Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act

Mr. Speaker, today marks the eighth month since my colleagues and I were given the privilege to enter this sacred institution to represent our respective districts across the country. The Democratic freshman class, one of the largest in recent history, also came at an historic time in changing control of both houses of Congress and leading America in a new direction.

Much has changed in eight months. Much has changed personally for each and every one of us. Eight months ago I stood in this very spot with my 2-month-old son, Gus, as we were sworn into this esteemed body. My 5-year-old was a kindergartner at the time.

Well, now, 8 months later, Gus is 10 months old, on the verge of walking; and that kindergartner is now an experienced first grader.

Much has changed for us professionally. I had the opportunity last week to go back and address the school where I taught. Many of us came to this institution from many different walks of life. We were teachers. We were newspapermen. We were law enforcement officers. We were physicians. We were farmers. We were many different things. But each and every one of us came to this institution with a very sacred duty: to change the direction that America was going; to listen to the American public; and to make sure that this institution was once again judged on effectiveness, not ideology. And this Congress has done just that.

This Congress has changed the priorities that have permeated Washington for the past 12 years. This new Congress has changed things from some of the most historic funding for veterans to the most sweeping ethics reform, described as some of the biggest changes since the Watergate era.

We have much to be proud of and much work yet to do. The Democratic freshman class was given an opportunity to change the course and to change the debate.

I had the opportunity to speak with some reporters asking what will the legacy be? What will this class have accomplished when all is said and done? And I think, in looking at this group of people and having the sense of pride that I have in serving with them, that the answer will not be known for many years. This class has thrown themselves into their work with such due diligence that I think the American people would be proud. We passed legislation not just on a Democratic agenda but on a bipartisan agenda.

We knew, each and every one of us that got here, that we did not come to this institution with an ideological mandate. We knew that the American people, when they were speaking last November, were not saying that they were enamored with just Democratic ideology. They were enamored with the speaking about changing the direction of the country, providing a new direction, providing ethics that actually work. Providing funding for our veterans, funding for our children, and taking this country in a new direction in the war on terror and what was happening in Iraq.

And I am proud to stand here today with my colleagues, and we are going to spend a little bit of time highlighting those achievements, and it is one that all American people should be proud of.

This Congress can do nothing with just one party. This Congress can do nothing with just ideology. When this Congress works together, things get done that would amaze the American people.

I, coming from Minnesota, have witnessed two of the biggest disasters that my State has ever witnessed. Back on August 1, the collapse of the I-35W bridge, to see a major interstate, eight-lane highway, crash into the Mississippi River. We lost seven people with a hundred injured. That tragedy and the response to it illustrates what can be the best in America.

Within 60 hours, the House of Representatives and the Senate had passed

legislation to rebuild that bridge. It went to the President's desk within 72 hours, was passed, and the money is already flowing to the State of Minnesota to correct that.

Last week on August 19, we saw some of the most massive flooding in my district that had ever been witnessed, 17-plus inches of rain in a 24-hour period. We had seven deaths and thousands of homes washed out. The response was quick. It was bipartisan. It was professional. And it is one that the American people should expect, not hope for.

While the rains were still falling, I toured the area in the first few hours with the Republican Governor of Minnesota. The following day I toured with the Republican Senator and a Democratic Senator, and we held a news conference together with the Republican Governor. On Tuesday, President Bush was in Minnesota saying he would do everything he could to support us. On Wednesday, the Governor asked for a declaration, a disaster declaration, and on Thursday the President approved it. By the weekend FEMA was on the ground and people were rebuilding their lives.

That is what the American people should expect out of government: it is effectiveness; not its ideology; its bipartisanship, and it can be judged on what we do for the American public.

Those things have happened. They have happened across the board. They have happened in great numbers. And it is a message that I think the American people should be proud of.

As I said, much has changed. Much has changed for me personally. This is the first year I didn't start a school year teaching in a classroom. But I said many of those years, those 20 years in the classroom, taught me something about the next generation of Americans. They are optimistic. They believe that the best days are yet to come. They have a vision that can extend beyond the next election into the next generation. Our young people understand this. The American people understand this.

My colleagues are here not out of anything great that they personally did, but they are here and this change is happening because of the greatness of the American public. The American public and the system knew it needed to self-correct itself. It needed to bring change to this institution, and that change is happening.

So for the next few minutes, we are going to discuss some of those. I am privileged to be joined by my colleague from Kentucky, another one of the freshmen that came here that sprung up from this greatness of the American public and brought a message of change, of optimism, of prosperity that all of us can benefit from.

With that, I yield to my colleague from Kentucky (Mr. Yarmuth).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Kentucky. And he sums it up well. One of the things that the American public is most frustrated with is the idea of nothing happening or obstructionism. And I think some know that there is a difference between legislation and politics. But most people in America don't want to deal with the political side of it. They want to see the effectiveness.

And I should note 8 months ago on this day a couple of major changes were made that we were able to make. We have three branches of government, but the business that happened in this House for both sides of the aisle can be changed with rule changes. And on that first day we made some major rule changes that affect the American public, to understand that rhetoric is not good enough, that action is what is demanded.

The first thing that we did is we enacted PAYGO budgeting. No more blank checks. No more recklessly spending our children's rightful inheritance to this country by putting in fiscal policies that are short-term, feel-good tax breaks for very few Americans. PAYGO budgeting is exactly what the American people live by. It is how every middle-class American has to get by in their own life. And this House of Representatives finally put that in. By doing so, we will do something that the American people should expect to happen: We will balance the Federal budget by 2012.

But that's not good enough. We have a $9 trillion deficit. The idea that this Congress has been able to tell people you can have something for nothing, you can give tax cuts to the wealthiest and underfund programs, what's happened is this country is using the equity in our own country that belongs rightfully to our children and spending it now. Those days are over. PAYGO is a rule of this House and it will continue to be so as long as the Democratic Congress stays as it is.

The other major change was one that the American people simply don't understand. Many of us who came here didn't understand it, and many of us were incredibly frustrated by it, how this sacred institution, the most important, deliberative legislative body, democratic institution the world has ever seen has an image problem when it comes to ethics. Every single Member who walks through this door should be very, very cognizant of what this means to the American people.

So the ethics changes that were taken up 8 months ago, I think the American public would probably be hard-pressed to even believe that it didn't happen. The difference between 8 months ago and today is simply this: Lobbyists will no longer be able to provide one penny in food, not one penny in gifts, and not one penny in travel to any Member of this body. Now, that's a far sight from golf trips to Scotland and special interests that we had seen before. Those who think that the election of last November made no difference, look no further than K Street to understand the changes that happened here. Ethics changes have been sweeping.

Now, one of the things in standing here and talking about these things, I think there is a sense of frustration amongst many of us, the game seems to be coming from the other side of the aisle, is to delay and slow everything down and to drive the approval rating of this Congress as low as it can possibly go. None of us should be happy with the fact that when a Presidential approval rating is as low as this President's is and a congressional approval rating is as low as this body is right now, that's nothing to be proud of. And it's nothing to point one finger at each side of the aisle. What we're doing is we're undermining the basic tenet of this great democracy. And for those who think that this is someplace else, it's full of your neighbors, it's full of the people you work with, it's full of the teachers, the newspapermen, the law enforcement officers that you sent here. It is incumbent upon this institution to get the ethics changes right.

So we have passed some of the most sweeping ethics changes. And soon, maybe by the end of today, we will see the President sign in more of that; tightening up of not only the bans on gifts, but also making sure that bundled contributions to campaigns are being shown, that we know who's giving money, that we understand who is trying to look at and who is trying to influence decisions that are made in this House.

Now, one of the things I would like to say is that, speaking of your own accomplishments, there is a saying in Minnesota, ``Act and let others do the speaking for you.'' I want to quote a few things that have come out of newspapers basically over the last 30 days of all things that are happening here. We have a couple of things here. ``Democrats who control Congress headed into a summer recess having passed several high-profile bills, raising the minimum wage, bolstering U.S. security, expanding children's health care. Their top priority, ending the Iraq war, remains frustratingly unfulfilled. But the Democrats who took over in January were able to go home last month for a month-long break having won more support in the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives for bringing combat troops home by next year than any time before, marking a significant turnaround from last year.'' Reuters of August 5 of this year.

``Some non-partisan observers agree, Democrats have reason to boast. Democrats have had a good run legislatively over the past few weeks, and that does help them going into the recess,'' said Larry Sabato, Director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia.

``Congressional Democrat majority made major strides towards implementing its domestic agenda before going home. It will face hurdles when lawmakers return at summer's end, President Bush being the main one. Farm bills, lobbying reform, energy, education, children's health insurance, all advanced in the final 10 days, establishing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as a major legislative player.'' Wall Street Journal.

``Besides their success on increasing the minimum wage, ethics and lobbying, September 11 Commission recommendations, Democrats have moved forward with initiatives to expand health insurance for all of America's children through the SCHIP program, a shift in U.S. energy policy away from reliance on foreign fossil fuels. They have helped focus the war debate on the question of when, not if, U.S. forces will be pulling out.'' The Los Angeles Times.

``I have long been and continue to be an advocate of congressional oversight as a fundamental element of our system of government. I also have publicly expressed my belief that congressional debate on Iraq has been constructive, appropriate and necessary.'' That last one coming from Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates.

This Congress is making changes. This Congress is listening to the American public. This Congress is taking what it can control in its own hands, like rules, and strengthening them, making sure that ethics reform is a top priority, making sure that people can once again walk in this building, see this American flag, understand the history that's been written here, and trust the Members that have been here to do the duty of the American public. And in doing so, we have passed some of the most sweeping legislation.

The first one I want to talk a little bit about is veterans issues. Now, in serving on the Veterans' Affairs Committee, it's something that, of course, is very near and dear to my heart, something that I can't say that it's a personal sense of pride, but it's one of a personal sense of responsibility. The House historian notified me, after a week or two here in Congress, that as a retired command sergeant major in the Army National Guard, that I was the top ranking enlisted soldier to ever serve in Congress. Now, those Members familiar with the military understand that being an enlisted soldier brings a sense of responsibility of making sure troops are taken care of.

So to sit on the Veterans' Affairs Committee and watch the historic progress that has been made on veterans issues, I think it's interesting to keep a couple of facts in mind. In the 77-year history that we've had a Veterans Administration or the Veterans Affairs, in that 77-year history there has never been the infusion of resources given to that administration as

we've seen in the last 8 months. There is a group of veteran service organizations led by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Disabled American Veterans, the Paralyzed American Veterans, the American Legion, that each and every year for the last 22 years have put together what they call the independent budget. And this independent budget does something very simple. It takes a look at the needs of all American veterans. It determines how many veterans are going to need services, whether it be veterans health care, re-employment, educational benefits, and the gamut of resources that we provide our veterans for the service they do this country. They take that number and then they figure out the real dollar cost of providing exactly those services, services that were promised, services that were guaranteed to our veterans when they signed up or were drafted to serve this Nation at times of peace and times of war. They take those two numbers and they put it in a budget and they send it to Congress. They say, you have X number of veterans at X number of cost; therefore, you should budget X number of dollars. And for the past 21 years, Congress has failed to meet that.

Congress has so blatantly understated the need that the current administration stated 3 years ago, when they made their budget, that their determination was that we would see fewer veterans and the cost of veterans health care would go down. Most of us will take the bet that the sun will not rise tomorrow before that would happen. And guess what? It did not happen. So we were left, 2 years ago, with a nearly $2 billion shortfall in taking care of our veterans. And the decision came then, who doesn't get care? Who do we turn away? And the answer was simply, turn away Priority 8 veterans. We will prioritize these veterans.

Now, Priority 8 veterans, to the American public, that may not seem like too much, but a Priority 8 veteran is this. It's someone in my district making $27,701 or more can be thrown off as a Priority 8. That can be a combat veteran. That can be a veteran of our conflicts, our current conflicts, Vietnam, or World War II, determined mostly on the economic scale, not the need, the accessibility, not what was promised to them, not what the right thing to do was. But lo and behold, you knock off several million veterans, and look, we had a balanced budget. That's not the way this Congress is going to deal with it. That is not the way this Congress is going to keep their responsibilities. And in this budget, we increased $3.6 million in veterans funding over the President's request.

When we passed that piece of legislation by, I believe, and I believe this is correct, I may be off by one or two, 409-2 was when this passed, and that piece of legislation was being threatened to be vetoed in that appropriations by this President. One of the 12 appropriations bills which, by the way, for the first time in a decade, all 12 were done on time, all were done by the August recess. That, in addition to passing nine earlier this year that were not done from last year's work.

So for any American who listens to the rhetoric, who listens to people talk about nothing being done, the question would be, can they back that up with fact? We can back it up with fact.

We've made some major changes on dealing with the current situation in Iraq and Afghanistan. The signature injuries of this war is the traumatic brain injuries and the concussive injuries caused by improvised explosive devices. They have become more sophisticated over time in the damage that they're doing.

The care our soldiers are receiving on the battlefield is second to none. It is the best care that has ever been given in the history of warfare on this planet. One of the problems with that is we are sending soldiers home with horrible injuries, injuries that are going to be with them for a lifetime, that is going to take a lifetime of care. And what this Congress has done is we passed legislation introducing new research dollars, new research centers, five of them, to be placed around the country in conjunction with our VA hospitals that have our polytrauma centers, the ones that are dealing with these concussive injuries. And we're going to put the funding there, we're going to put the research there, and it's going to do something. It's going to provide care not only to the soldiers, but it's going to provide the necessary resources to the families that are going to have to adjust their entire lives to deal with the damage that has been done by these injuries. This is not something that these veterans and their families should feel lucky to have. It's not something that they should have to come here, even though that's exactly what happens, and lobby this Congress to do that. It's what is the morally right thing to do. It is also the best way to show future generations of our young people who want to serve this country, who want to defend this country, that if they do so, we will be there every step of the way.

What we're seeing coming out of this conflict is post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide prevention. We passed H.R. 327, Joshua Omvig Veterans Suicide Prevention Act. That is starting to get centers up and running. It's starting to do more identification. We are now screening every single soldier who returns from this conflict for traumatic brain injury and for post-traumatic stress disorder.

We are changing the way that we welcome our soldiers home. We are changing the way that we treat them and we screen them and we bring they and their families into the process of making them whole again.

We have the Rural Veterans Healthcare Improvement Act. One of the things we have a problem with, and this is one the American people should be incredibly frustrated with that I, as a veteran, was, our veterans who have to travel to VA centers to get health care are reimbursed at the 1978 rate of 11 cents a mile. And I have a veteran, a first sergeant no less, who saw combat duty in Korea. When he brought this up about a year ago to an official, he was simply told to get a more fuel-efficient automobile. Now, this Congress has found fit to reimburse itself at 48\1/2\ cents a mile. At some point, the American public should ask where is the hypocrisy in who we're treating and who should receive the benefit. But those have changed.

We also introduced legislation that changed the GI Bill. We have soldiers, in the units that I served with, in the 34th Division who served the longest tour of duty in the war of Iraq of any unit in the U.S. military, 22 months. These are the same soldiers that, 14 months previously, served a tour of duty in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, the war in Afghanistan. And the way the GI Bill is written, these soldiers have been gone for 4 years. Many of them signed up for a 6-year commitment. Their commitment is coming to an end, and at the same time, their benefits. They would have been able to use their GI Bill had they not been out fighting a war to defend America, had they not been doing what they were asked to do, and because of that they were losing their benefit. Previous Congresses took no action to correct that. This Congress did. That's taking care of our veterans. That's not only standing in front of them for photo opportunities, it's standing behind them.

I am proud to say this new Congress puts its money where its mouth is. It truly supports our veterans. It understands that it's bipartisan. And this is a great accomplishment.

At this point, I would like to yield a little time to my colleague from Kentucky to talk about a few more initiatives.

The gentleman's point, one of the things that is very well taken is that the genius of our system lies in the system of checks and balances, the oversight that should have been provided. Now, those of us who were expressing grave misgivings about the President's plan to basically simply trust him that he had a plan for Iraq, to trust him that he had a plan on this, and any of us who spoke out and said, the responsibility for enacting foreign policy lies between the Congress and the President, carrying out the military side of it will always be done with great professionalism.

But as we ask the questions, what is the step beyond the military? What is the step for political gain in Iraq? What is the bigger picture, the geopolitical picture, of the Middle East? When we started asking those questions for 3 years prior to this Congress coming, we were told we were unpatriotic, that we were somehow undermining the troops. Forget that we funded them in terms of the VA and everything else at a historic level once we got here. We were told that. This oversight and this ability to check the executive branch is exactly what the American people are looking at.

I stress it and say it again. I do not believe that the American public were enamored strictly with Democratic ideology. But I can tell you what they were disgusted with; the belief of the sense of righteousness that was coming that there could be no room for debate, there was no room to compromise, there was no room to listen to the experts, and there was no reason to back off and say, ``Perhaps we were wrong.'' That's what we heard. That's what we heard for 6 years from this administration. That's what we heard with a Congress that provided this President no reason to veto. None. Zero. Why should he? They were writing the legislation. The President has been using the word ``veto'' in almost every sentence since we came here. That tells me the system is working beautifully. That tells me that the system is providing those checks and balances.

In this idea of oversight, there are a couple of important pieces of legislation that I would like to bring up and

then talk about how bills are now being written here, how laws are being enacted, and how the rhetoric that gets to the American people is all based on spin and politics. It is not based on reality.

The first of these is the Rail Safety Act. We had a sense in this country over time, and it was fought for by our grandparents and by our great-grandparents, it was fought for by every generation, to provide safe working conditions for our workers, to provide child labor laws, to provide good, safe ability of our people to make a living and return home to their families at the end of a hard day. The Rail Safety Act was to be authorized by Congress to oversee the operations of our railroads. Well, for the last 12 years, Congress has basically said, ``We should just let the rail industry determine their own safety''. That is pretty much how we did it with airlines prior to September 11. ``They'll provide it.'' No thought that maybe the purpose of business is to provide returns to their investors. No thought that maybe they would try and save a little money by cutting off safety at the expense of what might happen. So for 12 years, we have sat around and we have done nothing to reenact the Rail Safety Act.

This year we have already held three hearings. There will be a reauthorization of this. I have sat in those hearings in the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and watched rail workers come up and talk about how many long hours they are being forced to work, how their grievance process is held up and never listened to, how we are simply running on borrowed time before we are going to see a major accident, and how we have seen the data that has shown we are no safer. I have listened to people from the railroads testify in front of our committee and tell me how safe it was and how the numbers are comparable to previous years. And I have to note, ``but your numbers only went to October of last year. We had 3 more months that you didn't include.''

``Oh, yeah, sorry about that.''

That's the type of thing that went on. The American public doesn't expect us to take one side or another. They expect us to stand here, look at data, be fair, work with our colleagues across the aisle, hold firm to our convictions, disagree on issues, but do it agreeably, and come to a consensus that works. Don't try to figure out what the talking point is. Don't try and figure out how you can make the other side look bad. I spend a lot of time down here watching how much time goes in watching my colleagues make sure they say ``Democrat'' instead of ``Democratic.'' If it weren't so sad, it would be funny. But the problem is that's one small area that is a much bigger problem, that it's about the message, not about the effectiveness.

The second one I want to talk about is a very important one. Maybe many Americans don't know about it, but we have been waiting 8 years to get a reauthorization of the Water Resources Development Act, the WRDA bill. The WRDA bill deals with everything from transportation, clean water, everything in this country dealing with how we work with one of our most precious natural resources, our lakes and rivers. In my State of Minnesota, one of the most important assets economically, environmentally and culturally is the Mississippi River. It is something that is so inherently ingrained in who we are as Americans and those States that are on that river that how we treat it and how we deal with it is critically important. Well, the locks and dams that make Minnesota a major shipper of our grain in the breadbasket of America are over 70 years old. They're in decay. We need to invest in the upkeep of these. That can only be done, the locks and dams on the upper Mississippi, through the Water Resources Development Act. We need to pass that. We need to move it forward so that our economic vision will extend to our children.

For 8 years, nothing was done. Nothing was invested in. And now, today, taking it one step further, I sat in a hearing in the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee dealing with the state of the bridges in our country. Now, it's obviously very timely. It has obviously been driven by the catastrophic and horrific collapse of the I-35W bridge in Minnesota. But when you see a map highlighting the thousands of structurally deficient bridges across this country, and I watch the administration's representatives say, ``We've got plenty of money to take care of this. We don't need to find a new revenue source,'' the aversion to speaking together and taking something off the table before we've had a chance to debate it is absolutely something the American people will no longer tolerate. This Congress has said, ``We need to figure out how to get these bridges funded.'' If it is through a Federal gas tax, then let's talk about it. And if it is through public-private partnerships, let's talk about them. If it is through reprioritizing how we use the resources we have, let's talk about them.

But we don't get that. What we get is slogans and radio ads talking about Democrats want to tax. Democrats don't want to tax. Democrats just want a country that works. This new Congress wants to have that discussion. We have sat here and watched bill after bill after bill go through subcommittees, committees, the full House, and minutes before we are to vote on it, the other side brings up a motion to recommit, which means a new piece of legislation. Most of the time, I have already got it down pretty well, is this one immigration or is this one felons? Which one are they going to bring up? They bring these up so they can go to the American people and tell them, ``They didn't vote against giving benefits to illegal immigrants.'' Well, one of the reasons we didn't do that was because they're not telling you the whole story. First is, it's already illegal and it doesn't happen. Secondly, the little part of the line that they don't say is, it would totally gut the funding of the piece of legislation we put out there.

That type of politics has the American public frustrated beyond all belief. Those two pieces of legislation, Rail Safety Act and the WRDA bill, should be absolutely nonpartisan. They should have maybe some philosophical differences on how you administer that or possibly how you pay for it. But here was the solution we had: ``Let's not regulate it. Let's not provide oversight. Let's let the corporations themselves do so. That's the best way to do that.''

Well, the American public has rejected that. The American public has said, no. The American public says, We're not against regulation. We're against excessive regulation.

We are against regulation that doesn't make sense in terms of safety and the ability of our railroads to profit. But somehow because we are asking for these pieces of legislation to go through, that we are not supportive of economic growth, is ludicrous, especially on the WRDA bill.

Everybody agrees that the WRDA bill will be a major economic driver. It will put billions of dollars into the economy in terms of rebuilding and rehabilitating the locks and dams and other resources, as well as speeding up the transportation time. The Mississippi River has such a bottleneck near St. Louis that we can barely move cargo through that. We have an aging infrastructure, bridges that are unsafe, roads that are clogged.

The solution from the administration, they are talking about congestion pricing. That means we will charge a higher toll on roads that are busy in order to force people off them. I guess they assume that some of us are just driving around in the mornings, not taking our kids to school, not going to work; that we just like driving and clogging the roads. So the best thing is those of us who can't afford us, get us off the roads so those lanes will be nice and wide open for the people who can afford to pay to go down them.

The American public said that is not a solution. Get something else and debate it. That is what we are trying to do.

Now I would like to take a minute to explain to you how I believe and what I have seen and what I was hoping when I left that high school classroom, when I came to this building, when I came to this sacred floor, how I was hoping legislation would work. I live in southern Minnesota. It is one of the most productive agricultural lands in the Nation; in the world, I should say.

The county I live in is called Blue Earth County. People on the prairie are pretty literal. When they call towns Plainview, that is because that is what you see. When they called that

county Blue Earth, that is because the soil there is so black and so rich that when the sun shines on it on the summer days, it literally looks blue. This is land that can produce 200 bushels an acre of corn. This is land that feeds the world.

The farm bill is an important piece of legislation to that district but also across the country. The farm bill is a big piece of legislation that has historically been very, very bipartisan. That is because 66 or so percent of the farm bill deals with nutrition programs; how we feed our children in schools, how we feed our seniors, how we feed those who are not fortunate enough or need to use food stamps or other programs. That is 66 percent of it.

About 12 percent deals with the safety net that keeps our farmers in business, that provides this country the cheapest, most abundant, safest form of food at the least expensive disposable income of any nation in the world. That farm bill does that. It also provides things like rural development. It also provides conservation measures.

Well, here is how the farm bill was written. When I got here to Congress and was placed on that committee, we were given the instructions by the chairman of that committee in January to spend the next 2 months going out and listening to everybody, holding sessions, holding hearings, soliciting information, doing whatever you could to let people start writing that farm bill, because here was the directive. The farm bill would be written by the people through the subcommittee, to the full committee, to the House of Representatives, and then we would get a piece of legislation that we could be truly proud of.

So we did it. I went out and held 14 listening sessions throughout my district. It varied in attendance from maybe 50 to 150 people. It varied from teachers to social workers, of course farmers, agribusiness people. And as they came there, they came with a lifetime of ideas. They came with a vision of what agriculture should look like in America, and they wanted to be part of the process.

So they came and told me this: Congressman Walz, the average farmer in the first district is 58 years old. We are getting old and our children are leaving. It is very difficult to get into farming.

So groups as diverse as the American Farm Bureau and the Land Stewardship Project and the Farmer's Union got together, and each of them had proposed different ideas on beginning farmer and rancher legislation. Their members came to these meetings and explained the need for this.

We, myself, my staff, the ag committee staff, got together and helped write legislation. That legislation was taken into and offered up in the subcommittees as amendments to the farm bill. My colleagues on both sides of the aisle debated both for and against this piece of legislation and offered secondary amendments to change it, which we debated, accepted some, rejected some. When we were done, we had a piece of legislation that was heralded by most farm groups as a major step forward in making agriculture accessible to future generations.

That piece of legislation got added in. It was not written by special interest; it was written by people who care about this. Did special interest have their say? Of course they did. Our job was to sort that out.

Well, that piece of legislation in the farm bill happened in all the subcommittees, and that piece of legislation was debated in the full committee and that piece of legislation passed out of the full committee and came to the House floor. My colleagues on both sides of the aisle, I can guarantee you this, many of them, especially those in farm country, said this is a good piece of legislation.

Bipartisan groups, groups that were on the spectrum of politics about as far apart as you could get from one another, from environmental groups to production ag groups, were saying: You know what, I think they got it right. And then as we brought it to the floor, one of the things that we had to do was figure out how this thing is going to be paid through the whole process. Because commodity processes have been high in past years, we did not pay about $60 billion in subsidy payments, whether it be direct payments, contra-cyclical payments.

So what happened was when we budgeted under PAYGO, our budget for this year's farm bill was $60 billion less. So when we got to the end it became apparent, because Democrats wanted do make sure we did something as simple as this, we let the Food Stamp Program, senior feeding programs and some of our nutrition programs that had been underfunded for years, we wanted to do something as simple as boost them up to a level that people could get the caloric intake they needed to have a healthy diet, and then we wanted to peg it to inflation to make sure that what we put in the bill this year isn't eaten up by inflation next year. Doing any budgeting without considering inflation, to me, seems disingenuous.

So we did that. The way we came up paying for it was a suggestion given to us by President Bush and his budget director. They had identified several years ago approximately $7\1/2\ billion in uncollected taxes from companies, in the President's own words, that were inappropriately using the U.S. Tax Code to shift their tax burden by shifting profits to offshore entities, mainly in the Caribbean, Bermuda being the one, meaning foreign corporations doing business in America, making a profit here, shifting that profit to Bermuda and reporting zero in tax liability.

The President said it was inappropriate, as did his budget director. We agreed with him. We closed that loophole, asking them to do the thing that is most American of all, pay your fair share and take that money, put it in to enhance our nutrition programs.

Well, that was unacceptable because now that is considered a tax. That was the rhetoric that was coming. So now a decision has to be made. Are the American public, when they listen to this farm bill that needs to pass, and, by the way, we told them in January that we would have it done by the end of July, and there wasn't a single person that thought that was possible. Well, it was done. It was done by the end of July. We took it home.

I went to Farmfest, Redwood Falls, Minnesota to wide acclaim for this piece of legislation. It is not perfect. Nothing here is. It is a compromise. But it is a good one. It is good for rural America. It is good for our nutrition programs. It is good for our economy.

Well, that thing is now under a veto threat by the President. So the President has a decision. He can stand in front of the American public and say ``I am going to veto a really nice piece of legislation that was worked on from the grassroots level,'' exactly how you would hope the American democratic system works, ``and I am going to veto that because I believe that those foreign corporations have the right to avoid paying their taxes,'' or he can tell the American public, ``You know what? This was worked on bipartisanly, this was done correctly, and we should vote together on this.''

We should tell the American public, this isn't about politics. This isn't about trying to get a campaign ad that says the Democrats are trying to raise taxes. This is about doing the right thing that we can all take credit for. That needs to happen. Now I would say the ball is in the President's court. The ball is in his court when it comes from the Senate to do exactly that. This Congress will continue to do that.

The last thing I would like to talk a little bit about is this new direction. One of the things that I think Democrats are rightfully proud of, it is the first piece of legislation many of us got to cosponsor, that was the small business tax relief and the raising of the minimum wage.

This piece of legislation, we know it has been over a decade since we saw a raising of the minimum wage. Some of my colleagues say, what's the big deal? I have got many names and many stories I could tell them why it is a big deal to raise the minimum wage, why the 3 million children living in families with parents with minimum wage, it is probably a pretty big deal to them.

But part of the story is focusing on the small business tax relief. The rhetoric that will come out is always one or the other, either/or, the false dichotomies. ``Well, Democrats are for raising the minimum wage, but they are not for helping business.'' Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, we passed this and it was signed into law.

Here are a couple things that it did, just to let you know. It was endorsed, by the way, by the Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Businesses. I don't hear my colleagues on the other side talking a whole lot about this. I think they should. It would be a good one for them to talk to their constituents about.

It extends a tax provision that lets small business owners write off more equipment each year for use in their trade or business, understanding that small businesses have a need for the infusion of capital purchases and things that they need to get started with their business, making sure they are able to write those off. Absolutely appropriate, absolutely the right use of the Tax Code, and absolutely a sense of investment in the future.

If we give these tax cuts, and some of them are pretty substantive, about $4.84 billion total, it ensures married couples who jointly own a small business both receive credit for paying Social Security and medicare taxes.

I am at a loss to understand why over the last 12 years of Republican control that was never fixed. This is a pretty important fix, and it is one that small businesses understand is important. It includes enhanced tip credit to ensure employers don't lose current tax benefits when the minimum wage goes up; S Corp provisions to keep tax benefits of being a small business even as they grow and expand; and extends the Work Opportunity Tax Credit through August of 2011.

These are things that are going to impact positively on small businesses. Seventy percent of our jobs are created in small businesses, employers with 50 or less employees. Those are the things that we have taken to do.

So those who would say nothing positive is being done, this Congress is not moving anything forward, would be remiss to look at the facts, what the facts have been. The most significant increase in veterans care that we have seen in the 77-year history, probably I think it is safe to say in this Nation's history; an ending of a 10-year period without a raise to the minimum wage for millions of American workers; a small business tax package that is going to enhance their ability to compete in the world; an ethics reform package that independently has been hailed as one of the most significant since Watergate, to bring back the dignity, to bring back the trust of the American people in this institution.

You heard some of the things about energy, focusing on energy independence. We have got a farm bill that is going to be one of the best we have seen. And when the President decides he is going to choose our farmers over foreign companies that avoid paying taxes, we are going to get a great farm bill.

We have got a Water Resources Development Act that is going to enhance our ability to compete in the world while adding billions of dollars in investments to our infrastructure.

We are going to clean up the Rail Safety Act. We have seen packages to education to make college more affordable, the most significant increase to Pell Grants. We have cleaned up what has been an absolute debacle in private lending, moving away from government-subsidized, low-interest loans to get our children through college by saying, gee, we have this vast pool of American kids who need to go to college to compete. Why shouldn't we profit from that? Why shouldn't we let private lenders make a whole bunch of money of them? That would be a good thing to do.

Now, that is quite a difference from what she said when I went to school, when future generations invested in me and said we are going to keep college as affordable as possible. We are going to make sure we use grants as much as we can, and we are going to make sure that the GI Bill can be used by these young people who are willing to sign up and they are able to get their education. That was wisdom. That was vision. That was nonpartisan.

Many of those accomplishments can be attributed to ideas coming from the Republican side of the aisle. Unfortunately, for the last few years, that hasn't been the case. But we have got a new direction. We have got a new optimism.

As I started speaking today, I talked about the changes each one of us have seen. We have been here for 8 months. In my home State of Minnesota, I am happy to tell you that I think I have witnessed change that all us want to know.

On August 19, as we talked a little bit about it, my district saw some the worst flooding that they have ever seen; 17 inches of rain in a 24-hour period. We had entire towns wiped out, towns of 2,500 to 3,000 people. I went into that town riding on a boat as people were leaving their second story windows as people were picking them up. We have seen catastrophic displacement of large numbers of people.

As I said, on Sunday, the rains were falling, and I was there with a Republican Governor. On Monday, a Republican Senator and a Democratic Senator, a Republican Governor and a Democratic Congressman toured together and promised to do everything that was possible. On Tuesday, a Republican President was in Minnesota pledging to the help of the U.S. Government. On Wednesday, a Republican Governor requested that help. And on Thursday, the administration delivered on that. By Sunday, FEMA was in the district caring for our people, taking care of the needs, and showing that, you know what? When we work together, there is nothing this Nation can't accomplish.

I am proud to be a member of this new class. It has been 8 months of change. The new direction we are going in is one that the American public wants.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Minnesota for yielding. And I want to join many of us in expressing my great empathy for him and the residents of his State who have gone through so much recently. And we all, I think, not only empathize but sympathize with what the people of Minnesota have had to go through, and I know we all stand ready to help in any way that we can.

But my colleague is right, Mr. Speaker. When we all came to this body last year right after being elected and we all met for our orientation and, as freshmen, we met for the first time and started comparing notes, it was clear that we all came with pretty similar mandates. We were sent by our people to change what was going on in this country. We were sent by the people of this country to deal with energy problems. We were sent by the people of this country to deal with a dysfunctional health care system. We were sent by the people of this country to deal with the income and wealth inequality that has put such a strain on the great working families of this country and has seen the wealthiest people in America have their wealth increased by leaps and bounds while, as the census report just mentioned last week, 95 percent of the people in this country have not seen their standard of living improve over the last 6 years.

We were sent by the people of this country to do something about the education system, to make sure it not only leaves no child behind but moves every child forward; that we work with the most gifted kids and we work with the kids posing the greatest challenge; that each one of them will have the best that our teachers have to offer and have the greatest support system that we can provide for them.

And foremost of all these things, the people of America sent us to Congress with one overriding thought, and that was to change direction in Iraq.

And it is very interesting because I know that the people on the other side, our colleagues in the Republican Party, want to try to spin our activities by saying, well, we haven't really accomplished very much. Well, I think every one of us knows how hard we have worked over the last 8 months to accomplish the mission that the people of the United States sent us here for.

We have dealt with minimum wage, increasing the minimum wage for the first time in 10 years. We have dealt with the energy situation. We tried to eliminate the great and unnecessary tax cuts that were given to the oil companies when they were making record profits. We dealt with health care, not just recently by trying to expand the Children's Health Insurance Program to cover 5 million more American children, but also in trying to save money and make the system more efficient by forcing the pharmaceutical companies to negotiate with Medicare in the Medicare part D program.

In every area of our jurisdiction, we have tried to respond to the demands of the American people. We have listened to them. We are dealing right now with the revision of No Child Left Behind. The changes we are making in that program stem directly from what we have heard from the American people. We are listening. We are acting. We are moving.

And so it is with not only a great deal of personal disgust but also with a sense of outrage that I listened to President Bush make a statement when he was halfway around the world in comparing this Congress, this body, with the Parliament in Iraq. And I know he likes to be cute and that is the way he is, but for him to stand halfway across the world before international cameras and international media and tout the fact that the Iraqi Parliament has passed 60 bills when, according to him, we haven't passed that many in this session of Congress to me is an outrage. It's not even factually correct. We have sent him 57 bills; he signed 55. We have passed several hundred bills in this House.

But the most important thing is look at what he has done. Look at the vetoes he has threatened, the vetoes he has actually made. He has already threatened to veto 10 out of 12 appropriations bills we passed in this body. After the committees in this body, both parties working hand in hand, have dealt with these issues and the budgeting for months and months and months, he says arbitrarily, they weren't my budgets, it wasn't what I asked for and, therefore, I'm going to veto them.

For him to criticize the United States Congress for not passing legislation is like the Vice President criticizing his lawyer friend for getting in the way when he shot him. I mean, if anyone is more responsible for retarding and obstructing the work of this body, it is the President of the United States and his party. And it happens day after day. It happens hour after hour. And the only reason it happens is because the Republican Party and the President of the United States have run out of initiatives. They have run out of ideas. They know the American people have rejected their agenda, and they are looking for a new direction, and they just simply don't want to see us succeed.

But that's not what we're here for. We're here to continue working. We're going to generate the type of grassroots support for what we've done. We know it's out there. We're listening to the people. They will be listening to what we're doing, and they will force this Republican Party and this President to move in our direction.

I am convinced that we are doing the right thing, that we are working, we are making progress for the American people. We will continue to do that under the great leadership we have in Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader Hoyer. And I know eventually the Republican Party will come to their senses and they will begin to realize that the American people want us to act to solve the very demanding, the very challenging problems that face

this country. We are about that task. That's why we came here. That's what we will continue to do as long as we are here.

I thank the gentleman.

I would like to follow up on something to which you alluded because I think it's really important. This Congress has not only taken on a lot of new initiatives and has tried to deal with substantial problems that face this country and our people, but it has also made up for a lot of lost ground and a lot of inactivity in prior Congresses. And we hate to sound partisan around here, and I know the American people don't want us to be partisan, they want us to work together, and I think we have tried to work together and to reach out, but the fact remains that over the last 6 years the Congress did not do a lot of the things that it was supposed to do. We've seen the impact in a lot of ways. We've seen the impact on our budget, where we have increased the Federal debt, the national debt by $3 trillion, 50 percent over the last 6 years. That's because the previous Congresses were not doing their fiscal accounting the right way.

We've seen time after time, program after program, you mentioned veterans. We also had situations with education. We've had situations with health care where basic research that we were supposed to be funding has been cut. A lot of human services have been cut or zeroed out in past budgets. So we've not only had to take new initiatives, but we've had to make up for a lot of lost ground and programs that have affected a lot of Americans adversely. So we've had a lot to do.

And another area we've had a lot to do, and this is, again, something you alluded to, my colleague from Minnesota has alluded to, is that we've had to finally provide the accountability for many of the operations of government which have basically gone unsupervised for the last 6 years. We've seen it time after time after time. We've seen it in the reconstruction effort in Iraq. We've seen it in cases of fraud and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid situations. We've seen it in the enforcement of coal mine safety rules. We've seen it in environmental regulations. Across the entire spectrum of government we have seen time after time where problems in the operation of government have basically gone unsupervised and unaccounted for.

We have taken steps to do that. I hope that the American people all have the occasion, for instance, to read the new Rolling Stone where there is an article about all of the subcontracting, the private contracting in Iraq, and the billions and billions of dollars which have been lost or essentially stolen by fraudulent activities by contractors in no-bid contracts and in sweetheart contracts given to friends of the administration. Nobody was looking at these deals until this Congress decided to take action and look at them. And now we have tried to implement new contracting laws and new supervision so that the taxpayers' dollars are accounted for. This is what the Congress is supposed to do. This is what we're doing.

Again, it comes to me as an incredible affront for the President of the United States to stand halfway around the world and say to the world that this Congress is not doing what it should be doing and that it is not functioning as effectively as the most dysfunctional parliament in the world, which is the Iraqi Parliament. I can't imagine what the American people would say if Speaker Pelosi or my colleague from Minnesota, or any one of our Members went to Australia or went to Iraq and compared President Bush unfavorably to Mr. Maliki. There would be an outcry unheard like anything in this country. And yet the President does it in Australia and criticizes this Congress. I hope the American people respond with the same degree of outrage which I think they would, and probably justifiably, if we were out there comparing him to Prime Minister Maliki.

I would like to expand on that a little bit, just for the sake of having fun, since the President likes to be cute and have fun when he makes these statements. Since he was so interested in the Iraqi Parliament, let's talk about what the Iraqi Parliament has done with regard to some of the benchmarks that they were supposed to make progress on. We're going to get a report from General Petraeus in a few days. But the Government Accountability Office has already given us a report on the progress of the Iraqi Parliament, the one that Mr. Bush seems to appreciate so much.

One of the benchmarks, enacting and implementing legislation on de- Baathification, nothing done. Laws were drafted, not passed. Enacting and implementing legislation to ensure the equitable distribution of hydrocarbon resources of the people of Iraq, none being considered by the Parliament. Enacting and implementing legislation on procedures to form semiautonomous regions, that one they did enact a law. Enacting and implementing legislation establishing an Independent High Electoral Commission, provincial elections law, provincial council authorities, and a date for provincial elections supporting laws, not enacted. Enacting and implementing legislation addressing amnesty, no law drafted. Enacting and implementing legislation establishing a strong militia disarmament program to ensure that such security forces are accountable only to the central government and loyal to the constitution of Iraq, no laws drafted. Nothing done.

So this is the great Iraqi Parliament that President Bush seems to appreciate when he is standing halfway across the world. The fact of the matter is, this Congress has acted. It has acted in so many areas that I am so proud to speak of and that my colleague has done such an excellent job of enumerating. But this Congress continues to work in education, in health care, in the environmental issues, and, yes, in Veterans Affairs, for the great heroes of our country to whom we made a critical promise when they decided to give their service. We had made a promise to them, and we haven't been keeping it. This Congress is going to make sure that we do keep it, even though prior Congresses and this administration is not.

So again, I am very proud of the record that this Congress has assembled over the last 8 months. I am, again, ashamed of the President of the United States for what he said in Australia. But I hope he will come back. I hope he will realize that his legacy is going to depend, to a certain extent, on how he reaches out to us and deals with us over the next 15 months.

The Constitution begins with article 1, which vests the legislative authority in this country in this body, not in him. Now, he doesn't seem to have read the Constitution. With 700 or so signing statements in which he said he is basically going to ignore what this Congress does with executive orders, vetoes, and virtually every other parliamentary procedure or technical procedure he can use to invalidate the work of this Congress, I think basically he has a lot to answer for, both to the American people and to us. The Constitution vests the legislative authority in this body. We are doing our job. We will continue to do our job.

I ask the President and the Republicans on the other side of the aisle and in the other body to recognize that this is our job. We are the ones mentioned by article 1. We are mentioned first in the establishment of this government, and I think we will continue to act first in the interests of the American people.

Thank you very much, Congressman Ellison.

It is a pleasure to be here once again with my freshman colleagues as we try to do this every Thursday evening and get together and speak about what's going on in the last couple of weeks and tell the American people and share with them some of the good things that we've been working on.

We ran in elections this past November. And coming into the freshman class, we heard loud and clear from the American public that it was very, very important that we get this budget under control. One of the first things that we did, and I am very proud of it and Republicans joined with us on this so it was a bipartisan effort, is we passed the PAYGO principle. PAYGO is about as simple as you can imagine; it's pay- as-you-go. It's no different than the way I run my personal family budget with my kids and my wife; it's no different than most people run their small businesses or large businesses. It is the simple point of money comes in, and you can't spend more than is coming in. It is expenses versus revenues, or cash flow.

I was very proud of that moment as one of the very first things that we did was to pass the PAYGO principle, and that was something that was, in the past, the Congress always followed that principle, but most recently, in the last number of years, it was thrown out. As a result of that, tax cuts, higher spending, and tax cuts are wonderful, we all want less taxes as long as there are corresponding spending cuts. Everything has to balance. I just want to reference that because to me that was a great start.

I am very proud of the fact that everything we have passed since then, every bill that we have taken up has a component in it which says we cannot add new expenses, we cannot build more programs unless the money is in the budget. I think that is a principle that needs to be there forever, for that matter; and I think that is the first step in beginning this process of getting our fiscal house in order.

So I am just going to highlight that for a minute and turn it back over to Congressman Ellison.

Sure. I listened to Congressman Murphy, and I listened to veterans in my home district of Broward and Palm Beach Counties, and whether it was World War II, the Korean War or the most recent conflicts we are involved in, these are brave men and women that put their lives on the line, and they deserve to be supported, both on the ground and when they come home.

I thank you for your service, and I certainly thank your colleagues over in Iraq and the men and women that are fighting and protecting our freedoms all over the world.

You know, when I think about September 11, which was a dark day for our country, and what happened in our country with the failures that allowed these terrorists to attack us, and the deaths, the needless deaths that occurred in our major cities, it was an awakening for this country. But it was also a time when we had an opportunity to really take stock of where our shortcomings were. Where were the intelligence failures? Where were the communication failures? Where were the vulnerabilities in our airports and our seaports and all these other places where people came in from other countries to harm us and kill our people in this country?

And there was a man named Osama bin Laden who is still out there. Hard to believe today. When you think about what our number one strategy should have been was to find the perpetrator and the perpetrators of this terrible, terrible tragedy, and he is still out there today. That needs to be rectified.

But beyond that, I think we all recognize things that came together after that; and there was this 9/11 Commission report, which was probably one of the most prestigious, important, qualified incredible groups that came together, Democrats, Republicans, professionals which said, let's figure this out. This isn't a Democrat/Republican issue; it is an American issue, and protecting our territory, our homes, our streets. And they came up with this 9/11 report. Which, if you haven't had a chance to take a look at it, it is not just reading you read before you go to bed and it will put you to sleep. This is gripping. This is really a very thorough analysis of what we need to do.

Unfortunately, it was a number of years that passed. Some things were adopted from that plan, but many were not. And I don't think it was anybody questioning the fact that this was a priority, but it wasn't passed. Many of the items weren't passed.

So one of the things that we said in our campaigns and we took up right away, and we are still obviously waiting for the process in Washington to be finished, but the House quickly took up the rest of the 9/11 Commission report and passed it. And I just want to highlight a few key elements.

We know that there were problems with aviation security. Those elements, those recommendations have been adopted. We know that there were port problems and port security issues. Most containers that come in, substantially most of the containers that come into our ports are not inspected. I come from southeast Florida. We have Port of Palm Beach and Port Everglades. Port Everglades is a main oil terminal among cargo and container in great bulk. Tremendous risk if you happen to be anywhere near those areas and something, God forbid, comes in in the form of nuclear materials or biohazardous materials or anything else that comes into those ports. And this is all over the United States. Ownership of the ports. We all know about the Dubai Port issue. That has been straightened out through our legislation.

Certainly the idea of preventing terrorists from even getting into this country, visa changes, rules changes, all these things are so important. And not to mention the people that are on the ground fighting for us every day, our firefighters, our emergency responders, our police officers. Every one of us feels very strongly about them. And as we grew up and you wanted to be a fireman or you wanted to be a policeman, not everybody chose that profession, but, boy, on September 11 did we as Americans have a newfound respect for what they did for us.

But what we needed to do that wasn't done was to give them the tools, the communications tools like they needed in New York and other places so they can make sure that they can communicate with each other, and that local and State and National Federal intelligence agencies can properly share that information. These things have now been passed by the House of Representatives, and it was one of the first things we did. And that is the right thing to do. And whatever it costs, that should be at the top of our budget. People say, well, it is expensive. You know something? You prioritize. You say, what is first? Homeland security, protecting our troops, making sure they are properly funded. And I know that Congressman Yarmuth is going to talk about the incredible great work we have done for our veterans.

These are the things that are our Nation's priorities. These are American

values and America's priorities. And I am very proud that we as the freshman class participated with the rest of the Congress, and mostly Democrats, and Republicans, came together that said, yes, we are going to take care of the American people first. So I just wanted to share those elements with you.

Well, that is an interesting question, and I think we should look back the last few years.

The President in his State of the Union address about a year ago correctly said we are addicted to oil. I think everybody understood what he meant by that, and yet Congress, a number of months later, passed an energy bill which gave billions of dollars to energy companies and subsidized more oil drilling.

Now, oil will always be a part of the energy policy of the United States, but this notion that oil is our way out, to me, is just ridiculous. This is interesting because when I have been speaking at schools back home, and I am sure you have been doing the same thing, and I want to talk to our young population, our students, as well as our adults.

The calling of this generation is to move toward making this country energy independent. It goes right directly to what Representative Hodes was talking about, defend our country. The number one thing that we should do to ensure that we are defending our country is making sure that we are not continually dependent on importing oil from countries that are not reliable partners, and whether that is Middle East countries or Venezuela or any other country if you have been following around the world where we are daily bringing in 60 percent of our oil in the form of imports, that is a dangerous prospect and a dangerous policy.

So what we can do about it? We can focus, just like in the past, the attention of the American people, our scientists, our public sector, our private entrepreneurs, our people that have great vision and say, what can we do to make ourselves energy independent? Is it solar, is it wind, is it wave, is it thermal, is it any combination of science that can go along with this?

We put a man on the moon when said John F. Kennedy said, we are going to fight against the Sputnik, that little can that went up into space. We created the Manhattan project, that we knew it was a matter of our national security to make sure that we developed a nuclear weapon, it was an atomic weapon at that time, to make sure that we would end World War II successfully. That was a commitment that Americans, with our ingenuity and our science, put that all together.

Well, I do not think there is anybody who is listening tonight does not believe that Americans, if they put their nose to the grindstone and we make our commitments as consumers, as scientists, as public and private people, that we cannot accomplish that same goal. It is a matter of national security. It is a matter of our environment. You already mentioned this, global warming, and the science, the carbon dioxide and all those things, and it is also a matter of a new economy.

We think about jobs for the next generation, the science, that we can lead the world and export our technology and be successful.

A new energy policy is the calling of our generation, and I hope and I believe, based on the freshman class, by the way, the freshman class of Democrats and Republicans coming in and listening very closely to the public, I think there is a great opportunity for us to all work together and change it from just an energy policy that is dependent on oil to one that will really improve our environment, create new jobs and really protect us in this next century.

Mr. Speaker, I thank you for being here tonight. It has been a pleasure to be with this freshman class, I look forward to continuing to work on all these items and more, and look forward to working with our people back home and making sure we are listening to their ideas, as we have been, and just continuing to move our country forward.

Thanks, Congressman. I appreciate it. Thank you to the gentleman from Minnesota, and to the gentleman from Connecticut, my colleague, the other Congressman Murphy up there.

Today is an important day in our country's history. We are the new Congress, the 110th Congress, and we came together from all over the country to really change the direction of our country.

I am so proud that I wore the Army uniform for the first time in 1993, following in the footsteps of my father and my uncle and my grandfather and my brother, who serves in the Air Force, that we served with pride and gave it our best.

When I was asked to join the faculty at West Point, when I taught there, we took pride in ourselves in saying we are developing leaders of character for a lifetime of service. Yes, we were making military officers. Yes, they were tacticians on the law and the profession of arms, but they were leaders of character. They stood up for the truth. They stood up for justice.

When our Nation was attacked on 9/11 of 2001, many of us who were called to serve deployed for our country. And I am proud that I deployed twice, first to Bosnia and then to Baghdad, Iraq, as a member of the 82nd Airborne Division.

So, within the first 100 days of this Congress, as you mentioned, when we took the steps to say we are going to be coequal branches of government, you see, when I was at West Point, I taught constitutional law and I taught about what this country was all about, and it was that we have three coequal branches of government.

See, we did not believe in the theory of King George, one person being infallible, running a country. That is why we had the American Revolution. Our democracy evolved over 200 years to now, today, where we have leaders from both parties willing to stand up and say, enough is enough. Mr. President, we will not continue to give you a blank check while the Iraqis still sit on the sidelines. We will not sit there and say everything is okay when we understand what the truth is on the ground in Iraq.

When I was there in 2003, I remember when it was August. I remember having the combat gear on. I remember riding up and down in what is called Ambush Alley in 138-degree heat and wondering when that next roadside bomb might go off, scouting it out, looking, always being vigilant to make sure the men I was leading down that path were safe.

Now, what this 110th Congress has stood up to do and why I am so proud of the freshman class for doing is, when we had the emergency supplemental, the Iraq supplemental, we said, we will give you, Mr. President, every single dime, every single penny that you ask for to support the troops, but there is a policy attached.

No longer is there an open-ended commitment. No longer is there unaccountability. This is a different Congress. This is the 110th Congress. This is a Congress that will stand strong, stand together, even though we know the political attacks are going to come, even though we know it takes personal courage, and even though they are going to try and distort what we are actually going to try to do. And what we are trying to do is to hold the Iraqi people accountable, now, over 4 years later.

At 6:12 a.m. this morning, I got an e-mail from Iraq. It was from a former cadet that I got to know who lost his brother on 9/11. He said to me, Sir, this is the first time I have ever written you, but he said, I want you to know there are legions, legions of junior officers, now company commanders, in Iraq and in Afghanistan and all over this country that are watching you, that are watching this 110th Congress, and that you are saying thank God someone is standing up and speaking truth to power. He said, I would never think that 5 years after my brother was murdered at the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001 that I would stand up against the foreign policy of the United States of America when it comes to Iraq. I want you to know that I am keeping you in my prayers, and if there is anything, anything I can do to help your cause, to put our country back on the right track, I am there.

That is what is happening with all these Congresspersons here in Washington.

When I get letters from people in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, or northeast Philadelphia, and they say, thank God we have a Congressman that is going to stand up for us, for our veterans, thank God that they are speaking truth to power, that is what is going on. There is a movement, and it is a movement again to believe in America, a movement again to say, listen, we understand there are coequal branches of the government. We understand what the Congress is trying to do. We understand they are trying to do what is right.

And it is not about partisan politics. It is not about Bush Republicans versus Democrats. It is not about that.

I joke. My wife Jenni is at home. I just talked to her on the phone. My 4-month-old Maggie just laughed for the first time today. It puts it all in perspective.

But my wife was a lifelong Republican. She still considers herself a Republican. She said to me when we first met, and she gave me a hard time for being a Democrat, she said, you know, Patrick, I will support you, and I will support you for one reason and one reason only, besides the fact that I am in love with you. She said, I was a YAFer. That is called a Young American for Freedom; it is a conservative wing of the Republican Party. She said, the Republican Party left me; I did not leave the Republican Party.

So when I talk about what we have done, what we have accomplished in the supplemental bill against all odds, because we remember, we were through this when we were voting for this, we understood when they said, why are you wasting your time trying to pass this emergency supplemental, putting a timeline on Iraq? Why would you do that? You know it is not going to pass.

I was there and talking to the press, and I said, I will give every cent, every fiber of my being, to talk to my colleagues together, all of us as one, and say how important it is to pass this.

Then when we passed it against all the odds, when they told us it wasn't going to happen, and we passed it, then they said, well, why did you do that? The Senate is never going to pass it. The Senate responded and the Senate took our bill, and now it is in conference and they passed it, also a supplemental bill with a timeline.

That is why it is so important that all of us do not lose hope, all of us continue to stand up and speak truth to power, all of us stand up and say, no longer are we just going to have an open-ended commitment in Iraq.

Because when you look at the full spectrum, some people say, bring all the troops home tomorrow; we don't care, just bring them all home tomorrow. Others say, it is the President, he is infallible; you can't ask any tough questions, you can't give him a timeline. You can't demand accountability from the Iraqis, who are still sitting on the sidelines 4 years later.

But this 110th Congress, made up of all races, of all sexes, of all parties,

came together and we said, this is a moderate approach, this is an approach that will change the direction in Iraq. When we look at how almost every day hundreds of people are dying there, and we said to the Iraqi people that we will support you, but we will not sit idly by. We will not stand idly by and watch you continue to sit on the sidelines, when our troops, our men and women who wear the military uniform of our country, continue to lead the efforts there when, now, it is 4 years later and it is imperative that they stand up for their country.

Because if we remember when it was the American Revolution, it was America's revolution; it was the Americans standing up. When it was the American Civil War, it was the Americans fighting each other.

So that is why all of us in good conscience cannot stand here while our brave young men and women serve in places like Iraq and referee a religious civil war. That is not what they were supposed to do. That is not in the national interests of the United States of America. That will not keep our families safe.

When we all vote, when we all take these so important and these crucial votes and these timely votes and these historic votes, when we vote for our families and for our constituents, we think about how is it going to affect our children and our children's children. How is it going to affect my daughter, Maggie Murphy, when she reads in the history books what we have done? How is it going to affect who we call Joe, that GI Joe, that soldier on the ground in the 138-degree heat in Baghdad, those members of the 82nd Airborne Division that I so proudly served with that are now back over there on their third deployment?

When I was there weeks ago, and I know some of my colleagues here were also just recently there, I talked to these guys. I talked to the guys I served with. I talked to the guys, Sergeant Juan Santiago, who left his wife and two kids at home, is now in his third deployment in Iraq. I broke bread with him over there.

I said to him when I was in Baghdad, he used to be Private Santiago, now he is Sergeant Santiago, and his nickname is Santi. I had lunch with him. I said, ``Santi, what is going on?'' And he said, ``Sir, it is like Groundhog Day, but 4 years later. They are still sitting on the sidelines. We are still doing everything for them. I don't know what it is going to take to get them to come off the sidelines.''

What it is going to take is the political pressure so we are clear and we act as one; that we tell the Iraqis that the 110th Congress is different; that the spirit of America is there and we love you, but we cannot hold your hand. You need to stand up finally for your country. You need to stand up and secure your neighborhoods, secure your street corners. You need to be the ones that are leading those convoys up and down Ambush Ally, not our troops.

That is exactly what our supplemental did and what we will do when we vote on it after it comes back from conference in just a few days.

With that, I would now take it back probably to the gentleman from Minnesota, Mr. Ellison. Thank you.

Mr. Speaker, tonight I would like to welcome you, Mr. Speaker, and the American people to the Accountability Congress. Over the next 1 hour, my freshman colleagues and I will be claiming this hour to talk about the accomplishments of this 110th Congress.

We have seen not only an auspicious and bold, brave, new agenda for the first 100 hours, but also the first 100 days. And we are not just going to talk about and celebrate the accomplishments of the last 100 days. We are going to talk about a vision for our country and talk about what will happen in the days to come.

It is important, Mr. Speaker, that the American people know that by getting a new majority in the Congress that they have signed up to get a vision that is inclusive, that brings Americans all together, that makes for a safer America, a fairer economy, that makes for an economy where working people, middle-class people can strive and do well in our society.

And joining me tonight with the members of the freshman class are a host of tremendously brave and tremendously intelligent, capable leaders who are aiding not only in charting a new course for our country, but who in this very 110th Congress, Mr. Speaker, are fully engaged from the very top. The leadership has engaged our talents, our skills, our ability, and we have been proud to be able to help this 110th Congress be a stronger, better place.

And tonight I am going to be anchoring the one hour, but I am not going to hang on to it long. I think the American people want to hear from the brilliance that this 110th Congress class has to offer. So in the very beginning, I am just going to pass it right off to Mr. Hodes, who is the president of our class.

I yield to Congressman Hodes.

Well, thank you, Congressman Hodes, from the great State of New Hampshire.

Why don't we kick it down south to Florida to Congressman Ron Klein, who has been distinguished in this Congress for his leadership.

Thank you, Congressman.

Mr. Speaker, we are also distinguished by having a leader in our Congress who comes to us as a labor lawyer, as a community leader, and has brought her very considerable talents to this Congress. She has led this Congress in many ways, including on the issues of trade and economic justice. Of course she is not limited to that, she knows a lot of stuff, but she has distinguished herself in that way, and so I just want to recognize at this time Congresswoman Betty Sutton from Ohio.

Thank you, Congresswoman.

Tonight, we are very lucky and fortunate to have somebody who can offer a diagnosis and then give a prescription, somebody who can look at our great Nation and say, what does this great Nation need to be healthier, to be stronger, to grow better and in a new direction, and what is the prescription. What is the advice that the good doctor would give to make America reach its highest potential to become a more perfect union? And to do that, I can't think of anybody better qualified than our colleague, Congressman Steve Kagen, who comes to us as a physician and a doctor of medicine, but now he is sort of a doctor of politics and more or less a doctor of making America a prosperous and strong country.

Doctor, what do you have for us tonight?

Well, Dr. Kagen, our colleague, it is an honor to have you here.

We are going to go from the great State of Wisconsin down south to Kentucky. Congressman Yarmuth has been here; he has been offering tremendous leadership. He looks ready with a graphic there, but of course he may touch upon many issues tonight, all focusing on the fact that this 110th Congress has been a great start for the American people, and we want the American people to know what they got for their vote.

Congressman Yarmuth.

Thank you, Congressman Yarmuth.

It is time to get specific, my friends. Let me just say specifically that in the first 100 hours alone, we made our very first vote the implementation of the independent bipartisan 9/11 Commission's national security recommendations. Second, we voted to increase the minimum wage for the first time in 10 years to give American workers an overdue pay raise. Third, we voted to cut student loan interest rates in half. Fourth, we voted to roll back multibillion dollar taxpayer subsidies for big oil and big coal companies, and we put that money toward renewable energy.

Next, we expanded research and help for stem cell research. And then we voted to require Medicare to leverage its substantial bargaining power to buy prescription drugs and pass the savings on to people. And then we put the interests of all Americans ahead of the special interests by passing a tough congressional ethics reform, restoring the pay-as-you-go budgeting and restricting spending on earmarks. Those are the specifics. Now we are going to elaborate.

Congressman Hodes, I would just like to ask you a question: What did this Congress do to help students and to stand up for the right to an affordable education so that every American can reach their highest potential?

Well, thank you, Congressman.

One of the things that we are trying to do in this Congress and we are going to do and we are on the track to do is to make middle-class people have a real opportunity for a real future for their children, for their parents, for everyone. There is no doubting that doing things to strengthen the American worker is part of that.

One of the things we did was we passed the Employee Free Choice Act, and we have made some firm strides on issues of trade to make sure that we don't export jobs.

I am wondering, Congresswoman Sutton, if you wouldn't give the American people a word about these important issues.

Thank you, Congresswoman.

Now we are really honored to have one of our great leaders in our class, Mr. Patrick Murphy, who is a distinguished veteran of our Armed Forces, who I believe is the only combat veteran of the Iraq conflict, to tell some very, very heart-rending and very clear stories, which are true, about the meaning of our Nation's effort for a just, safe, but orderly withdrawal from this conflict.

I would like to switch it over to Congressman Murphy for a moment from the great state of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Speaker, we are not allowed to clap during these things, but I wish we were, because that was amazing, and I really thank you for that.

At this time, I do want to ask Mr. Klein to sort of pick up a little bit where Congressman Murphy left off. What did this Congress do to make America safer? Could you share that with us?

Congressman Klein, I want to thank you for those excellent observations. The American people need to know that this 110th Congress takes their security and their safety very seriously. We are not going to mess around. We believe that the people have a right to be safe. In fact, one of the first obligations of government is to make the people safe and secure in their homes.

So you already correctly, Congressman Klein, talked about our veterans, and I think it is probably a good idea to talk about what we are doing for our veterans. It is one thing to say, support the troops; but we have got to talk about really supporting the troops. Congressman Yarmuth, can you give us a word on that?

Thank you, Congressman Yarmuth.

I want to keep the theme of national security going for a moment, because the health of our people is also a national security issue. And, again, as we talked about in the very beginning and when we were introducing our freshmen who are here tonight, Congressman Kagen did speak eloquently about the importance of making sure that our seniors have safe and affordable medications.

Congressman Kagen, can you give us a word about the importance of keeping the health and welfare of our people strong?

Thank you, Dr. Kagen, our fellow Congressman who we are so proud of.

And I think it is now a good time, my colleagues, we have gone over what we have done. There is much, much more. We can't go over everything because we have just been that busy. But it is time to talk about a direction. We have got to write the vision and then pursue it.

And I want to ask you, Congressman Hodes from the great State of New Hampshire, to talk about where we are going. We can't just rest on our laurels, though we have done pretty good so far. We need to talk about where we are heading.

I thank Congressman Hodes. Let me now just ask Congressman Klein, what about our energy future? What are we going to do into the next decade? We have seen all kinds of challenges with global climate change. We do not want to be depending upon unstable regimes around the world. How can Americans trust that this 110th Congress, this Democratic-led Congress, actually makes sure that we ensure our energy future.

I thank the Congressman. Now in the last five minutes of our evening tonight, I want to just throw it over to Congressman Kagen again who really is very versatile, can speak on any issue, but I want to ask you if you would to simply comment on care for our children and our families.

We have seen over these last several years children and families really face some difficult times. We need to project a greater vision for our children and families. Can you speak to

what the people can expect in this Congress for our children and our families.

That is right. Let me say these last remaining moments, just go around quickly, say good night to the folks, and those deficits, we are going to be filling quite quickly. I just want to throw it to Congressman Hodes as we begin to wrap up tonight.

I go to Congressman Klein for a few final words.

Congressman Kagen.

Mr. Speaker, we are going to wrap it up right now.

I want you to know that this class of 2006, this 110th Congress, is pointing the way forward for a better America today, tomorrow and in the future. Thank you all very much.