Freshmen Democrats Celebrate Completing 100-Hour Agenda

FRESHMEN DEMOCRATS CELEBRATE COMPLETING 100-HOUR AGENDA -- (House of Representatives - January 19, 2007)

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Mr. COHEN. Thank you. I appreciate the gentleman from Colorado posing the question and the gentleman from New Hampshire yielding time.

Mr. Speaker, indeed the people of the Ninth District in Tennessee have felt the differences in this Congress. It has been a great honor to be here as a representative of the Ninth District of Tennessee. Bob Dylan said, ``Senators, Congressmen, please heed the call.' I think this class has heeded the call. The call is, people felt that Congress was not a place that the American people intended it to be and our Founding Fathers intended it to be. It had fallen to one of the lowest levels of appreciation or lack of appreciation of any body or group in this country. It had a 34 percent, 33 percent approval rate. That is going to go up. The reason is, I think, because this Congress is going to look to the future and the Democratic Party looks to the future.

Most of y'all probably have heard the same stories I have heard. Politics is kind of like cars. If you want to go forward, you put your car in D like Democrat, in drive. And if you want to go in reverse, you put it in R like Republican, you go in reverse. We are in D and the Democrats are going forward and it is about the future. Most of this legislation has been about the future. It has been about the future of people never having to work for $5.15 an hour.

People have come up in this well, Mr. Speaker, and they have talked about watch out for your pocketbook or watch out for your wallet. Folks making $5.15 an hour can't hardly afford a wallet. So when they are talking about look out for your wallet, they are not thinking about the people that are performing the jobs that are necessary to keep this country moving forward that most of us don't want to participate in. Those people will be getting $7.25 in a couple of years and they will have something to put in their pocketbook.

Regarding stem cell research, the gentleman from Colorado mentioned his child. My father had Alzheimer's. Lots of people have family members or friends who have had illnesses that might be cured. That is the future. There will be cures or there will be treatments for diseases because of the legislation that was taken and passed during this 100 hours by this House, and we hope the Senate will concur.

If you look at stem cell research, that is the future. The minimum wage, that is the future. Certainly on oil and fuels and new ideas on energy and getting us independent of Middle Eastern oil, that is defense. That is the future. So if you want to go forward, you put your car in D, you support Democrats and go forward. I am happy to be a part of this Democratic class. It has been an exciting experience. It has been a great 100 hours. We have got a great Speaker, historic, the first woman Speaker. Next week when the President delivers his State of the Union address, there will be a woman behind him. Behind every successful man, there is a woman, and even behind this President there is going to be a woman, and there is going to be a great woman, Speaker Pelosi.

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