30-Something Working Group
30-SOMETHING WORKING GROUP -- (House of Representatives - March 02, 2006)
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Thank you. We in the 30-something Working Group, and as other Members come to the floor, we talk about these issues that are facing Americans and this issue of selling off our country, borrowing off of our country to foreign nations. You start talking about China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, even the Caribbean countries. They cannot do it by themselves. They have been able to accumulate over 45 percent of your debt thus far because the Republican majority has handed it to them.
I must say, you are a part of Congress, and a number of you who are part of Congress were on the floor when we balanced the budget. The Republicans are talking about cutting it in half. We actually have experience in following through on our side. So we have to continue to come to the floor and share not only with the Members but with the American people about what we can do and what we want to do. We do not want to sell off our country, and that is what it is all about.
The work that you all do in the Budget Committee is so very, very important to us all.
Mr. MORAN of Virginia. I thank the gentleman.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. You are welcome. I must say, Madam Speaker, it is an honor to come to the floor once again. I know that the Members appreciate the information that we provide to not only the Democratic Members but also Members of the Republican side, the majority. I think it is also important for us to point out issues that are working against Americans and those issues and bipartisan pieces of legislation that are working for America. And we have to see more of that.
I think it is important for us to also reflect on the fact that right now more than ever we need to have a forward lean in getting our fiscal house in order as we start moving through this budget process and also making sure we come clean with the American people on all fronts.
This afternoon we are going to not only talk about our fiscal house but we are also going to talk about making sure we are straight with the American people. The whole reason we come to the floor is there are so many disturbing things that are happening in our country. I am not talking about everyday Americans. I am talking about those who are elected to come here and represent, need it be a lack of oversight or need it be something that the executive branch has done, that this Congress, the majority side has rubber stamped.
Here on this side we have a number of examples of how we have tried to put America back on the right track, not only in leveling with them on homeland security, leveling with the American people as it relates to protecting our ports and our airports and seaports, but also as it relates to the dollar. A lot has happened in the last 4 years, and we have to share that information with them.
I am so glad my good friend and also a part of the 30-something Working Group, Mr. ARTUR DAVIS from Alabama, is continuing on. I know you were part of the last hour with the Budget Committee. I appreciate the work that you all have done thus far, the work that you are doing, looking at what the President has done.
I was hoping maybe you could shed some light on when we start talking about the President during the State of the Union. We were both here. He talked about innovation. He talked about it; and when he released his budget, I heard the talk, but I did not see the walk afterwards as it relates to the fiscal situation. But I appreciate your work on the committee, and maybe you can shed some more light on this, sir.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Madam Speaker, I mean, we are willing to follow the rules. We are ready. We are ready to do what we have to do to be able to put this country on the right track.
The bottom line is that the Republican majority, time after time, because they are not doing their job by keeping the executive branch in check, Madam Speaker, things like videos that are broadcast throughout the world, commander-in-chief says I did not know anything about Hurricane Katrina, it was a shock to me, I learned 72 hours after the hurricane, blankets and everything is on the way to New Orleans, and we are going to do what we have got to do. Then lo and behold, in this great democracy of ours, a video surfaces where the President was informed of the power of this hurricane and that 12,000 people evacuated or went to some sort of high ground in the Superdome and that we are going to have massive flooding, and that this was bigger than Hurricane Andrew that hit my community almost 12 years ago, Madam Speaker. The President's in Crawford, Texas, on video phone, and he says we are ready and we are prepared to respond. Then he shows up a couple of days later, goes back to the White House acting like he is shocked.
That is what I am talking about, leveling with the people, but it is easy to say that you do not know because you have said it before. Well, I did not know anything about the intelligence, no one told me, no one told me about a special port deal dealing with the questionable, quote, unquote, new ally. No one told me; I did not know. I feel sorry for the White House spokesperson. Goodness gracious. I mean, the guy must have an ulcer by now because he has to come week after week, day after day now, and say, well, you know, we did not know, we did not know.
I am sick and tired, and I do not care, if I had no party affiliation in this House, I am sick and tired of folks here in Washington saying they do not know. Somebody knows. This stuff just does not happen on its own, and it is very, very wrong for someone to sit up here and insult the American people. I think the American people have had enough of this stuff. The polling indicates they have had enough of it and the Republican majority.
We are here saying let us get together on innovation. Let us make sure our country is ahead of other countries in innovation and the sciences and math. Let us educate our children in broadband access. We are here with this innovation document almost every day. Madam Speaker, we encourage Members to go on housedemocrats.gov. We say it every day. This has been out for several weeks. The ink's pretty dry. We can bring the big binder down here if someone wants to get a copy of that.
They do not want to level with the American people. We have got men and women in harm's way right now based on weapons of mass destruction, and a lot of folks are running around here saying we did not know. We have got CIA agents that have been outed; oh, I did not know anything about that; I do not know how that happened; I do not even know the lady. Okay.
I just want to go down memory lane here, and it is continuing to unfold. Here the Republican majority just last year this time, well, let us just put it this way, 3 months ago, this time embracing and boasting about the K Street Project. Yes, we have the K Street Project, and guess what, if the lobbyists are not in tune with us, then they do not even get to come into our office, if they are not a part of the K Street Project.
It is basically you pay your dues to the Republican National Committee or the Republican Congressional Committee and you get access. Oh, well, that is fine. And are you a part of that project? And Democrats, who if they even have a Democratic affiliation, they could not even go into a lobbying firm. They had to be okayed and checked off by this so-called K Street Project that grew out of the Capitol, not into the Capitol.
So I do not blame lobbyists and special interests for that. I blame folks that walk in here and have voting cards just like we do on the majority side.
I am going to say this, too, Madam Speaker, it is disturbing. Folks run around here saying we need lobbying reform. Well, you know, I do not recall the lobbyists walking in here knocking on the door of the Republican majority, saying you know something, I want you to make me contribute to your campaign; I want you to make me hire your ex-staffers; I want you to make me do things that I ordinarily would not do because I think I need to have some sort of approach for the best person; but if you send a person to me and I want to have access to this House, to this Senate and to the White House, I have got to play by your rules.
I doubt if that happened. I guarantee you that did not happen, and now after a certain lobbyist has said guess what, you are an attorney and you were educated at one of the best schools here in this country. A man says, okay, I know you accuse me of being a part of the Washington inside game, what a lobbyist does, he goes to trial, do we have to go through a jury pool selection? The guy says I am guilty, right here, handcuff me, please hurry up before I do something else, and I am willing to help you with some folks on Capitol Hill that I did business with on a daily basis for access into the process, okay, then the Republican majority comes out and says that K Street Project, hey, that is wrong. All right. Well, there is something really, really wrong with that.
Then you wonder exactly what you are talking about, how did we get to allowing countries to borrow $1.16 trillion of the American apple pie. How did Japan infiltrate the United States of America, owning a piece of the American pie? How did Red China get into it? How did the OPEC Nations like Saudi Arabia and other questionable lists get there when people start talking about this?
So when folks come to the floor and try to have a moment of clarity, I have to kind of just stand up and say, hey, the 30 Something Working Group, we have been talking about this stuff. Folks can talk about a green assault or they can come with a positive message. I am going to take from Mr. Ryan. You show me a way to talk positively, how we are selling our country off to foreign Nations and we will do it if it is okay.
I know Mr. Ryan wants to say something, and I am going to go to Mr. Davis because he has been holding something for a very long time, but I had to get that out, because as an American, let us just put the Democratic thing aside.
This is our country, too. This is our country, too, but Madam Speaker, I may represent too many veterans, too many troops in harm's way, allowing us to salute one flag. Maybe I am just a little bit too attached to my constituency, but I tell you one thing, they defended this country for us to be up here in this chamber representing them in a way they should be represented.
I will be doggone if we let whoever it is in the majority or what have you run this country, continue to run this country into the ground, and we do not have the prerogative to say anything.
We are in the minority. There is very little we can do because we cannot put a bill on the floor, but we are going to do everything we can do to step on the line, cross the line, because this country's being sold over to foreign Nations, and folks are running around here talking about security. They do not even want to level with the American people even about a hurricane.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Well, Mr. Davis, the bottom line is, and Mr. Ryan said it last night and I will say it again, the American public is very coachable. The bottom line is: So shall it be written, so shall it be done out of the White House, and we have got to protect the President.
Let me tell you something. The President has Secret Service, all that good stuff, and about 100 staffers, or more than that.
Mr. DAVIS of Alabama. Actually 1,000, Mr. Meek.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. A thousand staffers. A whole army of them wearing suits. And I will tell you this. Everyone respects the commander in chief, but the thing about our Constitution, our democracy, and the three branches of government means that we don't have to follow the President when he is heading us down the road.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. He is not a king, Mr. Meek.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. He is not a king. Thank you, Mr. Ryan. Thank you for making that very clear.
But it seems that folks don't understand that that is the case.
Now, I have Republican constituents that are very highly upset. Some of them got into the Republican Party looking for fiscal responsibility because that is all they sold, Madam Speaker. But the bottom line is, when you look in the final analysis, who is spending the money now? Who is borrowing the money now?
The thing is, we balanced the budget. We had surpluses as far as the eye could see, yet within a matter of a few, short, single-digit years this country is far beyond a point of return if we don't stop this Republican Congress from doing what they are doing.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Ms. Wasserman Schultz just joined us, and I can tell both my colleagues right now what is wrong here. We talk about folks not leveling with the American people, which is wrong, and they are still not. They are still not.
We come to the floor because we think it is important that people understand what is going on. We have been talking about the debt ceiling being raised, and I want to be able to raise this again, because this stuff is historic. We know it, but I want to make sure the Members know what is going on. This is historic.
It is historic in a way that in the middle of the holiday season last year, on the 29th of December, when I was with my family.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Getting ready for New Year's.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Getting ready for New Year's, looking forward to the New Year, and Members of Congress were back in their districts, as we all should be, with pies being baked and all kind of good stuff.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Cabbage and sauerkraut.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Yes, things like that. And Secretary Snow obviously was in his office that day, the 29th of December 2005, Madam Speaker, and he wrote this letter to one of our Senators informing him of the current $8.1 billion ceiling that we had.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Meek. It's trillion.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Currently, the debt limit is $8.1 trillion. He wrote billion in this letter. I am just reading what he says there. It says billion. It doesn't say trillion, it says billion.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Wrong.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Well, it could be a typo.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. It is a big typo.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. But he is basically just talking about the debt ceiling, that it will be reached in 2006; at this time, unless the debt ceiling is raised, we will no longer be able to continue financing government operations.
This is on the 29th of December. On February the 16th he writes another letter, Secretary Snow. We talk about him. We have his portrait here. He is a nice guy. He is just trying to figure out how to run this thing because the Republican Congress is handing him a fixed deck.
He writes John Spratt, who is the ranking minority member on the Budget Committee here in the House, an honorable man, and he says, on December 29th I wrote the Congress regarding the need to increase the statutory debt limit. Because the debt limit has not been raised, I must inform the Congress that pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 8438(h)(2) that it is my determination that by reason of the fact the public debt limit has not been raised, I can no longer pay into the retirement system.
That is the retirement system that we call the G Fund, which basically puts forth the dollars for us to be able to invest in the retirement system of the Federal employees. He can no longer do it. He goes on, to relieve the Federal employees, that when the debt ceiling is raised that he would be able to continue the investment there.
Now, if you can just bear with me for 1 second, because I have to go through this and make sure everyone is clear. Again, this chart is one of the most famous charts; one day it may appear somewhere over in the National Archives, because it is history. It is history in our country. Unfortunately, it is bad history, not good history. And we keep things because we have to make sure we never make this mistake again.
In the 224 years prior to this President and the Republican Congress getting their opportunity to have free rein on borrowing, 42 Presidents before President Bush only borrowed $1.01 trillion. That is a fact. Anyone can check it out. This is the U.S. Department of Treasury. That is our third-party validator, Madam Speaker.
President Bush, along with friends and colleagues in the Republican Congress, has borrowed $1.01 trillion and counting from foreign nations.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Unbelievable.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Let us talk about these foreign nations just for a second. This is a silhouette and map of the United States of America, one of the greatest countries on the face of the Earth. I think it is important that we talk about the people that own all the parts of the American apple pie.
I challenge Mr. Ryan and Ms. Wasserman Schultz, and any Member of this U.S. House of Representatives, Democrat or Republican, that can explain to me a better way to say that this is a good thing for the American people.
Canada. We will put that up there. They own $53.8 billion of the American apple pie. Korea, they own $65.5 billion of the American apple pie that we have borrowed from these countries. $65.7 billion, Germany owns a piece of the American apple pie, thanks to the Republican majority and the President, with their policies. The UK, some may say friend and ally, they are friends and allies of our efforts that are going on. They own a piece of America right now at $223.2 billion. That is a lot of money. OPEC nations. I am going to put that here, down there by Texas. They own $67.8 billion of the American apple pie. And I think it is important.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Mr. Meek, will you yield for one moment?
Mr. MEEK of Florida. I will yield.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I just want to let the Members know according to the Department of Treasury, again, third-party validator, the OPEC designation includes those countries, what is it, $65 billion?
Mr. MEEK of Florida. $67.8 billion and counting, Mr. Ryan.
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Okay. That is what we have borrowed from them. Iran, Iraq, Libya, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Bahrain, Ecuador, Oman, Venezuela, Qatar, Nigeria, Kuwait, Indonesia.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Did you say Iran?
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. I said Iran and I also said Iraq. I also said UAE, which has been in the news lately. But I just wanted to clarify for you.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. So it is not shocking from this administration to get anything from folks that may have a questionable past in the effort against terrorism. Am I correct, sir?
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Iran, all the nuclear issues, all the conflict and controversy, we are borrowing money from them to finance the Republican spending spree that is rewarding their wealthy contributors.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. So they hold the note on the United States of America?
Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Them, along with a lot of other countries, yes.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. MEEK of Florida. There are so many people, so many countries, questionable and nonquestionable, ally and non-ally, Madam Speaker, that have a part of the American apple pie.
China. There are a lot of concerns about China. Red China, Communist China. Guess what? In the shining example of a democracy, they own $249.8 billion of our debt. They have it.
Taiwan, a lot of things are made there in Taiwan. $71.3 billion in Taiwan that they own of U.S. debt.
Japan. You heard of Japan and we just finished talking about Japan, $682.8 billion.
Now, Mr. Ryan, if you were to take all of the State budgets, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, and all of us, you were a senator, State senator, Ms. Wasserman Schultz and I were State Senators once upon a time, we understand State budgets. They have to balance. But I guarantee you can put all of the State budgets together in the United States, including Alaska and Puerto Rico and Hawaii, you name it. It doesn't total up to the amount of debt that Japan owns of the United States, which is the $682.8 billion.
Now, that is history and that is the present. The only one way we can have a paradigm shift, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, is to do what Mr. Ryan talked about earlier. We share with the Members, time, examples, page, routing numbers, all of those things that the American people and these Members and the Republican Members can go back and see where we have tried to stop them from doing this. You pay as you go, like you said.
If you end up finding yourself in a financial situation, what do you do, go out and get another credit card? No, you start saying I have to pay for things because I can't get any more credit.
But the thing about this Republican majority, Madam Speaker, and the President of the United States, they just feel it is okay. Oh, I can go out and talk to one of our other friends and say, buy our debt.
Mr. Ryan, would you take that chart where you talk about domestic borrowing. You go over that, but I want to make sure that you share with the Members exactly what they are doing.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Ryan, the bottom line is that you really started to paint a picture here. What has happened over the last 4 to 5 years of this Republican Congress rubber stamping what the President has proposed has driven this country almost to the point of the 50 percent mark of foreign countries owning the United States of America financially. We owe them. Countries that don't even recognize, folks want to talk about an effort against terrorism.
Right now there is something major going on in the Middle East. You have the countries that are a part of this port deal that don't even recognize Israel. I mean, they are like, well, we don't even want to do business with them. Okay? As a matter of fact, Iran wants to blow Israel off the map. You have folks that are there saying all these statements every week about our friends and allies: if this is about the war on terror, we have to make sure that we do what we need to do and stick close to our friends.
And what is wrong here, Mr. Ryan and Ms. Wasserman Schultz, is that the President is still making statements, Madam Speaker, such as, well, I have not changed my mind. They are going to have their 45-day review and all that kind of stuff.
It happens to be a U.S. statute, I must add.
Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. A small detail.
Mr. MEEK of Florida. Saying that if anyone, anyone, raised any concerns, any concerns, one of the lowest bars of statutory language, that there should automatically be a 45-day review.
Do you remember that we went for 72 hours, Madam Speaker, and no one bothered to open the statute books to say we should have had an investigation because there is a questionable pass of this country and that it should be done. But the administration came out stonewalling and trying to strong-arm this House of Representatives and the Senate, saying, we are going to do what we have got to do and we are going to stick with it, and we think it is the right thing to do. And the statutes were on our side, on the people's side, saying, no, there should be a 45-day review.
So we are going to see what is going to happen.
But I hope, Madam Speaker, that the Republican majority here in the House and in the Senate no longer says, well, Mr. President, we still have our stamp. If you say we should do it, we will figure out a way to do it, and we will not object because we have got to be close to our friends.
Well, we are going to find out the leaders from the followers. The bottom line, Ms. Wasserman Schultz and Mr. Ryan, is, are you with them or are you with our allies, our true allies? That is the question.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Mr. MEEK of Florida. With that, Madam Speaker, we would like to thank Mr. Jim Moran, who was with us earlier, Mr. Artur Davis also and Ms. Wasserman Schultz and definitely Mr. Ryan for coming to the floor. We would like to thank the Democratic leadership for allowing us to have the hour.
http://thomas.loc.gov/