Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. To the gentleman from Ohio.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. I just want to close by saying that I look forward to the opportunity to continuing the balance that we have been trying to strike the last number of years and having the opportunity to implement our agenda, to move this country in a new direction, and begin to establish some real accountability and oversight with this administration. I look forward to joining you on the floor with the 30-something Working Group and having our new colleagues, the new additions, the new recruits in the 30-something Working Group, which is the freshman class.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Thank you so much to my good friend, Mr. Meek, and it is so wonderful to be with my good friends in the 30-Something Working Group. We spent so many nights here talking about the need for us to move this country in a new direction, a new direction for America. That is what, Mr. Speaker, you and others talked about during the campaign. We went out and talked about making sure that we could increase the minimum wage for the first time in 10 years; have the student loan interest rate; fully implement the 9/11 Commission recommendations; make sure that we repeal the energy industry subsidies that they don't need because they are the most profitable industry in the entire world so that we can truly fund alternative energy resources; eliminate the prohibition against negotiating for lower prescription drug prices; and putting the stem cell research bill on the President's desk once again; and making sure that we can finally establish some accountability with this administration on the war in Iraq. At last we will have the opportunity to bring them in and ask them the tough questions that our good friends on the other side of the aisle refused to ask for years. We had an opportunity as the 30-something Working Group to point out and contrast what we would do in the majority if we were given that opportunity versus what the Republican leadership was doing for the last 12 years. And the American people responded and gave us that opportunity. Some people might have started at the top of this hour, kind of scratched their head and wondered why we were talking about the University of Florida national championship and the Gators victory, but there is some analogy, all kidding aside. The Gators showed that they came to play last night when no one expected them to win, when for months people didn't give them any chance of coming out on top and winning the national championship. I think that our victory on November 7 is analogous to that because certainly at the beginning of my first term in Congress 2 years ago, no one gave the Democrats a chance. No one gave us a snowball's chance of reaching the point that we did on November 7 and being able to elect enough Members to truly move this country in a new direction. In part because of the Members that joined us on the floor each night and our Democratic Caucus colleagues who were so committed to get the message out and talking to their constituents and really appealing to the issues that the American people cared about, as opposed to the special interests and the culture of corruption and the pall that was cast over this Capitol for so long, now we are finally being given that opportunity. It is incredibly important. One of the most amazing things for me as a woman was that last Thursday we were able to watch history in the making when the gavel was passed to Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the first woman Speaker in United States history. I had my twin 7-year-olds on the floor that day, and I know you had your children on the floor with you that day, Mr. Meek, but the opportunity for our kids to see, and especially for little girls in America, to see that really anything is possible in America, for that, for us to be able to witness that was just incredible. And today for us to be able to witness Speaker Pelosi preside over H.R. 1, the passage of H.R. 1, which was the first bill that we adopted in the 100-hours agenda that fully implements the 9/11 Commission agenda. The Republicans minimally implemented those recommendations, and that is why the 9/11 Commission co-chairmen gave them Ds and Fs, because they had not allocated funding on the basis of risk and vulnerabilities. They had not created and rehearsed State and local emergency response plans. They had not addressed the interoperability issues between intelligence agencies and first responders. There were at least 10 items. They have not protected privacy and civil liberties with an oversight function. They have not improved air passenger screening. They were not checking all the cargo. There was no funding or mechanism to check all of the cargo that came through our ports. H.R. 1 that we adopted today implements that right now. It was a thrill to watch Speaker Pelosi preside over the passage of the first item in our 100-hours agenda.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Expanding access to higher education was one of the critical elements, is one of the critical elements of the 100- hours agenda because America is all about opportunity. Our good friends on the other side of the aisle talk about prosperity and how it is essential to make sure that Americans can continue to prosper, and we absolutely believe that. But there is no denying that prosperity isn't possible in this or any other country without an education. If you are denied access to education because of the lack of affordability, because you can't pay for it or because your ability to repay a loan is prohibited because the interest rate is so high that you are paying for the rest of your natural life and it takes such a huge chunk of your income that eventually you have to decide not to pursue an education, then prosperity isn't possible. As you have in this chart, and Mr. Meek is going to talk about minimum wage, we lag behind the world in terms of global education standards. You have thousands of students who will graduate with engineering degrees this year. And look at the difference in numbers: 600,000 engineering degrees in China; 350,000 engineering degrees in India; and 70,000 engineering degrees in the United States of America. Now, if that isn't an example and evidence of where we need to focus our priorities and make sure that we expand access to higher education so that we can grow that number, then our ability to be competitive globally is severely, severely impacted, and individual's ability to prosper is severely impacted.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. If the gentleman will yield, one of the things I wanted to point out is it could ultimately, as we continue to do these 30-something hours, it could be easy to presume now that we are in the majority that we would come here and only talk about the Democrats' agenda and what we are planning to do, and we are going to spend quite a bit of time talking about that during these hours. But I think it is important that our colleagues and others who might hear us talking tonight understand that the reason that our taking the majority in the Congress was so important, besides our being able to implement an agenda, is the accountability factor. We are going to come here, now that we are in the majority and control the agenda here, it is absolutely our responsibility because we have the ability to do it to hold this administration accountable, to ask questions, to hold hearings, to bring them here and make sure that they answer questions about their policies that the American people showed us on November 7 they don't agree with. It is going to be incredibly important in the time that we spend on this floor that we not only talk about our agenda, but what we are doing to make sure that we restore the Congress' role, constitutional role, where we hold the administration accountable and reestablish the system of checks and balances.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Thank you. I think the key word you touched on is balance. That is why I am thrilled, and I know the two of you are as well, to have the opportunity to restore balance and to restore the American people's confidence in their government again. Because, Mr. Meek and Mr. Ryan, that is one of the things that was a casualty of the last several years, with the headline every other day, every day sometimes, about a colleague of ours on the other side of the aisle being indicted, as Mr. Meek said, or arrested. We have former colleagues in jail. We have lobbyists that inappropriately tried to influence this process that are in jail. This election, I think, was a reflection of the American people's desire for change and to move in a new direction. And one of the things that Speaker Pelosi has talked about, and talked about so often in the campaign, is what her speakership and our majority will be about is making this the most bipartisan Congress in the United States history, with the inclusiveness and the participation that Members on both sides of the aisle will have an opportunity to have, and that that is incredibly important. That extends beyond just the Members here, but extends to the voices of the people that we are serving. The net roots, for example. That is a community that has been so instrumental and so involved in getting the message out about what people in the country care about. I know that the three of us have interacted during our time on the floor here with folks involved in the net roots and they have given voice to so many people exponentially that would not have had the ability to get our message out. It is incredibly important. Inclusiveness and balance and confidence in government is I think going to be the watch words that will be really the clarion call of our majority, so I really look forward to that opportunity. I tell you, where we are at this stage of our careers and our lives, I have been in public office now for, gosh, I guess it is 16 years, which is kind of amazing. But it is actually 16 years, and I have spent 4 of those years in the majority in the State House. Mr. Meek, we served a couple years in the majority together in the State House, and that is the last time that I had an opportunity to actually advance an agenda. We definitely spent a lot of time honing our defensive skills, and I think we have gotten pretty good at that and comparing and contrasting. But at the end of the day, most of us, the vast majority of us ran for office in order to make the world better, and now we have that opportunity. Like you said, Mr. Ryan, we might not always do it right, but it won't be for lack of good intentions and it won't be for lack of trying to stand up for those who have no voice, which I think will be quite a marked contrast compared to, and I hate to directly question the intentions, but compared to the intentions of some over the last few years. That is the most diplomatic way I can put it.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Go Rattlers.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. We are all big Gator fans.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Thank you so much. We are all Gators today. It is a Gator Nation. And we were just thrilled that the fighting Gator football team came to play yesterday, dominated Mr. Ryan's team, although Mr. Ryan went to Youngstown; so he is not technically a Buckeye, but I guess anyone who hails from the State of Ohio is a Buckeye. And we enjoyed showing the Buckeyes that we belonged in that game, and we are just very proud of our Florida Gators.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. We will give him that.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise to congratulate the University of Florida Gators for winning the Bowl Championship Series National Football title last night. After a hard fought season, the Gators proved victorious last night with a dazzling 41-14 triumph over the Ohio State University Buckeyes. I want to extend special congratulations to Florida's head coach, Urban Meyer, who trained this football team to be the best in the country. All of the athletes are shining stars for the university and deserve our highest praise. Last night, the University of Florida made history by winning national titles in both men's basketball and football in the same season. Florida's academic reputation is stellar, our sports teams are number one and our fans are like none other. Mr. Speaker, it is great to be a Florida Gator. Congratulations to the students, faculty, alumni, and friends of the University of Florida. I have just one thing left to say, Mr. Speaker, and that is: Two bits, four bits, six bits a dollar. All for the Gators, stand up and holler. Go Gators!

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman from Texas's support and want to describe the legislation and tell Members that drowning is the second leading cause of accidental childhood deaths by injury in the United States. It is the number one killer of children under 5 years of age in America, and the number two killer of children under 14 years of age. Mr. Speaker, 335 children across the Nation drowned in swimming pools or spas in 2002. That is 335 lives that were cut very short because we did not act quickly enough to address this problem. This legislation is named in memory of Secretary of State James A. Baker's granddaughter, 7-year-old Graeme, who drowned in a spa entrapment accident a number of years ago. Graeme and the roughly 300 children that died that year due to drain entrapment would be with us today if this commonsense legislation had been law. The pool and spa safety legislation we are considering will encourage States to pass laws that prevent the tragic and preventable loss of children to accidental drowning. This legislation provides Federal incentives, not mandates, as the gentleman from Texas indicated, for States, and provides layers of protection and puts obstacles in the path of a child when supervision lapses. We all know when it comes to making sure that children don't drown in swimming pools that supervision is paramount. But as any parent can tell you, and I am a parent of three, we all know that supervision does lapse. Every year each of us across the country, each of us in our own districts, hear news reports and read the newspaper about tragic incidents that occur in swimming pools year after year. Mr. Speaker, 65 percent of the drownings that occur in swimming pools occur when a child wanders out the back door of home they are in and drowns in the pool in the backyard; 35 percent of the drownings take place when a child from a neighbor's yard comes into the yard a couple of doors down and drowns in the pool. This is a tragedy that can happen in an instant. When it comes to suction drain entrapment accidents, what happens is young children are actually pulled under because the suction from a single drain in a spa is so strong that the strength of several men cannot even pull the child off the drain. Children have been disemboweled. There are children that because we don't have dual drains or spa drain covers, which this bill would incentivize, there are children drowning needlessly. We have to make sure that we put obstacles in the path of children when, through no fault of their own, supervision lapses. I urge Members to vote to protect children from drowning and pass the Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act. Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 1245, the Gynecologic Cancer Education and Awareness Act, or ``Johanna's Law,'' a bipartisan, common-sense measure that will help save the lives of thousands of American women each year. Uterine cancer is the most common form of gynecologic cancer, and ovarian cancer is the deadliest. Unlike cervical cancer, there is no reliable early detection screening test for these cancers. This means that 80,000 women will be diagnosed with gynecologic cancers this year, and almost 30,000 will die because their illnesses were detected too late. Most women don't recognize the symptoms of gynecologic cancers, and many doctors initially misdiagnose them. Early detection is the key to successful treatment of gynecologic cancers. We must do better. This bill will help save the lives and improve the health of our Nation's mothers, wives and daughters. Johanna's Law was named for the sister of one of my constituents from Hallandale, Florida, who lost her life to ovarian cancer. I want to congratulate Sheryl Silver and her family for their hard work, dedication, and commitment to saving the lives of millions of American women. This bill will authorize millions of dollars in desperately needed funds to help raise awareness and increase knowledge about these cancers that will lead to early detection, effective treatment, and saved lives. Mr. Speaker, I am proud to join 256 of my colleagues as co-sponsors of this important piece of legislation.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Madam Speaker, I yield myself as much time as I may consume, and first, let me thank Chairman Oxley and Ranking Member Frank for their stalwart leadership on this and many other issues that have come before the Financial Services Committee in the 109th Congress. Chairman Oxley has heard us say many times, but we will truly miss him after he retires. I believe that the combined leadership that he and my good friend, Ranking Member Frank, have displayed have set the tone for the rest of us on the Financial Services Committee, as well as the staff. I, too, am pleased to stand here with my good friend and fellow freshman colleague, the gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. McHenry). I made the mistake of telling him that I was going to try to have a little bit of fun in the back and forth here, and I think I could best characterize our professional relationship as being the odd couple. So it is a great day that we have the opportunity to come together on this netting legislation. I can tell you that we want to make sure on our side that Ranking Member Frank has suggested that we make sure the people understand that even though we have the next generation of Members managing the time on this bill, people should understand we are not high school kids. We are actually real live Members of Congress, you and I, and came here like everybody else. I am pleased to join Mr. McHenry as an original cosponsor of H.R. 5585, and I am very pleased that we were able to come together on legislation because we have talked about that for a long time. We could not have brought this bill to the floor without the support of the House Judiciary Committee on which I also sit, and I want to especially thank Subcommittee Ranking Member Mel Watt for working with us, also a gentleman from North Carolina, and for agreeing to help us move this bill forward. As you know, as the gentleman from North Carolina has said, netting is simply the manner in which debts and credits are calculated between parties, and it is a critically important tool to unravel complex financial transactions which have, until now, been denied to our Nation's financial institutions. This is in spite of broad-based, bipartisan support. In fact, the origin of this legislation is grounded in the collapse of the infamous hedge fund, Long Term Capital Management, after which former Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan implored Congress to pass the netting provision. Netting was also supported by the former Clinton and the current Bush administrations. The primary goal of our legislation is to minimize systemic risks in situations when the procedure for resolving a single insolvency could trigger other failures elsewhere in the market. H.R. 5585 protects the rights of market participants to terminate complex financial agreements. It also ensures that the Federal Government, like private entity creditors, will be able to enforce and net out qualified contracts with financial institutions during insolvency proceedings. Additionally, this bill includes a fee increase provision in order to pay bankruptcy trustees. I want to thank my good friend and colleague Congressman Watt for working us with. At his request, this bill was modified in two respects, and as a result of those modifications, Madam Speaker, more debtors will be eligible for the fee waiver. However, the fundamental issue before to us today is support for netting provisions in the bankruptcy settlement of major market participants. I encourage my colleagues to support this bill, and I ask our colleagues in the Senate to act on this before the end of the 109th Congress. This bill would codify commonsense business practices. These provisions have a long bipartisan legislative history in Congress, which continues today. It is a privilege to work with Mr. McHenry, and there is no reason for us to stall any further. I know you join me in urging the Senate to take action on this bill after we do. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time. General Leave

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Madam Speaker, I, too, have no further requests for time, and I want to reiterate the comments of my colleague from North Carolina. It has been a pleasure to work with him, and I look forward to this being the first of many opportunities to do that.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, as an original cosponsor of this bill, I commend the Financial Services and Judiciary Committees for working together in a bipartisan spirit to move it forward. I especially want to thank Ranking Member Conyers and Ranking Member Frank and you, Chairman Oxley, for your support and leadership. This bill provides much needed relief to Florida's commercial firms, which are experiencing severe increases, and I mean thousands of percent increases in insurance premiums. This is not endemic to Florida. It is really happening across the Nation. Surplus lines are a safety valve on traditional insurance markets. In some cases, they are the only way firms can get insurance when regulated lines fail. Market perception of unsustainable increases in catastrophic risk has resulted in the precipitous decline of insurance coverage availability at astronomical cost to consumers. This bill expands market capacity to provide surplus lines coverage. It eliminates hundreds of billions of dollars in administrative costs and duplicative filing fees, which are passed on to consumers. Maintaining the status quo means higher costs for commercial firms, consumers, and ultimately our economy. I encourage my colleagues to support this bill because it ensures that companies are able to obtain insurance, meaning they can stay in our communities, provide much needed jobs and keep our economies strong. Companies in my home State are literally closing their doors or leaving Florida altogether because they cannot get insurance. I urge my colleagues to support this bill.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, while I intend to cast my vote in support of the Higher Education Act extension, I am extremely concerned about the unintended consequences on students at Nova Southeastern University in my congressional district and many other degree-seeking students that rely on financial assistance. Nova Southeastern University is the largest independent institution of higher learning in Florida, offering the benefits of education to 25,000 students. Nova Southeastern's student body is unique. Eighty percent are evening and part-time graduate degree-seeking students who participate in the workforce while they are seeking their degree. Nova ranks first in the Nation in awarding postgraduate degrees to Hispanic students and is among the leaders in awarding advanced degrees to African American students and disadvantaged students who depend on financial assistance to further their education. Until earlier this year, Nova was also one of the Nation's leading participants in the School as Lenders program. This program allowed Nova to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in low-cost loans to students. Premiums from the sale of these loans provided the university with millions of dollars annually which it used to educate its students. School officials estimate that this year's premiums issued through an Eligible Lender Trustee may be worth as much as $10 million for the school. But this is not just about one institution in south Florida. The version of H.R. 6138 that the House will vote on and ultimately pass today threatens to eliminate the ability of every school issuing loans through an Eligible Lender Trustee to control these premiums. Ultimately, the students seeking to improve their lives through higher education will bear the brunt of this change. H.R. 6138 also eliminates the ability of school lenders and Eligible Lender Trustees to issue low-cost PLUS loans to graduate students. The expensive cost of graduate and professional school programs often requires students to withdraw multiple loans. Eliminating an important source of these loans will drive graduate students to seek more expensive loans, with greater fees and risks to the students. While the overall goals of this legislation are noble and I support the programs that benefit so many, I encourage Members to carefully review the legislation because some of the provisions will hurt students more than help them and in some cases destroy a young person's dream of a higher education and a better future. I understand and support this legislation but believe that not every aspect of it includes the rosy picture that has been painted here today.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. So now what we have in summary is the Director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte, who has signed off on this National Intelligence Estimate and said that he agrees with the conglomerate of intelligence agencies who have determined that we are worse off than we were before we entered Iraq and that Iraq has made us worse; and we have our 9/11 Commission chairs, the bipartisan 9/11 Commission chairs who on September 11 reissued their opinion, that they had issued a report card on their recommendations last December which included 10 C's, 12 D's and 4 F's. ``What we argued then,'' they said, ``is still true now. Americans are safer, but we are not yet safe.'' Well, that was the September 11 assessment. Now the National Intelligence Estimate indicates that, no, we are not safer. We were not safe and we are not safer. Here are some of the items that the 9/11 Commission indicated that we should implement that have not been implemented in the 5 years since 9/ 11. Allocate funding on the basis of risks and vulnerabilities. We haven't done that. We have not created and rehearsed State and local emergency response plans. We have not turned over the broadcast frequencies to first responders now, like we should, instead of in 2009 when the plans are to do that. We have not shut down the turf battles, nor increased information sharing among government agencies. The list goes on and on. There were dozens of recommendations that they made, the majority of which have not been implemented. Both the bipartisan co-chairs have come together repeatedly to say, why has this Congress not moved forward with the recommendations? If we take control of this body, as we hope to on November 7, Mr. Speaker, we will implement the 9/11 recommendations, we will implement our Real Security Plan, we will commit to moving this country in a new direction, instead of continuing on the stay-the-course mentality. We have got to make sure that we go in the direction that the American people have called for, which is to make sure that we aren't interminably mired in the chaos in Iraq; that every single day we don't see more and more of our young men and women killed by suicide bombers and by accidents and by deliberate bombings. All for what? That is what I think the vast majority of Americans are asking themselves every single day, is why are we there? What are we fighting for? Is it worth it? That is why poll after after poll comes back where Americans say they don't think the Iraq war was worth it. They certainly wanted us to go into Afghanistan. They certainly wanted us to go in and finish the job there, to hunt Osama bin Laden down and find him. But we don't even have enough troops on the ground in Afghanistan right now to get that done. That just isn't even possible at this point.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Meek, the sergeant major you are referring to generally, that is the guy you will never see under the direction and control of this institution because they, ``they'' being our Republican colleagues on the other side of the aisle, Mr. Delahunt, they don't like the truth staring them in the face. Because the facts, when they are opposite the facts, the facts really lay out just what a mess we are in. What they need to do is what they do every single day that I have been here as a Member of this body, and that is repeat what they would like to be true over and over and over again. Like you said, force our colleagues on the other side of the aisle to rubber stamp whatever it is they do. Then when they don't automatically rubber stamp whatever it is they do, when that board lights up with the red and the green and the yes and the no, it looks like a Christmas tree, we get Christmas every other month. Whenever there is a tough vote, the arm twisters come out, the arms are wrenched behind their back and conviction gets checked at that Chamber door right there, because when you are elected to Congress as a Republican, apparently you are expected to check your opinions and your principles at the Chamber door and do whatever it is that the leadership is telling you you are going to do and you came here to do. Never mind the folks back home. Never mind going in the direction that the people of this country want to go in. Never mind that we are mired in a chaotic war in Iraq, that gas prices are astronomically high, that we are in a financial situation economically that doesn't allow us to really make the expenditures that we should because we have a deficit that is out of control, because we have a foreign debt that is more than all 42 presidents combined, as you have outlined so eloquently night after night. Yet in 42 days, Mr. Speaker, we have an opportunity to make a difference. We have an opportunity to move this country in a new direction, to implement the New Direction Agenda, to implement the Real Security agenda, to implement an agenda that is going to once again reflect the values and principles and ideals of working families in America, and not just for the select few, and to elect some Members of Congress who will throw away that rubber stamp. You often talk about how on November 8 we are going to come back up here and have a rubber stamp burning party. I look forward to the bonfire, Mr. Speaker.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. And you are absolutely right, Mr. Meek. And we have our interests and we have our intelligence experts saying that staying the course is the wrong approach because we are getting worse not better in terms of the results that we are getting over there. We have our military experts, our generals, that I know Mr. Delahunt has the commentary from the generals that ran the operations in Iraq lined up and ready to walk us through. We try to talk about this. This is not, you know, it would be very easy for us to come out on the floor and talk about what Debbie Wasserman Schultz's opinion is, Kendrick Meek's, Tim Ryan, Bill Delahunt, we are citing the experts, the intelligence experts, the military experts. Mr. Delahunt, I want you, if you would not mind, to go through that. I want to read the opinion of one soldier who communicated my office. This is an e-mail that I got from a soldier in Iraq fighting in Baghdad now. I want to read you his opinion because he is there. He says, ``In truth every day we are over here we become weaker and they become stronger, Taliban too. It is not getting worse in the sense of more violence and stuff like that, it is getting worse in the minds of those over here and those who are going to have to come back over here. We are not doing anything over here. The bad guys just have to kill one American every couple of days, and that is all they have to do to keep things'' expletive deleted. ``We could kill hundreds a day and it would not matter. The longer we stay the worse it gets. Think about it like this, when Americans came back from fighting World War II people said, `thank you for fighting.' When people come back from Iraq, people say, `I am so sorry you had to do that.' They feel pity. Take from that what you will. Whether the Democrats or the Republicans are in the White House in a year and a half, America is in a seriously bad situation. What happened to Russia after they failed in Afghanistan, not to say that that will happen to us, but the fact of the matter is that we are a lot worse off than we were 6 years ago, a lot worse off.'' Now that is pretty damning from a soldier on the ground who is obviously a patriot and who is doing everything he can to protect American interests and to protect the interests of the democracy, the fledgling democracy that has been created by hook or by crook over there. But, let's take that one step further. And look at this chart, Mr. Delahunt, and then I would like to yield to you. But let's follow up on what this young soldier's opinion is from a snapshot of his on the ground, to the reality of our withdrawing from Afghanistan. We have the rhetoric versus the reality. We have joined with the Afghan people to bring down the Taliban regime, the protectors of the al-Qaeda network, and aided a new Democratic government to rise in its place. That is the Republican rhetoric. The reality is that the national--that is the rhetoric called the National Security Strategy of the United States, March 16, 2006. Here is the reality on the ground. From 2001 to 2003, the number of Taliban attacks amounted to 22. From 2004 to 2006 the number of Taliban attacks amounted to 284. How about the number of suicide attacks from 2001 to 2004? Nine. The number of suicide attacks from 2005 to 2006? Sixty-four. This is in Afghanistan, we are not talking about Iraq. Goal for numbers of NATO and U.S. trained soldiers in the Afghan army? 70,000. The number of trained soldiers in the Afghan army: About 26,900. How about the number of hectares, which is an area, in Afghanistan devoted to poppy cultivation in 1999? 51,500. Hectares in Afghanistan devoted to poppy cultivation in 2005? 107,000, more than double. Estimated opium produced from Afghanistan's crop? 4,475 metric tons, and the percent of global opiate supply originating in Afghan is 90 percent. But let's stay the course, Mr. Delahunt. Let's keep going in the same direction and repeating the same mistakes.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding. You ask a very important question: What have we done? I think that answer came to us in the form of a third-party validator in the form of the New York Times on Sunday with the headline, ``Spy Agency Says Iraq War Worsens Terrorism Threat.'' The national intelligence estimate, which is a conglomerate report of all of the spy agencies that operate inside the U.S. Government, and they attribute literally a more direct role to the Iraq war in fueling radicalism than that presented in either White House documents or in a report released last Wednesday by our House Intelligence Committee. Essentially, it asserts that Islamic radicalism, rather than being in retreat, has metastasized, the words in the report, and spread across the globe. We are literally in a situation now where we have our good friends on the other side of the aisle trying desperately to articulate that they are stronger on national security when every day brings more and more bad news for them in terms of where we are versus where we were 5 years ago. If you recall, a couple of weeks ago we talked about on this floor everywhere we all went on September 11. Our constituents asked us, so are we safer? Are we safer this September 11 and beyond than we were on September 11 5 years ago? I have not seen a more damning assessment with a resounding ``no'' as an answer than this one. Add to that your question of what have we done. There are so many reports we could spend the entire hour just on the whole issue of the lack of troops that we have in Iraq and Afghanistan, the assessments that our military experts are doing and desperate messages that they appear to be sending to the administration that are going unheeded. One colonel said his unit equipment levels have fallen so low that they now had no tanks or other armored vehicles to use in training and that his soldiers were rated as largely untrained in attack and defense. That is one of our colonels fighting in Iraq. That is just absolutely inexcusable. It would be different under the Democrats. We would implement our real security plan. We would make sure that the equipment that our troops need would be funded and provided. We would make sure that we have a plan to get us through the war, make sure that we stand up to Iraqi troops and have a phased withdrawal of American troops, and that there would be an end in sight. Mr. Ryan, you said it so well the other day when you gave a very stark assessment of what is going on with the war in Iraq. I know you have some charts here that I am sure you will take us through. We have got to make sure that we focus both on security and getting a handle on the situation over there and getting a handle on the homeland security situation here that is also writhing in disarray inside our own borders.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Delahunt, we talked a couple weeks ago about that handshake and how in the years that I was growing up, that Mr. Meek and Mr. Ryan were growing up, in a trillion years you would never have expected this handshake to ever happen. And it certainty is not the culmination of years of hard work and diplomacy. Growing up, these two countries, Iraq and Iran, were bitter enemies locked in a war across their borders that was seemingly endless. And to have predicted that what would bring them together, and certainly Prime Minister Maliki does not hate the United States, but what would force these two countries together as allies, as that picture demonstrates, is the United States' inappropriate involvement in the midst of that region where essentially they have been forced together because of Iran's hatred for us. And the original conflict emanated from Sunni and Shiite tension and hatred, and now the United States has done what thousands of years was not able to do, brought the Sunnis and the Shiites together, united in hatred for the United States.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. It was a byproduct.

Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. It just does not have to be this way. We have a real security plan that we will implement. After November 7, our Democratic leader, Ms. Pelosi, who will be the Speaker, who will be the Speaker of this House of Representatives, talks about in the first 100 hours, we will pass legislation that will implement the 9/11 Commission recommendations. That we will make sure that we provide our troops with the equipment that they need, that we will provide the region with the number of troops necessary to get the job done so that we can stand the Iraqi troops up and withdraw our troops, and make sure that we begin to withdraw from the region and develop a plan to make sure that it can sustain itself. It is just mind boggling that they support a stay the course concept. We have got to implement the plan that is going to work, instead of continuing down this path to absolute chaos.