Floor Statements

I thank the gentleman, and I thank my colleagues for

joining us tonight in this important discussion.

I want to focus on the President's budget and, in particular, on what is different about this budget in that the President has looked in a comprehensive way at our economy, not just at the crisis that we find ourselves in today, at this moment in time, but also at how to get ourselves out and where we want to be a year from now, 5 years from now, 10 years from now. We all understand that.

What the President has done with his budget is include within it segments of our economy that have been ignored in budgets over time-- things like health care, like energy and like education--because what we understand in this Congress is we cannot move forward as a nation; we can't solve our economic problems, and we can't move this country forward and continue as the preeminent Nation on the planet in this global economy unless we reform our health care system, unless we find a way to get ourselves off of our addiction to foreign oil and unless we continue to improve the quality of the education available to all students in this country and make education more accessible so we can continue to be competitive in the global economy.

What we have set before us is the realization that every family, every business and every individual in this country is impacted by the cost of education, by the cost of energy and by the cost of health care, and we are going to talk about those issues tonight and certainly going forward.

I want to focus specifically on health care. The President has laid out an ambitious agenda, and he has done something that is unique. He has allowed Congress to have a say in it in a way that has not been the case in previous health care discussions. The President has said, ``These are my priorities, and while I'm willing to work with the 435 Members of the House and with the 100 in the other body, let's work with the American people,'' because, in heart, that's what we are. We are Representatives. Let's put together a plan that can solve this crisis that we face, not just with our economy but in the health care system.

So what are some of the things that we hear when we go back and we have Congress on Your Corner?

Well, when we talk about the cost of health care, I often hear people say, ``Well, why are you taking my money? I'm happy with my insurance. I'm covered. I have a job. I'm fine.'' Somebody will say, ``Why are you taking my money and giving it to somebody else who doesn't have health care? I understand that that's a problem and that that's unfortunate, but why are you spending my money on them?''

What I try to explain to people is they're already paying for the costs of that person's health care. The most obvious example that you've heard many times is, when that person needs health care, he goes to the emergency room, which is the least effective, the most costly and the most inefficient setting that you can possibly get for primary health care. So we're forcing them into that setting to begin with, and they get covered, and they get reimbursed, if you're the hospital, because that's our money. If you go to the hospital, the reason an aspirin costs $10 is because of the cost shift that takes place. When you have someone show up who doesn't have insurance, the hospital or provider will shift that cost to somebody else. That's an obvious way.

What people don't think about is that your State taxes are higher because of exploding Medicaid costs all around the country. States are forced to pay for the Medicaid program. They shift that to the costs of the State taxpayers. Think of the delivery chain, the supply chain. At every level, health care costs impact the cost of the consumer. You've heard many times with regard to the auto industry, which is certainly struggling right now, that $1,500 from the price of every car made in this country is due to the health care costs of the automaker.

Think about that. For every good and service that the American people buy on a daily basis, there is the cost to manufacture it, the cost to ship it, the cost to store it, and the cost to sell it. In every segment of that supply chain, there is a component that adds a premium for the cost of health care for the employers and for the employees who are involved in that little piece of the supply chain.

The salary and wages of the American people are lower because of the health care costs of the employer's, because they're offering health care to their employees. Therefore, the salaries are lower. We as an American people are already paying in a variety of ways for the people who don't have health insurance. We hear about the 47 million Americans who lack health insurance. We also need to remember the tens of millions more who live in fear every day of losing their coverage. They are one accident or illness away from losing everything. Less than half of small businesses in this country are able to afford to offer health care to their employees, less than half, because of the double digit increases that we've seen year after year after year.

This is simply an unsustainable course that we're on, but rather than looking at this in isolation as one problem that's separate from the economic situation that we face, the President and this Congress are going to work together and are going to look at those items together, along with energy independence and along with education, in a way that we haven't done before in taking a comprehensive look at it. These are the things that we're going to be talking about moving forward, and these are the things that this group is going to continue to discuss in these forums.

So I thank the gentleman from Kentucky, and I look forward to continuing the debate.

And I thank the gentleman from Connecticut. And the gentleman is absolutely correct on a number of points. He mentioned that he came to this Chamber for this discussion just as the previous group was wrapping up. I had been here a little bit longer and got to hear some of what they had to say, Mr. Murphy and Madam Speaker.

Mr. Murphy mentioned that we have a Republican Party that is joining the debate and having the discussion. I didn't hear a whole lot of joining the debate going on. I heard a lot of, as the gentleman from Connecticut said, revisionist history. And one of the items of revisionist history that I'm most intrigued by that you hear not just during these Special Order debates, but from talk show hosts around the country, and others, is the revisionist history that Franklin Roosevelt had nothing to do with the recovery that took place after the Great Depression. I don't recall learning that in school when I was growing up. I don't recall that talking point being a part of the discussion. But now we're hearing a lot about, well, the New Deal really didn't work, and nothing that was accomplished by that administration solved any of the issues that they inherited during the Great Depression.

And I think about that when I hear some of the discussion that our colleagues on the other side bring to these Special Orders. And many of them have become friends and colleagues and people that I admire. But the discussion that I hear, I wouldn't consider that to be a debate. I don't think that we're hearing good faith efforts to reach compromise and to work together. I think what we're seeing is a lot of finger pointing. I think we're seeing a lot of blame being cast around and a lot of passing the buck because, as Mr. Murphy said, we have not yet heard anyone own up to the fact that this Nation is in the economic crisis that it is in today because of the policies of the very recent past. And we can point fingers and we can cast blame, and that's not what this is about, that's not what we're doing today.

But it is instructive to think about how we got to where we are. And when you hear prescriptions being put forward for getting us out of this incredibly deep ditch that we find ourselves in, the people who are bringing forward these prescriptions have a record, they have a record of success or not. So I think the reason it's instructive to look at the decisions that were made in this Congress that led us to where we are today, when you hear people stand on the floor and say, here's my point of view, this is where I'm coming from, this is the way I think we can get ourselves out of this economic situation, let's take a walk down memory lane. Let's think about, well, what is that person's track record in voting for economic plans?

And I do want to remind Mr. Murphy and Madam Speaker that we have a country now, eight straight budget deficits, these deficits are now forecast as far as the eye can see, we all know that. And we're going to talk about the economic recovery plan tonight and we're going to talk about the details of what was in that plan and what was not in that plan, equally important. Because I heard a lot of discussion about things that weren't even related to what was in the economic recovery plan. We'll have that discussion in a moment.

But what's important to think about when you consider what individuals have credibility and what groups have credibility when talking about the budget deficit and which do not, it has to do with the fact that these eight straight budget deficits that we've had followed four consecutive budget surpluses that President Bush inherited. And one of the things about the economic situation that we find ourselves in is when we get out of this--and we will, as a Nation, get ourselves out of this, as the President said last night--when we get out of this, we're going to be able to step back and look at the fiscal policies that worked and didn't, and look at the people who were in power that made those decisions that led to success and lack of success on the economy. Because it's a pretty clear discussion that you have when you say, here's the economy that President Clinton had, a very slow economy, to put it kindly. He had an enormous budget deficit--the largest budget deficit ever recorded was under President

Bush's father up to that time--President Clinton inherited that situation. When President Clinton left office, the four straight budget surpluses that I was just discussing--and those surpluses were forecast as far as the eye can see, the 10-year budget projection, as we've talked about many times, Mr. Murphy, was $5.6 trillion over 10 years. That was in surplus. If we had just kept in place the fiscal policies that we had at that time when President Bush put his hand on the Oath of Office--Bush 43--if we had just kept in place those fiscal policies, we could have nearly paid down the entire national debt as it existed to that time now 8 years later. But of course we didn't keep those fiscal policies in place, we went in a completely different direction, which is the way it works; when one party controls the White House, they implement certain policies, when one party controls Congress, they implement certain policies. When the same party controls both the White House and Congress at the same time--as happened during the first 6 years of President Bush's term--they chose to take the economy in a completely different direction, and boy did they ever. The economy went in a completely different direction than those four straight budget surpluses and one of the fastest periods of expansion and growth in economic history in America.

So now we find ourselves with a new administration. And yes, that administration has a Congress that is of the same party affiliation, and we will see how that plays out. But where I'm going with this, Mr. Murphy, is, policy discussions in the future, you will be able to see very clearly what happened during the Clinton administration with the economy, what happened during the Bush administration; where did they begin, what did they leave their successor? And of course history has yet to be written about where President Obama leaves the economy. But I think it's safe to say it couldn't possibly be worse than what he inherited.

I thank the gentleman.

And as I indicated earlier, one of the things that I think the American people find so troubling about the direction the debate is taking, let alone the policy implications, is exactly what the gentleman from Connecticut talked about, that there appears to be a strategy of betting on success for the Democratic side and the Republican side appears to be betting on failure. I will leave it to others to speculate on what their desire is for the outcome. We will trust their motivations, but they certainly think that we're in failure mode.

Now, I find that to be very troubling because I want to have a Congress that works together where all sides are heard. And President Obama made every effort to reach out to the Republicans and solicit their opinions. And I do think, Madam Speaker, that when you hear things like we heard earlier, a discussion on how this economic recovery plan that we passed was going to lead to government-run health care, well, there is no provision in that recovery plan that alludes to, relates to, correlates to, leads to government-run health care. It is not in the bill that we passed, which is now law. There is no provision for the field mouse in San Francisco that we heard so much about. There are no earmarks in the bill. We heard when the President referenced earmarks, there was derision from the other side last night during the President's remarks, which I think the American people find disingenuous because there are no earmarks in the bill. There are zero earmarks.

So when I'm thinking about how I'm going to vote and I'm thinking through what's in the bill and what my constituents want me to do and I have people weigh in with an opinion, one of the things I'm going to consider is what's their motivation in offering that opinion, but is it an informed opinion? And if an individual comes up to me and complains to me about field mice in San Francisco or earmarks in the bill or how the bill is going to lead to universal health care, it's pretty clear that person has either not been truthful about what's in the bill or not made an effort to learn what's in the bill. Neither of those leads to good policy decisions. And I think that's what the gentleman from Connecticut and I are getting to.

So I am going to have the very, very high honor at this time of doing something that we don't do very often here in the 30-Somethings. We have five core members, Ms. Wasserman Schultz from Florida, Mr. Ryan from Ohio, Mr. Meek from Florida, who are the leaders and the originators of the group from back before Mr. Murphy

and I were able to win election to this House. Mr. Murphy and I have participated and are going into our second term now. So we are very honored tonight, and as everyone knows, Madam Speaker, who watches this over the airwaves, we have just a tremendous fan base for the 30- Somethings. There are countless individuals.

A handful of people that do actually pay attention to the 30-Something Group. So for them this is a very exciting moment because we are tonight going to initiate a new Member into the 30- Somethings with his maiden 30-Something speech, a great Member also from Ohio; so he is very close geographically to both Mr. Ryan and my district, which is in Pennsylvania. And at this time for all of those 30-Something junkies that are out there and pay attention to what we have to say, the very small group that that is, I would turn it over to Mr. Boccieri from Ohio.

The gentleman was correct in pointing out where the middle-class Americans in this country were before this recession even started. And the economic policies that were in place actually led to a decrease in real dollars of median household income over the 8 years President Bush was in office. And that was the case even before the recession started in December of 2007, a real decrease in median household income over the term in office.

Now, that's not something that people in western Pennsylvania want to hear. That's something that was a cause of alarm that was not dealt with in previous Congresses or by the administration.

And, unfortunately, what we had was, in the early part of the administration especially, the enormous spending that took place, without pay-as-you-go budget scoring--which we have talked about many times--without that offset that says, very simply, you have to have money on one side of the ledger if you want to decrease revenue or spend more money on the other. It's a very simple concept. We all do it in our own home checkbooks and every business in America has to do it, balance budgets. If you want to spend more, you have to pay for it somewhere else in the budget.

Well, that wasn't happening, and the outrageous spending that took place, running up literally trillions of dollars in debt, was running the country on a credit card. We have talked many times about the policies that were put into place as a result of that, all the spending that took place. They were running the country on a credit card. Well, guess what? Like any credit card that any American would use, eventually the bill comes due. And that's what this recession is about. The bill has come due.

Now, with any credit card, there is interest that's accumulated with that. And we have talked before and it's incredibly important to the discussion to think about when you think, where are we going to go with this stimulus plan, is this the right course of action. One of the largest line items in the entire Federal budget is interest on the national debt. It's going to be somewhere in the neighborhood of $300 billion this budget year for just interest on the national debt--$300 billion. That's a lot of money. That's money that's going to interest.

And that's because of the decisions that had been made in the past, but there is nothing we can do about that. There is nothing we can do about what was in place when President Obama took office and when the 111th Congress took office. But what we can do something about is where do we go from here. So we have talked enough about how we got here. Where do we go from here?

It was the vast majority of the American people and certainly the majority of both the House and the Senate believed that the best course of action was to immediately inject some funding into the economy, yes, in the temporary way that's going to increase our debt even more, which is what we heard from the previous special order. But the cost of doing nothing would have increased the debt even more.

Because when you have a downward spiral in the economy like we have, when you lose 500,000 jobs in November, 550,000 in December, 600,000 in January, and you see that that is going to be the continuing process if we do nothing, those are people that are no longer taxpayers, because they are out of work. Those are people that, in many cases, are now receiving social services, often Federal money; that, instead of paying into the system, are receiving from the system by the hundreds of thousands every month with no end in sight, if we do nothing.

The economy, the economic slowdown, the lack of credit, the foreclosures that take place, all of that, along with unemployment, increases our debt more in the long term and even the short term than we had to do with our stimulus. So that's what that was about. It was about putting money back in the hands of the American people through tax cuts that affect 95 percent of the American people, a tax cut for 95 percent.

It's about putting money in every sector of the economy, spreading it and casting that net as wide as we possibly could to connect to every community in the country and make sure that they can share in the economic recovery that we hope this plan leads to.

There is no guarantee of what that level of success is going to be. In fact, there is no guarantee of success at all. We are very hopeful, but there is one guarantee: If we had done nothing, the situation would get worse. That is the guarantee.

Mr. Boccieri.

I thank the gentleman.

Tomorrow, on Thursday, we expect the President to drop off his budget here in the Congress so we can all have a look at the details of the plan that were discussed last night.

And what I find so exciting and so refreshing about the approach that we are going to see with this budget is we are going to consider the economic policies, moving forward, in their entirety. What are some of the major issues that affect every family, every individual, every small business, every business in this country? Well, energy, health care, and education. Those are three things that have been neglected for a very long time in Congresses both Republican and Democrat.

But that is over, because we have a President, as we heard last night, who understands that the only long-term solution to the economic problems that we have today is to solve our energy crisis, our dependence on foreign oil that Mr. Boccieri referred to.

We have to find a way to improve our health care delivery system, to increase access, so that we don't have 43 million Americans that lack any health insurance, we don't have small businesses that experience double-digit cost increases year after year. Less than half of small businesses in the country are able to offer health care to their employees at all.

And by including in the discussion on the economy health care, energy, and education, we are taking a comprehensive look at the future of America, at the issues that are going to allow America to remain the preeminent Nation in the world for knowledge and innovation and technology.

And that's something that, by looking at it together, we are going to be able to continue that success, dig our way out of the ditch that we are in right now with the economy, but not forget about the issues that have to be a part of that, moving forward, including a look at government spending, as we have talked about, and the other policy issues.

Mr. Boccieri.

I thank the gentleman. I will take the opportunity to wrap up.

We have, over the last two election cycles, heard the message from the American people. I think the first time around it was a referendum on the policies of the past, that they wanted to move in a new direction and they weren't happy with the way things had gone. But the second election, the one that we just came through several months ago, was about turning the country around and moving in a new direction, and that is what we have done. We can have disagreements. I am sure the gentleman from Texas is going to express some of that disagreement following us, which is great. That is what democracy is all about.

But I do want the American people to consider, Madam Speaker, that they have got what they voted for over the past two election cycles. They got a change in direction. They got new policies in this Congress, new policies at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. And we are all hoping for success. I am sure my friend from Texas is hoping for success as well. We need to turn the country around.

But I do want the American people to know that this Congress and the new administration are dedicated to moving this country forward, to implementing the changes that the American people voted for and asked us to engage on in their behalf.

So I would thank the gentleman from Connecticut and thank the gentleman from Ohio and welcome him to the 30-somethings. And I would say that any American who wants to learn more about Mr. Boccieri and the 30-Something Group can go to the House Web

site, which is speaker.gov/30something with the number 30, and learn all about our new member from Ohio and any other member of the 30- somethings they want.

I want to thank the gentleman from Connecticut. There's no one in this House--a lot of us care and work hard for health care-- but that works on health care more and cares more than Mr. Murphy, and I appreciate you putting this together.

And the reason this is an important issue is because it affects everybody. It affects every individual. It affects every family. It affects every business in America. Health care is something that we all need, and health care is something that we all have a right to.

Now, there's differences of opinion on what reform should look like, but there's no difference of opinion that our system is broken. And if you look at the facts, we as a Nation spend almost $2.5 trillion on health care as a country, far more than any other country in the world; yet we still get mediocre results when compared to other countries in some things like life expectancies and infant mortality, and Mr. Kennedy talked a little bit about that earlier. Now, we're the not in the middle of the pack. We're in the bottom of the pack in some of those when compared to other countries.

Now, if you can afford to get in and if you have access to the system and if you're one of the fortunate that has a quality health plan and you don't have any preexisting conditions, then you might say, well, we have the finest health care system anywhere in the world. And that's true, too, for that segment that's able to access our health care system.

The problem that we have is we have 50 million Americans, approaching that number, that lack any health insurance at all; 50 million people with no health care. As the gentleman from Connecticut talked about earlier, it's a common misconception to say those are people that it's their own fault, they should have health care, they should get a job. Three-quarters of those people have a job or they live in a household where the head of the household has a job. They don't have health care.

We passed an expansion of SCHIP in this Congress in the past 2 weeks here, signed into law by President Obama, that extends 4 million children access to the SCHIP program. Those are working families. Those are kids that didn't have health care. They live in families that work hard and play by the rules, but they can't afford health care for their kids. Is there anything more important that we could be doing for our children than making sure they have access to quality health care?

And if you look at our country, a big issue that we talked about in the stimulus was the information technology system in this country. And I just think it's crazy that you can go--I live in Pittsburgh. So somebody who lives in San Diego, they might not think this is so crazy. But if you live in Pittsburgh and you go to San Diego and you put your bank card in the ATM machine, you can pull up all your records in a safe and secure way, all your financial documents, get your balance. You don't worry about it. You don't think about privacy.

But if on that same trip you show up in the emergency room in San Diego and you need services, they can't pull up your record. They don't have your family medical history. They don't have your allergies. They don't have your imaging, your X-rays. They don't know anything about you, and you start from scratch, and they're going to ask you half a dozen times when you're there, what are you allergic to.

It's crazy that health care is the only industry in the country that doesn't have an interconnected information technology system. You would think that would be the most important one to have it. We don't have it.

Now, there are some health systems in this country, including the VA, that has done a pretty good job of putting together an information technology system, but what we can't allow happen is that we develop a nationwide network of small information systems that are incompatible with each other because that doesn't solve the problem at all.

So, what we tried to do in the discussion of the stimulus package was put together a roadmap for the future with information technology systems so that anywhere you go in this country, if you need health care, you can pull up your records in a safe and secure way. And with health care changing the way that it is and treatment protocols changing, the patient will have access to that, and in some cases, in a safe and secure way, the patient who is a diabetic from home that does their own self-tests can update their own record in conjunction with their physician.

So these are things that we need to aspire to in the future. We cannot allow our health care system to continue to languish behind the times of technology, and we certainly cannot continue to allow 50 million Americans and growing every day to go without health care. Because it's been said many times in this hour and many times before, we have people that do have health care outside of that 50 million that are one accident or injury or illness away from losing everything. The gentleman said it a moment ago. Those are the people that are lucky enough to have health insurance.

I hear from small businesses in my district all the time, with say 10 employees. They will say if one of their employee's kids, not the employee, the employee's kid gets sick or injured, they get a phone call from the insurance company, and they say, well, you're too big of a risk, we have to drop you. What's the point of having health insurance if you only have it until you need it, until somebody needs to use it? That's not what health insurance is supposed to be about.

We need to find a way to allow small businesses to pool their employees, either through their States or their regions or metropolitan statistical areas or, moving forward, the entire Nation. Put them all in the same community-rated risk pool and say that your individual health status doesn't matter when setting your rates. You can still have the same choices in the market. You can still, as an employer, choose what coverage you're going to offer your employees. And you as an employee have the same choice, but the insurance company can't use your individual health status to set your rates.

And that would make the system more fair. But the larger issue moving forward, as the gentleman said, and I'll conclude, is we have to find a way to ensure the highest quality care that is available to some parts of our society is available to everyone, to all 300-plus million Americans in this country, has access to the highest quality care, and they have health care not just when they do need it, but when they do need it. That's the key.

Again, we're going to have a long discussion about what does reform look like. We've talked about it before. And that's an issue that this Nation needs to come to terms with. But there can be no disagreement on the need for health care reform which, once we get past this economic situation that we're in now, has to be the number one course of action for this Congress.

I thank the gentleman.

Tomorrow we commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. While it's

tempting to think that there could not possibly be anything original or profound left to say about Lincoln, that's not why we commemorate this occasion.

The life of Lincoln is more than the story of our greatest President. It is the story of America itself. We are not here to repeat the history of the man who was elected at a time of unprecedented national challenge, tested time and again by adversity, and taken away during his moment of greatest glory.

All of that is known and has been discussed and studied by students and scholars the world over. But that is not what this bicentennial was about. This is a celebration of America, because the life of Abraham Lincoln is, in and of itself, a celebration of America.

Abraham Lincoln is the everlasting embodiment of the American dream-- the belief that any American, through hard work and determination, can achieve anything their imagination and perseverance can conceive.

Born in a Kentucky log cabin in 1809, he would have seemed to be among the least likely Americans to live a life of distinction. That is why his story is so important to America. It could have been the story of any one of us--of any American.

Throughout his early life, he was never considered extraordinary. He tried many jobs and went through many phases. Farmer, rail splitter, raftsman, shopkeeper, lawyer, and politician. And through it all he met with his times of failure, but he also had his times of success.

He served just a single term in this U.S. House of Representatives, and would not achieve national prominence until much later, when his own ambition collided with our Nation's destiny. And it's what came next that brought Lincoln to his moment and America to her rebirth.

We know about the Lincoln-Douglas debates, the Gettysburg Address, and the Second Inaugural. We know about the Emancipation Proclamation, the Team of Rivals, and the ups and downs of the Civil War. We know about the surrender at Appomattox and that fateful night at Ford's Theater.

All of those are etched into our Nation's history. They're the reasons that Abraham Lincoln, the man, is immortalized. But they are not the reason that we commemorate the bicentennial of his birth.

Now and forevermore, the role of Lincoln in the American memory is to remind us that, in America, everything is possible. Like Lincoln's own life, our Nation's history has not been perfect, it has not been without tragedy, and not been without adversity. But, also like Lincoln, as we strive for recovery, endure our hardships and mourn our losses, we as a Nation will always overcome. And, in the end, we celebrate our success. And Abraham Lincoln is one of our Nation's greatest successes.

Now, a lot has been written and said about Abraham Lincoln over these past 200 years. In fact, more words have been written about Abraham Lincoln than any other American. Every one of our 50 States and many of our cities have some sort of memorial to him, the most famous of which is located just down the National Mall from this Capitol building. And that Lincoln Memorial, which we treasure, and we can see from here, was dedicated in 1922--87 years ago. Four score and 7 years ago.

In life, he was taken from us far too soon, but in history he will always endure. Now and forever he truly does belong to the ages.

Some have said that without Abraham Lincoln, there may not be a United States of America. Well, this can be debated, but one thing is certain. Without a United States of America, there could never have been an Abraham Lincoln. And that is what we celebrate.

Mr. Speaker, to paraphrase an old NFL films episode, there are 31 teams in the National Football League, and then there are the Pittsburgh Steelers. By winning their NFL record sixth Super Bowl this past Sunday, the Steelers have now truly gone where no team has gone before.

I want to congratulate the Rooney family, especially team owner Dan and president Art Rooney, the architects of yet another championship team. Head coach Mike Tomlin now goes down in history as the youngest coach to ever win a Super Bowl. And while every player played a role, special congratulations go out to quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who engineered one of the greatest clutch drives ever, linebacker James Harrison, who scored on the longest play in Super Bowl history, and game MVP Santonio Holmes, whose spectacular touchdown catch sealed the win.

Congratulations again to ``Six-Burgh'' and fans across the Steelers Nation.

I thank the gentleman.

Mr. Chairman, today this House will vote on the largest economic recovery package in this Nation's history. After weeks of discussion and debate, we have come to a compromise bill that incorporates different points of view and makes the necessary hard choices.

Funding in this bill rebuilds crumbling roads and bridges, locks and dams, it improves security on our borders and our ports, it repairs and maintains our VA and DOD health facilities, modernizes our schools, laboratories and classrooms. But, most important, this economic recovery package will put people back to work and put money back in their pockets with a tax cut for 95 percent of working families in America. It will create jobs, get the economy moving again, and leave this country with items of lasting significance to show for it.

Mr. Chairman, we simply cannot wait any longer to help our economy and get this country moving again. Passage of this bill is a necessary step in that direction.

Madam Speaker, I would like to wish the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Organization of Chinese-Americans a happy and healthy New Year for the year 4707, the year of the ox.

I hope this New Year brings the Chinese-American community of Pittsburgh much joy and thanksgiving. I am thankful for the positive impact this organization has had on the lives of Chinese-Americans and Pittsburgh as a whole. Chinese-Americans have greatly contributed to the progress of Pittsburgh as well as the entire nation. I am very honored for this opportunity to wish them a very happy 4707.

I ask my colleagues in the United States House of Representatives to join me in wishing the members of the Organization of Chinese-Americans a very happy and prosperous New Year.

Madam Speaker, remember the ``Drill here, Drill Now'' rallying cry we heard nonstop on this floor? Even when the lights were off and Congress was in recess, the other

side stood here in the dark, with their charts and graphs, blaming Democrats for high gas prices.

If only we would allow drilling in the Outer Continental Shelf, they said, the oil companies would expand exploration and produce oil in record amounts. Well, we opened up the OCS for the first time in 20 years, and now the oil companies are free to explore and drill without restriction.

But the oil companies are reducing exploration. That's right. We opened up the OCS to the oil companies and they responded by cutting back on exploration.

Where is the outrage from my colleagues on the other side?

Congress did its part. So when gas prices inevitably go back up, I hope they will focus their ``Drill Baby Drill'' chants directly on the oil companies.

Madam Speaker, I move that the House do now adjourn.

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 4 o'clock and 55 minutes p.m.), the House adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, January 7, 2009, at 10 a.m.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Education and Labor be discharged from further consideration of H. Res. 875 and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

I have an amendment to the preamble at the desk.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Education and Labor be discharged from further consideration of the resolution (H. Res. 1440) expressing support for designation of the month of October as ``National Work and Family Month,'' and ask for its immediate consideration in the House.

I have an amendment to the preamble at the desk.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to insert extraneous material into the Record on the matters that were just considered.

Mr. Speaker, while the $700 billion Wall Street bailout that we are considering this week is proof of the failures of the economic policies of the past 8 years, we should not forget the policies that President Bush and the Republicans tried unsuccessfully to enact.

Imagine what we might be facing now had Republicans been successful in privatizing Social Security and tying its benefits to the stock market. And it was none other than Senator John McCain who just this month said that the American health care system would be better off if it were run more like our banking and financial markets.

Well, thankfully we didn't follow Republicans in tying Social Security to the stock market, and we didn't take Senator McCain's advice to run our health care system like we run our financial system.

Mr. Speaker, our Nation simply cannot afford another 4 years of the same failed policies that got us into this mess in the first place.

I thank the gentleman from New York.

I know it is somewhat unusual to come down from the chair, but I did

not want our colleagues to think nor certainly the American people watching tonight to think that New York has a monopoly on the Mike McNulty fan club, because I certainly count myself as does, I'm sure, every Member of this House in that group.

I've told Michael before that I was a staffer on Capitol Hill in the early 1990s, and people always ask now and asked even then ``Why is it so infrequent that you see large groups of people in the Chamber? You know, you seem to be speaking. There's not a lot of people there.'' It's because people are back in their offices, and they're watching it on TV. At the staff level, you do the same thing. You pay attention to what's happening on the House floor.

As a very young staffer, beginning in 1991, I learned about the House, and I learned about the procedures of the House by watching what was going on. In those days when the Democrats had control of Congress before the 14 years that they lost it, no one served in the chair more than Mr. McNulty. We enjoyed watching him, and I learned so much as a young staffer about this institution by watching Mr. McNulty in the chair.

I just could not sit without thinking of the great, pleasant irony for me that, on this night when we're honoring Mr. McNulty, I was actually in the chair.

So I wanted to come down and tell you that the spirit of Mr. McNulty is certainly going to live in this Chamber for a very, very long time and that the legacy lives on through his many legislative accomplishments and through, I'm sure, the countless--they have to number in the thousands--number of constituent services that you've provided over the years, the countless accomplishments. The spirit will remain within each of us who has had the honor to serve with him.

So I did just want to take a few minutes to say, A, it's not just New York that holds you in high esteem tonight but that I'm a better person for having known Mr. McNulty and that I know I'm a better House Member for having known him. So I thank Mr. McNulty.

I would yield my time back to Mr. Ackerman. Thank you for the opportunity.

Madam Speaker, with all of the economic troubles on both Wall Street and Main Street, it's hard to believe that there are still people out there who think everything is going all right.

On Monday, the stock market fell 500 points, the biggest fall since the terror attacks of September 11. Lehman Brothers, one of the world's oldest financial institutions, filed for bankruptcy while another financial giant, Merrill Lynch, was bailed out of trouble by Bank of America. Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said this was part of a once-in-a-century crisis.

I wish President Bush and Senator McCain felt that way. Stubbornly clinging to the belief that his economic policies are succeeding, President Bush described the events Monday as merely an adjustment. Senator McCain declared, once again, that the fundamentals of our economy are strong.

Well, Madam Speaker, President Bush and Senator McCain have to be two of the only people in the country who think the economy is just fine. How can they fix the crisis when they don't even realize it exists?