Tim Ryan

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Just to highlight how radical of an agenda our friends on the other side have, the one thing--deregulation or lack of regulation, whatever the case may be, and then ignore the warning signs, as Mr. Altmire stated, with Freddie and Fannie, ignore the warning signs about the mortgage crisis that's coming, and to then also to have as a part of your philosophy, deregulation, ignore the warnings, let's put Social Security in the stock market too. That is the Republican agenda. We, with the 30-Something Working Group, started to fight President Bush's Social Security privatization scam. The first time I walked on this floor to speak was 4 years ago or 5 years ago when President Bush wanted to start the Social Security privatization, and then-Minority Leader Pelosi asked Kendrick Meek and I to come here and to combat it. Now, can you imagine if they had won that battle down here, that monumental battle? Your parents' and grandparents' Social Security would now be sitting in Wall Street in a deregulated market that looks like the Wild West with a Starbucks, is what it looks like.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I would be happy to yield.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Dick Cheney said debt doesn't matter when he first got into office; debt doesn't matter.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. A lot of us were saying in the 2004 elections that if you re-elect President Bush, you will not recognize this country in 4 years. And sad to say, here we stand, here we sit in America thinking, you know, the stock market is under 10,000, unemployment is up again. We borrowed $3 trillion. President Bush and the Republican Congress have borrowed more than any previous administration in Congress, combined. Still $10 billion a month in Iraq, and no end in sight with what's going on. It's getting to the point where we can't recognize what we're doing, and it's critical what's happening to this country. It's sad what they have done.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I just love how our friends say, oh, this is going to be socialism. You try to provide health care for 10 million kids. It's going to be socialism. We can't do that. Or if you try to provide any kind of preventative health care for women, it's going to be socialism. Don't you dare do it. But then we're taking over major investment groups, financial groups, just taking them over. Here's billions of taxpayer dollars. We're now investors in all these things. But we want to invest in the 10 million kids, Mr. Altmire, and we don't have the money to do that.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And how many times do you hear our friends on the other side say, ``Government shouldn't pick winners and losers,'' ``Government shouldn't pick favorites,'' you know, ``Government has no business picking out this kid should succeed and this kid's not going to have the same opportunity,'' ``Government has no role there''? Unless it's Wall Street. Now, who do we need to help to keep things rolling? And as we've said, I'm not saying that this is necessarily right or wrong. What I am saying is this is a pretty complicated mess that we are in. And we're not saying that you shouldn't get the buckets and go down to the river and fill them up with water and throw water on the house that's burning. That's not what we're saying. What we're saying is you're supposed to have a fire code, and you're supposed to have fire trucks, and you're supposed to have, you know, gas in the fire truck and equipment for the firemen.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And the best firefighters you can have.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Can I add one point?

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. The point I want to add to what you're talking about is, what if this would have happened? It seems like we always have people in Washington, if something major happens, like a major insurance company or a major investment company or a major bank, it's like Washington, D.C. will step all over each other as to who's going to help them first, who's going to bail them out, who's going to give them something to make everything all right. And I don't want this to sound like we don't understand the ripple effect of what could happen if some of these entities aren't helped. We understand that. But when it was the average person who made a mistake with their housing loan, hey, you're on your own. Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Well, Lehman Brothers, you pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Merrill Lynch, you pull yourself up by your bootstraps. I'm not saying you don't need to take responsibility for your actions because you certainly do. But when we needed to help 10 million kids get health care through the State Children's Health Insurance Program, President Bush says we don't have the money. $35 billion over 5 years. We spend $10 billion a month in Iraq, but the President and a small group of radical Republicans in the House said we don't have the money for this. It's too much. It would be 3\1/2\ months in Iraq. But if something like this happens where we have all this, a big major financial company, something happens, well, here we are, all of a sudden we've got more money. Think about what the Republican Congress and Republican President did to our financial situation, not just how they destabilized the markets. I don't know if you got into this, Mr. Altmire, before I got here or not. But think about what they did. They raised the debt limit five times. Maybe six. I may be missing one. Five times. They borrowed $3 trillion from China, Japan and OPEC countries. Now you want to talk about putting the next generation behind the eight-ball, go borrow $3 trillion from our biggest competitor in China and watch them wipe out manufacturing in Pennsylvania, in Ohio and all over the industrial Midwest. Don't regulate the markets. Don't invest in education. Make tuition costs go up 8, 9, 10 percent a year all over the country. The Pell Grant was almost meaningless. Student loans were 6.8 percent last year. All of these issues add up to saying they weren't paying attention. Their philosophy of government just doesn't work. That's what this whole thing says. We're joined by the gentleman from Colorado, the host of the Democratic National Convention. I yield to Mr. Perlmutter.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I thank the gentleman, and I appreciate you coming down here and anchoring the 30-Something hour. I think it is important as we are talking about the financial issues just over the last couple of days, and I think you laid it out pretty well, a 500-point drop and then a 100 or so increase, and then a 450- point drop today, these are markets that are so destabilized that we are losing companies that were established since before the Great Depression. The only financial house that seems to be left is the Department of the Treasury. And this has been because of the lack of regulation on the markets, period, dot. It may be convenient, Mr. Speaker, to say we need to deregulate. You need law and order in order to build a capitalistic system. The capitalistic system doesn't come first. The magic with capitalism was that we had courts in place and regulatory bodies in place to make sure that contracts could be enforced, to make sure that investments were sound, not necessarily the decision that each person in the country would make would be sound decisions, not that every loan that they would take out would be sound, but there were precautions in place to make sure that this whole operation was stabilized and regulated. And you look at what happened to the savings and loan industry in the 1980s, and you look at what is happening now; it is because there wasn't the proper watchdog in place. I think putting the Republicans--as you stated earlier, there may be a difference between some of our friends on the other side of the aisle a few years back and the ones today--it is like putting a drunk in charge of the liquor cabinet, putting the Republicans in charge of Wall Street. I mean, let's be honest. Total deregulation. The whole answer was, well, we will deregulate everything, and we will have competition. In Ohio, it was deregulate energy, and it led to an increase in prices. That's what has happened. So we have this destabilized market here in the United States now, not knowing what is going to happen from one day to the next, losing businesses that were around since before the Great Depression. A long history of stability has been destabilized by the Republican agenda. Now, look at all of the different things that have happened. I think this is the issue, the point. In 2000 the Republicans controlled the House, the Republicans controlled the Senate, the Republicans controlled the White House, and look at what has happened. Look at what has transpired in the past 8 years with President Bush. The only sign of any movement in another direction is when the Democrats took over the Congress a year and a half ago, with issues getting vetoed by President Bush. But look at what has happened over those years. My point is, before I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania, is that we don't have to think about what America would look like with a neoconservative Republican agenda. We know. It has been implemented. And for all of our friends on the other side of the aisle to somehow erase history like you can erase your computer memory and think that the American people don't remember that they were in charge for all of these years and implemented their health-care policy, their energy policy, their education policy, their foreign policy, and where we are today on all of those issues, you don't have to believe me, you don't have to believe Nancy Pelosi, Mr. Speaker, you don't have to believe Jason Altmire, these are two diametrically opposed philosophies on how to govern. As you stated, in the 1990s with the Democrats in charge of the Congress and the Presidency, it passed a budget that led to the greatest economic expansion in the history of the country, 20 million new jobs. And you look at what President Bush did with the Republican Congress: Took us right off the cliff. We were talking about in the Clinton years what we were going to do with the surplus. One of the debates that President Clinton pushed forward was save Social Security first. So he was going to take this money and put it into the Social Security fund so we didn't have all of these IOUs for all of these years. Now the question in Washington and in Youngstown, Ohio, and in Georgia and in western Pennsylvania, here is the question: What if the Republican Party had their way when they wanted to privatize Social Security? Imagine, with everything that is going on in the market today, if President Bush and Senator McCain and all of the House Republicans who were down here on the floor fighting for a Republican privatization scheme for Social Security, imagine if that last base security system that you have in place here, the American people have in place, was all in the stock market today? Just think about what a radical idea that is.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Of course.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I appreciate the gentlelady's coming. We thank you for your personal recollections. Those of us who came a few years after had to hear the stories, but you were here for a lot of that and for a lot of those fights. You know, even until the last few weeks of his life, until the last few months of his life, at any time I talked to him, he wanted to talk about what was going on in the country. He wanted to talk about what the President was doing and how he was doing it wrong. He wanted to talk about alternative energy. I mean, as you said, his mind was always working on how we can fix the country, on how the country can do better and on how we can move in a new direction. I want to share an article. Tom Diemer from the Plain Dealer wrote this article and did a great job, which he always does, about Mr. Seiberling's reflecting on his accomplishments with the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. He is quoting Mr. Regula as saying: `` `Without John Seiberling, there would never, never have been a Cuyahoga Valley National Park.' The Canton area lawmaker and an original cosponsor of the parks bill said, `Not a chance. This is going to be a lasting monument to John Seiberling.' '' Against strong odds and Gerald Ford in '74 to try to get this greenbelt together, Mr. Seiberling said, ``That is one I am most satisfied with. Saving the beautiful valley was a real joy. I get letters every week from people who say, `I just drove through the Cuyahoga Valley, and I'm just so grateful to you for taking action to preserve this beautiful area, and it means a lot to me and my children.' '' ``When I get letters like that,'' Mr. Seiberling went on to say, ``it brings tears to my eyes because I realize that those people have the same feelings that I do.'' And that was him right there. I mean, that's him in a nutshell, that he understood what the people wanted, and he knew that he was down here to execute those values and those ideas, and he did it. And just a wonderful guy. So I would also like to extend my condolences to Betty and the three sons and the big family on behalf of me and all the constituents from the 17th district, how great it is when we walk around and talk to Mark Udall and he talks about his dad's relationship with Mr. Seiberling and all the battles that they had. In closing here, I would like to just share and ask, Mr. Speaker, that this article be submitted for the Record. And I'll make a copy. And this is John Seiberling's political philosophy and legislative philosophy summed up in this article by Mr. Diemer. ``What we are trying to do is maintain a livable world.'' Think how appropriate this is for today. ``What we are trying to do is maintain a livable world free of nuclear disaster, a world that we have not polluted to the point where we can't breathe, and where we preserve some natural beauty so that we can have the solace and the experiences of being out in God's world. I feel basically it is all part of the same effort to preserve part of our heritage for our children.'' Peace, a clean environment, pristine national parks and wildlife areas, and how urban sprawl has eaten a lot of it up in our time. And I think for those of us who fill his shoes here, it's now our obligation to go in and talk about urban redevelopment, to talk about preserving these natural spaces. But more importantly, as the debate on energy has heated up over the past few weeks and few months, for us to present a comprehensive energy policy here, and to fund the investments in alternative energy. He would be all over this. He would be at the cutting edge of biodiesel and solar and wind, and I think in some ways we're honoring his legacy as we move into the alternative energy areas. And just think what he would be thinking today, as Merrill Lynch is getting bought out, Lehman Brothers is going bankrupt. When you think of all the problems in the housing market, because the government failed to regulate the markets properly, he would be at the forefront of every single one of these fights. So you and I and Betty and those of us who need to honor him by coming down here and making sure that this standard that he set for us gets met every day here.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And in closing, I would just like to say, from one of his old, a couple of his older pieces of campaign literature, he had the tag line, ``The Guts To Do What's Right.'' And that was John Seiberling.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, we appreciate the opportunity to be here. Tonight we rise to honor one of the great Members of Congress that has ever stepped foot into this Chamber, and that has ever served in the United States Congress, and that's John Seiberling. Mr. Seiberling passed away a few weeks ago. We rise today, I am joined by my colleague, and I join my colleague, Congresswoman Betty Sutton. We split the Congressman's old district in Akron and Kent, her particular district goes up to Lorraine, but Ms. Sutton has to leave us, because she is going to go into the Rules Committee room and actually put forth some comprehensive energy legislation that we just heard so much that we weren't doing, that's going to be here on floor of this week addressing all of the issues that the American people want us to address. With that, Ms. Sutton, I will yield to you.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Good luck up in rules. I know we are going to do the right thing. I know Congressman Seiberling would be proud of the efforts we have been making on behalf of the environment, on behalf of alternative energy. I just had the opportunity to kind of peruse through some of my old staff, was his old staff, had an opportunity to peruse, as you were talking the Plain Dealer Magazine from 1986 when Congressman Seiberling retired, and they did a full spread. Just looking through here, I had prepared remarks, but this is a heck of a lot better than what I was going to say. As you go through, and you talk, as Congresswoman Sutton was talking about the Cuyahoga Valley and the park, which basically, for those who don't know the area, Cleveland and Akron would have just grown together, and they would have just been this huge, you know, megacity. Because of the vision of John Seiberling and Ralph Regula, who is just retiring from Congress now, there is this huge Cuyahoga Valley National Park that is one of the beautiful landscapes in Ohio, has separated Akron and Cleveland and provided this gorgeous scenic area. But that's the kind of vision that Congressman Seiberling had. I am trying to find the quote here from Mr. Regula, if I can find it, the newspaper is sticking together because it's 22 years old, but there is a great quote in here from Mr. Regula, just talking about how this is John Seiberling's legacy, is that the Cuyahoga Valley National Park. To have the vision and the foresight that Congressman John Seiberling had is something that I think all of us who serve in Congress aspire to, because it's not about dealing with, necessarily, the problems that we have today, but as we deal with those problems, figure out how we put the country in a good position 10, 15, 20 years from now. When this gentleman was talking about the Cuyahoga Valley National Park 30 years ago, almost 40 years ago, and when he was talking about preserving the wilderness and the natural landscape of our country, not just historic buildings, but historic landscape, and the natural landscape that we have in this country, he was a man ahead of his time. I also had an opportunity to look through one of his old pieces of campaign literature. As we hear the rhetoric, and I know Congressman Seiberling wouldn't in the least bit mind me incorporating some of what the Democrats are doing today into his kind of memorial here, he wouldn't mind that in the least bit, I was looking through his campaign literature. I just want to share with everyone some of the things he was saying in his election in 1970, 38 years ago, when the Vietnam War was going on, issues on the economy, I will give you an example here. On the economy, ``I oppose the economic policies of the Nixon administration. Instead of ending the war and massive military space spending, Nixon has chosen to squeeze the little guy with high prices and unemployment.'' On pollution, ``Facing the greatest environmental crisis of our history, we must move as fast as possible to end the major causes of pollution. I favor a system of fees to be charged against polluters in proportion to the amount of pollution they create.'' This is a guy who was in northeast Ohio and not too far from coal country, standing up saying this is what I believe in. This is what I believe, and this is where I think the country needs to go. On cities, ``Our Nation's priorities are out of whack. The urban crisis is the result. We must cut spending for extravagant military projects and start spending more on health care, crime control, education, housing, recreation areas, public transportation, and other pressing human needs.'' He was extremely involved in the impeachment of Richard Nixon because he sat on the Judiciary Committee. He was obviously involved in interior projects and in making sure that the natural beauty of the United States was preserved. I believe that, as Ms. Sutton stated earlier, he partnered with Congressman Mo Udall and led the way to adding more than 100 million acres to our national parks--wildlife refuges, wild rivers, wilderness areas. He successfully moved to enact the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act in 1980, protecting 56 million acres in Alaska's parks, wilderness areas and forests and, as I mentioned earlier, with Congressman Regula, 34,000 acres of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, which is now one of the Nation's most visited. This is just a great guy, I mean just a class act. His lineage comes from the Goodyear Tire Company, which his grandfather started. He just goes back from that kind of stock--Harvard, Columbia stock--that kind of ivy league stock, but he never, ever lost that common touch. We were talking about Stephanie Tubbs Jones earlier and how you can be on stages with Presidents and can be passing key pieces of legislation, but when you run into them at the grocery store, they're the same people that you always knew. John Seiberling was just like that. Mr. Speaker, we've been joined by the dean of the Ohio delegation, the gentlewoman from Toledo (Ms. Kaptur). I don't know. Did you have an opportunity to serve with Mr. Seiberling for a few years?

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor my friend, mentor, and a true pioneer. Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones was taken from us at far too young an age when she passed away on August 20th. On August 30th, during a memorial ceremony held at the Cleveland Public Hall, I addressed the hundreds of friends and family in attendance to pay tribute to Stephanie and I would like to share those remarks here as well: There was a famous song a few years back called, ``I Hope You Dance.'' And it's a song that passes along some advice to all of us, and the refrain of the song says, ``If you have the choice to sit it out or dance, I hope you dance.'' And we all know that Stephanie didn't sit it out; she danced. She danced through this life with a style all her own, and she now gets to dance once again with her favorite partner, Mervin. Whether literally dancing on the dance floor or dancing through life, she possessed the key quality of any great dancer--she was fearless. She wasn't real concerned with criticism because she got her instructions from the inside. And as Connie Shultz pointed out last week in her wonderful column, ``When the rough and tumble side of Cleveland politics reared its head and threatened Stephanie, she simply said, `I don't have time for fear.' '' Gandhi said, ``My life is my message.'' And so it is with Stephanie. Her life instructs us that if we live a life without fear, we allow God's light to pour through us, like His light poured through Stephanie. We saw this light in her bright smile and her catchy laugh; her high-fives she always liked to give when she made a witty comment; and the nicknames she gave us, as Congressman Meek said, I was the ``white son.'' We felt this light in her passion for justice and her warmth for humanity. Her life teaches us that if we live with courage and allow God's light to shine, we can travel farther and higher than we ever dreamed; that we can achieve the seemingly unachievable; and that we can break glass ceilings and overcome barriers with grace and joy. Whether it's Mervin, or Barbara, or her staff, or Members of Congress, or Senators, or presidential candidates, Stephanie's death gives us what she gave us so many times in life--our marching orders: To live a fearless life. To let our light shine. To bring joy and hope. To lift people. To dance. The daughter of Cleveland's life mission. And the credo she asks us to live by is reflected in the short poem called, ``I Am One.'' I am only one, But I am one. I cannot do everything, But I can do something. And that which I can do, I ought to do. And that which I ought to do, By the grace of God, I shall do. We love you, Stephanie.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the winners and all the participants in the 71st annual All-American Soap Box Derby World Championship at Derby Downs in Akron, Ohio, on July 26, 2008. A record 609 contestants from forty three states and three foreign countries competed at the legendary Derby Downs for the title of Champion. This race is held annually at Derby Downs, which was created in 1936 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) after Akron city leaders realized that a permanent track for the race was necessary. The racers, all between the ages of eight and seventeen, compete in six different divisions. All of the cars are powered only by gravity and built by the racers. The racers can reach speeds of thirty miles an hour and the races usually last less than thirty seconds and are decided by mere hundredths of seconds. I am pleased to note that Elizabeth Underwood, 17, of Barberton, placed 3rd in the Masters division, Joe Puntal, 14, of Youngstown placed 3rd in the Super Stock division, and Johanna Barnowski, 11, of Cuyahoga Falls placed 1st in the Stock division. Other Akron area racers who participated were Katie Atchison, Brett Chrisman, Dustin Chrisman, Emily Harmon, Tyler Shoff, Sarah Smith, Dennis VanFossen Jr., Cheyenne Wilt and Mary-Kate Wilt. Racers from the Youngstown area included Zachary Krohn of Austintown, Johanna Kuebler of Berlin Center, Julia Castner of Hubbard, Jenn Rodway of Boardman, and Jamie Berndt of Canfield. I congratulate all the winners on their extraordinary success and commend all those who had a part of this great event.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay respect and tribute to Attorney Don L. ``Bull Moose'' Hanni, Jr., who passed away July 16 at the age of 82. A lifelong resident of the Mahoning Valley, Don Hanni was born August 25, 1925 on the East Side of Youngstown. A graduate of East High School, he received his bachelor's degree in social studies and history and his law degree from Youngstown College. Hanni was a U.S. Army veteran of World War II, having served in the Normandy invasion. A prominent figure in the community, Hanni was known for his career in law as a defense trial lawyer, also serving as a municipal judge and as an assistant city prosecutor. A member of the Mahoning County Bar Association, Hanni was a powerful political force, serving as Chairman of the Mahoning County Democratic Party for 16 years. A much respected and admired man, Hanni dedicated his life to the devotion and service of others and will long be remembered. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that an article from The Vindicator of July 17, 2008 be included in the Record. Recalling Skill, Wit of Hanni (By William K. Alcorn) Youngstown.--Attorney Don L. Hanni Jr., who defined some of the best and worst in Youngstown law and politics during a career that spanned more than a half-century, died at his Coitsville home Wednesday morning. As a lawyer, Hanni had a reputation as an accomplished student of the law and as a courtroom brawler who was faster on his feet than almost any opponent. As a politician, his own success at the ballot box was mixed, but as a Democratic Party chairman he made and broke more political careers than any chairman before him--or likely any that will follow him. Friends and adversaries, sometimes one person being both, depending on the circumstances, talked about Hanni, 82, the lawyer, the politician and the man. He was nicknamed ``Bullmoose'' by Julaine Gilmartin, the wife of his good friend Atty. Vincent Gilmartin. Mrs. Gilmartin said Hanni reminded her of a character, ``General Bullmoose, in the ``Li'l Abner'' cartoon, who was always telling everybody what to do, she said with a laugh. ``He always had the greatest stories. We're losing all the curmudgeons. It's the end of an era,'' she said. ``We were very dear friends,'' said Gilmartin, who had an office in the same building as Hanni at 219 W. Boardman St., after his 16-year stint as county prosecutor. ``He was a very honorable sort of person, very straightforward, very alert and kind-hearted,'' he added. Gilmartin said he and Hanni faced each other numerous times as prosecutor and defense attorney. ``I found him to be very well-prepared, always knowledgeable about what we were doing, and aware of what the law required. He was a very good attorney,'' Gilmartin said. One of Hanni's fiercest political foes over the years was William Binning, who was chairman of the Mahoning County Republican Party at the same time Hanni was head of the county Democratic Party. Binning said sometimes their relationship was friendly, but they often were bitter enemies and had nasty fights. ``It depended on the issue of the day,'' said Binning, professor emeritus at Youngstown State University and former chairman of the school's political science department. ``One thing I would say, his word was always good with me. I had great respect for him because of that. He was one of the great colorful figures of the Mahoning Valley, and his passing is a great loss to the Valley,'' Binning said. Another political foe with whom Hanni locked horns was Attorney Michael Morley, who replaced Hanni as county Democratic Party chairman in 1994. ``While Don and I had our political differences, we maintained a civil and cordial relationship over the years. I offer my condolences to his family. I visited him in the nursing home a couple of weeks ago and wished him well. ``We would see each other at events and he would call me chairman and I would call him chairman, and occasionally we would share a story,'' Morley said. ``Don Hanni and I were close friends. We used to have lunch on Fridays together and have a drink or two together,'' said R. Scott Krichbaum, a Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge and a former defense lawyer. ``But he and I battled, too. We were great adversaries at one point. He was Democratic Party chairman and I was the Republican candidate for judge. We had to send the sheriff up to secure the ballots once the voting was done. It was a very close race,'' Judge Krichbaum said. On the other hand, however, the judge said Hanni was ``probably as good a trial lawyer as this area ever produced. He was absolutely brilliant in cross-examination. He was much more concerned with the facts than with the law. His method was very effective. He could pretty much take any case and give the defendant the best defense available. ``We respected each other as trial lawyers. It causes me a great deal of sorrow that I've lost him as a friend and as a colleague. His death is a tremendous loss to his family and the community,'' Judge Krichbaum said. Former Senator Harry Meshel's relationship with Hanni went back to pre-college days when they used to frequent the Ritz Bar on Wilson Avenue on the East Side. They were both World War II veterans--Hanni in Europe and Meshel in the Pacific. ``We used to argue about who won the war,'' Meshel said with a laugh. They were at Youngstown College and on its student council at the same time. Despite that relationship, they quarreled about politics from time to time. ``He never hesitated to argue, even with his friends, and even ruled against them in court,'' Meshel said. ``The last time I visited him, not too many days ago, he was screaming about politics. He said, `You got to run for mayor.' I said, `I will if you'll be my law director,' '' Meshel said. ``I think people would remember him for his sense of humor and sense of purpose, and his skill as a lawyer. He was highly respected in the legal profession. The judges will tell you he was prepared and clients got their money's worth,'' Meshel said. ``He was one of a kind. People don't know the things he did,'' said Joyce Kale Pesta, deputy director of Mahoning County Board of Elections and a longtime Hanni associate. When he found out people who lived in the old Pick Ohio Hotel had no place to eat in downtown Youngstown, he fed them out of his office on Boardman Street. ``Sometimes he would cook and sometimes I would cook,'' Pesta said. ``He always said `Don't kick anybody when they're down, because you never know when you'll be down.' Even his worst enemies he'd stick up for when they were down. That's how [former county sheriff and U.S. Representative James] Traficant and he became friends after being enemies for many years,'' she said. He served in the Army during World War II and was with the Allied Forces who landed on Normandy beach on D-Day on June 6, 1944. He said it was horrific, but he never talked about it much, Pesta said. The Rev. Lonnie Simon, pastor emeritus of New Bethel Baptist Church on Hillman Street, said Hanni was ``Mr. Democrat in Youngstown as far as I was concerned.'' ``He was very well-liked in the black community, and I got along with him well,'' said the Rev. Mr. Simon, who, when he came to Youngstown in 1946, registered as a Republican. Hanni was a mentor for Attorney Alan R. Kretzer in his early days and a client in a high-profile case when Hanni ran his car into the post office building in downtown Youngstown in 1985. Hanni was charged with driving under the influence; however, it was dismissed because of lack of evidence, but a charge of reckless operation was allowed to stand. Kretzer said Hanni took that case and all cases seriously, but always had a sense of humor. When they were considering how the case might go, Kretzer said Hanni told him that if he had to spend a few days in jail, at least he wouldn't have to listen to his telephone ring all day long. Other local lawyers and government officials remembered Hanni as a widely respected giant in local legal and political circles. Kathi McNabb Welsh, chief deputy Mahoning County clerk of courts, remembered well her days as an assistant county prosecutor in the 1990 murder trial of Christopher W. Magourias, who was defended by Hanni and Attorney J. Gerald Ingram and acquitted in the stabbing death of Kenmore Drake. ``It was quite a legal education for me to watch his mastery of the rules of evidence and his control of the courtroom,'' she said of Hanni. ``He will best be remembered as a great lawyer, a very zealous litigator, a person who really went out of his way to advocate his client's position and did a wonderful job of that,'' said Attorney Vincent Wloch, a magistrate in Mahoning County Probate Court. ``There was nobody better here locally with regard to cross-examination. He thought quick on his feet,'' said Wloch, who shared an office with Hanni from 1979 to 1985. Wloch said he learned a great deal from his experience as co-counsel with Hanni in the defense of Steven T. Masters, whose 1980 murder trial lasted 10 weeks. Masters was convicted of killing his wife, Jodi, in what was then the longest criminal trial in Mahoning County history. ``He was just a Democratic giant in our field of politics,'' said Lisa Antonini, Mahoning County treasurer and Democratic Party chairwoman. Hanni's humor and ability to ``get a message out on Democratic Party politics'' will be missed, she said. ``What a historian. We'll miss him for that. He always taught me that you have to understand your history to move forward into the future. He never shied away from calling me when he thought I needed a history lesson,'' she recalled.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And when you look at--and you mentioned it earlier--when you look at a lot of the situations that we have to deal with, that hopefully we can fix in time that my nieces and nephews don't have to deal with, but the debt, just in the last few years, $3 trillion increase in the debt ceiling here to $10 trillion. So we're borrowing this money because of the irresponsible tax cuts that the Bush administration passed when they got in, giving tax cuts primarily to the wealthiest people in the country who are making billions of dollars a year, benefiting from the system we have, and increasing the pressure with health care and energy costs on the middle class at the same time. And so these increases and the money that we're borrowing is coming from China, is coming from Japan, is coming from OPEC countries. So when you think about the situation we're in now and you're paying $4 at the pump because the Bush energy plan, the Bush/Cheney energy plan has been implemented, you're paying $4 at the pump, and then you realize that your country is borrowing money for the war and the debt and the tax cuts that are going primarily to the top 1 percent, and that money that you're borrowing is coming from China and oil-producing countries--so they're loaning you the money, and they're getting interest, you're paying them interest on it just like you would do to the bank--and the oil-producing countries are producing moringe oil and shipping more over here, so we have a $700 billion transfer of payments over to these oil producing countries. When you think about borrowing money from China, paying them interest on the money, and they take the interest that they make off the money you're borrowing and they invest that into basically state-run operations over there, whether it's steel, or any other kind of manufacturer that they lure over with the money that they get from the Americans to build industrial parks, to build roads and bridges so that companies will move over there, to build Navy ships so that they can have a strong fleet in the Pacific, we're funding all this because of the irresponsible practices. So we're trying to dig ourselves out of this hole, and we're still getting resistance. Even to the tune of trying to put 70 million barrels of oil on the market, we have trouble getting that passed because our Republican friends, Mr. Speaker, continue to prevent us from doing that. I yield to my friend.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And we use 25 percent. So we only have 4 percent and we use 25 percent, and we're shipping $700 billion a year to those countries that are sending their oil over here, and we can't drill enough. Even if we open everything up, we still can't get enough oil to solve the problem. It is simple math and it's disingenuous, Mr. Speaker, to somehow mislead the American public, in the words of T. Boone Pickens, who is an oilman from Texas who is saying the same thing. It is misleading to say that we can drill our way out of this. There are 68 million acres that the oil companies now have, up to 90 million. They've done the research as to where they wanted to purchase the lease. They think there is oil there. They know there's oil there. Go and drill it and stop the political games of trying to say that somehow some of the American people are against it. Go ahead and drill. But that is not going to solve the problem. And I know in your district and I know the people that vote for me in my district want me to come down here to solve problems, not to mislead them and score political points. When I am eating at Vernon's Restaurant about two blocks from me, the best Italian restaurant on the planet, Mr. Speaker, people want to know exactly what we are going to do to solve the problem. And if you explain to them that we don't have enough oil reserves to keep this train going, they're smart enough to realize that they know how the movie ends, and it's not pretty because now we're 10 years from where we are today, gas is at $8 a gallon, and we are more dependent on oil from the Middle East, and we have done nothing with wind and nuclear and biodiesel; so we are in a worse spot than we are today. Now, I would love to go to my friends who are at Vernon's Restaurant and say, ``If we just keep drilling, we're going to be okay.'' But that's not the reality. Those aren't the facts. And the facts have got to dictate what public policy is or we are not doing our job for the American people.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Absolutely. So just a few days ago, our good friend from Tennessee, Representative Wamp--who I sit on the Energy and Water Subcommittee of Appropriations with--Rodney Alexander, a Republican from Louisiana, Johnny Isakson, Republican from Georgia, there are some Republicans who are saying, ``put this into the market,'' but not enough to actually have the kind of impact to actually get this done, not as many as we need. And when you look at the American Trucking Association, when you look at the National Farmers Union, when you look at the Air Transportation Association, all of these groups wanted us to do this today. We did it, and it was prevented from happening: 70 million barrels of oil going into the market today. But part of it--and I know the gentleman wants to talk a little bit about this as well--is what is happening with the dollar and how the dollar has been, because of its weakness at this point, the dollar has increased the cost of a lot of these commodities. And I'd like to yield to my friend.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I agree. But it's important for us to realize too that we are moving on the energy issues. We are trying to fix it, short term and long term. Short term by releasing the barrels of oil out of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, have a short-term impact, reduce the cost; and then long term, invest in these alternative energy sources with different kinds of cars and incentives and tax credits for renewables and all of these different policies that will help stimulate a lot of the renewable energy fields long term. We are also trying to do other things along public policy areas that will have an effect for families who are getting hurt today and getting squeezed because of energy and because of health care and because of tuition. One of the things I would like to talk about that we have been doing, families want their kids to have a better life than they had, and they want their kids to move further on in life than they have. And the key in 2008 for that is an education. And what has happened just a week or so ago, one of the policies that we have implemented is reducing the cost of student loans. The cost of a student loan used to be 6.8 percent, or the interest rate on a student loan used to be about 6.8 percent last year. As of just a few days ago, this went down to 6 percent. And this is going to continue to go down over the course of the next few years to about 3.4 percent for a student loan because when we got in, when the Democrats got in, and Speaker Pelosi has a major priority and a major emphasis on education, this is where we put our resources. This is where we made the investment. So for my friends, Mr. Speaker, who don't seem to think there is a difference between the two parties, when you go to get a student loan and its .8 percent less this year than it was last year, that's because the Democrats are in and it was a priority for us to reduce the interest rate on a student loan. And when you go next year and it's even lower and when you go the following year and I think by 2010 it's down to 3.4 percent, the average student loan is going to be reduced by about $4,400. So when you take the $4,400, you take the increase in the minimum wage, you look at all of these different little policies that we have, they add up to where families and kids can have a better, more prosperous future than their parents had. But those are the kinds of investments that we're making. And just today the minimum wage went up again because of what the Democrats have done. There's a clear focus and a clear philosophy of what we are trying to implement here, and that's for middle class families to have success and for them to move forward and have their kids have more opportunity than they had. Whether it's energy or health care or education, that's where we are moving towards to make sure that we can advance that cause.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And that's the best thing from our vantage point: Prove to the American people as to what your beliefs are and how it's going to affect their lives. And if you have a couple of jobs and you're making the minimum wage, you got a pay raise twice already in the last year, just over the last year. If you're going to school, there is more grant money available for you to go get an education. There is a lower interest rate on the loan that you're going to take out or your parents may take out to send you to school. Those are significant investments that Democrats have made into the future of our country so that middle-class people can be successful and take advantage of these tools. We can't do it for anybody. But these are tools that average families will use and implement to move forward. Two of the things that we can't forget, we have also passed the GI Bill out of the House which will say that if you served this country in Iraq or Afghanistan over the past 3 or 4 years that you will have all expenses paid to go to college. In Ohio, there is a policy now that the Governor has implemented that you can come to Ohio, any veteran around the country, can come to Ohio and have in-State tuition rates if you're a veteran. And look at what we've done for veterans' health care. The largest investment in the 77-year history of the VA was made by the Democratic Congress when we got in here. A lot of us weren't for the war. And I will be the first to say I wasn't for it. But what we all are for is honoring the service of the veterans who go over there and make the great sacrifice and the sacrifices that their family makes. So we have made that investment into the VA program so that the vets have the benefits that they need. And we're honoring their service by making that investment. And if you look to the previous 7 years or 6 years, what the President made, Mr. Speaker, and what the Republican Congress made, it was $14 billion in corporate welfare to the oil companies. It was tax cuts to people who make millions and millions of dollars a year. It was an energy policy that got us $4 a gallon gas. It was a health care policy that gets 15 or 20 percent increase on your health care. A dramatic difference. And I'm proud to stand up here and talk a little bit about what we've done and what we're going to continue to do, because I feel like we're just getting started. And we have an election coming up now in November. And I think there is an opportunity for us to really move forward. So, I'm honored again to be with the gentleman from Pennsylvania. And Mr. Speaker, we're going to wrap up. Again, congratulations to my brother and sister-in-law, they're grandparents to Andrea. And we will yield back the balance of our time.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Well, let's think about it. When the second President Bush got in in 2000, two oilmen in the White House, and Vice President Cheney has this secret meeting--that nobody was allowed to know about--to begin to implement the energy policy of this administration, Republican House, Republican Senate, Republican White House, and here we go, here comes the energy policy. Now, an energy policy that we agree on today doesn't necessarily have an effect today. Moving barrels out of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is a unique example of something having an immediate effect. But with energy policies, today's decisions have an effect years later. And so in 2000, when the Bush administration came, Mr. Speaker, and implemented this policy, headed up by the Vice President, we are now feeling the effects of it. There was no massive move towards alternative energy. There was no expansion of nuclear. There was no expansion of biodiesel. There was no significant investment into alternative energies so that we can become independent. And when you look at the fact that we import--nearly 70 percent of the oil that we use in this country is imported from other sources, completely dependent on the Middle East and other countries in South America. So they have implemented their energy policy, and today we have $4 a gallon gas. And the comments saying somehow that it's not their fault, it's not their responsibility, when their policies have been implemented, is ridiculous.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Right.