Accountability and Transparency in Ethics Act

Mr. Speaker, this evening, as every Tuesday evening, I rise on behalf of the 43 member strong fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. We are a group of fiscally conservative Democrats that are doing our best to restore common sense and fiscal discipline to our Federal Government. Part of that is accountability.

This evening I am pleased to be joined by another gentleman from Arkansas, Mr. Berry, from Arkansas's First Congressional District, as we talk about restoring not only common sense and fiscal discipline to our national government, but accountability to our Federal agencies.

Mr. Speaker, a week ago, Saturday, February 24, 2007, at about three in the afternoon, not one but two tornadoes devastated the rural delta county of Desha County. The county seat is Arkansas City. It was spared. McGehee was spared for the most part. But Dumas, a town of about 5,000 people, was hit, and hit hard, as you can see from this photo provided to me by Agnes Ross at the Dumas Clarion. This is what was left of the Fred's Dollar Store. My district director's dad was in the meat locker of the grocery store, Matt Butcher, next door, which was also destroyed. In fact, Mr. Speaker, 150 homes were either destroyed or

heavily damaged. Depending on whose numbers you want to rely on, somewhere between 600 and 800 workers were displaced from work, because wherever they worked was destroyed or heavily damaged. That community of Dumas and much of Desha County went without power for five days.

It was bad enough that the Governor cut short his trip to the National Governor's Association meeting here in Washington and flew home, and I was privileged to join him in going to Dumas and spending the afternoon visiting folks and reassuring folks that help was on the way. It was bad enough that the Governor called out 150 members of the Arkansas National Guard.

That was February 24, 2007. More than a week later, the President still has not declared Desha County a Federal disaster area and FEMA has not responded to my request to move 150 mobile homes that were purchased for Hurricane Katrina to Dumas and Desha County to be used for temporary housing while these good folks in this forgotten delta county get their lives put back together and rebuild their homes.

Mr. Speaker, this is one example of the damage. Again 150 National Guard soldiers called out; 150 people's homes either destroyed or severely damaged; 600 to 800 workers temporarily displaced from their job because wherever they worked was destroyed or heavily damaged; no power for 5 days. And yet the Federal Emergency Management Agency says that this forgotten delta county, Desha County, is not worthy of a Federal disaster declaration. They want to talk about all these rules and regulations and all this bureaucratic this and bureaucratic that.

You would expect that from the IRS, Mr. Speaker, you would expect that from most Federal agencies. But when I think of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, when I think of FEMA, I think of first responder. I think of one Federal agency that should be able to cut through the bureaucratic red tape and get something done. If FEMA can't do it, no Federal agency can do it, and FEMA is not.

I guess what infuriates me more is a week after these two tornadoes struck Dumas and Desha County, and here is another good photo of one of the houses that was destroyed, we can't convince FEMA that that home is destroyed, but we believe it was destroyed, it is certainly uninhabitable, but what gets me is, a week ago Saturday, the tornadoes hit Dumas. The President has yet to declare it a Federal disaster area, FEMA has yet to help with temporary housing, or anything else, for that matter, and yet the following Saturday, and my heart goes out to the people in Alabama and Georgia, we were fortunate in Dumas and Desha County, we did not have a loss of life. We did have a couple of dozen injuries, some of them very serious, but the good Lord was working overtime in Dumas, Arkansas, a week ago Saturday. There is no doubt about that. People go through and tour this town and they scratch their head. How in the world did no one die? And for those who did die in those tornados that came about a week later in Georgia and Alabama, our heart goes out for those people.

But it really galled me to see the director of FEMA with the President in Alabama and Georgia holding hands singing ``Kumbaya'' and talking about the new and improved FEMA. The new and improved FEMA has forgotten this delta county.

And this story gets better, and is hard to believe. But you can see here, this is one of the 150 homes that is either destroyed or badly damaged. Dumas is a rural community. It is not like there are a lot of rental houses available there. People, even those with insurance, need a place to live while they get their life put back together and their homes rebuilt, which could take up to a year. And this story gets better, or a better word, this story gets more tragic. Some of you are aware of this, Mr. Speaker.

When Hurricane Katrina hit the gulf coast in August 2005, one of the first things FEMA did was they ordered thousands of brand new, fully furnished mobile homes; not the camper trailers. We are talking brand new, fully-furnished mobile homes, 14 to 16 foot wide, 60 foot long, built-in microwaves, coffee tables, end tables, sofas, dining room sets, built-in central heat and air with the unit ready to drop out of the back. Most of them are equipped, or filled, I should say, with Ashley furniture.

Hope, Arkansas, because it is the old proving grounds from World War II, and it is an old military airport and they had some inactive runways and tarmacs, well, FEMA approached the City of Hope, which is also in my district. Hope used to be known as the birthplace of President Clinton. Now we are known as the largest trailer park in the world.

So FEMA entered into an agreement with the City of Hope to store these mobile homes in Hope. Not store. Actually, it was to be a FEMA staging area where they would transition through there on their way from wherever they purchased them to the gulf coast region. That was shortly after August 2005, Hurricane Katrina.

They kept delivering these mobile homes to Hope. They kept bringing more and more mobile homes to Hope. This an aerial photo that I took Saturday. This is current. I took this Saturday at the Hope Airport from a small plane. This is a current aerial photo.

All these white things, those are mobile homes that were purchased for Hurricane Katrina victims August 2005. And the staging area quickly became a storage area where more and more mobile homes arrived, but none of them ever left. Why? Because, at the time, FEMA said, oh, we don't place mobile homes in flood plains.

Well, they knew that they don't place mobile homes in flood plains before they bought them. And guess what? Everybody that lost their home in Hurricane Katrina and needed a home lived in a floodplain. So these homes were never placed.

Then President Bush was at the Democratic Caucus last month at Williamsburg, and he and I talked about this after the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, Bennie Thompson, questioned him specifically about these mobile homes, and the President told me, we are saving them for future disasters.

In Dumas, Arkansas, a week ago Saturday, the people were struck not by one but by two tornadoes; 150 homes destroyed or badly damaged; 600 to 800 workers out of work because wherever they worked has been destroyed or heavily damaged; 150 members of the Arkansas National Guard called out; and yet, that was a week ago Saturday, on Monday, the Governor and I toured Dumas and on Tuesday at 9 a.m. in a conference call I asked David Paulison, the Director of FEMA, to release 150 of these 8,420 mobile homes. That is how many are currently at the Hope Airport from the photo taken Saturday. There is 8,420 of these parked at the airport in Hope today.

I respectfully requested 150 of these be moved to Dumas, which is only 3 hours away, to provide temporary housing for the people of Dumas and Desha County while they rebuild their homes.

I am still waiting on an answer. So I called him back again Thursday. He still couldn't give me an answer. They still have not declared this forgotten delta county a Federal disaster, and they have yet to move a single one of these mobile homes. If what I saw in Dumas is not a Federal disaster, Mr. Speaker, I doubt we will ever see another Federal disaster again.

And, Mr. Speaker, if they refuse to move 150 of these 8,420 mobile homes from Hope to Dumas to help folks, isn't that what FEMA is supposed to be in the business of doing? Then do you really believe any of these will ever be moved for the public good to help people? It is reprehensible; I am appalled by it. I am ashamed of our government, Mr. Speaker. This is a symbol of what is wrong with FEMA. This is a symbol of why so many people in this country have given up on their Federal Government.

And the story gets better. Shortly after Hurricane Katrina and all these mobile homes showed up in Hope and they weren't moving them to the people that needed them on the gulf coast, Mr. Speaker, I spoke up and brought a photo similar to this to the House floor and I said, FEMA, if you do not move these homes to the people who need them on the gulf coast, they are going to start sinking into the cow pasture, the hay meadow, thinking that would get FEMA off high center and they would start moving them to the people

that needed them. What did FEMA do? They showed up with $7 million worth of gravel to put under them. Folks, you cannot make this up; it is too unbelievable.

And so if I appear frustrated this evening, I am because a week ago Monday, Governor Beebe and I toured Dumas and the Back Gate community. And in Back Gate, at least a week ago, and perhaps tonight, there were 30 people crowded in a metal building, calling it home because they have no place to live. I talked to Agnes Ross at the Dumas Clarion earlier today and she said she ran into somebody on the streets of Dumas earlier today, an elderly woman that had no place to go, no place to live, and yet 8,420 brand new, fully furnished mobile homes are sitting there at the airport in Hope, Arkansas, 3 hours from Dumas.

When the Blue Dog Coalition talks about restoring accountability to our government and making Federal agencies answer for their action, or a lack of action, this is a good example. This is about as good as it gets. And, Mr. Speaker, I am not here to beat up the President or beat up the director of FEMA. I tried for a week to go through the proper channels and get this done, but for the life of me I am imploring the President and the director of FEMA, Mr. Speaker, to move just a few of those mobile homes from Hope to Dumas to help these folks, provide them temporary housing while they try to get their lives put back together and their homes rebuilt.

Marion Berry, a Congressman from the First District of Arkansas, is from Gillette. He doesn't live but a few miles from Dumas. He knows these people, too. This storm affected his area, and he is very aware of what is going on and the lack of attention from FEMA. At this time I would yield to him. I want to thank him for joining me this evening to talk about trying to help the folks of Dumas and Desha County, this forgotten delta county.

I thank the gentleman from Arkansas for joining me this evening and talking about the lack of accountability within the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

To recount, February 24, 2007, a week ago Saturday, not one, but two tornadoes devastated the town of Dumas and the Back Gate community in Desha County. The Governor declared it a State disaster, called out 150 members of the Arkansas National Guard who were there for nearly a week. It took crews of more than a hundred working for 5 days to restore electricity to that delta county. Some 600 to 800 people remain out of work because of the damage done to their workplace. And yet here we are, a week ago Saturday in Dumas, horrible tornados. And the ironic thing is that FEMA has a staging area with 8,420 brand new fully furnished mobile homes 3 hours away, filled with Ashley furniture and built-in microwaves ready to be set up, and the mayor and the county judge, Marion Gill, the mayor of Dumas, Mark McElroy, the county judge in Desha County, they have got sites available. The zoning is cleared with city water, with water and electrical and sewer hook-ups, and yet FEMA, which is supposed to be in the business of helping people, refused to move a single one of these to the more than 150 people who lost their home, like this family right here.

This is one of the 150 homes that were either totally destroyed or heavily damaged. Yes, some of these folks had insurance, but yes, we have 8,420 mobile homes 3 hours away that are not doing anybody any good sitting at the airport in a hay meadow. They were purchased to help people.

There is no place to rent in Dumas. These folks in Dumas and Desha County need a place to live temporarily. We are not asking that they give these mobile homes to them. We are asking for temporary assistance. That is what FEMA is in the business of or supposed to be. Allow these folks to temporarily live in 150 of these 8,420 brand new mobile homes, filled with Ashley furniture.

They are not doing anybody good in Hope. Let us get them moving, Mr. Speaker, to Dumas, Arkansas, and let these folks in Dumas who lost their homes or had their homes heavily damaged live in them temporarily while they get their life put back together and rebuild their homes.

Mr. Speaker, this is not the first time we have raised this issue. Here is the timeline, talk about accountability and restoring accountability to our government: Saturday, February 24, two tornadoes devastated the communities of Dumas and Back Gate in Desha County. Monday, February 26, I surveyed the damage on the ground and in the air along with Governor Beebe and other elected officials. Governor Beebe named Desha County a State disaster area and announced his plans to request a Federal disaster declaration.

Tuesday, February 27, I held a conference call with FEMA Director David Paulison, along with Senator Lincoln from Arkansas and staff for Senator Pryor. In the call, I conveyed my support of Governor Beebe and requested FEMA expedite their decision and action as well as encouraged FEMA to use 150 manufactured homes from this supply of 8,420 of them from Hope, Arkansas, just 3 hours away, for the families without shelter in Desha County.

Later Tuesday, my staff talked with FEMA again regarding the status of the disaster declaration, and they expressed that they did not read the laws as we did and that they are still working with Arkansas to gather information. In other words, the bureaucracy began.

Wednesday, February 28, I joined with both senators, Senator Lincoln and Senator Pryor from Arkansas in sending a letter to President Bush and FEMA Director Paulison supporting Governor Beebe's request for a Federal disaster declaration.

Thursday, March 1, 2007, I again talked with FEMA Director Paulison regarding the lack of a response and movement of these mobile homes from Hope and expressed my displeasure with his office. It had been 6 days since the tornadoes and the communities were just beginning to regain electricity in parts of the town. At that point, FEMA says the reason for not declaring a disaster area is the high rate of insured homes and the fact that the State is capable of taking care of the damage.

Supposedly, they told CNN, FEMA did, that the State has a surplus this year, and they do not need their help. Well, Mr. Speaker, that is the craziest thing I have ever heard of. The city and county is a very rural area. It is in the delta region. They lost half their sales tax base when a big retail store left about a year ago. They had a Fred's Dollar Store and a grocery store left, and they have been destroyed. They have, at least for a short period of time, perhaps up to a year, lost much of their tax base. At the same time, they are struggling to pay for a new county hospital and new city hospital there in Dumas, and they are not getting any help from the one agency that we thought was supposed to be there to help us in the time of need, the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Friday, March 2, 2007, I again joined with Senators Lincoln and Pryor to send another letter to FEMA in support of Governor Beebe and the immediate need for mobile homes in Desha County.

Saturday, March 3, during an address in Memphis, Tennessee, at the 55th Annual Mid-South Farm and Cotton Gin show, I commented on the lack of response from FEMA one week after the tornadoes.

I went to Hope, and I stood in front of these 8,420 mobile homes to highlight the waste of taxpayers' money, the fact that these brand new, fully furnished manufactured homes are just 3 hours away from Dumas, yet they are not being put to good use. They are not helping the people some 3 hours away in Dumas.

Then, Tuesday, March 5, 2007, that is today, I joined Senators Lincoln and Pryor in sending a letter in support of Governor Beebe's request to the U.S. Small Business Administration to request small business disaster loans be administered in Desha County to help the 25 businesses which were destroyed and the more than 800 employees who are now without a job or a place to work nearby, some 600 to 800 depending on which day it is and which businesses are able to get back up.

My office hand delivered letters from me and photos I took, this photo right here. We delivered an 8x10 copy of this photo along with a letter today to President Bush, to FEMA Director Paulison, and to the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chertoff, making one final plea to assist these folks in this forgotten delta county.

Well, we have gone on long enough on this, Mr. Speaker, but I think it is important. As members of the Blue Dogs, we talk about accountability, and you cannot talk about accountability and the lack of it without talking about FEMA. Again 8,420 brand new mobile homes sitting there at the Hope airport, not doing anybody any good, and I have got 150 homes either totally destroyed or damaged like one 3 hours away.

It has been more than a week. FEMA refuses to send a single mobile home to assist these folks. If they are not going to move them 3 hours away to a disaster area, Mr. Speaker, I can assure you these mobile homes will never be put to the public good. They will never go to help people if they are not going to help people 3 hours away in their time of need.

I am, once again, Mr. Speaker, imploring the President and the director of FEMA and the Secretary of Homeland Security to do the right thing and to get some of these mobile homes moving to Dumas, where tonight 30 people are living in a metal building. They need our help, Mr. Speaker.

That is what the Blue Dog Coalition is all about. We are about trying to restore common sense and fiscal discipline to our national government, and we are about accountability.

In fact, Mr. Speaker, we have what is called the Iraq War Accountability Act, and we are going to be talking about that more this evening.

Mr. Speaker, as you walk the halls of Congress, it is easy to know when you are walking by an office that belongs to a member of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. Why? Because you will see this poster. A poster reminding Members of Congress and reminding the people who

walk the halls of Congress that our Nation is in debt.

Today, the U.S. national debt is $8,811,969,377,773 and some change, and if you divide that by every man, woman and child in America, your share, Mr. Speaker, of the national debt is $29,245. It is time that this Nation get its fiscal house in order, and one of the ways we do that is by restoring accountability to our Federal agencies, which is what this business with FEMA is all about, trying to restore accountability and common sense and cutting through the bureaucracy and red tape to help people in their time of need.

At this time, it is a pleasure for me to yield to my friend from the State of Ohio (Mr. Wilson). We are pleased to have Mr. Wilson as a new Member of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, and at this time, I recognize Mr. Wilson.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Wilson), an important member of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, for sharing your thoughts with us this evening as we try to, Mr. Speaker, talk about the need to restore fiscal discipline and accountability to our government. You gave a good example of putting an end to the debt and the deficit spending, and we have had examples this evening about restoring accountability to government, and the accountability and lack of it within FEMA.

We are going to hear about other areas where we need to restore accountability within our Federal Government this evening, and we will talk some about the Blue Dog Coalition's Iraq War Accountability Act.

We support our troops. In fact, we support them so much we want to make sure this $12 million an hour that is being sent to Iraq of your hardearned tax money, Mr. Speaker, is going to support our men and women in uniform. Unfortunately, as we have learned, much of it is not, and that is why we have this legislation, H.R. 97, the Iraq War Accountability Act.

Mr. Speaker, if you have got any comments, questions or concerns for us, you can e-mail us at bluedog@mail.house.gov. That is bluedog@mail.house.gov.

At this time, Mr. Speaker, I yield to another member of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, the gentleman from California (Mr. Costa).

An important member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of fiscally conservative Democrats who spends many a Tuesday night here on the floor with me talking about the need to restore common sense and fiscal discipline to our Federal Government.

Why? Because today the U.S. national debt is $8,811,969,377,773 and some change. For every man, woman and child in America, their share, our share of the national debt is $29,245. It is what those of us in the Blue Dog Coalition have coined as the debt tax, d-e-b-t, and that is one tax that cannot go awayand cannot be cut until our Nation gets its fiscal House in order.

Why is this important? Our Nation is borrowing nearly $1 billion a day. In addition to billing $1 billion a day, we are spending about half a billion every day paying interest on the debt we already got before it goes up another $1 billion today, a half a billion dollars a day. What could we do with that?

Just in my district alone, give me three days' interest on the national debt, and I could complete I-49 across the western side of Arkansas. Give me another three days' interest on the national debt, and I could complete I-69 through the delta region of south Arkansas, two important interstate road projects that could help create economic opportunities and lift up one of the poorest regions in our country.

Yet these priorities continue to go unmet. Why? Because of a lack of fiscal discipline, because too much of your hard-earned tax money is going to pay interest, not principal, but just interest on the national debt. Year after year, it is hard now to believe, but from 1998 to 2001, we had a balanced budget in this country and a surplus, the first time either a Democrat or a Republican had given us that, in about 40 years.

Yet, we have squandered that, this administration and this Republican Congress, for the past 6 years, year after year, have given us the largest deficit ever in our Nation's history and the largest debt ever in our Nation's history.

In fact, to put it in perspective, the total national debt from 1789 to 2000 was $5.67 trillion. But for 2010, the total national debt will have increased to nearly $11 trillion. That is a doubling of the 211- year debt in just 10 years. Interest payments on this debt are one of the fastest-growing parts of the Federal budget, the debt tax we call it, d-e-b-t; and it is one tax that cannot be repealed.

Our Nation is spending more money paying interest on national debt than we are educating our children. If that is not wrong, I don't know what is. It is morally wrong.

Well, you could see the current national debt is at an all-time high. Why do deficits matter? Because they do reduce economic growth. They burden our children and grandchildren with liabilities. They increase our reliance on foreign lenders who now own 40 percent of our debt. Mr. Speaker, this administration in the past 6 years has borrowed more money from foreign central banks and foreign investors than the previous 42 Presidents combined.

Mr. Speaker, you might be surprised at who they are. It is kind of like David Letterman and his Top 10 list. Here is the Top 10 list of people that we have gone out and borrowed money from in the last 6 years. The United States of America goes out to other countries and borrows money to fund tax cuts in this country for folks earning over $400,000 a year.

Here is the Top 10, we have borrowed, the United States of America has borrowed, $637.4 billion from Japan; China, $346.5 billion; the United Kingdom, $223.5 billion. You will love this one, OPEC, the United States of America has borrowed $97.1 billion from OPEC; Korea, $67.7 billion; Taiwan, $63.2 billion; the Caribbean Banking Centers, $63.6 billion; Hong Kong, $51 billion; Germany, $52.1 billion.

Rounding out the Top 10 countries, where the United States of America has gone and borrowed money from foreign central banks and foreign lenders, you will not believe this one, Mexico. The United States of America has borrowed $38.2 billion from Mexico to fund tax cuts in this country for people who earn over $400,000 a year.

We are trying to fix this, and in this new Democratic majority, I am proud to tell you that not in the first 100 hours, but the first 24 hours, the new Democratic leadership listened to the 43-member strong fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition and reinstituted what is known as the PAYGO rules, which means pay-as-you-go. Those were the rules that were in place on this House floor from 1998 through 2001 when President Clinton gave this Nation its last balanced budget.

Some Republicans will have you believe, oh, that means they want to raise taxes to fund a program. Not so. That means that we think you should review programs and find programs that don't work and cut them to pay for new programs. Pay-as-you-go does not mean raise taxes to fund a new program. It means restore accountability to our government, no more rubber-stamp Congress.

It means we are going to demand accountability from our Federal agencies; and when programs don't work, and when agencies don't know how to administer them, we are going to cut them and use that money to fund other programs that can work.

Well, we have talked a lot this evening about accountability, and I am real proud to be joined by one of the authors of our Iraq War Accountability Act. We support our troops. In fact, the gentleman here with me tonight, from Pennsylvania, Mr. Murphy, is an Iraqi war veteran. My brother-in-law is serving tonight in the Middle East.

We support our troops, but we also want to make sure that this $12 million an hour of your tax money that is being sent to Iraq is accounted for, and that it is being spent on our troops to protect them so they can return home safely.

For the remaining 5 or 10 minutes we have got this evening, I recognize the gentleman from Pennsylvania, a new member but an important member of the Blue Dog Coalition, Mr. Murphy.

I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania for his work in helping write the Iraq War Accountability Act, which calls for transparency on how Iraq war funds are spent. It creates a Truman-like commission to investigate the awarding of contracts, the need to fund the Iraq war through the normal appropriations process and not the so- called emergency supplementals that hide the funding, and using American resources to improve Iraqi assumption of internal policing operations. Another example of how the Blue Dogs are leading the way, Mr. Speaker, in trying to restore accountability to our government here at home as well as in Iraq.

And in closing, Mr. Speaker, as I began this Special Order this evening, I talked about the terrible tornados that devastated Dumas and Desha Counties in my district, and I enter into the Record two letters addressed to the President, one February 28 and one March 5, 2007.

Congress of the United States,

Washington, DC, February 28, 2007.

Hon. George W. Bush,

The White House,

Washington, DC.

Dear Mr. President: We are writing to support Governor Mike

Beebe's request for a Presidential declaration of major

disaster for Desha County in Arkansas. Currently, the State

of Arkansas and local communities are beginning the process

of recovering from the heavy rains, high winds, and tornadoes

that touched down in Arkansas on Saturday, February 23rd.

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 501(a) of the Robert T.

Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, we ask

that the State of Arkansas receive a federal disaster

designation for the damage assessed in Desha County.

As you are probably aware, we represent a predominantly

rural state where municipal governments are often ill-

equipped to respond to disasters of this magnitude. We have

no doubt that all available resources at the state and local

level are being used, but federal assistance will be needed

to help the affected communities recover.

We would also like to specifically request that Desha

County be approved for the FEMA Individuals & Households

Program (IHP) to include Temporary Housing and assistance

with Mobile Homes and Travel Trailers, Small Business

Administration disaster loans, and Direct Federal Assistance.

The availability of rental property is restricted with the

closest jurisdiction being approximately 45 miles.

As you know, many of the manufactured homes and travel

trailers purchased by FEMA for use in the Hurricane Katrina

disaster are currently sitting unused in Hope, Arkansas. It

is our belief that these manufactured homes and travel

trailers should be made available to those Arkansans left

homeless by Saturday's storms. The inability of FEMA to find

a permanent home for these manufactured homes and travel

trailers in areas affected by Katrina has been a source of

frustration for the Arkansas delegation and our constituents.

However, their close proximity to the disaster in our state

provides a perfect opportunity to put some of them to a good

use.

Mr. President, we respectfully request your swift

consideration and approval of this request. If you have any

questions or need additional information, please do not

hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,

Blanche L. Lincoln.

Mark Pryor.

Mike Ross.

Mr. Speaker, what we have just witnessed on the House floor is an example of why the American people are sick and tired of all of the partisan bickering that goes on up in Washington.

Mr. Speaker, there are 47 of us who are fiscally conservative Democrats who want to put an end to the partisan bickering. We are a group of conservative Democrats who quite frankly don't care if it is a Democratic idea or a Republican idea. We want to know if it is a commonsense idea and does it make sense for the people that send us here to be their voice.

Mr. Speaker, there are 47 Members of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. As you walk the Halls of Congress, it is easy to identify which Members are members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition because you will see this poster as you walk the hallways of the Cannon House Office Building, the Longworth House Office Building and the Rayburn House Office Building.

This poster not only serves as a doormat to Blue Dog Coalition Members of Congress, but also as a daily reminder to Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle and to the American people that our Nation is in debt.

Today, the U.S. national debt is $9,010,742,245,690. If you divide that enormous number and put it in perspective by every man, woman and child in America, every one of us, our share of the national debt is $29,735. It is what we have coined the phrase ``debt tax,'' and that is one tax that cannot be cut and that is one amount that is not going to fund America's priorities but rather is going to simply pay interest on the national debt and to pay down the national debt.

I had a constituent from back home in Arkansas in my office today. She said she was in my office a couple of years ago, and everybody's share of the national debt was some $27,000. Again, today it is $29,735. Under this Republican administration, we have seen the largest debt ever in our Nation's history. We have seen the largest deficit ever in our Nation's history.

Contrast that with the past administration, the Clinton administration. President Clinton was the first Democrat or Republican in 40 years to give us a balanced budget; and yet here we are 7 years later with the largest debt ever in our Nation's history, and as members of the Blue Dog Coalition, we want to restore fiscal discipline and commonsense to our Nation's government.

That is why there was a lot of talk about the first 100 hours on the House floor in this new Democratic majority, and we accomplished more in the first 100 hours I would dare say than the previous Congress did all together. In fact, I believe we have done more on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives in the past 9 months than the previous Republican Congresses have done in 9 years.

Unfortunately, these bills are then sent to the Senate where too many of them remain. But I am proud of the work that we are doing in the House under this new majority. And, Mr. Speaker, we are doing it with fiscal discipline. We are passing these bills, a new vision for America, putting America's priorities where they ought to be, and that is putting our families and children first again. But we are doing it in a sensible and responsible way, a way in which we pay for it.

One of the first things to happen on the floor in this new Congress was to reinstitute the PAYGO rules. PAYGO is an acronym for ``pay as you go.'' It is what we do at the Ross home in Prescott, Arkansas. It is what most American families do.

Mr. Speaker, for the past 6 years, a Republican-led Congress and a Republican President gave us the largest debt ever in our Nation's history, the largest deficit year after year. To put it in perspective, to put it in perspective, this President has borrowed more money from foreigners in the past 6 years than the previous 42 Presidents combined.

We are going to put an end to that, and we did so when we reinstituted the PAYGO rules on the floor of the House of Representatives. Every bill that comes to the floor of the House in this new Democratic Congress must be paid for. Now, some of the Republicans say, oh, that's a disguise to raise taxes. The Republicans now believe that the only

way to create new revenue, the only way to pay for a program is to raise taxes. Not so. As conservative Democrats, we know the way you pay for programs is to cut wasteful spending. There are a lot of examples of wasteful spending.

I have got 8,000 brand-new, fully furnished mobile homes sitting in a cow pasture in Hope, Arkansas, mobile homes purchased by FEMA destined for Hurricane Katrina victims that never quite found their way to the gulf coast. Now FEMA, our government, is spending a quarter of a million dollars a month to warehouse these mobile homes which have created another bureaucracy in and of itself back home in Hope, Arkansas. And they are not doing anyone any good.

You want to talk about accountability, I had a tornado a few months ago hit Dumas, Arkansas. They needed 30, that's right, 30 of these mobile homes, while 8,000 of them sat in a cow pasture 2\1/2\ hours away in Hope, Arkansas. I called the director of FEMA. He came up with every excuse in the book why he couldn't help these 30 homeless people. He said it wasn't worthy of a declaration for a Federal disaster.

This tornado devastated this small delta town of 5,000 people. There were 150 homes destroyed or heavily damaged. Over 25 businesses were destroyed. The electrical grid system for the town was destroyed. They went 5 days without electricity. Lots of people were injured. Thank God no one died. And we needed 30 of those mobile homes sent 2\1/2\ hours down the road to help these folks. And, instead, the response I got was they weren't worthy of a Federal disaster declaration.

It took me going on CNN, and, finally, 30 minutes after I was on ``NBC Evening News'' talking about this tragedy, FEMA had a change of heart and decided to let the people of Dumas have these 30 mobile homes to house the homeless who were victims of this tornado.

This is an example of wasteful spending and this is a symbol of why people are fed up with our government, and it is an example of why we need to restore accountability, accountability to our Nation's government.

So when I say we are going to pay for our programs in the future, it doesn't mean raise taxes. It means cut wasteful spending, eliminate the programs that do not work so we can fund the programs that do.

From 1789 to 2000, our national debt rose to $5.67 trillion, but by 2010, the total national debt will have increased to $10.88 trillion. This is a doubling of the 211-year debt in just a decade, in just 10 years.

Interest payments on this debt are one of the fastest growing parts of the Federal budget, and again, the debt tax, D-E-B-T, is one that cannot be repealed, and every man, woman and child in America, your share, our share, my share, your share, Mr. Speaker, of the national debt is $29,735.

Current national debt, again $9,010,742,245,690 and some change. Some say why do deficits matter; can't y'all just print more money? It doesn't work that way, and besides deficits reduce economic growth.

Think of the economic good times we had in the 1990s when President Clinton gave us the first balanced budget in 40 years, and look at the economy today. We propped up the economy through much of the last few years through low interest rates and allowing folks to purchase homes that maybe couldn't quite afford it, and now that's coming back to haunt this administration.

Deficits reduce economic growth. It's time to restore fiscal discipline to our national government. It is time to reduce our debt and deficit so that we can create new jobs and economic opportunities for working families.

Why do deficits matter? I would argue they burden our children and grandchildren with these last liabilities. For the last 6 years, this Republican Congress and Republican administration has spent money like you wouldn't believe. They have spent money and haven't paid for their spending. They have left it for our children and for our grandchildren. That is simply wrong.

Growing up at Midway United Methodist Church outside of Prescott, Arkansas, I heard a lot of sermons about being a good steward, and the American people have elected us as Members of Congress to make the weekly trip to our Nation's Capital and be good stewards of their tax money. And that's why I'm proud to help lead and cochair the Blue Dog Coalition, because we're doing our best to demand accountability, to demand fiscal responsibility and to give this Congress a good dose of common sense.

Why do deficits matter? Because they increase our reliance on foreign lenders. Foreign lenders now own 40 percent of this debt. Much of the rest of it's been borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund, with absolutely no provision made on how or when it's going to be paid back. That's why, Mr. Speaker, the first bill I filed as a Member of Congress was a bill to tell the politicians in Washington to keep their hands off the Social Security Trust Fund.

The U.S. is becoming increasingly dependent on foreign lenders. Foreign lenders currently hold a total of about $2.199 trillion of our public debt, and I believe this is every bit as much critical to our national security as anything else. Compare this to only $623.3 billion in foreign holdings back in 1993. So who are these countries? Who are these foreign investors that are funding our government, that for the past 6 years funded tax cuts for folks in this country earning over $400,000 a year, while the rest of us were pretty much left to fend for ourselves?

Topping off the list, Japan. The United States of America has borrowed $637.4 billion from Japan.

Number two, China. The United States of America has borrowed $346.5 billion from Communist China.

The United Kingdom. The United States of America has borrowed $223.5 billion from the UK.

OPEC, and we wonder why gasoline is so high. The United States of America has borrowed $97.1 billion from OPEC.

Korea. $67.7 billion is the amount of debt that the United States of America has accumulated with Korea.

Taiwan, $63.2 billion. The United States of America has borrowed $63.2 billion from Taiwan.

One of the founders of the Blue Dogs, John Tanner from Tennessee, put it best when he said, if China decides to invade Taiwan, we'll have to borrow more money from China to defend Taiwan. That's crazy.

It is crazy that we borrowed and continue to borrow all this money from foreigners. And as members of the Democratic Blue Dog Coalition and this new Democratic Congress, we're saying enough is enough, and we're trying to restore fiscal discipline, common sense through the passage of the PAYGO rules, pay-as-you-go.

If a Member of Congress has an idea and it's worthy of being funded, that's fine and dandy, but don't borrow the money from Taiwan or China or OPEC. Show us how you're going to pay for it. That's the new rules of the House of Representatives, and those are the rules that were in place back in the late 1990s when we saw the first balanced budget in this Nation in 40 years, a balanced budget that continued from 1998 through 2000.

The Caribbean Banking Centers. The United States of America has borrowed $63.6 billion from the Caribbean Banking Centers.

Hong Kong. The United States of America has borrowed $51 billion from Hong Kong.

Germany, $52.1 billion. The United States of America has borrowed $52.1 billion from Germany.

And rounding out the top 10 list of foreigners that the United States of America under this Republican administration has borrowed money from to fund our government and tax cuts for those earning over $400,000 a year, and this one will surprise a lot of people, Mexico. Yes, the United States of America has borrowed $38.2 billion from Mexico to help fund this debt which, as of today, is $9,010,742,245,690 and some change.

That's what the Blue Dog Coalition is all about. We're about trying to restore fiscal discipline and common sense to our national government, and I'm proud of our Blue Dog members. We're 47 members strong. There's 47 of us that are not afraid to come to Washington and take a stand for common sense, for fiscal discipline and to restore accountability to our government.

Well, we talk about the debt and the deficit. Another thing that's important to point out, Mr. Speaker, is our Nation's been borrowing about a billion dollars a day, but before we borrow a billion dollars today, we're going to spend a half a billion, with a B, a half a billion dollars of your tax money paying interest on the debt we've already got, and until we get our fiscal house in order, we will not be able to meet America's priorities.

What do I mean by that? Interest payments on debt dwarf other priority. 2008 budget authority in billions. The red indicates the amount of money we're spending of your tax money paying interest on the national debt. And until we get our fiscal house in order, we can't stop those interest payments, which means many of America's priorities are going unmet because so much of our tax money, Mr. Speaker, is going to pay interest on the national debt.

The red indicates the amount of money in the fiscal year 2008 budget as presented by the President that's going to pay interest on the national debt. Now, we say we love our children. We say that we want them to have a world-class education. We say that we want our children to be competitive in this 21st century global economy. We say one thing; we do another. Look at the light blue. That's how much we spend educating our children compared to the red, which is the amount of money we spend paying interest on the national debt.

Veterans, and we're creating a new generation of veterans in Iraq and Afghanistan tonight, and it's time that our country did right by our veterans. It's time that our Nation, the United States of America, honored our veterans and kept our promises to them, and yet in the President's budget for 2008, the green, that's how much we're investing in veterans health care and veterans programs. And again, contrast that to the red. Look at the amount of money we're spending paying interest on the national debt. Contrast that to the green box, the amount of money we're spending taking care of our veterans.

And homeland security, ``homeland security,'' a new word, a new buzzword since 9/11. Oh, we feel safe. We go through the airports and we take off our shoes and we do all that stuff to then board a plane where half the belly of the plane is filled oftentimes with freight that remains totally unchecked. All the containers entering our ports, very few are checked. ``Homeland security'' is a nice buzzword, but look at the amount of money we're investing in homeland security and protecting the citizens of this country and keeping America safe. Look at the amount of money in the President's budget for homeland security contrasted with the red box. Purple box, homeland security; red box, the amount of money the President proposed that we spend simply paying interest on the national debt.

This does not reflect my priorities, Mr. Speaker, and I can assure you that the President's budget does not reflect the priorities of this new Democratic Congress. It is time that we put families and children first again. We do that by investing in our children, ensuring they receive a world-class education. We do that by honoring our veterans, including a new generation of veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan, and we do that by protecting our homeland. We do that by protecting our homeland.

Mr. Speaker, there's a lot of talk about Iraq and what we should or should not do. I voted to go to Iraq. Most Members of this Chamber, both Democrat and Republican, did, and we went there, we were told, because of weapons of mass destruction. They no longer have weapons of mass destruction. We'll save that debate for another evening, Mr. Speaker, about whether they ever did or not, but we were told that they had weapons of mass destruction and they were never found, which, at best, our intelligence in this country failed us.

And I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, there's not a more difficult decision that Members of Congress are forced to make than whether or not to send our men and women in uniform into harm's way, and when we're asked to make these decisions, we've got to know our intelligence is right. Our intelligence failed us in the decisions we had to make leading up to this war in Iraq.

I've got a brother-in-law. He's been in the Iraq region several times. He's in his, I don't know, 19th year in the United States Air Force. My first cousin is an officer in Iraq. He was in Iraq when his wife gave birth to their first child. He's back in Iraq. He's there for a year and a half, and he will be there when his wife gives birth to their third child. He's not complaining. He's proud to serve his country. He does whatever's asked of him. That's what our men and women in uniform do.

But this war has not only affected my family. It's affected everybody's family. Just in the last month, I've had to make three telephone calls to wives and mothers in my district who have lost a loved one in Iraq, including one just an hour or so ago before coming to the House floor. We can never do enough for those families. We can never do enough to honor and remember those who have served our Nation in Iraq and Afghanistan and all over this world.

But at some point we've got to ask ourselves, I mean, we went there because of weapons of mass destruction. We said that we would stay until Saddam was overthrown; we did. Then we were told we would stay until he was captured; he was. Then we were told that we would stay until he was tried and executed; we did. And then we were told we needed to stay until the new Iraqi Government was in place and they had open and free elections; and they did.

Mr. Speaker, we continue to move the goal post on our troops. We continue to redefine what our ultimate victory is. And I'm here to tell you, Mr. Speaker, if our ultimate victory is convincing the folks of Iraq to live like we do, we will be there for the rest of my life.

It's time for a new direction in Iraq, and I bring this up because we're spending some $16 million an hour of your tax money, Mr. Speaker, $16 million an hour in Iraq.

I think we should demand accountability for how that money is being spent, and I think we should demand a new direction. I think we owe that to our men and women in uniform.

Well, I am very delighted to be joined this evening by some of my Blue Dog colleagues as we discuss the Blue Dogs. I have kind of set the stage, by explaining the debt, why it matters, how we have gotten into the mess we are in and what we are trying to do as conservative Democrats to fix it. We are not just talking about it; we have legislation to accomplish it. In the Iraq war, we have H.R. 97, the demand accountability on how your tax money is being spent in Iraq. We talked about that on the floor of the House many times.

Tonight, some of the things I want to talk about is the Blue Dog fiscal accountability package, taking the next steps to restore fiscal accountability to our Nation's government. We have the Fiscal Honesty and Accountability Act, we have the balanced budget amendment, and we have a resolution strengthening the budget process; and we will talk about these in more detail as the evening goes on.

But at this moment, I would like to yield to my friend from Tennessee, fellow Blue Dog member, Lincoln Davis.

I thank the gentleman from Tennessee for his commitment to our men and women in uniform. I especially appreciate it as the Arkansas 39th Brigade, our Arkansas National Guard, they have only been home for about 33 months from a year on the ground in Iraq. They have been called up and are now training at National Guard armories all across Arkansas. They will be doing that through the end of the year. They will be going to Mississippi in January and February and then sometime in March headed back to Iraq for another year of duty.

We owe it to them and their families to ensure that they are properly trained and to ensure that we are investing in them the very best equipment and technology to give them a

fighting chance, coming back, returning to their families safely.

If you have got any comments or concerns, you can e-mail us at BlueDog@mail.house.gov. If you have any comments, questions or concerns, you can e-mail us at BlueDog@mail.house.gov.

Again, the Blue Dog Coalition is a group of 47 fiscally conservative Democrats that, quite frankly, feel like we have been choked blue by the extremes of both parties, and we are just simply trying to restore common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's government. We are in the middle, and that's what we believe America is.

I want to thank the gentleman from Tennessee for his commitment to our troops, for his commitment to fiscal discipline and for sharing with us the piece that he recently submitted to a newspaper in his district. Thank you, Lincoln Davis.

I mentioned the Blue Dogs have three bills that we believe can go a long way toward fixing this mess, cleaning up the mess here in Washington. One of the bills to do that is the Fiscal Honesty and Accountability Act. It strengthens our commitment to fiscal responsibility and accountability, and reinstitutes statutory PAYGO rules.

It implements multiyear discretionary spending caps. It closes a loophole in the law that has been used to add billions of dollars in routine spending, and it requires the Congressional Budget Office, commonly referred to as the CBO, to estimate interest costs produced by spending in any bill. We will go over this and explain what all this means.

I am pleased to introduce and to yield to a fellow Blue Dog from the State of Indiana, who is the author of this commonsense piece of legislation that has been embraced by my fellow colleagues, conservative Democrats in the Blue Dog Coalition, and that's Baron Hill.

I thank the gentleman from Indiana's Ninth Congressional District, Mr. Hill, for his sponsorship and for authoring this very important legislation, the Fiscal Honesty and Accountability Act of 2007, one of three key pieces of legislation that we believe can go a long way toward restoring common sense, fiscal discipline and accountability to our national government.

Another one of those is a resolution strengthening the budget process.

We're going to talk more about that. I yield to the gentleman at this time, though, from Tennessee, Lincoln Davis.

I thank the gentleman from Tennessee for those thoughts, and he is absolutely correct. We must keep all the soldiers who have died in service to our country, those who have been injured in service to our country in our hearts and in our prayers. And on this evening I hope we'll especially remember Sergeant James Doster from Jefferson County, Arkansas, the latest casualty from Arkansas' Fourth Congressional District.

The gentleman from Tennessee mentioned those who've died in service to our country, and we've talked a little bit about the Iraq war. And I want to deviate for a moment and let you know, Mr. Speaker, that Mr. Davis and I are part of a group outside of the Blue Dog Coalition, but a group of Democrats and Republicans that have come together, 14 Democrats, 14 Republicans that have created this bipartisan compact on Iraq debate because the fact is, Mr. Speaker, I voted three times to bring our troops home in a responsible and in a manner that would be responsible. But the reality is this: That the reason I voted three times is because we don't have a veto-proof majority in the House of Representatives. And we can continue to have those votes, but the reality is the President will veto those actions and so we really, at the end of the day, haven't been successful in a new direction in Iraq.

Finally, you know, if there's one issue that shouldn't be a Democrat or Republican issue but should put us all in the context of being Americans first, it should be how we move forward on this Iraq debate. And there are 28 of us, 14 Democrats, 14 Republicans that have come together to create this bipartisan compact on Iraq debate. And I welcome, as I go through these points, I would welcome the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Davis), any comments or thoughts he might want to interject. But basically, here's the compact.

We agree, 14 Democrats, 14 Republicans, we agree that the U.S. Congress must end the political infighting over the conflict in Iraq and commit immediately to a truly bipartisan dialogue on the issues we are facing.

I would yield to the gentleman from Tennessee.

There are eight points that we make in this bipartisan compact on Iraq debate on how we move forward. The second one, we agree that efforts to eliminate funding for U.S. forces engaged in combat and in harm's way in Iraq would put at risk the safety and security of our servicemembers. In other words, as long as we've got troops in harm's way, we're going to support them.

We agree that there must be a clearly defined and measurable mission for our continued military involvement in Iraq. Again, stop redefining victory. Stop moving the goal post. This mission must be further and continually defined so that the military and the country are aware of the end goal of our mission in Iraq and what progress toward that goal is being achieved.

We agree that the Government of Iraq must now be responsible for Iraq's future course. The government must continue to make progress on the legislative benchmarks outlined in section 1314 of the recent Supplemental Appropriations Act, public law 110-28. Demand accountability from the Iraqis.

We agree that it is critical for members of the U.S. Armed Forces, including members of the reserve components, to have adequate rest and recuperation periods between deployments.

We agree that a safe and responsible redeployment of U.S. Armed Forces from Iraq, based on recommendations from our military and foreign policy leaders, is necessary to transition the combat mission over to the Iraqi forces.

We agree that the continued military mission of U.S. combat forces must lead to a timely transition to conducting counterterrorism operations, protecting the U.S. Armed Forces, supporting and equipping Iraqi forces to take full responsibility for their own security, assisting refugees, and preventing genocide.

We agree that U.S. diplomatic efforts should continue to be improved and that the U.S. State Department must engage in robust diplomacy with Iraq's neighbors in the Middle East to address the Iraq conflict.

We had a military surge, and we now know that didn't work. That is what President Bush wanted, and that's what he got. What we are saying here, among these eight components, and don't get me wrong, it is only one of the eight components, one of the eight components is it's time for a diplomatic surge in the Middle East. Fourteen Democrats and fourteen Republicans have signed on to this, and I believe it is time for a new direction in Iraq. It is time for a bipartisan direction. It is time for us to all come together as Americans first.

I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee.

Again, these views on Iraq are not necessarily those of the Blue Dog Coalition. We require a two-thirds vote for an endorsed position. These are our views, those of us that believe we need a new direction and how we think we can get there in a bipartisan way.

Another one of the bills being put forth by the Blue Dogs, and this one was written by Heath Shuler from North Carolina, Charlie Melancon from Louisiana, and Charlie Wilson from Ohio, and it's called a Resolution Strengthening the Budget Process. It strengthens and increases transparency of the budget process. It ensures that Members have a sufficient amount of time to properly examine legislation and determine its actual cost. No more of being forced to vote on these 300- and 400-page bills after seeing them for 15 minutes and knowing the cost of what we are voting on. PAYGO rules now require that.

It requires that a full Congressional Budget Office, CBO, cost estimate accompany any bill or conference report that comes to the House floor and ensures that lawmakers have at least 3 days to review the final text of any bill before casting their votes.

We can't make Members of Congress read the bills they are voting on; but if you give them 3 days from the final text to the day of the vote, it gives them the opportunity to read them. Right now, and many times under the Republican-led Congress in the past 6 years, there wasn't an opportunity to read the bills because they would let us see the bills 15 minutes or an hour before we were voting on them, sometimes 300- and 400-page bills.

Commonsense ideas that we are putting into legislation.

Another integral part of the Blue Dog fiscal accountability package is this, and I have done my best to go through it and explain to you what it is that we are trying to do there. It's a resolution aimed at strengthening and increasing the transparency of the budget process. All too often Members of Congress are forced to vote on legislation without knowing its true cost implications. This measure will ensure that Members have a sufficient amount of time to properly examine legislation and determine its actual cost.

And then, finally, the balanced budget amendment. And I want to thank the Blue Dog leader Kirsten Gillibrand from New York for authoring the balanced budget amendment, which would provide for a constitutional amendment requiring Congress to balance the Federal budget every year. Forty-nine States do it. Most American families do it. And it is time that the United States Congress did it. It allows for flexibility during times of war, natural disaster, or an economic downturn, and it prohibits cuts in Social Security benefits from ever being used in order to balance the budget.

Mr. Speaker, these are just three pieces of legislation that have been endorsed by the Blue Dog Coalition, authored by the members of the Blue Dog Coalition, that we believe can put us on a path toward restoring common sense, fiscal discipline, and accountability to our Nation's government.

Thank you very much, Madam Speaker. Again, it is a great privilege to address this House in the Special Order for the Blue Dog Democratic Coalition, and we are delighted to do so.

This is a very critical time in the juncture of our Nation. We are faced with a ballooning debt. We have an overextended military. We are in the midst of a very controversial war. It is paramount that Congress not just weigh in, but weigh in heavily as due our constitutional obligations.

As we all know, the Constitution speaks very clearly on this matter. In Article I, Section 8, it speaks very clearly that it is exclusively Congress' responsibility when it comes to military action and foreign policy.

And that is this: it says that only Congress has the exclusive right to determine the purse strings. In other words, the exact verbiage in the Constitution is ``to raise and support the military.'' And then, secondly, to legislate. And quite naturally, it gave the executive branch comparative duties in a time of war.

You know, Madam Speaker, in preparation for this time on the floor, I went back into the Constitution because I wanted to examine how this came about. And if you go back in the Constitution around 1787, if I am not mistaken, there was a great debate on how to handle the question of war and foreign policy facing our Nation. And it was handled by two of our greatest Founding Fathers, one was Alexander Hamilton and the other was James Madison.

But you know, Madam Speaker, it was a peculiar circumstance that neither Hamilton nor Madison used their names. That struck me as very strange. Hamilton wrote under the name of Pacificus, and Madison wrote under the name of Helvidius. And I wondered about that. Why? But it was only on this profound question. Because it was so heavily debated, it was so heavily controversial that neither party wanted the public to know exactly who was saying what. But it was very important that they agree on the substance to leave this issue very flexible.

But the one important point that they made was it would be the Congress, and expressly the House of Representatives of the Congress, that would have the final say so on the money end and on the legislative end, and that is what we are here to do today. For the American people are looking to this Congress to indeed weigh in. And Hamilton and Madison will smile kindly on us today.

Leading off our discussion, Madam Speaker, is one of our distinguished Members, one of our cochairs for communications, one of my dear friends from the great State of Arkansas, Representative Mike Ross.

You hit upon a point here that the American people need to be aware of as to exactly why we need to pass our bill. I have before me what I would like to share with you, this report from today's Washington Post. It is a story by Ms. Ann Scott Tyson. It is a disheartening story, but it points right to the core of why we need to be doing something very urgent to bring accountability and the total lack of accountability that this administration has had. And this is about our veterans, those who are right off the battlefield.

And, Mr. Ross, just like you, we both just came from Germany where we went into Landstuhl and we went into the military hospital near the Ramstein Air Base. And our hearts were broken as we saw 19- and 18- and 20-year-old kids, these are young kids, folks, who are out there at the point of the spear, sacrificing their lives in the middle of a civil war. And when they come back to get treated, here is the report. She says: ``Thousands of soldiers wounded in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have overwhelmed the Army system for evaluating their eligibility for disability benefits, leading to a near total failure to complete such reviews in a timely manner.''

And this is what the services Inspector General concluded in a report released yesterday. The report found this, Mr. Ross, it found that medical hold facilities lack critical staff, formalized training for personnel caring for wounded soldiers, with more than half of unit commanders reporting inadequate, our commanders on the ground are reporting inadequate for our soldiers. This is no way to treat our warriors.

It also cited inadequate and unreliable databases for tracking the wounded, not even able to keep track of them. This is why we need our accountability act. This is why we need to have oversight and strong oversight on this administration. We are not talking about something here that doesn't exist. This is a serious problem that goes at the core and the soul of America, and that is our young men and women. Their lives are too precious, their blood is too precious to be sacrificed. Then when they do the sacrifice, they are not taken care of.

Just listen to this: some facilities lack wheelchair access, which is directly in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, is going on right now under this administration.

That meant that wounded soldiers even had difficulty reaching the restroom. This is the same administration, my friends, this is no wonder why we have this. If you recall, they were sent into war without body armor. Our soldiers, 2 years ago, were going through dung heaps and land mines out in the desert trying to find metal to protect themselves.

I said to you, and you and I both agreed when we were over there in Germany, we were going to do everything we could when we got back here to make sure we passed this bill and give the proper attention to our wounded and our veterans.

You know, the Lord moves in strange and mysterious ways, and I am convinced that is why the exposure of that terrible situation at Walter Reed was made real at this very time to show the Congress and the American people we need this accountability law.

You mentioned Halliburton, and there is no greater poster child for the abuse, for the very need for this legislation. Hundreds of millions of dollars have been wasted. The reports have been there, in the news. They have covered it left and right, and, meanwhile, our soldiers don't even have wheelchair access.

This administration has a day of atonement on this, and history is not going to smile kindly on the abuse that was heaped upon our military and the strain and the drain that it is causing. You mentioned earlier, Mr. Ross, about Halliburton, and in just yesterday's news Halliburton's reward to us for all of the billions of dollars that they have gotten in taxpayers' money was to move their headquarters from the United States over into Dubai in the Middle East so that they could get out from under paying certain levels of taxes in this country.

No wonder the American people are crying out. No wonder the American people went to the polls in November and declared in a loud voice, enough of this, we want change, and they put Democrats in charge of this Congress. They, indeed, as I said earlier in my remarks, wanted Alexander Hamilton and James Madison to smile kindly, because finally we are standing up and performing the constitutional duties of oversight, of legislation and controlling the purse that they fought hard to put into the Constitution over two centuries ago.

Now I would like to yield time to my distinguished friend from Ohio, from Steubenville, Ohio, the home of one of my most favorite singers, Dean Martin, and I would like to present Representative Charlie Wilson.

Will the gentleman yield for one moment, and don't you agree, there is such a thirst on the part of the American people for their confidence to be restored in this process, that was what was evident in last fall's election, that nobody is saying cut and run, nobody is saying that you will be unpatriotic if you speak to this. They want us to speak to this. They want us to do our job, and I think that is what you were pointing out in your remarks.

One of the two points I wanted to mention too that you alluded to in our House Resolution 97, that I would like for you to be able to expand upon, and that is that the American people need to know that in this bill we will require the inspector generals of the Defense Department, of the Pentagon, to come before this Congress quarterly, not once a year, every 90 days, quarterly, to make reports on how the money is being spent.

Never again, never again, will our veterans be suffering in the condition

that our veterans are suffering now. The American people are appalled at that. They want some transparency. They want some accountability.

You talked about earlier, we talked about Halliburton. We talked about the abuse, the contracting. In this bill, we have made sure that the Inspector General for the Iraqi Reconstruction Program comes before this Congress and gives quarterly reports on how that money is being spent, no more waste, no more fraud, no more war profiteering. The shame of the neglect of oversight is going to be rectified with this bill.

I yield back to the gentleman.

Thank you very much, Congressman Wilson. Your comments and your participation is so meaningful in helping us bring some light to this issue, especially in extrapolating and explaining to the American people the legislation that we are putting forward. I look forward to you staying with us as we perhaps get into a few more conversations on this issue.

But we are also joined with another Member, a distinguished member of our Blue Dog Coalition and a very good friend and who is a very, very significant voice in this Congress in bringing some truth and some transparency so that we can improve the position of our military and make sure that we are responsive to the American people, and that is Mr. John Salazar from Colorado, a very distinguished Member and a hard- working member of the Blue Dog Coalition and a great friend.

Madam Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Colorado as much time as he may need.

Would the gentleman yield just for one point because I think it is very important. You bring up this important point that we need to remind the people of America that when that came to our attention, it was Democrats, Democrats who provided the leadership with the amendment to put into the spending bill money for the body armor; that we could have known about the shortage if there was oversight, if that Congress, the Republican Congress, would not just automatically just bend over and rubber stamp. That is why this bill is so important, that we don't have that bypassing with this special emergency supplemental way of funding a war.

And I go back to the Constitution, the Founding Fathers, and that is why they gave it to us because the House of Representatives is the House that is closest to the people. We were more sensitive, just as you and I are now, to do everything we can to correct this matter. And we also put in there money to reimburse their parents. So many of our soldiers were writing home to mama and to daddy asking them for money for body armor. The shame of this country. Never again will that happen. And that is why we need this bill.

I yield back to the gentleman.

Well, thank you, Mr. Salazar. You have done extraordinarily well in presenting the very crucible of our bill, which is bringing the accountability, bringing the needed transparency. No more, no place is it needed more so than in the care of our wounded soldiers.

And so much has fallen through the cracks. I read this report. I just want to, I will go back to it for a moment, Mr. Salazar, because it says this. It says that more than 25,000 service members have been wounded in the two wars, and nearly half seriously enough that they can not return to duty within 72 hours. The delays in the Army's rating of disability have been a source of deep frustration for many, with wounded soldiers waiting hours to be moved on, days, and sometimes months to be moved on with their lives outside the military. Many in the National Guard themselves have lost their jobs. We have yet to even come to the depths of the pain that our soldiers are faced with as a result of this.

So when the President says send 21,000 more in, send these in, he never again, this President will never again have to go before the voters. But you do and I do. And when we go back before them, they will know that we have done everything in our power to bring a right look on a wrong situation, and to correct this terrible, terrible imbalance for our veterans.

And so I thank you for your participation, and I thank you for highlighting that great need. I appreciate your passion for this. We are very, very, pleased for your presentation.

Madam Speaker, before I bring in another person, I want to make a point, because I think it is very important that we take a moment to address what the leadership of the Democratic Party in this House of Representatives is really talking about in our legislation. We had, prior to this, a truth squad, and you have people who are trying to make it this or make it that.

We realize, as Democrats, that we have an obligation to fulfill the desires and the wishes of the American people for a change in direction in Iraq, among other places, but definitely in Iraq. And it is not an easy thing to do. But it is, as I pointed out earlier, in our exclusive power to legislate and to appropriate and to provide the oversight. That is critical. And this is what we are proposing in our troop readiness, veterans, health, and Iraq accountability act. This is what the talk is about.

Let me just, point by point, go through the points so we understand. As the war in Iraq enters its fifth year, with no end in sight, that is fundamentally the most worrisome thing on the minds of the American people. This has gone on longer than World War II. There has never been the clear mission, beyond go and find if they have got weapons of mass destruction. When the soldiers went and they determined that they didn't, that should have ended it. There was no authorization to go in and remove a regime. There were no Iraqis that marched on the Capitol in Washington and said bring us a democracy. Democracy is hard. It requires people to want it in their gut. We are dealing with a society and a region in the Middle East where these civil wars have been going on, in some shape or form, since Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Abraham and Sarah and Hagar, Ishmael, Esau, the prophet Mohammed and his son-in- law, which brought about the split of the Sunnis and the Shias. Thousands of years, that is what this is.

Our children have no business losing their lives in this war. The President has asked that money continue to be provided with no strings attached. The American people want some strings attached. The reason is because as we just got through doing, with what is happening at Walter Reed, with what is happening to our veterans, with the fact of no body armor. We are not going without being rested and properly equipped, well after the American people have called for a new direction. That set the stage for what we are going to offer in this bill.

And I want to come back to that, and I want to pause for a moment because we do have another one of our distinguished Members with us, and he has been working very hard as a member of the Blue Dogs and has also been working very hard in this area of bringing transparency and accountability to the situation in Iraq and responding to the needs of the American people. And I want to recognize for as much time as he may need, Congressman Mahoney of Florida.

I thank Congressman Mahoney. You brought some excellent points up about the need for us to make sure that this funding goes through the normal appropriations process. It might be useful for us to just share with our American people, when we say the normal, the regular appropriations process, is that this President has up to this point funded this war, which has lasted now longer than World War II, on emergency supplementals. And what that does is it foregoes oversight, it doesn't allow Congress to do the job that it has done. And this is why I believe in strong

measure this Congress has changed hands. The American people want to see us do our job and bring about the transparency. And that is what is involved in both House Resolution 97 as well as in our leadership bill on the supplemental, the full supplemental bill that we are working on as well. And I certainly thank the gentleman.

We are very pleased to have you, and we certainly thank you for bringing those points and for adding to the discussion.

As I stated before, I wanted to just share as we go through this, as we talk about House Resolution 97 and our bill on the supplemental, it is important to understand so that we are not caught up in all of this rhetoric and misinformation about what the Democrats are doing, it is very important to understand our shared principles in this legislation and fully funding our national defense. This bill fully funds and supports our troops in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and we are upholding these points, requiring the President to simply honor the standards the Department of Defense has set for troop readiness, for training, for equipment. We have just seen that many of our troops have gone into harm's way without the body equipment that they need. What is wrong with making sure that our troops are protected, that they have the body armor? That is what the Democratic plan does. What is wrong with making sure that they are rested and that they are ready? That is what the Democratic plan does. We want to send our young men into harm's way? Make sure they are protected, make sure they are ready and that they are rested, and to make sure that they have been trained. And on each one of those counts, Madam Speaker, this administration has fallen short, and the American people know it, and that is the central core of the bill.

Secondly, we have got to hold the Iraqi government to the same standards for progress that the President outlined in announcing the escalation. The President made certain standards. All we are doing is reaffirming these in the legislation so that we have those standards. And then, providing urgently needed support to address the military medical care crisis for our veterans at Walter Reed and other hospitals. And that is why the American people are out in front of us and support wholeheartedly what the Democratic proposal is.

Let me continue, if I may, on what it is that we are doing so the American people can be clear.

On those three points, just simply requiring the President to honor the standards that the Defense Department sets for their military to be ready, that they have rest, that they have equipment. What can be more plain and commonsense than that? And then holding the Iraqis to the same standards that he put forward in support of the escalation he asked for. And then, thirdly, to provide the urgently needed support to address the military medical care and crisis at Walter Reed and other hospitals that I just got through alluding to and the excellent report in the Washington Post today.

The need for accountability on Iraq is clear. Holding the President to his own military readiness policies and performance standards is certainly a good way to start. The alternative is only the President's open-ended commitment in this war, and that is one thing we cannot continue. Our children's lives are too precious, our tax dollars are too precious to continue to be pouring in an open-ended policy. We have got to find a way to bring this matter to conclusion, not in any kind of way of, as the opponents would say, my friends on the other side of the aisle, cut and run. That is all they can say. We want to be there until victory.

Well, what is victory? What is victory if it is not what we set out what we were to do in the very beginning, finds weapons of mass destruction, which we did, and they are no longer there? Iraq did not attack this country. This country was attacked by al Qaeda. And al Qaeda is in Afghanistan on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Osama bin Ladin is there on the Pakistan side. I was there. I went over to Pakistan, I went over to Afghanistan. I talked with President Karzai. They know where they are. What are we doing in Iraq, and why did we go?

The Congress is working hard to achieve consensus around these shared principles. And let me just say, politics is no easy business. Making laws is sort of making sausage: It is not the prettiest thing in the world. But it is our system. It is give and it is take. It is trying to get 218 votes. It is pulling coalitions together. And that is why you see legislation with the variety of different components in it. But there are some standards here, and we hope that the President will join us in the effort to protect our troops in the field, require accountability from the Iraqi government, and fix the care crisis for our wounded soldiers and our veterans. And, finally, understand that he isn't the only one on the ball field. We all have a role to play. The Founding Fathers made our position clear, and that clarity is speaking on this floor today.

And now I want to recognize another one of the distinguished Members from New Hampshire (Ms. Porter) who is doing just a wonderful job, and we thank you for coming on the floor and being a part of our debate and discussion.

I yield as much time as she may need to Ms. Porter from New Hampshire.

Well stated. Eloquent and very well stated. And you touched on so many important issues. The strain on our military; and the young lady was so poignant in that. And American people need to understand that, how much more can our military take? Every person, even when the issue was put forward when General Casey and General Abizaid came over here, our Armed Services Committee, I think you may have been on that committee, asked them: Do you need more troops? No, we don't need any more troops. That was just in November. And something changed just in about 30 or 50 days, for all of a sudden now it came.

And I want to thank the young lady for your statement. It was very well stated and hit all of the points right on the head in terms of the direction we need to go. And the American people are definitely in step with us.

Madam Speaker, I thank you for the time. Please remember this is our Blue Dog hour, and we appreciate the opportunity to talk.

Mr. Speaker, this afternoon, I rise on behalf of the 44- member-strong, fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, as we demand from this Government fiscal accountability as well as fiscal responsibility.

Mr. Speaker, as you walk the halls of Congress, it is easy to know when you are walking by the door of a fellow fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition member, because you will see this poster as a welcome mat to his or her office to remind Members of Congress, to remind you, Mr. Speaker, to remind me, and to remind the American people and all of those who walk the halls of Congress, that the U.S. national debt today is $8,696,414,214,377.65.

For every man, woman and child in America, their share, our share, my share of the national debt is $28,900.92. That is a big number.

A lot of people think, well, it really does not matter what the debt is, our Government can simply print more money. I wish it was that simple.

Our Nation today is spending the first half a billion dollars it collects in taxes not to improve veterans' health care, to protect our troops, to build roads, to fund health care, to protect Social Security and Medicare, to ensure the 47 million folks without health insurance have access to it. No. The first half a billion dollars that we collect every day in taxes from the hard-working people in this country go to simply pay interest, not principal but interest, on this number, the national debt.

And those which should be America's priorities will continue to go unmet until we get our Nation's fiscal house in order. This is something that affects every man, woman and child in America. We have a plan, a 12-point plan for budget reform to ensure that we can live within our means, that we can pay down this debt and restore fiscal discipline and common sense to our Government.

One of those 12 points, by the way, Mr. Speaker, is what we referred to as PAYGO rules, which means pay as you go. And I am real proud that the leadership under this Democratic Caucus in the first 24 hours, not 100 hours, but the first 24 hours, the Democratic leadership reinstituted PAYGO rules on the floor of the House. Which means, quite simply, if you want to fund a new program, you got to show us where the money is coming from.

Now the Republicans tend to think that that means that to fund new programs you raise taxes. I find it quite interesting that the Republicans think that PAYGO, pay as you go, means raise taxes to pay for new spending. It does not mean that. It means cut programs. It means make the tough choices to put an end to the waste in Government.

I got some 8,000 brand new, fully furnished mobile homes sitting at the airport in Hope, Arkansas, that were destined for Hurricane Katrina storm victims but never reached them. That is $400 million right there.

We are not talking about raising taxes to pay for a new program. But I can tell you what we are talking about, Mr. Speaker. We are talking about putting an end to the days of the Republican leadership borrowing money from China to fund a new program creating this large number, making it go up daily. It is still going up nearly a billion dollars a day under the Republican budget that was approved last year.

No more of that, Mr. Speaker. No more borrowing money from China to build a rain forest in Iowa. We are demanding that you show us how you pay for your projects and your programs. We are going to restore fiscal discipline and accountability to our Government.

This week, the President came out with his budget; and we will be visiting more about the President's budget during this hour.

But another thing that the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition is doing is we have gotten together and we have written and endorsed what is referred to as House Resolution 97. And House Resolution 97, we have 39 cosponsors. It is providing for Operation Iraq Freedom cost accountability.

Put quite simply, we are demanding accountability on how your tax money, Mr. Speaker, and the tax money of the hard-working people of this country is being spent in Iraq. You ask 100 different people what they think about this Iraq policy, you will get about 100 different answers. You will find some Members of the Blue Dog Coalition that are for the surge, some are against. I am against the surge. I think the American people want us to go in a different direction in Iraq.

But one of the things that unites us as a coalition and the things that we have endorsed and that we have written and we are trying to put in place is House Resolution 97, which has four crucial points that demand fiscal responsibility in Iraq.

Point number one, a call for transparency on how Iraq war funds are spent. The American people are sending some $9 billion a month to Iraq. That is about $12 million an hour. And the American people in this country that work hard and pay taxes deserve to know how their money is being spent in Iraq.

Number two is the creation of a Truman Commission to investigate the awarding of contracts. It is time, Mr. Speaker, to put an end to war profiteering in Iraq.

Number three, a need to fund the Iraq war through the normal appropriations process. Play by the rules. No more of this so-called emergency supplemental appropriations to hide from the American people the true cost of the war.

Finally, number four, use American resources. This is America. We are the leader of the free world, and we should

be using our resources to improve Iraqi assumption of internal policing operations. In other words, it is time for the Iraqi people to step up to the plate and buy into this and take more responsibility and accountability.

I am joined this hour by a number of my Blue Dog colleagues, Mr. Speaker. At this time, I yield to the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Chandler).

I thank the gentleman from Kentucky for his valued insight into H.R. 97, which is the Blue Dog-endorsed House resolution to demand accountability and fiscal responsibility in how tax money is being spent in Iraq, some $9 billion a month; put another way, some $12 million an hour.

Let me be clear that as members of the Blue Dog Coalition, we support our troops 110, 120, 130 percent. We can't do enough for our troops. And as long as we have troops in harm's way, we are going to be there to ensure they have what they need to get the job done and to get it done as safely as possible, and hopefully get on back home to their families.

This has impacted every family in America in one way or another. My brother-in-law is in Kyrgyzstan now, which is the entry point for Afghanistan, just as Kuwait is oftentimes the entry point for Iraq. My first cousin was in Iraq when his wife gave birth to their first child.

Before coming down here today, I visited with a Ms. Watson in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, whose son, and she is so very proud of him and I am too, Lt. Colonel Watson, continues to serve us today in Baghdad. We thank him. We thank all soldiers for their dedicated service to our country.

This is about accountability. This is about having responsibility and oversight on how our tax money is being spent in Iraq.

Not only that, but this hour is dedicated to talking about this new Bush budget that was delivered to Capitol Hill yesterday. Thank goodness that, as Members of Congress, we get a vote on this budget, that we can ensure that funding is there for education and for our veterans. And, yes, we are creating a new generation of veterans in Afghanistan and Iraq today. And we have got to be there for them.

I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee, a former cochair of the Blue Dogs for policy, Mr. Cooper.

I thank the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Cooper) for his valued input and insight into this budget process. The President has done the annual ceremoniously bringing of the budget, if you will, to Capitol Hill. And, in fact, Mr. Speaker, here is a copy of it. This is the budget of the United States Government for Fiscal Year 2008 from the Office of Management and Budget. And it is quite a lengthy document.

But if you read over it, you will learn that the budget submitted this week continues the same policies that helped create the fiscal mess now facing our government.

While the administration's budget claims to reach balance in 2012, unfortunately, this budget is in deficit every year under realistic Bush policy assumptions. The budget continues to make the wrong choices for the American people. It proposes substantial cuts to programs that benefits seniors, working families and children, all to help pay for an extensive tax cut for folks earning over $400,000 a year. It is about priorities, Mr. Speaker; and the priorities found in this budget, this budget as delivered this week by President Bush, are misplaced.

I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Scott).

I thank the gentleman from Georgia, a very active member of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, Mr. Scott. I hope he will stay for the remainder of this hour as we discuss the President's budget for fiscal year 2008, as well as the Blue Dog Coalition-endorsed House Resolution 97 to demand accountability on how the hardworking people of this country's tax money is being spent in Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, in the 6 years of the Bush Administration, the government has posted the highest deficits in the Nation's history. The administration has squandered the budget surplus it inherited, transforming a $5.6 trillion projected 10-year surplus into a deficit of some $2.9 trillion over the same period, a swing of $8.4 trillion, based on realistic estimates of the cost of the President's policies. The President's new budget calls for a deficit of $244 billion for 2007, and $239 billion for 2008, marking 6 years in a row of deficits of more than $200 billion.

This budget that the President delivered to Capitol Hill this week includes $244 billion worth of hot checks for fiscal year 2008 and $239 billion worth of hot checks for fiscal year 2009. Unbelievable, Mr. Speaker. That means that this Nation will continue to borrow about a half a billion dollars a day every day, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Every day, under the Bush budget, we will borrow over a half a billion dollars, and that is before we spend a half a billion dollars each day paying interest on the debt we have already got.

America's priorities will continue to go unmet until we get our Nation's fiscal house in order. Meanwhile, this budget continues to climb the climb of decline of our Nation's debt, which has already grown by $3 trillion during this administration.

Put another way, this President, this administration has borrowed more money from foreign lenders, foreign central banks than the previous 42 Presidents combined. In fact, we had only borrowed $623.3 billion in foreign holdings in 1993. Today, foreign lenders currently hold a total of about $2.199 trillion of our public debt.

I was with the President at a meeting Saturday morning. The gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Tanner) asked him about whether he believed borrowing so much money from foreign central banks and foreign investors was a security threat to our country. His response was that he didn't know how much money we had borrowed from foreigners.

So, Mr. Speaker, I hope the President is listening to us today, because, Mr. Speaker, I want to share with you, Mr. Speaker, what I refer to as the top 10 list. This is the top 10 list of the 10 countries that we have borrowed the most money from: Japan, $637.4 billion; China, $346.5 billion; the United Kingdom, $223.5 billion.

Can I go back to China for a moment? You know, we don't do business with Cuba because they are Communist, and yet we do business with Communist China out of a spirit of international relations. And while we are all focused on the Middle East and what is going on in Iraq and Afghanistan, Cuba has hired China to drill for oil on their behalf 55 miles from Key West, Florida, when the United States does not allow drilling within 100 miles of Key West. Can you imagine that? And yet we have borrowed $346.5 billion from China to give folks who live in this country who earn over $400,000 a year a tax cut and to leave our children and our grandchildren with the bill.

I yield to the gentleman from Georgia.

I thank the gentleman from Georgia. Point well taken. Thanks for sharing that with us.

Let me just round out the top 10 current lenders. These are the countries the United States of America is borrowing money from in order to provide

tax cuts for folks in this country earning over $400,000 a year. That is in the President's budget. That is what he is proposing to do. Here is what he has done already.

In the past 6 years, our Nation has borrowed more money from foreigners than the previous 42 Presidents combined. Again, Japan $637.4 billion; China, $346.5 billion; the United Kingdom, $223.5 billion. OPEC. And we wonder why gas was approaching 3 bucks a gallon in August. Our Nation has borrowed $97.1 billion from OPEC to give folks who live in this country a $400,000 tax cut.

That is exactly what the President is proposing to continue. Mr. Speaker, I dare say that in this new Democratic majority, we will stop that.

Korea, $67.7 billion. Taiwan, $63.2 billion. If China decides to invade Taiwan, the gentleman from Tennessee, Mr. Tanner, has made this point before, our country and our fiscal house is in such a mess that if China decides to invade Taiwan, we will have to borrow more money from China to be able to afford to go assist and defend Taiwan.

The Caribbean banking center, $63.6 billion. Hong Kong, $51 billion. Germany, $52.1 billion. A lot of discussion about our border, and I believe we must secure our border, but are you ready for this: the United States of America has borrowed $38.2 billion from Mexico in the past 6 years to fund tax cuts for people who live here earning over $400,000 a year, leaving our children and grandchildren with the bill, which is the very reason why our Nation today is in debt $8,696,414,214,377.

That is a big number. How do you explain it? If you divide it by everybody that lives in America, some 300 million of us, every one of us owes $28,900. I don't know about you, Mr. Speaker, but I can't afford to write a check for $28,900 to the government. It is what we call the debt tax, D-E-B-T, and it is one tax that can't go away until we get our fiscal house in order and begin to meet America's priorities again.

Today, the money is going to pay interest on the debt, and it is going to borrow more money to fund the war that is costing us $9 billion a month, again, a big number, break it down, $12 million an hour. $12 million an hour.

I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Wilson).

I thank the gentleman from Ohio for joining us during this Special Order to discuss the President's budget, which has been delivered to Congress this week, as well as to talk about the War Accountability Act, House Resolution 97, to demand transparency, accountability and just good government, Mr. Speaker, in how we are spending the hardworking people of this country's tax money in Iraq.

There are a lot of misplaced priorities in this enormous budget. Here is the top ten list:

Number one, it includes tax increases for middle-class families.

Number two, it has cuts in it to health care and to seniors.

Number three, while it is very cold outside right now, while much of the country is frozen, if you will, Mr. Speaker, it cuts home energy assistance for those who need help the most with finding the money to afford to heat their home in the winter months.

After 5 years following 9/11, it has devastating cuts to police and firefighters.

In direct opposition to the wishes of the people of this country, here it comes again, it has a plan to privatize Social Security.

The President's budget includes cuts to veterans health care. At a time when we are creating a new generation of veterans coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan, the President's budget includes cuts to our veterans. We need to ensure that our veterans receive the health care they so desperately need.

I don't know about you, Mr. Speaker, but I get letter after letter and call after call from veterans who have to wait in line weeks and months at a time to be able to see a doctor. That is not the kind of health care we promised America's veterans. We should honor them by properly caring for them.

It includes cuts to education and cuts to housing assistance. And with Iraq veterans returning with devastating injuries, it includes cuts to the brain trauma research that is so desperately needed by many of these returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan.

President Bush's budget says a lot, but it does very little. It is filled with misplaced priorities. I will challenge you, Mr. Speaker, to read it for yourself, make your own decision.

As members of the Blue Dog Coalition, we are not here to beat up the President. He can't even run again. We are here to reach out across that aisle and work with him and work with the Republican Members of Congress, because the American people have sent a message very loud and clear, they want us to work together. That is what the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue

Dog Coalition is all about. We want to work in a bipartisan manner to put this Nation on a track toward a balanced budget, to pay down the debt, and to restore some fiscal discipline and common sense to our Nation's government.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee, Mr. Lincoln Davis.

(Mr. LINCOLN DAVIS of Tennessee asked and was given permission to revise and extend his remarks.)

I thank the gentleman from Tennessee, an active member of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition.

And the gentleman is exactly right. As members of the Blue Dog Coalition, we are sick and tired of all the partisan bickering that goes on in Washington. As members of the Blue Dog Coalition, we don't care if it is a Democratic idea or a Republican idea. All we care about is, is it a commonsense idea, and does it make sense for the people who sent us here to be their voice? That is really what the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition is all about: restoring fiscal discipline, accountability and common sense to our government.

I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Scott).

I thank the gentleman from Georgia.

Mr. Speaker, if you have any comments or questions or concerns, you can e-mail us at BlueDog@mail.house.gov.

I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arkansas. It is an honor for me to be here tonight.

I would like to say to the gentleman from Arkansas, that is exactly right. One of the things I plan on talking about tonight are really two things, the small business tax cuts that we established in this Congress this past May, and also the Iraq Accountability Act, because I think it is telling.

There are a couple of housekeeping things if I may mention, Mr. Speaker. I know the gentleman from Tennessee was just speaking about an Eisenhower moment and talked about reaching out to those Americans from both sides of the aisle and letting them know about this common sense leadership we are trying to propose. What he mentioned was we need to listen and look at some common sense solutions. I think that is what people appreciate about the Blue Dogs. We are willing to reach across the aisle when need be to move our country in a new direction.

I know there are a lot of folks back home I know, some of which are my wife right now. My wife Jenny is at home. I left this morning. I spoke at the Rotary Club and I was at a school for the first day of classes starting back today back in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Then I had a meeting, and then I rushed down here in Washington.

It is an honor for me to be here tonight. It is tough as far as leaving your wife, and we are blessed with a 9 month old daughter Maggie Murphy, who we had her swimming out there yesterday. She was adorable.

I know this is a different form of public service. I know the gentleman from Arkansas mentioned that I served in the military. I am very proud of my military service. I am very proud that I wore that U.S. Army uniform for the first time back in 1993, and now that we are here in 2007, I am proud to be a Member of Congress. This is a different form of public service, but one just as important. I know the sacrifices that we have to give up, leaving our families to come down here to Washington and then to go back home on the weekends. It is a tough schedule, but one that we promised to do to the best of our abilities.

I know my colleague over here from New York, Mr. Arcuri, Mike Arcuri just got married the other day. I want to congratulate him on his marriage. I think he believes in what we all believe in, that we love our troops so much, I think he spent his honeymoon going over to see those troops in Iraq, leaving his new wife, Sabrina, to go over to those troops.

We had a conversation on this floor tonight when we were voting talking about his trip over there, how he went and let those troops know, especially the ones that are from New York, from his district, that he cares about them, that he took the time out of his schedule to be there with them, to break bread with them and let them know that he is fighting for them here in Washington.

I believe those troops understand what the stakes are right now. They understand that this United States House of Representatives, this body supports the troops 100 percent. We may disagree with our colleagues on the foreign policy and the foreign aspects of it, but never question the commitment and the honor that our troops are serving with. I believe that is why we all take time out of our schedules to let them know we care for them, to make sure that we draft the most effective policy to support them and do everything possible to make sure their families back at home know we are supporting them 100 percent.

Mr. Speaker, I wanted to talk first, because after I left that Rotary Club this morning and then I was at that opening day of school at the Abrams Hebrew School in Yardley, Pennsylvania. I went down the road to two small businesses that are in Yardley, Pennsylvania. My district, as you know are, is all of Bucks County, northeast Philadelphia and a small slice of Montgomery County.

But when you look at Bucks County, there are 60,000 small businesses in Bucks County. Ninety-nine percent of our businesses are small business. And

what we passed in this House, I am very proud about, is $1.3 billion in tax cuts for those small businesses. We did it not just writing a blank check and passing that debt that we talk about to our kids, we did it in a fiscally responsible way, the way that Blue Dogs believe, a pay- as-you-go system.

Everyone is real quick to write tax breaks and tax cuts, but never figure out to how to pay for it. Just increase our debt. Increase our debt. When the President signs $1.7 billion in tax cuts, it sounds great. Everyone wants a tax break. I want a tax break. But how are you going to pay for it, Mr. President? Not on the backs of our kids. Not on the backs of the next generation. We need the pay-as-you-go.

So when my daughter was born 9 months ago, when Maggie Murphy was born, she was born in Lower Bucks Hospital, she was born in this country owing $29,000 to our national debt. We owe $9 trillion in this country. A lot of that debt we owe to foreign countries, China, Korea, Japan. We borrowed $367 billion from Mexico.

So that means per month, per month we average about $21 billion just to pay the interest on this debt. It is like a credit card. You have to pay interest on your credit card before you even get into paying the principal off. Per month we have to pay $21 billion in interest.

To make a comparison, budgets are choices. Budgets are moral documents. Per month in the Federal Government we spend $21 billion just on the interest, but we only pay $5 billion on the Federal level on education. And to keep America more competitive, we need to invest in education. So that is why it is important that we partner with small businesses. That is what we do with the $1.3 billion in tax cuts.

How it worked out, I had two business owners, one was a CEO, his name is Neil Matheson today, and when he started a business, he was the only employee. You fast forward it, now it is a 250 person business. They have 140 of those employees in my district, and I am proud that many of them live and work in Bucks County. I talked to him. And another president of a small business was Kevin Kruse.

I talked to Neil Matheson and I talked to Kevin Kruse, and I talked to them about the challenges they faced before I was running for Congress and then I talked to them when I became a Member of Congress. We passed this, and they talked about how important this bill was that we passed.

Per year, they commented, Kevin Kruse specifically commented, big corporations which employ Americans, big corporations can sell if they needed some money infusion, they can sell stocks or go public. Small businesses don't have that option. So they have to worry about their cash intake and their cash flow.

So what Mr. Kruse said today when I was with him, he said this tax cut that the Democratic Congress passed, that the Blue Dogs championed, saves my business $13,000 more in deductions per year now because we established it through the IRS Tax Code through a pay-as-you-go system. That is serious money. That is serious money. That is why they stood with me today when we talked about it.

Before I joined the House of Representatives, Mr. Speaker, I talked about more accountability and greater oversight in Iraq and over the Iraqi war operations. I am a proud Member of the Blue Dog Coalition. I have been calling for accountability in Iraq on the floor of this great body for 8 months now. In fact, some of my Blue Dog colleagues have been demanding common sense oversight on the floor of this House for more than 4 years before I even got here.

Well, Mr. Speaker, the problem with these repeated calls for action is they seem to be falling on deaf ears down the road at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue at the White House.

Mr. Speaker, the American public and our families at home are demanding some answers. Earlier this year we introduced House Resolution 97, to set up a Truman-type commission to track fraud, waste and abuse in Iraq. This was after the reports from the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction came to the House Armed Services Committee, came to the committee that I have the honor to serve on, and he said there is $9 billion missing and 14,000 weapons that are missing in Iraq. But recently, the Government Accountability Office, again, nonpartisan, came and reported that now the number of weapons that are missing in Iraq went from 14,000 to 190,000. Think about that; 190,000 weapons, and 110,000 of those weapons were AK-47 rifles.

Now, when I was in the military when I joined, I used to sing a cadence when you are running in the morning, we call it PT, physical training. The cadence said, ``Used to date a beauty queen; now I date my M-16.''

See, you held that M-16 rifle to you as if it was your girlfriend or your loved one, because you can never miss it. When you are in the field at night and you fell asleep and you had a few hours to catch some shuteye, you tied it around your leg so no one would steal it from you.

That is called accountability. That is what the Blue Dogs stand for. That is why I joined this organization when I came to Congress. I was honored to be selected and to be part of them.

You think about 110,000 weapons just missing in Iraq. Just missing. Imagine those weapons in the hands of Muqtada al-Sadr's militia.

The accountability is not happening in Iraq. It is not our troops' fault, it is the Iraqi people's fault, because they are not stepping up to the plate. You know, you lose a weapon in the U.S. military, you are probably going to be court-martialed. In Iraq, you are probably given a new one. That is a major difference and one that we can't stand for.

These rifles are like the ones I used to carry when I was in Baghdad, Iraq. When I was there four summers ago, Mr. Speaker, August was called fire month. The month of August in Iraq is called fire month because it gets so hot. Imagine our troops over in Iraq right now, in 130 degree weather, with all that equipment on, every day working their tails off to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, that oath that they took when they became members of our great military.

You look back at January when the President made the decision to escalate our troops over there. I spoke out against it. I thought it was the wrong policy. But the President overrode our decisions in Congress and he said, just give us 6 to 9 months for a political solution.

You look now, and I said then I am against the policy but I hope this surge works. I hope the escalation of troops works. I want our troops in Iraq to succeed. I spent months of my life there, and I care for the Iraqi people and I love our troops.

But now it has been 9 months. Now you look at what is really happening. They said 6 to 9 months to allow a political solution to happen. Nine months later, you had the Iraqi Parliament take a summer vacation. Take a summer vacation, when our troops are fighting every single day.

You had the Shia government that is in power now, before the Sunnis were in power, now it is the Shia, it is a democracy, they have to reach across the table and work with the Sunnis. They have got to put their personal beliefs aside for one Iraq.

So the Shia leadership, President Maliki said, okay, we are going to reach these benchmarks. We are going to do these commonsense things that we pledged to do now for years. They still haven't done them. Things like sharing oil revenue with the Sunnis, they haven't done them.

So what political solution do we have right now, Mr. Speaker? We have the Sunnis saying I quit. I quit. You don't see our troops quit. You see our troops standing up every single day.

For those listeners at home, you make sure when you see a troop, whether it is in a restaurant or airport or train station, you don't have to give them a long speech. You might not agree with the foreign policy of the United States of America. But I ask my fellow Americans, Mr. Speaker, to make sure that you tell those troops when you see them out there in every day America, say thank you very much for serving our country. That is all you need to say. It means the world to them.

I took my wife out, I had a date night the other night. I took my wife out, we went to Red Lobster. My wife's grandmother watched our little daughter. We went to date night, and, Mr. Speaker, after dinner she went to the restroom to use it at the Red Lobster.

I am waiting in the car, and waiting to get into the Red Lobster was a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard. He was there with his family. I took the keys out of the car. I ran up to him real quick. I was dressed not like a Congressman, I was just like a regular guy, just a regular shirt and I had shorts on him. I said to him, I said, hey, troop, I just want you to know that I appreciate your service to our country.

Then we started talking a little bit and at the end I told him I was a congressman and gave him my card. I said, If there is anything I can ever do, you let me know, and I will keep you in my prayers.

He got choked up and said, Thank you, Mr. Congressman, I appreciate that.

I told him, Just call me ``Patrick.'' You don't have to call me ``Mr. Congressman.''

We have meetings in Washington on the Armed Services Committee. I am also honored to serve on the Intelligence Committee. We also have meetings of the Blue Dog Democrats. We talk about these things at the Blue Dog Democrat meetings. We care with every fiber of our being for these troops.

Mr. Speaker, I was at a meeting with the Blue Dogs at 5:00, or 1700 as they say in military time. I passed around a sheet talking about how can we take care of our troops.

When troops get orders to deploy, sometimes they don't have a lot of time. Sometimes they have rent. Well, they don't need to have an apartment if they are in Iraq or Afghanistan for 15 months, so they want to break their lease. There is Federal law, there is the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, so they can break their lease. It is a commonsense bill that this Congress passed. There is a bill that says expand that now to allow our troops who have cell phones, a 1-year or 2-year program, why not allow the troops to break their cell phone contracts. Their cell phones are from Verizon or Cingular, and they don't have cell phones over in Baghdad or in Afghanistan. That commonsense approach says let them break their cell phone lease under Federal law. That is the type of backing that they need.

To get back to the Iraq Accountability Act, Mr. Speaker, you look at what this Iraq Accountability Act has done to shed light on fraud, waste and abuse. The report that I just mentioned about the 190,000 weapons is a disgrace when you talk about accountability.

Last month, there were a total of 73 criminal investigations related to contract fraud in Kuwait, Iraq, and Afghanistan; 73 criminal investigations. That is 73 investigations on contracts totaling $5 billion. That is billion with a ``b,'' Mr. Speaker. The charges so far identify more than $15 million in bribes. If there is ever a time for a new direction in Iraq, now is the time, Mr. Speaker. If there is ever a time for accountability and oversight, now is the time, Mr. Speaker.

And as long as my fellow Blue Dogs and I are here in the House's great body, we will keep calling, we will keep fighting for what American families and what American troops deserve, and that is civilian leadership that is just as smart and savvy as those troops on the ground.

I want to thank again the gentleman from Arkansas, Mr. Ross, for allowing me to speak. I appreciate your leadership role with the Blue Dog Democrats.

When I was home, Mr. Speaker, and I was talking to those families in Bucks County, many told me, Mr. Congressman, I like that are you a Blue Dog and that you are standing up for fiscal responsibility and you stand up for change. I like the fact that you stand up for a new direction. I like the fact that you talk about that $9 trillion in debt that we have right now and how it is immoral to pass it on to our kids, because it is. I like the fact that the Blue Dogs stand up and say you have a pay-as-you-go system, not a pass-the-buck system. That is what happened before. That's leadership.

And, Mr. Speaker, to the gentleman from Arkansas, to my colleague from the great State of New York, it is a great honor to be among your midst as a fellow Blue Dog.