DEMOCRATIC AGENDA -- (House of Representatives - February 08, 2006)
02/08/06
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Mr. RYAN of Ohio. One of the interesting things when I was over in China in August, they were talking about the engineers. And they have this tremendous advantage on us as far as numbers go. And so we were asking what is the advantage that the U.S. engineers have. And they were saying, well, U.S. engineers they are just the best in the world, they are the most creative in the world, and they work in teams better than any other engineer, any other country. And it is funny, because this week, and we have talked about this before, but this week we had the school board associations down here. And wouldn't you know, the programs that are getting cut because of lack of funding, No Child Left Behind, the burden that is being pushed, the bonds that need to be noted and the funding that needs to be gathered at a local level in order to fund the local public schools across the country, the programs that are being cut are those programs that teach our kids how to be more creative and how to work in teams better.
You hear a lot about the art programs getting cut, the music programs getting cut, the visual arts getting cut, the performing arts getting cut, language arts getting cut in a lot of these schools because they do not have the resources they need, or the school districts or the school systems are not organized the way they need to be organized.
And then you also see a lot of pay-to-play: $350. Well, a lot of families do not have an extra $350 to get their kids in activities. And if you have two or three kids, you are talking about a thousand bucks. That is a lot of money, I hate to break it to a lot of our friends on the other side who do not seem to understand this. So the very advantage that we have, we are cutting off our nose to spite our face. And those are the kinds of investments that we need to make, not only invest, but restructure and reorganize the way that our education system runs today. And I think if we do a couple of these things and have the courage to lead, I think we are going to be able to do it.
Part of this, too, we need the parents involved; we need the parents to be accountable. We need the parents to be there with their kids. We need to make sure that the parents know that their kids have to do the homework. This is going to be a team effort. This is going to be us doing our job, the parents doing their job, the local school district doing their job, everybody coming together if we are going to be competitive in the 21st century. That is the only way this is going to happen.
And I think it is important, one final point here. I think it is important that if we are going to ask kids to get involved in the math and science and engineering and chemistry and all these things and areas of studies that we need them to get involved in, there needs to be a goal. And I think, really, the goal for the next generation is what Mr. Bartlett was talking about a little while back, about what are we going to do with the alternative energy realm; who is going to develop the new and the latest technologies? Is this going to be a national effort? Not in 2025, Mr. President. Now.
You know, we went to the Moon in less than a decade. And it is going to take us 20 years to figure out how we are going to become energy independent so we can get out of these entanglements that we find ourselves in in the Middle East and in other countries.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. And I mean, forgive me. But, come on, am I the only one that felt it was a little disingenuous to hear from this President that America is addicted to oil and we need to end that addiction? I mean, come on. Where has the commitment to that been?
In the two energy bills that we were asked to vote on in the last year since I have been here, where we were basically giving away the store to the energy and oil companies? I mean, where is the financial commitment? Where has it been to exploring alternative energy sources? Has there been a miraculous transformation in the White House that I am not aware of?
I just do not understand how the administration could not see that you have to, in order to get the American people to believe what you say and to have faith and restore their confidence and belief in you, you have to do what you say you are going to do. And that just does not seem to happen on almost any score, particularly not when it comes to energy independence and exploring alternative energy sources.
And you know, I am proud to be a member of the Democratic Caucus, because when we say something, we mean it. But when we lay out a goal, we back it up with how we might do it were we in charge. You know, we would make a funding commitment to exploring alternative energy resources. We would invest our energy and effort into the Midwest so that not only can we become foreign-oil independent, we can become independent from oil, period.
You know, I am from a State where I do not want to see drilling off the coast of my shoreline. None of my constituents want to see it either. So we need to explore other ways of generating energy in this country that are not dedicated solely to the production of oil, whether it is developed here or in another country. But we actually have to have a plan that would do that, and have Members who actually cast votes in favor of that plan, which just has not happened by any stretch of the imagination here that I have seen.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. No.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, we spent a great deal of time tonight talking about the challenges that are facing our country, and the thing that I have noticed that is the most frustrating for me, Mr. Ryan, is in the short time that I have been here, you know, I was hopeful that just like when I was in the Florida senate, I was able to work effectively across the aisle and on the major issues that were important to our State, just like I was hopeful that we would be able to do here for the important issues in our country.
I was hopeful that I could come to the Congress and sit down, and I was ready to continue to work with Members on the other side on the major issues, not the issues on the margins, because, you know, you are able to find individual Members who you can work with one on one or in small groups on various issues, but on the hot-button issues, on education, on health care, on energy, on prescription drugs, on any of the issues that are really significant to the American people.
It is like those issues are radioactive somehow, and there seems to be an impenetrable wall around the Republican Conference, where it is virtually impossible to get any Member from the other side of the aisle to sit down with a group on our side of the aisle and try to hammer out compromise.
I just do not come from a place where I was used to dealing with my-way-or-the-highway rules of engagement. And you know, maybe now that there is new leadership in the Republican Conference, things will change. Certainly we are hearing words to that effect. It remains to be seen whether those words will be backed up by action. And I look forward to that possibility. I know you do too.
Do you want to talk about the Web site and tell people how they can get in touch with us and reach out to us?
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Absolutely, I do.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. We have a new Web site, Mr. Ryan. We revamped it, and it has a lot of new cool bells and whistles.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Yeah. We are getting really high-tech here. Www.housedemocrats.gov/30something. The innovation agenda that you mentioned will be available so you can hear the new ideas that the Democrats are coming up with. And I think if you look through this, I mean, this is exciting stuff. And you know, I am not just toeing the party line here. I am very, very excited about what we are offering and what we get to talk about over the course of the next year. As we ask the people of this country who put us in charge of the House of Representatives for oversight purposes, with the war, and everything else that is going on, we need to make sure that there is balance in government, and I think that the folks at home and the folks, Members of Congress and their offices, will be able to come to the Web site, see what we are talking about.
Www.housedemocrats.gov/30something. You go to the bottom, you can see all the posters that we have up. You can see our innovation agenda. We have got a lot of really good things going on, and we are going to keep plugging away over the course of the next year to try to let the people know at home that we have good ideas that we want to help move this country forward.
And one final point that I would like to make regarding all of this is that the country of China has 1.3 billion people. The country of India has over a billion people. And we have 300 million in this country. The Democratic agenda, whether we are talking about energy, investments, education, health care, we are about pulling our country together as a community, as a family and moving forward and knowing that you cannot compete against that many people and not be unified. And what the Democratic innovation agenda, our agenda on health care, energy independence, whatever it may be, is about pulling everybody together, making sure that every kid in the country has a quality education, has health care, has an opportunity to live and work and create wealth in the United States and live the American Dream as they see it. So, again, www.housedemocrats.gov/30something.
Got to give a shout out to our guy from Florida who was not able to make it here tonight, Mr. Meek. It is never the same without him. Sometimes it is never the same good, sometimes it is never the same bad. But we miss him here tonight.
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