Tim Ryan

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. That saves lives.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And I am not Vanna White. I want you to know from right now, I am not Vanna White.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Are we ready? I do not know what to do here. I just pull this off?

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I am nervous.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. We want to protect the troops.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Oh, yes.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I am nervous.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I am ready.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. If you think your college tuition is high now, wait until we privatize your dorms and turn them over to Halliburton. Then you are in trouble.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Here we go.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for the opportunity. There has been a broad discussion here tonight on a variety of issues that we have been dealing with the on the Committee on Armed Services. I would like to thank the ranking member for the opportunity to share some of these views because we do not always get the opportunity in committee. We only usually have 5 minutes or so to question some witnesses that we may have before us or to talk about a particular issue. Among some of the issues that were raised here tonight, I would like to shift the debate just a little bit over to Afghanistan. There were some of us when the war in Iraq began, where we were wondering, why are we going over there when we have obligations already in Afghanistan? And we had major obligations in Afghanistan. We had an international coalition that we had put together to go into Afghanistan on October 7, almost 3 years ago, to make this happen. Reason we went into Afghanistan is that the Taliban, the ruling government in Afghanistan, was harboring terrorists from al Qaeda. Al Qaeda hit us on 9-11. We had every right to go into Afghanistan and try to rectify the situation and try to get the terrorists and try to destroy the al Qaeda network. One of the problems in Afghanistan has been drug production, opium, heroine, poppy, is the main culprit there. And those of us who thought it was a bad idea to go into Iraq were saying, well, all the arguments that we do not believe they had weapons of mass destruction and we do not believe Saddam Hussein had any tie to 9-11 and all these other arguments that some of us were making aside, if we are going to be in Afghanistan let us be in Afghanistan. If we want to try to set a democracy up in the Middle East, let us set one up in Afghanistan. We were already there. We invaded the state. We had taken control to a certain extent what was going on there. We now, today, have 130,000 troops in Iraq. We have 17,000 troops in Afghanistan. I want to share with the people at home here a picture of Afghanistan opium poppy cultivation in 2001. The areas that are producing or growing poppy in 2001 are in red. You can see a majority of the country is in white. Now I would like to share Afghanistan opium poppy cultivation in 2003. Nearly the entire country is producing poppies which is now, today, half of the gross domestic product in Afghanistan is poppy, $2.3 billion. We have a narco-state on our hands in Afghanistan. And what happens is that in these outer regions outside of Kabul, which is the capital, the drug lords are running the show and they are making $2.3 billion worth of money that will eventually make its way back into the hands of al Qaeda, which their sole purpose in life is to destroy the United States of America, destroy the infidels. So the question is, why do we have 130,000 troops in Iraq and only 17,000 in Afghanistan? We have $2.3 billion worth of poppies being grown and sold outside of Afghanistan. When General Myers was before our committee several months ago, maybe a month and a half ago, I asked General Myers, What are we doing about the poppy? What are we doing about the money that is making its way back to al Qaeda? General Myers said, Well, we have a little problem this year. The harvest came in early. The harvest came in early. So we have another year's supply of heroine on the market being sold that will eventually make its way back to al Qaeda to fund terrorists acts against the United States and the reason is the harvest came in early. We only have 17,000 troops there, and the question that I would like to ask the people at home across the United States of America, what would Afghanistan look like today if we had 130,000 troops there, if we spent $200 billion there, and we had the international community supporting the effort? We would be much closer to having a democracy in the Middle East. I believe that we would not have $2.3 billion of drug money going back to al Qaeda to help fund acts against the United States. We would probably have elections very soon. And we would have the entire national community supporting the effort. And we would not be bogged down in the situation we are in now in Iraq. So, when we look at the production and we look and see this next chart, how it has grown from 2001 when the Taliban ruled, they were obviously anti-narcotic, and the growth in 2000 and 2003 of opium production in Afghanistan. And when we look and see all the reasons that we have had for going to Iraq, and now the latest is create a democracy in the Middle East, we have spent $200 billion there. I think we had an opportunity, we had the commitment, we had the international community, we had the resolve to go into Afghanistan and set up this Arab democracy that would hopefully lead to the domino effect of leading the democracy throughout the Middle East. So I want the people at home to know that this is a lack of leadership in my mind as to why we are in the position we are in. While we are over in Iraq struggling right now, we cannot forget that we also broke Afghanistan as we broke Iraq. And if we break Iraq, we have got to buy it, and it has cost us $200 billion. We cannot forget we broke Afghanistan. And I believe the major threat to this country is the money that is being taken out of this country through the drug sales and back to al Qaeda to lead the terrorist acts in this country. So my point is that I think we have dropped the ball in Afghanistan. And I appreciate the letter the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Skelton) sent to the gentleman from California (Mr. Hunter) last week saying that we need to have a full hearing on what is going on in Afghanistan and that the American people will not stand for the excuse that the harvest came in early as to why we have another $2.3 billion in the hands of al Qaeda. I thank the gentleman for the opportunity and all his support with all the hearings that we have trying to get done in the Committee on Armed Services. I thank the other members of the committee, the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper) who was phenomenal in a classified hearing last week. I would like to thank him as well.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Texas for sharing her personal experience with us. It was obviously just something that had to be done. Let me share so there is no confusion here. The case we were just talking about, the local district attorney threatened to prosecute students for fraud if they voted. I already mentioned this school in Arkansas. At Florida A&M, during the 2000 general election, 5,000 students were turned away from polling locations at the Historically Black University. Students have also reported receiving two voter registration cards with different polling locations. Others were turned away and told to vote at off-campus polling sites, while more students were informed that they had never been registered. In Maine, the same kind of situation. The town registrar of Brunswick, Maine, turned students away from the polls by using misleading questions regarding residency. Students were informed if they registered in the county of their college or university, now listen to this, that they would risk losing financial aid, health care, driver's license and/or car registration. The students began campaigning and eventually protested. They gained national media coverage, defeated the legislation with a unanimous vote because they tried to manipulate the legislative process there. So this is really happening. It is happening in Maine, Arkansas, Texas; and it is probably happening all over the country. Send us an e- mail, let us know, contact your local Secretary of State or whoever in your State is in charge of the voting. This is a very important issue. We are not saying we want anybody to be able, as the gentlewoman from Texas said, to be able to vote in a couple of different places; but these are students. They have the right to vote. They qualify and they should be able to participate in the political process. So that wraps it up for the 30-Something 20 minutes this week, Mr. Speaker.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I will not quite take our whole half hour. It has been a very long week; and we know everyone wants to get home here, especially the staff, so we will be brief. There are a couple of issues that I want to touch upon this evening as we have wrapped up legislative business for the week. This is our normal 30-Something hour where the gentleman from Florida and I and Members of the 30-Something Caucus on the Democratic side will talk about issues. Unfortunately, I am flying solo tonight, and I am missing my wing man from Florida who is not here with me. But I am going to persevere. There are a couple of issues that I would just like to touch upon here in the next couple of minutes. One of the issues that we have been talking about over the past few weeks and almost a few months now is the issue of voter suppression for college students. This is a major issue throughout the country, regardless of what State you live in, regarding voter suppression for these college students. And in a lot of counties, the boards of elections and the people who work at the boards of elections will tell college students that they cannot vote where they live if they are away at school. They are saying that is not a permanent residence. The Supreme Court established in 1979 under Federal law that students who reside in dorms are allowed to vote where they live. And there have been thousands of students throughout the country who have been denied their franchise because the local boards of election said that they cannot vote there by saying that they are not permanent residents. But both Federal and State courts have clearly established that students have the right to vote where they go to school, even if they live in a dorm. So a lot of workers would say, well, you live in a dorm. Well, you cannot vote here; or you live out of State, you cannot vote here and you are not allowed. A lot of this has to do with the local politics. But the bottom line is that if you are away at school, whether it is in your State or outside of your State, you can register to vote where you go to school. And that is very important. The gentleman from Florida (Mr. Meek) and I are working on this with Rock the Vote, with the different Secretary of States organizations, and this is something that should be a bipartisan issue. This is not a Democratic issue. It is not a Republican issue. We hear a lot of complaints about why young people will not engage in the political process; but if we as legislators are not taking issue with the fact that a lot of these young students are denied their right to vote, we cannot expect them to vote. We cannot expect them to want to participate in this system. I want to share just a couple of stories here tonight: one from Texas, one from Arkansas, and I think the last one is from Maine regarding this issue. Also in Florida. Let me share one from Texas. Prairie View A&M, a predominantly black university in a white county. The local district attorney threatened to prosecute students for fraud if they voted. So the local DA is telling these students that they cannot vote and threatening them with charges of fraud. The students organized a march on Martin Luther King Day, sued the district attorney for voter intimidation. The Secretary of State issued a statement upholding the students' right to vote, and now the students are fighting to get a polling place on campus and to have early voting. The battle continues. That was in the Houston Chronicle on January 23 of this year. Same kind of situation in Arkansas. Students with the support of the ACLU filed an injunction that would protect their right to register their college residency, and they won the appeal. Same situation at Florida A&M, and also the same situation in Maine. So what we want to do tonight is just let these students know across the country, contact your Secretary of State's office. Demand that they issue you a copy of this Supreme Court decision. Tell them to contact the local board of elections. Contact the board of elections where your school is now so that they have time to get the information. We cannot wait until the last few days when you cannot even register to vote and the local board of election is still denying you your right to vote. So this is major issue. I want to share with the people at home, give us an e-mail, 30somethingdems@mail.house.gov. Send us an e-mail. Unfortunately, we are getting stories left and right about the voter suppression, and it is something we really need to talk about and keep touching upon, but also, contact your State Secretary of State who is handling the elections because this is an issue that I think we need to engage, not only as young people but as people who are citizens of the United States of America because it is such an important issue. I think it is an important issue for a variety of reasons. One is obviously the constitutional issue and the protection of each citizen's franchise, but another issue I think is this. We are in a time of dramatic change in our country, and we are creating a new system. We are creating a new economic system. In many ways, we are creating a new political system and the way it should be run. Young people are vital to this process of creating a new economy, and we have talked here for many, many weeks about the importance of education, the importance of funding education, the importance of funding the Pell grants, the importance of making sure that students have access to student loans, the $25 billion that the Democratic proposal says we want to give to the States to reduce tuition costs across the country. That is vital and those programs are vital because we need to educate these kids and let them go out and create the new economy. So, again, it is the 30somethingdems@mail.house.gov. Send us an e- mail if you have any issues regarding voter suppression at your campus. Write your local Secretary of State. Again, this is a bipartisan issue. This is not an issue that we want to be partisan, Democrat or Republican. This is an issue about protecting, because quite frankly there are universities out there that are Republican universities, and those students should have the right there as well.

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

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Reclaiming my time, I thank the gentleman. He is absolutely right; you are allowed by law to vote. The problem is you get, in this case, a local district attorney, or in many, many instances that we have, you have people who work at the board of elections who just say, no, you are not allowed because they just do not understand the ruling. So we are trying to get, and I hope the gentleman will help me, we are trying to get people to contact the Secretary of State offices all around the country and let them send a copy of this 1979 Supreme Court decision to the local boards and allow them to just have the knowledge, just have the information because the Supreme Court has already ruled. I agree, if you are not willing to live and make it a residency, maybe that is another issue, but these are kids who have established permanent residency at the college campus and have been denied their franchise.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Reclaiming my time, Columbus is the capital of the State of Ohio, and the point I want to make, and the gentleman reiterated the point, absolutely, if you are not a permanent resident, that is one thing. But we have kids, students around the country who want to be registered as permanent residents, they want to vote at the college campus, and the local DA is saying we are going to charge you with fraud or you are not a permanent resident. So we are saying, given those facts, you should be able to register at that college campus and vote at that college campus, and all we want to do is not complicate the process. We want the Secretary of States to issue the 1979 Supreme Court ruling to the local boards so that they know firsthand that if a college kid comes in and establishes permanent residency that they would be able to vote.

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

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time for this opportunity on this phenomenal amendment. I come from the great State of Ohio that has been getting blistered as far as losing manufacturing jobs, and I think this amendment should not be 10 percent. This amendment should be 100 percent. This bill should be doubled and tripled. These are investments that we need to make in this country. We need to invest in the manufacturing sector of this country. And I think we have done a real disservice over the past few years in this Chamber with the political rhetoric that makes it sound like the government does not do anything well, that government investment does not work, and that the government needs to get out and let the free market work. But when we look at the history of this country, when we look at Eli Whitney, when we look at Samuel Morris, when we look at RCA, and when we look at the Wright Brothers, all of these began with the Federal Government stepping in and making an investment. We are good at this. We are good at this. And we need to keep going. And we are not playing in a free market. When we have to compete with China with no labor laws, no environmental laws, no human rights, how can we compete? China is doing programs like this. Taiwan is doing programs like this. Japan, Europe. The United States is trying to establish a rules-based system, and every other country is playing to win, and it is time the United States Government plays to win. And I am sick and tired of hearing how we do not have any money in this Congress. We do not have money because we are giving billions away in tax cuts and we are losing the manufacturing war, and we need to start making these investments.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Mr. Tony Napolet. Coach Napolet was recently recognized as Man of the Year by The Mahoning Valley Italian-American Sports Hall of Fame. Born on July 4, 1938 in Warren, Ohio, Mr. Napolet has long been an active leader in our community. His service and leadership in the community began with his football career at St. Mary's High School in Warren, where in his senior year he led his team as captain. Mr. Napolet went on to play football while attending Marquette University where he received his undergraduate degree in Education, beginning a career dedicated to teaching both in and out of the classroom. He started his football coaching career at Marquette while studying at Marquette Law School. Returning to Ohio in 1961, Coach Nap taught at Harry B. Turner Junior High School while coaching the football, basketball and track teams. His amazing coaching skills and extraordinary dedication to the sport led to his first head football coaching assignment at JFK High School in 1970. Coach Napolet went on to coach at a number of different schools over the years, including a position at St. Mary's Middle School, which he describes as one of the most rewarding experiences he has had in athletics. In 1990, Coach Napolet returned as head football coach at JFK High School. Thanks to his impressive leadership, his first year back resulted in the Kennedy Eagles winning the State Championship. During the sixteen years as the Eagles' head coach, Mr. Napolet has had seven playoff appearances and has won 124 out of 180 games. It is also with great honor that I recognize the members of Coach Napolet's family: his three children: Harold, Mario, and Natalie; and his grandchildren: Aarika Marie, Anthony Mauro, Mario Anthony and Olivia Rose. I am pleased to know Coach Napolet and to consider him a friend. He is well known for his community work at St. Mary's Church and his constant involvement in many church affiliated projects. His longstanding support of local baseball, basketball, and football teams has allowed the community's youth to participate actively in sports. Mr. Napolet is a proud descendant of Italian-Americans, and on behalf of the people of the 17th Congressional District, I want to thank Mr. Napolet for his outstanding commitment to our youth, education, and community. Mr. Napolet stands as an inspiration for all of us.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to commend a resident of my district who has raised the bar for personal sacrifice on behalf of others. His name is Captain Brent Davis, and he serves as the chief of public affairs for the 910th Airlift Wing at Youngstown Air Reserve Station. What impresses me most about Capt. Davis is his desire to serve above and beyond the call of duty. Already serving his country in uniform, Capt. Davis was approached to shore up support for the C.W. Bill Young Dept. of Defense Bone Marrow Program, and he accepted the task with enthusiasm. He registered himself in the program, named for my distinguished colleague who formally served on the Armed Services Committee, and when he received word that he was a perfect match to donate marrow, he was equal to the task. With the support of his wife, Sonya, Capt. Davis went through the rigorous screening process to ensure his compatibility with the recipient, and on December 8th of last year, he successfully donated bone marrow at Georgetown University Hospital. The recipient was a 17-year-old young man who was suffering with non- Hodgkin's lymphoma, a type of cancer that afflicts the body's lymphatic system. A parent himself, Capt. Davis was determined to help this family. He was concerned first and foremost with the welfare of the recipient and was committed to helping him survive. Mr. Speaker, our struggle with cancer in all its forms is one we must win. While we search for cures and effective treatments, I take comfort in the fact that there are men and women like Capt. Davis out there, volunteering and even risking their own health so that others may have hope of recovery. I commend Capt. Davis for his courage and sacrifice; he is a model citizen and exemplary officer.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, it gives me great pleasure to rise today in commendation of Tech. Sgt. Thomas Nevin, recipient of this year's USO Warrior of the Year award for the Cleveland area. Sgt. Nevin is a member of the 910th Civil Engineer Squadron out of Youngstown Air Reserve Station in my district, and I am proud of his service to America in the war on terrorism. Sergeant Nevin was selected for volunteering to serve in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom for over a year and a half. While deployed, he received high praise from his superiors as he demonstrated his technical skills in replacing generators, redirecting a power outage, and installing diesel generators. In Iraq, he led a task force that doubled the available power to an airport in an area that was considered potentially dangerous. As our service men and women work hard daily to rebuild and improve Iraq's power grid, I am confident Sergeant Nevin was vital to that effort while deployed. Mr. Speaker, at a time that calls for men and women to stand up and volunteer, I am privileged to have a constituent that appeals to our best qualities as citizens. It is good to know the people of Ohio's 17th congressional district are represented in uniform by a man with character, courage, and commitment to national service.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And let us be clear. Go to the board of elections, and they will tell you you cannot and you say, yes, I can. Do not take no for an answer when you go to the election board, because they just do not know. They are misinformed.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. ``Thank you both for speaking honestly and not being mean-spirited in the talk about our President and other Republicans. The growth of Federal spending also concerns me. I agree in general concept with your ideas you spoke about. We all want what is best.'' But a Republican concerned about Federal spending. The one I want to end on here, ``Dear Members, this is a note to ask for help in getting a state of emergency declared for the unemployed.'' State of emergency. He is a union member. ``Talented trades and craft union people are proud, hard-working, well-trained people who seem to always have work. Things have really slowed all over the country or gone to low paying, no benefit, nonunion contractors. We serve 4 to 5 year apprenticeships to learn our jobs properly as well as yearly updates to stay current, and we don't need to retrain.'' He says, and this is interesting, ``I wish you would look into this matter, as time is crucial. We need your support right now. We union folk are in great numbers and a little help from you could mean a lot.'' These are people that are out struggling. And the CEO of Aetna, and I do not know if you saw this quote, the CEO of Aetna said, ``We are pretty sure that the jobs that are going to be created will not have health care benefits associated with them.'' So talk about two Americas. I mean, literally, you are going to have millions and millions more than we have now of people who are going to be without health care. There is not a bigger stress that you could have as a parent than thinking, I cannot take my kid to the clinic, I cannot take my kid to the doctor, to the hospital, because I cannot afford it, and then when you do go, you go to the emergency room. That is no way. I think we do have universal health care in this country, but it is just administered through the emergency rooms, and that is the worst way to do it, it is the most inefficient way to do it, and it is the most costly way to do it. Instead of providing the prevention up front, which would save everybody money in the long run, we wait. Instead of going to the doctor with a cold, you go to the emergency room with pneumonia, and it costs the taxpayers a lot more money. It just is a bad way to administer. So, 30somethingdems@mail.house.gov, wrapping up another edition. I want to say hello to my cousins that are in town, actually aunt and uncle, Jimmy and Tammy Schick, who are here, who took me out to dinner tonight, it was very nice, my wife Julie's aunt and uncle. So, that is it.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. It is good. 30somethingdems@mail.house.gov. Send us an e-mail. I am going to read you one real quick from a Daniel Spitsburgh in Pennsylvania. He says, ``I saw the e-mail address on C-SPAN on June 22. My name is Dan Spitsburgh and I am a registered Republican. I fall into the 1 percent sub-class of voters who are totally undecided and will probably decide who to vote for immediately before the election.'' He is a Penn State student, considers himself right down the middle, ``waiting for someone to go out and grab our vote.'' They are concerned about the present circumstances in the Middle East. ``Don't forget the college voter. They are often the most spirited, live most densely around others and are most able to attract support. We are concerned that we just want the best for our country. Thank you, Representative Meek and Ryan. If there is any way to get involved in the election process or any literature, please let me know.'' Signed Dan. We also have one here, ``I am a 40-something conservative Republican, who watches you and I, which is interesting, is it not? A 40-something.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Yes. Have you seen that one Cellular One commercial, with the first kid in their class to get a job, and all the other ones are home not working yet. It is a funny commercial. Pay attention. You need to see that.