Tim Ryan

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Can you imagine somebody getting a $2 tax break?

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And the distinction is quite clear. We want to do broadband access to every household, we want to be energy independent in a decade, we want to fund research and development, and we want to have a tax credit for venture capitalists to come in and pump money into those industries. The Republican majority wants to give the oil companies $16 billion. It is that simple. Put us in charge and we will have an energy independent Nation in 10 years, period. Let's get the country going in that direction, Mr. Meek. And like Ms. Wasserman Schultz said, we can use sugar cane, we can use ethanol, we can use biodiesel, and we can use wind. We can use all these things. And nuclear. We could piece this thing together, but there's got to be a commitment to say why do we have all our eggs in one basket right now. And then you look at the problems in the Middle East and all the rest that we have.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, once again we are coming to the floor of the House of Representatives representing the 30-something Working Group. My co-chair will be here shortly, Congressman Kendrick Meek from Florida. And we want to thank our minority leader, Ms. Pelosi, and Mr. Hoyer and Mr. Clyburn, Mr. John Larson, our vice chair of our caucus, for allowing us the opportunity to come down here and speak not only on behalf of our caucus but on behalf of what we feel to be the opinion of many of those folks out in the country that are facing some of the challenges that have come from the legislation, that has come out of this Chamber, and has in many ways burdened them and their families because of the lack of leadership, quite frankly, Mr. Speaker, that has been coming out of this Chamber and out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Www.HouseDemocrats.gov/30-Something for those Members and loyal fans who would want to drop us an e-mail about their opinion of what we are saying here, an opinion of what is going on in the government. I would like to start off today talking a little bit about unfairness and lack of investment in the future of the United States of America. This is a chart that is the Republican tax plan, an overview. And this overview will show you who is benefiting most from the tax cuts that the Republican majority has passed over and over and over again; and how this tax cut has disproportionately favored those people who make more than a million dollars a year. Now, I think it is important, Mr. Speaker, for all of us to understand at this juncture that we do not have any money to give back in the form of tax cuts. We are borrowing $500 billion a year from the Chinese Government, from the Japanese government, from the OPEC countries, and borrowing that money and giving it back to the wealthiest people in our country in the form of tax cuts for millionaires, $16 billion in corporate welfare for the energy companies, primarily the oil companies. So when you go to the gas pump, Mr. Speaker, and you ask yourself why is gas so high and the oil company profits so high and then you actually think about public tax dollars going to subsidize the oil industry, that really gets your goat. So not only are your gas taxes high, your gas prices are high, but the public tax dollars that you send down here instead of going into education, instead of going into health care, instead of going into broadband service for all of the citizens in the country, instead of going to clinics, instead of going into all of these art programs and sports programs across the country, Mr. Speaker, the American tax dollar is going to subsidize the most profitable industry in the entire country. $16 billion is going from the pockets of hardworking Americans all over the country to the oil companies. It is that simple, Mr. Speaker. It is that simple, and what we want to talk about tonight is how a Democratic majority in this House will begin to reform and transform these horrendous decisions that have been made and get our country going in a direction that is going to benefit all. We will ask, as Democrats, everyone to contribute and we will ask and demand that everyone benefits from those basic contributions. We are going to challenge this country to move forward in a direction that is going to benefit everybody, and the days of we are going to take the public tax dollars and we are going to give them to this special interest group that is in the oil industry and we are going to let them move forward, those days are going to be over as of January 3, 2007. We need a government, we need a Congress, we need an executive branch that is dynamic, that is mobile, that is agile, that can move in the context of an information economy. As businesses are going down the road, government is holding them back because we are not investing in our workers. We are not investing in education. We are not investing in making sure people are healthy. To just illustrate how terrible the decisions have been, when you look at all the problems in our country, when you look at college tuition costs doubling, when you look at health care costs going up by 10, 15, 20 percent a year, when you look at the lack of investment into K-12 and the unfunded mandates from No Child Left Behind, when you look at all this and then you have the backdrop of what the Republican Congress is doing night in and night out in the United States Congress, this chart is the Republican tax plan. Now, I know my friend Mr. Meek, we are probably two of the more conservative Democrat Members. I am the most conservative Democrat Member in the Ohio delegation. Now, we would love to go to all of our constituents and say you all get a tax cut; this is going to be great. It would be good for us politically to be able to say that. Look what the Republicans are doing. This big yellow bar here is what a millionaire got in the 2006 tax reconciliation bill. They will get $42,000 back. A millionaire will get $42,000 back. If you make $500,000, you will get $4,500 back. If you make $200,000, you will get $1,395 back, and then if you make $100,000 you will get $400 back. If you make $40,000, you will get $17 back. Is this not disproportionate? If those people who say, Mr. Speaker, well, the millionaire pays more in tax, we do not have the money to give these people to begin with. We are borrowing the $42,000 from China to give the millionaire a tax break. We do not have money to give anybody, let alone the wealthiest people in the country, give them $42,000 back. We are borrowing the money, Mr. Speaker. We are borrowing money from China to give a millionaire $42,000 back. Now, if you think that is good public policy, then you need to make sure that you vote for your Republican Member of Congress because this policy will continue. Guess what, in 10 years your kids are going to have a big bill that is going to come in the mail to them that they are going to have to pay the taxes, the debt, the deficit, the bill to the Chinese Government, to the Japanese government, to the OPEC countries, that the money went to pay a millionaire $42,000 back. Those people who think that this money, the $42,000 that a millionaire gets back, is going to somehow get invested back into the American economy, they have not been around for the last 15 or 20 years because this millionaire is taking their $42,000, Mr. Speaker, and they are putting that in an international fund that is going to yield good returns. They are going to invest that money in a stock that is going to invest in a business in China, in Asia. That is what is going to happen. Where is the benefit to the American people? All we are saying is that we need to begin to invest in the common good. Everybody contributes, everybody benefits. I would love to go tell this person, and I do not know many people like this made more than $1 million last year. I am from Youngstown, Ohio. Niles, Ohio and Akron, Ohio, is the district I represent. I would think that we would have the courage to ask this person to please pay their fair share, that they are getting a tax cut of $42,000 and we have got to borrow it from China, do you still want it? We are giving $16 billion to the oil companies. Please, someone in leadership in the United States Government, in the Republican party who controls the House, the Senate and the White House, somebody in the Republican party call in Lee Raymond, call in one of these CEOs from one of the oil companies and just say to them, we do not have $16 billion to give you in corporate welfare, I am sorry. I know we may have had a deal before the election, but you know what, I am sorry, and we do not have that money now for you, and we have to invest that money in the broadband access for everyone in the country; we have got to invest that money into reducing the costs of college education; we have got to invest that money into increasing the health and welfare of the general public; we have got to fund No Child Left Behind; we need more engineers and scientists; we need 3 million health care workers in the next decade or so. We need 1 million nurses in the next decade or so. I would be happy to yield to my friend Mr. Meek.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Sunflower seeds.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I just want to make one point as you were talking about the oil companies. They have really become, and I do not say this in a derogatory way, they have become dinosaurs, and the Republican majority has just consistently reaffirmed their prehistoric nature because we are in a new economy. We are in a knowledge-based economy. We are in an economy that can figure out how to not use fossil fuels, how to figure out how to use different things. They run the gamut. Let us invest in those things and figure out a way that we are not so dependent on the CEOs who are making $400 million, God bless them, retirement package of $2 million tax break, God bless you, but not at the expense of everyone else. The dinosaur approach no longer works. We cannot have a government that just consistently lives in an age that no longer exists. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Wasserman Schultz), my friend.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. So you are saying that that money that we are borrowing could pay for tax cuts.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. The American people expect us to come here and come up with solutions; to be creative and figure out how do we fix the problem, not to subsidize with the public tax money the very problem that we are having. We are making the problem worse. Not only are we giving the oil companies more money, but we could have cut a deal with them. We could say to the oil companies, you are in on it. Make money off it. Hire people, do ethanol. You are in. Make money. Make lots of money. But don't do it at the expense that we are having now, the expense of the American people. I think when you look at our agenda, when you take a real look, and this isn't about, Mr. Speaker, being on Fox News or MSNBC and two people screaming at each other about who is this and who is that. It is not about that. These are real solutions. And anybody who is watching this debate or this discussion here, this is about what we have in store for the American people. These are our plans: broadband for every household, energy independence in the next 10 years. Go to our Web site, www.housedemocrats.gov/30something. Go to our Web site, see these charts, and look at us. We want to open this government up. Look at our plan. Examine it; you will like it. It is futuristic. It is about what the country is going to look like in 10 years. I yield to my friend.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I would be happy to, Mr. Chairman.

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

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Chairman, my amendment would simply strike the word ``after'' and insert ``before'' in the section of the bill dealing with the Farm Service Agency. The amendment at hand would allow for the public hearing to take place no later than 30 days before and not after the Secretary of Agriculture allows for an office closure.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Clear?

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I appreciate that. I think you made a lot of points. I think one of the things that you mentioned is that we come down here every night. I have got to tell you, you know, you mentioned the race in which our Democratic write in candidate got more write-in votes than all of the Republicans combined, and the Democrat was in the three-way primary. It is unbelievable, because of the energy with which I think a lot of people in this country are willing to go to the polls and make some kind of changes. But I am tired of coming down here and talking about this. I will be honest with you, Mr. Speaker. I want this fixed. I want an opportunity for us to put the PAYGO rules in place, to make the tough decisions. We get paid to make these tough decisions. Let's make them. I mean, come on. You know what frustrates me? And it hit me as you pulled out the PAYGO chart. Zero Republicans voted for the PAYGO rules to be put in place. Of the millions of times we have actually tried to put them through, amendments and on the floor and motions to recommit and everything else, all of these different times that we have tried to do this, zero Republicans. But now they are having trouble passing the budget. Well, maybe if they would have put these procedures in place, these constraints in place, we wouldn't have the problems. We don't even have a budget yet. It is May. It is the middle of May. The law says you are supposed to have it by April 15. So all of this is happening. I think, Mr. Meek, as we begin to wrap up here, that everything is happening in secrecy, under the dome, on Pennsylvania Avenue, with K Street. When you look at these K Street fairy tales that you just can't believe, it is the environmental meeting, everything is done in secret. A lot of the consumer groups and conservation groups are saying you are meeting with the oil companies and the oil companies are going to write this. They say no, no, no, no, and oil executives come before the Senate. Coincidentally, the Republican Senate does not swear them in to a hearing. Unbelievable. They all say, ``We weren't there. We don't know anything about it.'' Then we find out a few weeks ago they were all there. The White House memo comes out that they were there, all done in secrecy. Look at the energy policy we have. It is atrocious. Come on. Everyone knows it doesn't work. Go to the gas pump. We don't have to explain it. Look at the war, all done in secrecy. Nobody is allowed in, not a lot of debate. The information, intelligence, everything is in secret, cherry-picking intelligence and all of this other stuff, all done in secret. Look at the end result. $9 billion lost, no exit strategy. We are not greeted as liberators. We are not able to use the oil money for reconstruction. All the promises made haven't happened. Terrible. Look at the Medicare bill. Same thing. All done in secret. The numbers were wrong that they gave to the Congress about how much it was going to cost. Then we find out today, Mr. Meek, and I hate to end on this because we don't have a lot of time to talk about it, we find out now that the National Security Agency is secretly monitoring phone calls of the American people. This is the largest database ever assembled in the world, monitoring the phone calls of American citizens. Now, give me a break. Enough of the secrecy, enough of the mismanagement, enough of the incompetence. Let's get the Democrats back in so we can implement some of these ideas that we have. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, for allowing us to be here. I would also like to thank the staff who is here who stays late with us many nights.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Just to clarify and add on to what you said, the process down in Washington is that we pass a budget, broad outlines with specific numbers to say, Department of Defense can spend this much, Health and Human Services this much, Education this much. It is all broken down, just like a family budget. And then after you get the budget, then you start divvying up the money as to where it is going to go and which program based on the revenue that you take in. What is happening now is that the Republican majority has not passed a budget, but yet next week they are going to come and start writing the checks. Checks for what? They are going to start the process of spending the money without a budget. I know there are many families at home and this Republican Congress that came in in 1994 talked a lot about, it is like a family budget. And what does the family do? Well, the family needs a budget and they need to live within their means. This Republican Congress, the bobblehead Congress that says ``yes'' to everything President Bush wants, continues to go down the road of undisciplined spending. Some people, Mr. Speaker, may say, well, Tim Ryan from Ohio and Kendrick Meek from Florida are just talking again. This isn't us. It is not just us talking about it. It is not just the Democrats. I want to get our third-party validators up and running early here tonight.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. As you are going into that, it is very important, just a day ago, we passed, the Republican Congress, passed another tax cut that will give a millionaire $42,000 back, okay? Money that we don't have we are going to go out and we are going to borrow it and you will tell us from who, to pay for the tax cut. And in 2003, Mr. Meek, if you made $10 million a year, you got $1 million back in taxes. You made $10 million, you got $1 million back. We don't have it to give you. We are political people. I mean, we are Members of Congress and we are public servants, okay? I would love to go to my constituents and say, I am going to give all of you a tax cut. And the really rich ones who may donate to my campaign, I am going to give you a big tax cut, real big. You made $10 million last year. I am going to give you $1 million back. I would love to do that. Everybody would love to do that, Mr. Speaker. We can't afford to do that. We can't afford to go borrow money from a foreign country and give it to someone who made $10 million last year so they could have a tax cut. And the old argument that they are going to take that money and invest it in the United States, that doesn't exist. They are going to get the money and invest it in Asia. They are going to invest it in funds, invest it in other countries. I yield back to my good friend.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. The thing is, my friend, we don't have the money to give a millionaire a tax cut. We have had 5.4 million people slip into poverty since President Bush took over. We have middle class families struggling with gas, fuel costs, energy costs, tuition costs, health care costs. We have got a lot of issues for middle class people, lower class people, people who are slipping into poverty, living paycheck to paycheck. It is so irresponsible to give someone who makes millions of dollars a year a tax cut, it just doesn't make any sense. I said it before, Mr. Speaker, I would love to go to the folks that I know that make millions of dollars a year and say I am going to give you a tax cut. You could put a little more Italian marble in your home. But that is not just reality. We represent the public. We get paid by the taxpayer. We represent 700,000 people apiece. We need to start talking about the common good, decisions that could be made down here that benefit everybody. Ask everybody in the country to contribute. Wealthy, middle class, poor, everyone is going to have to contribute something, but everyone will benefit them. A rising tide does lift all boats. Right now, this tide is not lifting everyone up. It is lifting a very small group of people that continue to make money and profits after profits after profits. I think profits are great. I think they are super. But when the oil companies are making $113 billion, almost up $80 billion from 2002 and everyone is struggling and the Republican Congress gifts the oil industry $16.3 billion in public money, something is wrong there. I think the structure has broken down. I think you are absolutely right. We don't have the money to do this, not only don't have the money, we are neglecting our priorities in education, health care, reform. Let's think about this for a second. Government is not working, and I showed the quote from Newt Gingrich, when he said the Republican Congress is perceived by the country as running a government that cannot function. When you look at what happened with Katrina, and the inadequate response from FEMA, when you look at the war, losing $9 billion, losing $9 billion and nobody knows where it is. When you look at what is happening, all the struggles for body armor and up-armored Humvees, we fought for tooth and nail for years to make sure that the troops had that equipment that they didn't have out of the gate. The lack of preparation, the lack of an exit strategy, the lack of recognition of a long-term strategy in Iraq and in the region, these are colossal mistakes. These aren't boo-boos, these are big-time mistakes that, quite frankly, I get frustrated because I think what have you dealt to my generation? This is kind of personal and may be a little bit selfish. But what are you leaving this next generation? We started this 30- Something group to talk about issues facing our generation and 20s and 30 somethings. Look at what is being left to us to fix. I mean, I do not know how long I am going to be in government. I don't know how long you were going to be in government. But we are going to spend the better part of our lives trying to fix the colossal mistakes that this President and this Republican Congress have made. Budgets, lack of fiscal discipline, the war, lack of investment in education. When you look at what the Democrats want to do, when you look at what we want to do. One is balance the budget, put in these PAYGO rules to make sure that we can only spend money that we actually have and stop borrowing money from all these foreign interests, Democrats have been trying to do that for years. We did it in the 1990s and it worked. We want to do it again and get the country back on the right path. We want to invest in innovation. Our innovation plan has every household getting broadband technology in the next 5 years so that everyone in our society can compete within this global economy against 1.3 billion Chinese workers, again over 1 billion workers from India, against Ireland, who is just going gangbusters. Their economy is just going gangbusters. We want to be able to compete against these people. If we don't make the proper investments, we won't be able to do it. We are going to have a plan that we will invest into the Pell Grant. We will cut student loans in half to try to relieve some of the pressure from middle America, from middle income families. This is something that we need to do. We have a responsibility to do it. I want to make a point, because I believe if we unleash the potential of the American people, that we will be able to address some of these problems. I can't be convinced that we can't solve the energy problem. I just can't believe it. I am so glad that this President and this Congress weren't around during World War II, weren't around when we were trying to go to the Moon, because there would never have been that challenge. We can do this. Let us unleash the potential of the American people. The different philosophy here is that our Republican friends want to think that if they give a tax cut to millionaires that will trickle down and somehow help middle America. It is not working. It is not working. Rich people keep getting richer, middle class people keep struggling and falling behind. More people keep slipping into poverty, 5.4 million more people have slipped into poverty since President Bush became president, 5.4 million people. That is a drain on Nation's resources. Invest in those people, get them broadband technology, make sure they have adequate health care, make sure they have an opportunity to go to college, and you will see the potential of this country unleashed. It is just frustrating as we talk on the floor and off the floor about a lot of these issues about the challenges that our generation is going to face down the line. You can't tell me that we can't be a competitive country, because I just don't believe it. The Republican philosophy is saying we hope that maybe one day it works its way down, the tax cuts to millionaires work their way down to the middle class. We hope one day that happens. What the Democratic plan is just to invest into the American people, everyone. We want businesses to do well. We want middle class to do well. We want rich people to do well, we want poor people to do well. This is America. This is the American family. This isn't just your family and your family and everyone separate and nothing ever connects. That is not what made America great. What made America great is our policies coming out of World War II. Our policies in the 1960s, we are about the common good. I know that we don't need those same policies. We know as Democrats that it needs to be different because it is a different world. It is not what would Johnson do, what would Kennedy do or what did Johnson do, what did Kennedy, what did Roosevelt do? It is not about what they did, it is about what would those great leaders do today? I believe that the Democrats have this plan, with our innovation agenda, with our real security agenda that reduces our dependence on foreign oil. We are just so entangled in this oil mess. Let's stop. Let's invest in the American people, Mr. Meek. We will come up with an alternative energy source, bio-diesel, hydrogen, ethanol, sugar. We'll figure this out. But unleash the potential of the American people. We will do this and create another great surge in the middle class of the United States of America, and everything then will take care of itself; pensions, wages, health care. Everything else will take care of itself, because we are going to unleash the potential of the country. I believe it just takes leadership to do that, and we haven't been getting much leadership here. It is really a lack of leadership that has put the country in the position it is. When times change, when circumstances change, you have to change. Unfortunately, this President and this Congress, no matter what the facts are, stay focused on tax cuts for millionaires and let's hope that that solves all the problems. We are starting to see now with this increase in interest rates, 16 times, what a terrible problem this is going to be; higher credit card rates, higher mortgages, cars, everything else. You are going to pay more money. So even if you do get a little bit out of the tax cut, if you are a middle class American getting 30 bucks back, gone. That is gone, eaten up with higher interest rates.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. In 1993, my friend, not one Republican vote.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I am not saying that to brag. The Republicans could do it. They just don't. We have done it. And it is not being a braggart, but it was Clinton as President and it was a Democratic House and it was a Democratic Senate. And out of the House, not one Republican vote to balance that budget. It led to 20 million new jobs, Mr. Meek, in the United States, the greatest economic expansion in the history of the country. So we have proof. As you said, we know how to do this stuff, and we are asking for a shot to try to do it again.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. You know what, it would be nice to represent a district where the economy is going great, would it not? Yes, it is going great. Look around, everybody is having a nice time. That will be great. Fortunately, I think in most districts that is not the case.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Maybe this is a supernatural thing.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Maybe it is supernatural. That is what we all know.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And I would like to make a comment here, because that is, and I think that is the epitome of what this outfit is all about. It is always that, well, there is going to be a certain segment of our society that is poor. And you know what, it is tough to be in the middle class. And you know what, we can't come up with an alternative energy source. You know, well, conservation is a good personal virtue, but it is not a good, you know, public policy. You know, this is not leadership. We should be trying to fix these problems, not just say, okay, we accept them. We accept 5.4 million people going into poverty in the last 5 years under the Bush administration. And when you look at who, you know, what? Mr. Meek, I want you to look at this. This picture epitomizes, Mr. Delahunt, because the President is holding the hand of one of the most powerful Saudi leaders in the world.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. How about the common good?

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. How about the common good? How about the good of everybody where everybody contributes and everybody benefits. The common good. Rising tide lifts all boats, Mr. Delahunt. Everybody benefits from our economic policy, not this stuff. How is this good for society? The guy in the pickup truck is paying $57 to fill up gas tanks and the oil companies are making $113 billion in profits, 5.4 million are following into poverty, tuition costs triple. Health care is up how many percent above the rate of increase in wages? All of these things say that this Republican Congress and Republican administration is about a very small group of people. All we are making the argument more here is we are America. We are a family. Where is the American family, Ms. Wasserman Schultz? Let us start worrying about all of us. Because if we lose a couple, it is bad for everybody. I yield to my friend.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And not be able to go on a hunting trip, not be able to go on a fishing trip, not be able to go on some kind of family vacation.