum wage, increase access to education, make sure our veterans are taken care of, which are all substantial accomplishments but, at the same time, make these long-term investments, where we're prying open different sectors of the economy.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. It ain't over yet.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I'll be happy to yield.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Also known as corporate welfare.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I have about five funny jokes that are in my head right now that I want to say, but I'm going to pass on all five.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Happy New Year.