Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to The Reverend Canon Richard Livingston Marquess-Barry, Pastor of the Historic Saint Agnes' Episcopal Church in Miami, Florida.

A native of Miami, Florida, Reverend Barry obtained his early education from the Miami-Dade County Public Schools. He is a proud graduate of Miami Northwestern Sr. High School Class of 1958 where his portrait still hangs in the school's Hall of Fame. He furthered his education at Saint Augustine's College, in Raleigh, North Carolina and went on to get his Doctor of Human Letters degree from Barbar-Scotia College, Concord, North Carolina in 1995.

Married to Virla Rolle Barry, Reverend Barry has been blessed in this holy matrimony for over 40 years. Also blessed to this union is one daughter Diana, who is married to Ronald Frazier, II, and two grandsons Richard and Ronald.

This visionary of a pastor became God's shepherd par excellence under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, as he continues to guide his Congregation. He has led Saint Agnes' Episcopal Church with a good mixture of old-time religion and civic responsibility that continues to encourage the members not only to become spiritual and moral leaders, but also responsible and conscientious guardians of good government and community pride.

Reverend Barry has dedicated his life to making the lives of those around him better. Further demonstrated, as one of the many programs under his leadership, the church adopted a HUD project, Rainbow Village Housing Development and lobbied the Miami-Dade Housing Authority to completely renovate the complex. As a result of this action, the tenant council of Rainbow Village and the Vestry of this parish formed the Saint Agnes' Rainbow Village Community Development Corporation (CDC). Through the CDC, 80 two-story, three and four bedroom/two and one-half bath, single-family homes for ownership were built for low and moderate income families.

An ordained priest of the Episcopal Church and having served as a Priest for 39 years, Father Barry's leadership is genuinely admirable. As a servant of God and as a spiritual leader immersed in Scriptural commitment, he has earned the community's deepest respect. This is the legacy with which he now guides his Church.

Indeed, it is fitting and proper to give praise to Almighty God for blessing the Saint Agnes' Episcopal Church with the longevity of leadership through Reverend Barry. His service to his Congregation and to all those who seek comfort and solace in its Church sanctuary leaves an everlasting mark.

Today, I honor Reverend Barry for the years of dedication and commitment to his church and the community.

Mr. Speaker, it's an honor to be before the House once again.

As you know, the 30-something Working Group, we come to the floor maybe once, twice, three times, if we can, a week to not only share with the Members the good things that we are doing but also some things that we are going to have to work together on, bills that we're going to have to work together on on behalf of America.

We've been able to do quite a bit this session, Mr. Speaker, and accomplish a lot in this first session. We have had record-breaking roll call votes never taken before. I think it's somewhere around 980 votes, I mean, not even counting the votes today, that have been taken here in the House that have never been taken in the history of the Republic, since the mid-70s. I believe it was 1975 or 1974 that held the record for roll call votes, and this year is not over yet, and we still have a lot of business to conduct.

I can't help but, Mr. Speaker, come to the floor and talk a little bit about what happened with the children's health care bill. I know just an hour ago we voted to override the President of the United States, and that's something that the Congress has the opportunity to do. The President decided to veto the children's health care bill. The Congress said that we would override. The Senate had the votes but the House, we weren't able to do it today. It wasn't because of Democratic Members of Congress, why we weren't able to override, and it wasn't because of 44 Republicans who voted with Democrats to override the President. It was 154 Republicans who decided to stand with the President and not voting for the override.

Now, we fell 13 votes short. What does that mean? I'm not here today to start calling names and pointing fingers, but I'm here today to make sure that the Members know that the good thing about America is that you have the second chance to do the right thing, and the Members had a second chance to do the right thing and failed to do so. The 13 Members or so failed to do so because they voted against the original bill that came before us that the President vetoed, but on the override they had the opportunity to say the right thing, and they didn't do it.

And within that 154 or within that 13, I just want to identify some of the States that will not receive health care or children's health care from the CHIP bill.

In California, 1.8 million kids have been denied health care. State of Florida, my very State, my State that I represent, those Members that voted, the 13 we fell short, voted against 616,000 kids. In Georgia, 467,000 for those Members that voted against the SCHIP bill override. Illinois, 435,000; Indiana, 199,000. And I'm just using round numbers here, Mr. Speaker. Iowa, 72,962; Kentucky, 112,000 will be denied health care because Members of the other side, 13 Republicans, said we needed to be able to close the gap, did not vote with us today to override the

President. In Maryland, 185,000; and Ohio, 338,000. In Pennsylvania, 312,000 will not be able to receive health care because we fell short of 13 votes. We did not get it from the Republican side of the aisle.

South Carolina, 122,000 children will be denied health care. In Texas, 966,000 will be denied health care. In Utah, 74,000 will be denied health care. And in Wisconsin, 94,000 will be denied health care, and in Wyoming, 12,000 will be denied health care because we did not have the said votes we needed to have, 13 votes on the Republican side that we needed to override.

Now, there were a lot of things said about the SCHIP bill, and a good part of the day and some 2 hours and change was devoted to both sides having an opportunity, Democrats and Republicans, to discuss their support or lack of support for overriding the President on this veto.

Mr. Speaker, I just want to kind of point out here, this picture is going to end up being one of my National Archives pictures when I, you know, relinquish them and I let them go. I kind of keep things as I come to the floor. There are certain charts, and as you know, Mr. Speaker, I do love charts and I'm glad because they illustrate not only for the Members but they illustrate a period of time in American history which now we're living in right now.

This picture was taken when a majority of the Republican Caucus went down and went to the White House and stood with the President on the first bill that we passed to put the heat on the Iraqi Government as it relates to the politicians there in Iraq living up to its responsibilities so that our U.S. troops don't have to continue to do patrols in the streets of Iraq, to be able to do exactly what the President called for as it relates to benchmarks or timelines, that certain things are supposed to happen or else. We put that in legislation, and the Republican Conference ran down there and had a press conference with the President saying we're standing with the President.

Well, today some of the folks in this photo here stood with the President, and they're within the 154 that voted against the SCHIP bill override. It's so unfortunate that the kids that I just called out and thousands and millions of other kids are going to be denied health care. Poor kids, they're going to be denied health care.

We also have, Mr. Speaker, something that I think is very, very important. Our obligation here is to make sure the children have health care and that the good people of the United States of America have access to health care, and I'm getting more and more concerned about folks being more loyal to the President, more loyal to special interests on the minority side than, in my opinion, being loyal to some of the constituents that need our assistance; and I think that's very, very important.

I think it's important also to note that this goes beyond politics, because I believe those that voted and within the 13 because I'm glad I'm not in that number of the 154 Republicans that voted against this override. They're going to have to, within that, the 13 that was needed to override the President decided not to, and I think that there's been some career decisions that have been made.

Obviously, I mean, everyone knows that I'm a Democrat, but if I was an independent or I was a Republican or I was someone that was thinking about voting one day and taking part in this democracy of ours as it relates to the ballot, if a Congressman came up to me and said, guess what, one day I'm going to have the opportunity to vote for health care for poor children that go to school with your kids that live in your neighborhood, folks that work either in your business or people that work with you at work, I'm going to deny them health care, not once but twice, vote for me on Tuesday. There's no way in the world I know a Member did not give that speech and will not give that speech, but today walked in here, slipped the voting card in here, voted ``no'' and left and went home for the weekend.

This was the close of business. It was the last vote that we took. It was a major vote. We took a Journal vote earlier today. There were only two votes, approving the Journal and voting to override the President of the United States on denying poor children health care. So no one could have gotten confused about, oh, maybe I pushed the wrong button or what have you.

I just want to make sure that the Members understand that this is about serious business here, and I'm going to tell you the American people voted for a new direction. Matter of fact, this reminds me of the old days when we had the rubber-stamp Congress, and I want to make sure my staff bring the rubber stamp down from my office because we haven't had it down here probably only once in the 110th Congress, but I'm going to make sure it gets down here to the floor before I leave the floor because I can tell you, you can't go wrong with friends like that illustrated here in this picture, you can't go wrong.

The President should feel comfortable, as far as I'm concerned should write a handwritten note saying thank you for sticking with me but not sticking with the poor children of the United States of America. Ten million children we're talking about insuring.

The President says, well, you know, maybe 1 million or 2 million or 3 million or 5 million, that's my proposal or what have you, going back and forth. The bottom line is without even a real discussion, without even a real discussion the President is willing to move forward on saying that we should be in Iraq forever, and I think that's a real issue for the people of the country. I think that's a real issue because when you look at article I, section 1 of the U.S. Constitution, I mean, the Congress has a lot to do.

But what happens as it relates to not only the funding of the war in Iraq but also as it relates to policy, as we look at this issue of Iraq but we're having all this discussion about Iraq and then we try to do something domestic, major something domestic and reauthorizing a program that provides children's health care, and when you look at it, when you look at it here, Mr. Speaker, one day of funding in the war in Iraq costs $330 million and could insure 270,000 kids. One week in Iraq, one week, we're not talking about, you know, one year, we're talking one week, $2.3 billion insures 1.8 million kids.

One month in Iraq, $10 billion, that is $10 billion, that is with a capital B, 1.8 million kids can receive health care. And 37 days in Iraq, $12.2 billion spent, 10 million kids can receive coverage.

Now, it is all right and the President is saying, why are you even asking the question? Why are you even questioning my wisdom for even saying that we should continue to fund the war in Iraq? But meanwhile, we are sitting back here and kids are getting the veto again.

I think it is important for the Members to understand what is going on here. And I think that the reason why a lot of average Americans have a great level of frustration with Washington, DC is the fact that we can do something 10,000-plus miles away from continental United States for children that we will not even do for children here in the United States of America. Now, that is a problem.

Now, I don't have a problem. I have been to Iraq three times. I have been to Afghanistan. I have been a little bit of everywhere as it relates to the Middle East, because that is a big concern as relates to our issues that we have not only diplomatically but also as it relates to safety and that we have to engage in dialogue. But I have a problem, Mr. Speaker, of what I know and what is actually happening here on this floor.

Now, again, I am glad this chart is here now. When we start talking about having your back, I mean, the Republican conference which is a number, I am not going to generalize because 44 of the members of that conference voted with the children of America today, with Democrats, and overriding the President of the United States; but the majority, the 154 that voted against were part of the same group. Again, I am going back to the President. The President is not running again for election, but I can tell you this much; that, I can tell you that it is very, very important that we pay attention to the pattern that is taking place. Yes, we have a Democratic majority in the House, we have a Democratic majority in the Senate, but I

think it is important for us to take note of the consistent voting loyal to the President. This is not a loyalty contest. People weren't elected to be loyal to any given party. They are elected to make sure that their constituents and the people of America get what they need out of their government. And when we look at this, foreign debt doubles under President Bush on the $1.9 trillion in 6 years between 2001 and 2006. Forty-two Presidents that I have here, Mr. Speaker, 42 Presidents, 224 years, $1.01 trillion, from 1776 to the year 2000, was only able to borrow from foreign nations $1.01 trillion. So the President has already trumped, with the former rubber-stamp Republican Congress in the last Congress. But it is in another form now, Mr. Speaker. It is in the form to where you see, saying, well, we no longer have the majority. The American people have taken that from us. The American people have taken that from us. Now we are in the business of stopping the new direction Congress that Republicans, Independents, Democrats voted for a new direction because they were concerned about the Republican rubber-stamp Congress following the President of the United States, the rubber-stamp Congress that was here, following the President of the United States to the new Congress, now saying, well, we have enough votes to stop the two-thirds that is needed to override the President, so that is going to be our new stance, Mr. President. We are with you all the way.

Well, I can tell you this much, Mr. Speaker and Members. I think it is important for many of those Members in the 109th Congress that followed the President, the Pied Piper, saying, let's go this way, let's vote this way, stick with me, I am going to lead you. And, guess what? Many of them are at home right now reading the paper about what is happening here in the Capitol dome because they are no longer, they are no longer in Congress. Now, some of them were friends, some of them I knew personally. That is fine. But on the policy end, they were following the President and found themselves unelected.

Now, if this was a political discussion, Mr. Speaker, I would, I would go somewhere and I would go somewhere reading the newspaper or taking a break or something, or maybe reading a good book right now or on the plane going back down to Florida. But this is about politics. Because I would just allow the 154 that voted against the override to continue to vote like they had been voting if it was about politics, because the American people will make sure that they rise up come some given Tuesday in another year from now and vote those individuals out of Congress because they are voting against children's health care.

Saying all of that, I think it is important to say where we are right now in not only history but in the present. If it was just politics, I would just go sit down, but it is not about politics. It is about children's health care. I must shed light on this and we must continue to put the pressure on. I commend the Speaker for holding her ground on this issue. I want the Speaker to continue to hold her ground on this issue because we cannot backslide on making sure that poor children have health care; not something that looks like health care, but actually has health care, so that they can be healthy and do the things that they have to do.

I tell you, Mr. Speaker, as I was in my office preparing to come to the floor, I was just reading some of the clips. I am glad the rubber stamp has made it down to the floor, and I will address the rubber stamp, I will come back to it.

It says on the headline of the New York Times, and this is hot off the press here, it says: The House Fails to Override Child Health Care Bill Veto. And the bottom line is is that the vote to override was 273- 156, or 13 votes short of the necessary two-thirds majority of those voting. The bill was originally approved about a couple weeks ago, September 25, 265 voting for it and 159 voting against it.

Now, you know, one thing that this administration is not used to, Mr. Speaker, and some of our friends on the Republican side of the aisle are not used to is a bill coming to the floor already paid for. They are used to rubber stamping and saying, put it on the credit card for the next generation to pay for. I have a 10-year-old son and I have a 12-year-old daughter, and guess what? I care about their financial future. I don't want them in debt. I don't want to have them to turn around and, Mr. Speaker, having to pay to Japan, to China, to the U.K., to the Caribbean, to Taiwan, to OPEC nations, to Korea, to Hong Kong, to Germany of money that the President and the rubber-stamp Republican Congress before this Congress did because all they did was say, oh, that is fine, you want tax cuts, special interest billionaire, kazillionaire. We want to go into a new stratosphere of how many subsidies we are going to give you. We are going to do it. And guess what? We are not even concerned how we are going to pay for it. We are going to borrow from foreign nations. We are going to put it on the backs of those Americans that are not even eligible to vote right now, those Americans that were born since I have been on the floor here that are going to have to pay the bill. And in a new direction Congress, Democratic Congress, we said we weren't going to do it, and we haven't done it. And here we are again. This is a new form of the Republican rubber-stamp minority that is standing with the President all the way.

I am glad this rubber stamp is down here, because I spent a lot of time, Mr. Speaker, here on the floor with many of my colleagues. I think this stamp here one day will be properly placed somewhere in a glass case because this is what used to be. The President said, let's give tax breaks to super-wealthy corporations, record-breaking oil subsidies. Boom. No problem. Rubber stamp. It is going to happen. So shall it be written, so shall it be done. Those days are over.

But now it is in a new form. We are going to stand with you when it comes down to overriding some of the major issues that Americans care about. A, this war in Iraq as it relates to the policy that we should be passing that so many Americans are very frustrated with, the fact that the Congress and the President has not been able to come through with policy that will eventually bring our men and women home, will eventually bring our combat troops home, because we will be providing technical assistance in the region for some time. But we are losing a number of our young people and our middle-aged folks that are reservists that have been deployed longer than any other fighting force in the past and we are still here going back and forth. And the reason why we are going back and forth is the fact that we don't have the necessary votes on the Republican side to be able to override the President. And the Senate, the procedural 60 votes that you need to bring certain issues are not there, because there is only a 51 majority Democrats there. So I think it is important, not only do we report the news, but we also talk about how we can do better.

Now, I come to the floor with a clear mind and a clear heart and ask my colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle: We fell 13 votes short of providing poor children health care today. I ask, as we started to look at this issue again, and another vote will be coming up in weeks, that one goes within their soul and within their heart and think about voting in the affirmative so that we can pass the bipartisan health care opportunities for young people that we have done.

Now, this was a bipartisan bill. You know, you listen to the President, you think, oh, the Democrats sent me a bill. Well, I guess the 45 Republicans that voted with us on the original bill and the 44 that voted with us today, I guess they are Democrats, too. Or maybe they are just Members of Congress who say that it is their responsibility to make sure that poor children in their district and within the country have health care. Boy, that is something. And so I think it is very, very important that we move down and move in that direction.

I will put that rubber stamp off to the side because I never want to see those days again, but I wanted to bring it down to the floor because I thought it was fitting today that we do that.

I think it is important that we highlight the fact that there are a number of polls that have been out on this issue and who has said that Americans are in full, almost full support of expanding the children's health care bill.

Eighty-one percent in the CBS poll have said, I am for health care and expanding it for poor children; 81 percent, 15 opposed. And I think that is something to look at, and I think that is something that Members should pay very, very close attention to.

I also, Mr. Speaker, I think what is important, as we started looking at what is to be done in the very near future, we have to look at the fact that we have families, we have children, we have policymakers in the States that are counting on a children's health care program. We have doctors that are concerned about the lack of health care that children already are experiencing here in the United States, and so when we started talking about reauthorization, we started talking about expanding to more kids, they are happy but now they are concerned. We have over 170 organizations that deal with children and good government and support, still in support, of overriding the President on the health care bill on the SCHIP bill that he vetoed. That is history now. But I think it is important that, I want to encourage those Members that voted for the override, I want to encourage those Members on the Republican side, the 44 that voted with Democrats to override the President, to stay encouraged. To stay encouraged, because so many times we know about the glory, Mr. Speaker, but we don't necessarily know about the story. And right now we are writing the story on providing health care to poor children in the United States of America. And I say to children of the United States of America, because you have some Members here that are willing to vote for kids in Iraq and other places that have health care but not willing to vote for our own children here in the United States to get health care. And I think it is important that as we start to build this story, there is some good chapters and some bad chapters. And I think the good chapters that can be added to this story of getting to the glory part where we are able to have expanded benefits for children and also expanded coverage for children to provide health care for the next 5 years, or as long as we can get it at that number, for some Members who voted to not allow those children to have health care to come to the side of allowing them to have health care.

Voting in the affirmative for children's health care, now maybe the vote would have been a little different if this was 2008 and their constituents were paying very close attention to every vote that their Congressman or Congresswoman would take here on this floor.

But, you know, the good thing about it, some may say that, but I believe that the American people are paying attention to what's going on here. I also believe that the American spirit will rise up. I said that last Congress; and a lot of folks said, yeah, you know, that's fine. The attention span, you know, of the average person is probably about, you know, a week or two or what have you. When it falls off the screen of the Today Show and other shows, it'll just kind of drift off.

But I can tell you this much: last Congress there were votes that were taken that the American people remembered. And I think it's important that folks understand that that will happen this time around.

And I'm not in the business of making sure that folks no longer serve in Congress. That's not my piece. I'm here to represent the people of the 17th Congressional District and the people of the United States of America to the best of my ability.

But I think that it's important because this is not politics, it's policy making, that those that voted against it be a part of a good chapter and allowing people to be able to have health care.

I want to commend the March of Dimes, all of the affiliates throughout the country that wrote their Congressmen and -women to vote in the affirmative to override the President.

I would like to thank those 501(c)(3) organizations. The lifeblood of their effort is through volunteers throughout America, and when they come in to volunteer for the March of Dimes, when they come in to volunteer for the Children's Defense Fund, I mean, all the different groups that are out there to do what they do on a daily basis that help this country be what it is today, I thank those individuals, because I don't want them to lose faith in the fact that we're not going to have their back. We're going to have their back. When I say ``we,'' those of us that voted to override the President today.

I don't wake up every morning saying, hey, you know, I'm getting ready to go to the Capitol. We're going to override the President on a bill, on the children's health care bill or on making sure that we have sound policy in Iraq. I don't wake up on those days saying that I look forward to that opportunity. I don't look forward to that opportunity. I'd much rather us work in a bipartisan way to where we can move in that direction.

Well, let's look at the bill. The SCHIP bill received, I believe, 45 votes and the first time it came through here, that's bipartisan. Received, I believe, 14-plus votes in the Senate. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. That's bipartisan, Republican Members coming over and voting with Democrats to be able to move that bill through the process. That's bipartisan.

It gets to the President, all of a sudden it's partisan. Democratic Congress sent, no, it was a bipartisan Congress that sent him a children's health care bill. In the Senate, Orrin Hatch, I mean, major Republicans are over there saying that the President's wrong and they had the votes, and they still do, to override the President of the United States. They have the votes over there.

In the House, we had a majority of votes, beyond a simple majority. We went well into, fell short 13 votes because Republican, on the Republican side of the aisle, 154 Republicans decided to stick with the President and not with the poor children in the United States of America.

I say all of that to say this: we would not have accomplished as much as we've accomplished, when I say ``we,'' the 110th Congress, if it wasn't for a bipartisan spirit and allowing, not only Democrats, but also Republicans to have bills that they should feel good about when they vote for those bills.

Now, we talked about minimum wage passed on this floor. It was offered when we were in the minority in the last Congress, but never made it to the floor, never made it to a committee hearing.

The 9/11 recommendations, 9/11 Commission, great Americans put together a great document. It was a book, one of the best-selling books. And the President said he wasn't going to sign that. In a bipartisan way we passed that. Sent it to the President. He had to sign it.

And all of these signing opportunities, I don't call them ceremonies. You know, they usually kind of happen like on a Friday, you know, folks leaving town, about to go to Camp David, not going to make a big deal on his way out, just sign it into law instead of celebrating the bipartisan spirit we have here in the Congress and sending that legislation on.

Cutting student loan interest rates in half. That meant $4,400 in the pockets of the individuals that have taken out the loans. And who are they? Children or young people that are trying to educate themselves to help us to be a stronger America and a more professional America so we can compete against other countries. It's not all about lock and load and shooting at someone. It's about making sure that we continue to stay the economic superpower of the world and to be able to provide the leadership in the world as it relates to a shining example of how one can educate him or herself and become all they want to be in the industry that they want to be, or provide a job to allow other Americans to work.

The President said he wasn't going to sign that. Thank you to the American people, thank you to the Members going back, talking to their constituents, thank you for all of those mothers and grandparents that wrote and e-mailed and said this is wrong, and that we want, if you want, you know, there's so many times we feel that we know what to do best here in Washington, D.C. because we understand what you need.

Well, guess what? $4,400 in the pockets that they don't have to pay on interest rates, because the student loan companies were pocketing those dollars. We allowed those dollars to stay in the pockets of those individuals paying on the interest rate on those student loans; and they know what's best.

And guess what? I'm talking to independent voters too. I'm talking to Republican voters too. No one said, well, you know, based on my card, do I get it or not? No, not even based on your income. You get a student loan, you can be an individual punching in and punching out every day making the minimum wage, or you can be a family, a single parent, or you can be a two-parent household with a gross income of $200,000, a household income of $200,000 and you still get that $4,400. And I think it's important, the President said he wasn't going to do it; he did it.

Now I'm asking the Members of Congress to stand in there on behalf of these children, not by their doing, but due to the fact that parents are trying to provide a way of life for them, and their only penalty is the fact that they can't afford health care. That's the only penalty that they have.

We have children that we're sending up to the military academies who cannot pass the tests, not the academic tests, not the fact that they didn't have the GPA to go to the Air Force Academy or to be able to go the Citadel or what have you. It's because they couldn't pass their physical because they didn't know they had a situation that could have been corrected to where they can be one of our best and brightest within our military and they're not able to do it because they don't have what they need to have.

The school lunch program started in World War II because kids were not healthy enough to be able to go into the military because they didn't have the very nutrients that they need to be able to function and grow up here in America. And that's the reason why we have that program today.

So when we started looking at things in a broader picture, I think it's very, very, important, Members, that we pay attention to the present. The 109th, 108th Congress I was a Member of. Before that, my mother was here 10 years prior to my arrival here in Congress. I paid very close attention to her movements, member of the Appropriations Committee, spent a lot of time trying to help a lot of people here in the United States of America. I am glad that it was a broad perspective versus a small perspective of saying, well, I need to stand with a person, with the President of the United States because he said he should not have his veto overridden. And I want to thank, he has a very good legislative staff that comes down here and talks to the Members and says, you know, you need to stick with the President, stick with the President.

Meanwhile, we had all these volunteers on the side of overriding the President, on the side of children's health care, that spent their own money, Mr. Speaker, to come here to Washington, D.C., walk the Halls. Thank God the Speaker had enough wisdom and the majority leader had enough wisdom to say we're going to postpone the vote to allow those most affected, those that can afford to come to Washington or go to the district office of Members of Congress and the Senate and say please vote on behalf of children's health care because the President's wrong.

It's nothing wrong with being wrong sometimes, but not all the time. And I think it's important that when we look at this whole children's health care bill, I'm reading some articles about, well, you know, the Congress and the President, they need to sit down and come together on the line of compromise. And you know something? In Iraq, the President stands right at one point here on an issue and says this is it; this is what I'm going to do; this is how I'm going to do it and have enough Republicans to be able to stand with him so we can't be able to, well, if we pass a bill it will not be successful because he will veto the bill and it will come back here and then we'll fall 13 votes short. He stands firm, and then we have to end up having to work out some sort of compromise.

I'm going to tell you, I hope that this story, like I said, you have the story and the glory of everything. I hope as we continue to write this story and providing children the kind of health care, poor children the kind of health care that they deserve, that we stand. And when I say ``we,'' the Democrats, the Democratic Caucus that voted to override the President, and the 44 Republicans that voted with us to give us the numbers that we needed.

And it's not just what I'm saying. It's what the Congressional Record is saying. And it's what roll call vote No. 982 says. It says that 44 Republicans and 229 Democrats voted in the affirmative, a total of 273 versus 156 who voted against. So I think it's very, very important that we look at this and that Members pay attention to what's happening.

What side of history do you want to be on? What side of opportunity do you want to be on? And I think that's something that the Members are going to have to take into strong consideration.

I'm happy that the President signed bills that he said he wasn't going to sign. But it wasn't only because of our doing. It was because the American people mobilized and said, well, I know I am going to have my opportunity on a given Tuesday every other year to vote for my representation in Washington; but they mobilized to say that I have faith in this democracy and I'm going to continue to talk to Members of Congress of the importance of the children's health care bill.

And I'm asking for those Americans that took that time out to come to Washington, D.C., called, e-mailed, wrote letters, I want to commend them for doing the work that they did. It was the same group, the same volunteerism that came up out of the ground, literally, when the President wanted to privatize Social Security, and a good majority of Republicans on that time was in the majority, rose up and said, well, we want to go with the President on the private accounts and privatizing. It was that same volunteer American spirit that stopped that movement.

So we can make something good happen here on behalf of children that are needing health care.

As I move into the close here, Mr. Speaker, and as I was here on the floor and I was listening to the Speaker close, I think that it's important the value of Members playing a very strong role in facts, not fiction. And I was proud to see, you know, there's a lot being said and people were saying different things. And there were some folks that said that, you know, on the Republican side, well, there's going to be funding for illegal aliens in the SCHIP bill. Well, that's not the case. That just wasn't the case.

And I'm glad that the Speaker brought this chart down here, and I asked for this chart when I came to the floor because I thought it was very, very important. Section 605, page 255, right here, right here, and I think it's important, maybe we put it on www.speaker.gov for not only the Members to see this and highlight it like this. So you go down to line 16, section 605, no Federal funding for illegal aliens. Period. So as I look through the Congressional Record, Mr. Speaker, with my highlighter I could go through almost, when I hear from my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, because they had very little to hold on to, I mean, how do you wake up in the morning and you say, well, I'm waking up this morning to deny 10 million children health care. Poor, at that. That's what I'm waking up to do this morning.

Or do you say ``I'm waking up this morning to stand with the President on denying 10 million poor children health care''? Or do you say, ``Well, maybe I can come up with this one: Somebody said it and I'm going to continue to say it, illegal aliens are going to receive health care from this bill, so that's the reason why I can't vote for it'' when the law says that it doesn't?

I mean, I hope that the volunteers continue to talk to the 154 Republicans that voted against this. ``Well, families that make $83,000,'' that is not the case and the facts are right here. ``These very wealthy families are going to get a government benefit,'' that is not the case. And I think it's important that we continue to shed light on this.

I think there should be some sort of meter here on the floor, to be honest with you, fact versus fiction, so that as Members come to the floor and they start talking and the meter starts moving over to the fiction side of it, then other Members will know how to judge what's accurate and what's not accurate. I think that would be very important because I think there will be

better policymaking and there will be fewer excuses why people didn't vote for certain bills.

I am not going to say that I'm mad. I'm just saying that I am disappointed. But the good thing about it, 14 years in public service, some of those years in the State legislature in Florida, 5 of those years, going on 6, here in Congress, there are votes that I remember. And this will be one of the votes that I will remember for the rest of my public career as long as the people from the 17th District will have me here from Florida, the day that we fell 13 votes short, not because of the lack of effort, not because we did not have the bipartisan spirit blowing through the air conditioning ducts here in the Chamber, not because there wasn't bipartisan input in the writing of the legislation need it be House or Senate, but because 13 Members out of 154 decided not to vote in affirmation.

I think it is also important to note, Mr. Speaker, that as we leave and we come back here, I believe, on Monday and we will be voting at 6:30, I hope that the Members engage their constituents on their vote, need it be against or for providing health care to poor children. I think that there should be a line of questioning as one walks through the airport when they get back home. Some of those volunteers out there should ask, ``Congressman, how did you vote on overriding the President when he vetoed health care for 10 million poor children here in the United States?'' I just want to make sure that one can answer that question with great accuracy. They may miss their flight or their connecting flight or they may even miss the ride home because it's going to be a long discussion. How can you be on the other side of 270 organizations that are not partisan organizations, that are nonpartisan organizations, that are 501(c)3s, that are doctors, that are nurses, that are children's organizations, the different organizations and associations that have been created to be here for this very time to educate all of us on those disparities as it relates to health care, to expand the opportunity for 10 million children to have health care and deny it?

There was a bunch of name calling here in Washington, D.C. The President called it socialized medicine. What is socialized medicine? To sit up here and say ``socialized medicine'' after running up a $1.19 trillion debt from foreign nations on a war and other things, tax cuts for the superwealthy, that more than 42 Presidents before him and $1.01 trillion from 1776 to 2007 couldn't do.

You take out your veto pen only one time, one time in the first term when we had a Republican Congress, one time, and that was on stem cell research. And now, all of a sudden, you have a veto pen connected to your index finger in your right hand, walking around, waiting on bipartisan bills passing through this Congress, Democrats and Republicans voting on these bills and sending them to you. And as soon as they get there, you want to veto them and then say something like the Congress is not doing what it's supposed to do.

When I was in the 109th Congress, I would already be home. We would probably vote 1 or 2 days out of the week and then we would go home. Now we're putting in the work, broke the record, 982 roll call votes and the year is not even over yet and we have a lot of work to do. Meanwhile, we have to take these votes to try to override the President. We could have been focused on another issue here today. We could have been focused on some of the appropriation bills that we were waiting to get through the process that we can't get through the process at this point.

So, Mr. Speaker, I'm glad that I had the opportunity to come down to the floor on this Thursday evening. I look forward to continuing to work with the bipartisan coalition, with the volunteer coalition in moving this issue forward. I look forward to listening to what Members are going to say in the press as to the reason why they voted for health care for children, which I am pretty sure can be a one-liner, versus those of the 13 votes that we fell short here on this floor in overriding the President and the 154 that voted against today, the dissertation that they have to write on the reason why they voted against children's having health care today.

I want to thank the work of not only the members of the committee but the staff here in working so hard here in Congress in trying to provide the health care that is needed.

I close with this, what I shared maybe about 20 minutes ago, Mr. Speaker: In the legislative process there's a great story. At the end, there is glory once we are able to provide 10 million children with health care. So as we write this story, the good thing about America is its okay to say maybe I took the wrong vote and I have made some mistakes. I will tell you, Mr. Speaker, I have made some mistakes the years I have been in public service thus far, going on 14 years. I have taken some votes and later I said next time I have the opportunity, I'm going to vote the right way. I know more because I studied a little bit more. I have heard some input from both sides. And that's just the human spirit. I mean, that's fine. That happens. But when you have so much information and it is so clear and the evidence is there to show that we have States that are going to be running close to their program ending and children are not going to have health care and we are sitting here trying to override the President and we fall short 13 votes not because of the lack of will, not because of the lack of desire, it's because of whatever reason that those Members of Congress decided not to override the veto. The Senate has the votes to override. In the House we did not have it, and 154 of my Republican colleagues voted against our doing that. And I think that is very important to note. Again, it's not politics; it's just the facts. And the facts are what they are. And when that roll call vote took place today, which I am pretty sure you will see printed today, roll call vote 982, it may very well be the vote that may give us some new Members of Congress here that may very well provide the kind of leadership that we need. But we cannot wait on that to happen because children will be denied health care, poor children will be denied health care.

Mr. Speaker, it was an honor to address the House, and I want to thank the majority leader for allowing me to have the hour.

I know that the story will continue. We look forward to the glory. And I want to ask those that are pushing to continue to push, and I believe we will make it to where poor children will be able to receive the health care that they deserve and this country should provide.

Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to address the House. My good friend, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey), we have traveled together and served together. I want that chart that he has. I keep asking him for it. About how when Democrats take control, pork barrel spending is cut in half. I appreciate it. I am glad for his accuracy.

It is so good to serve with my colleagues up here in Washington, D.C. I am here with my good friend, Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz. Our districts neighbor each other in south Florida. We have been good friends for a long time. We are here tonight part of the 30-Something Working Group.

Mr. Speaker, as you know, we come to the floor once, twice, and when we can three times a week to share with Members issues we are working on here.

We want to make sure that all of the Members are fully aware of what is happening in Iraq. As of today, October 17, 10 a.m. report, there have been 3,824 deaths in Iraq. The total number wounded in action and returned to duty is 15,604. The total number of wounded in action not returning to duty is 12,674.

We want to make sure that is not only a part of the Congressional Record, but that every Member of Congress understands the sacrifice those who are in harm's way are making. And those of us who are policymakers, that we make sure that we take the appropriate steps to do away with that number continually going up on a daily basis.

Mr. Speaker, I want to turn it over to my colleagues that are here, but tonight I just want to take a point because the President today had a press conference. We did some good things. We gave out a Congressional Gold Medal today, and the President decided to release a press release driving over to the Capitol here.

It was very interesting. In his statements he said that the 110th Congress, Democratic-controlled Congress, whether it be House or Senate, they need to go to work. That is interesting because I have record-breaking information here. We have taken more rollcall votes than any other Congress in the history of the United States of America. We are working 5 days a week in many cases. We have deaths or what have you. We have to pause for that. And national holidays and religious holidays that need to be recognized because there is sensitivity towards that.

But I can't understand, we start talking about going to work. Let me read down the list of things we have done. The 9/11 Commission recommendations, all of them, to protect America from terrorism, passed. And the President said he wasn't going to sign it, but the American people pushed him and said they wanted to be safe, and he finally signed it.

The largest college aid expansion since 1944, the GI bill, saving the average American $4,400. The President said he would never sign that bill. Because of the hard work of Members that voted for that bill, and these are bipartisan votes. I want to make sure that those who are paying attention to what we are saying here on the floor, those Members and Americans, that they understand this is not a Democratic message, this is a bipartisan message on behalf of the people of this country.

The minimum-wage increase which raised the minimum wage for some 13 million Americans, passed and signed into law. The President said he wasn't going to sign that, but it was such a good piece of legislation. People wanted it to happen for many, many years. We said we will not allow the Members of Congress to receive a pay raise until we give the American people a pay raise.

Innovation agenda to promote 21st century jobs, passed and signed into law. All of this was signed into law at like 7:30 on a Friday evening as the President is leaving to go to Camp David.

Again, tough lobbying and ethics reforms that many of the independent reform groups are so happy that finally passed off this floor, through the Senate, and signed into law.

Reconstruction assistance for the gulf coast disaster hurricanes, never would have happened, Mr. Speaker, if it wasn't for the push of this Democratic Congress. Actually, I remember when they had two amendments that came to the floor, one to give assistance to the victims of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, and one to continue the funding for the war for 3 months, they came in two amendments, never would have happened if it wasn't for a Democratic-controlled Congress pushing it through.

Expansion of life-saving medical research stem cells, passed on a bipartisan vote, vetoed by the President. Okay.

Again, health care for 10 million children and working families, passed by a bipartisan vote. A bipartisan vote which tomorrow, and we are going to talk about that here tonight, the Senate has the votes to override the President and there are some Republicans that are saying that they are going to take that vote. We have a problem here in the House because we don't have some of our friends, and I do mean some of our friends because some of our friends on the Republican side of the aisle are going to be voting with Democrats. Not with Democrats, but just to

vote on behalf of children in the United States of America. We are falling eight or 10 short of those votes. I want the Members to be aware of that.

The largest veterans increase in the 77-year history of the VA passed this House and we are still waiting on it to make it through the process and hopefully the President won't veto that.

Landmark energy independence and global warming initiative, that is something that is very, very important. Also, we have other pieces of legislation that are out there.

Actually since the partisan politics started, not partisan, but some of the folks being partisan on this, 45 that we had last time of Republicans that joined Democrats on that bipartisan vote, so that's not 10, that's not 15, that's not 20, that is 45 of our Republican colleagues that, because of the Democratic leadership bringing it to the floor, knew it was a good idea and voted on behalf of their districts.

With that, I want to make sure, just in case someone gets confused about that issue, because we are going to talk about SCHIP. We are going to do a hard push on SCHIP because this is about children's health care, and it is very, very important.

I yield to Ms. Wasserman Schultz.

I would like you to just yield for a minute because, as you know, in the 30-something Working Group we always enjoy seeing our friends come by, and the majority whip came to the floor, heard we were talking about children's health care, and thought he would just stop by and share something with the Members, and I yield to him.

Thank you for joining us.

And the good thing about the 30-Something, we really get into a conversation about this. And behind you, you can see, I will let you explain that chart there. But I want Ms. Wasserman Schultz and I just to share a little bit. You say that everyone is saying that it is socialized medicine. That is not the case. Do you know who is saying that? The Bush administration. Do you know who else is saying that? Our friends on the Republican side that are not even thinking about health care. They are thinking about how I need to protect the GOP philosophy on Capitol Hill. Not in America.

Let me just read this here. CBS News poll that was taken says, and here the headline goes and you can go on, it says CBSnews.com. Don't believe me. You can go on there if you don't believe what I am telling you. This came right off of this sheet here: Do you favor or oppose expanding the children's health care plan? Eighty-one percent said I am in favor of it. I am in favor of the Democratic plan. And the headline goes: Most backed Democrats and kids health care fight. It says, those that oppose, 15 percent.

So, Mr. Ryan, when we look at that, we have to look at it for what it is worth. And I know Ms. Wasserman Schultz has something from the USA Today. And I will yield back, but I want to share that with you, Mr. Ryan.

Mr. Altmire, I mean, factually, you said factually accurate? This whole administration is about misperception. It is about look right, we are going left. I mean, it is not about that. The good thing about it, Mr. Altmire, is that you were elected and your colleagues were elected in this last Congress that brought about that paradigm shift. And that wasn't because it was something great that an individual did; that was the fact that the American people wanted to move in a new direction. Now we are moving in that new direction. We have the same game, but the Congress is changing, and we are not going to allow that to happen. And I am glad that the Speaker is saying, listen, we are going to insure 10 million children, period, dot, and we are going to stand there.

Mr. Ryan wants to say something, but I want Mr. Murphy to say something because he stood up and he likely had something he wanted to share. Ms. Wasserman Schultz and I are always willing to share, because we have a whole notebook full of stuff that we are just ready to take off on.

Mr. Ryan, it is good that all of us agree here that is on the floor here tonight, along with hundreds of other Members of Congress. But it only takes a very small percentage of numbers to say ``no.''

And what is interesting, Mr. Ryan, when we start talking about fact versus fiction; be accurate if you are going to share something. Accuracy is not necessarily a value here in Washington, D.C. We pride ourselves, Mr. Speaker, here on the 30-Something Working Group, we go through a lot of pain and suffering and research and all of that to make sure that what we are sharing with the American people is actually fact and not fiction. If we had more fact, we would have better policymaking here in Washington, D.C.

The fact that the President would say, oh, well, you know, the Democratic Congress needs to go to work, when we broke records in the history of the Republic of 980 rollcall votes. And that is not just post offices. That is major policy that has passed off this floor.

Still saying that, what Mr. Ryan is saying, the bottom line is as we go into the last closing minutes of our time here on the floor, the bottom line is we are going to see a separation from those that are willing to lead and those that are willing to follow tomorrow.

There's going to be a supermajority vote to vote for children's health care to override the President of the United States. The only time he ever vetoed a piece of legislation last Congress was dealing with the stem cell research bill, and he did that. Okay. But now, every week he's threatening a veto. He's threatening a veto.

Mr. Ryan, over there, has a chart that shows how record oil prices under the Bush administration are continuing to climb to today's oil prices rate that is at the top, that's recordbreaking at the top.

Meanwhile, we're around here trying to provide health care for children. We have a war that's going on that the President is willing, you know, to say, oh, well, it's okay for us to borrow from foreign nations to continue a war in Iraq, but we're not willing to provide health care for our own children.

And the sad part, and Ms. Wasserman Schultz said funny and then we agreed on sad, the sad part is the fact that these are American children. I mean, I've been to Iraq. Mr. Altmire and I have been to Iraq recently, and some of the Members here, we've been. And the real issue is this, is the fact that we went into a health care facility. Iraqi children there are getting health care. I mean, you have U.S. troops that are in neighborhoods that are giving shots and evaluations. I don't have anyone in my neighborhood

giving shots and evaluations to all the children and not asking for any documentation if you have health care or not. It's almost universal.

And so we're sitting here, and the President's going to stand on a small ant hill saying, well, you know, I think it's just too much that we're investing, and using some sort of, you know, hocus pocus talking about social medicine.

Meanwhile, children are going to the CVS, Rite-Aid or whatever the case may be, families trying to cure themselves. So I just want to make sure, I want to put the pressure on my colleagues to make sure that they override. And in closing, I'm going to send it over to Ms. Wasserman Schultz.

Y'all know this chart. This is the first action, one of the first actions that we took as relates to the Iraq war. It had all of the requirements in there to bring our men and women home, put the pressure on the Iraqis to stand up. And the Republicans went down there and stood with the President and said we stand with the President so that the Congress will never override the President. And they may not have one of these because if they do I'm going to have my staff down there with a camera to take a picture to make sure that we have the second picture.

But those that stand with the President tomorrow in not allowing us to override when we have a bipartisan vote out of this House, and we have Senators that are standing up here like Orrin Hatch, Grassley, a number of other Republicans that are saying, hey, you know, Mr. President, you're wrong. But we have some House Members here that are saying, well, we're with the President. You continue to stand with the President. I would appreciate some sort of public kind of standing out with the President because the bottom line is, I believe those Members, Mr. Speaker, all due respect, they will be at home reading this process in the paper and paying attention to C-SPAN and seeing what's going on because their constituents will not allow a Member to vote against their own children and then say, I want to go back to Congress and represent you.

Ms. Wasserman Schultz, I'm sorry I went past 30 seconds when you asked me to yield.

And also, Mr. Ryan, you shared that with us last week; you shared that with us the day before that. We're happy that the welterweight and middleweight champion is from Ohio.

Mr. Ryan, we were very mild. Those of us from Florida were very mild when the University of Florida, and I'll take this from Ms. Wasserman Schultz because if she says it she may not be as mild as I am when a certain team in Ohio, not only in football, but basketball, found themselves, no I will not yield. So what I'm saying, this whole dancing in the end zone experience that you're having now about going on and on and on, Florida, I mean, the Marlins are nowhere in this thing, and we had nothing, we're just sitting here quiet, doing an hour with you and we're not, we're not talking sports, we're all friends. We're talking about children's health care.

But we understand that those victories, the people of Youngstown, Ohio, being in Niles, Ohio, and other cities around it are very represented here under your leadership, sir, and I respect that. And I'm saying there is a limit.

Mr. Ryan, we just could not sit here and not give the representation that we were sent up here to carry out.

But, Mr. Ryan, you know, in all seriousness to all the Members, I mean, the good thing about the 30-something Working Group, we work so hard we have to add some humor in every now and then, especially when we work a full day and it's a quarter to 10 and we're still here on the floor.

The bottom line is one of the real historic votes of the 110th Congress will take place tomorrow.

And I'm asking the Members, those that are not willing to override the President's veto of children's health care in the United States of America, and we don't have to worry about any Democrats, but need it be Republicans, I implore you to please reconsider on behalf of the children of the United States of America.

This is not about our children. My kids, they have health care. I am a Member of Congress, but I wasn't elected for my children to have health care. I didn't go out and give the speech, Mr. Speaker, and say ``I want you to vote for me because my children need health care and I need health care. Send me to Washington. And I am not going to vote for you to have health care, but I want my kids to have health care.''

Absolutely. Absolutely. But the real issue is this: At least I have a plan that I can afford, and the average American doesn't have that. And especially for these poor families, they need it.

So I don't think that anyone who votes against this went to their constituents and gave the brimstone speech or whatever you want to call it saying, ``I'm going to Washington, and when we have an opportunity to insure 10 million American children that need health care, I am going to vote against it. Vote for me on Tuesday'' and walk away. That did not happen. I guarantee you it did not happen.

And I want those Members to pay very close attention to when they put their card in the voting machine tomorrow and they vote that they look at that red light, if they press red, and correct their vote immediately on behalf of the children who don't have health care.

We are given this card here. This card is to help children, to be able to help Americans have a better life, and if you vote against it, it is really going to be a sad situation for our poorer families that are here in the United States of America and those families that are financially challenged.

Thank you. We pray and hope that they join us.

And I just want to thank Mr. Altmire and, you, Mr. Ryan, and Mr. Murphy and Ms. Wasserman Schultz for being here with us.

We will vote tomorrow. We will be on the floor continuing in the debate.

Mr. Altmire, I want to thank you for being very factual on the bill and sharing with the Members what is actually in the bill. A lot of folks don't take the time to find out what's actually in the bill; so I am glad you brought that perspective to the floor tonight.

With that, Mr. Speaker, it was an honor addressing the House.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce legislation that will stop the selling of our U.S. servicemembers' safety.

Between August and October of 2006, 4,800 used combat uniforms bearing ``glo-tape'' patches were inadvertently sold despite a determination by a Defense Department office in July of that year that the patches had to be removed and destroyed before such uniforms could be put on sale. A year later less than 350 of the uniforms and patches have been returned. The availability of these items on the black market has the potential to cost U.S. military lives.

Glo-tape patches and other military items designated as ``Identification Friend or Foe (IFF)'' are specifically designed to allow members of our armed services to easily identify each other in poor lighting and certain other inclement conditions.

In the hands of the enemy, these patches could allow for infiltration into our ranks, as happened in January of this year when insurgents dressed in U.S. military uniforms in Karbala entered a secure compound killing one serviceman and abducting four others.

IFF items are listed by the military as items that are required to be completely demilitarized, and are not to be sold to the public. Yet, there is currently no enforcement procedure to ensure that persons illegally in possession of these items return them to the Department of Defense.

An investigation in July of 2007 by Newsweek magazine determined that IFF items were easily obtained at retailers in several areas of the United States without consequence (See article following).

I have introduced legislation that will protect our men and women from those whose reckless acts would cause them harm. First, the bill codifies into law that it is illegal to possess, purchase, or sell Identification Friend or Foe items. The bill further requires the Department to provide notice anywhere that the Department authorizes the private sale of surplus or used military items that the possession, purchase, or sale of IFF items, original or counterfeit, is punishable by law.

Secondly, the bill makes it a Class B Misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail per incident, to possess these items or transact business related to the items. It would also be a crime to counterfeit these items for personal or retail use.

We can and should do everything in power to protect our men and women in uniform by removing any advantage the enemy might seek to gain. Please join me in making the selling of our servicemembers' safety a crime.

[From Newsweek, July 16, 2007]

The Military: A Dangerous Patch

The Pentagon prides itself on the ability of U.S. combat

units to operate under cover of darkness. But that advantage

could be eroded if a key item--infrared patches that troops

use to ID each other at night--were to fall into the wrong

hands.

According to a Defense Department spokesman, 4,800 used

combat uniforms bearing ``glo-tape'' patches were

inadvertently sold to U.S. and Canadian clients of an

Arizona-based company between August and October 2006--

despite a Defense Department determination in July of that

year that the patches had to be removed and destroyed before

such uniforms could be put on sale. When the oversight was

discovered, the Pentagon ordered the company, Government

Liquidation, to return 1,200 garments containing the infrared

patches that were still in its possession. (A company

spokeswoman says the Pentagon did not notify Government

Liquidation of any restrictions on the sale of the glo-tape

items prior to October of last year, and a senior Defense

Department official said the company did not violate any

existing clause of its contract with the Pentagon when it

was selling the glo-tape uniforms.)

The Pentagon imposed a blanket ban on the sale of combat

fatigues this past February after Iraqi insurgents in U.S.

combat uniforms entered a government security compound and

killed five soldiers. But individual patches can still be

easily obtained--as Newsweek reporters learned last month

when they purchased several patches at military supply stores

in Jacksonville, N.C., and Oceanside, Calif., without being

asked to produce military ID. More than 4,000 of the

patchbearing used uniforms are still at large, according to

senior Pentagon official Paul Peters.

The U.S. Army began issuing combat fatigues bearing the

glo-tape patches after a friendly-fire incident in the first

week of the Iraq invasion that may have contributed to the

deaths of 10 Marines. Known as IFF (Identification Friend or

Foe), they come in various shapes and sizes that include U.S.

flags; they can be detected at night by ground troops and

airborne combat pilots equipped with night-vision goggles. No

law forbids civilian surplus stores in the United States from

selling the items, a fact that one Marine corporal finds

alarming. ``If you're moving around in the dark and you see

someone with infrared patches, you won't be as on guard as

you would be with somebody without those patches;' says

Jeremy Terhune, 26, an infantry rifleman from Saugus, Calif.,

who has served three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. No

evidence has yet surfaced that insurgents in Iraq or

Afghanistan have acquired the patches.

Madam Speaker, it is with great sadness that I rise today to pay tribute to the late Mary Lee Slater, a mother of four, and grandmother to an only grandson. She died on Tuesday, October 9, 2007 and will be buried this Friday October 19, 2007 at Bethany Seventh Day Adventist Church in Miami, Florida where she was a member for many years.

Born on March 1, 1935 to the late Murdic and Illinois Jordan in Soperton, Georgia, she was the oldest of four siblings: James, Elvin, Floyd and Randolph. She moved to Miami, Florida with her family where she attended public schools, graduating from Booker T. Washington High School in 1953. She attended Hampton University in Hampton, Virginia.

Mary worked in the insurance industry for more than 30 years as an agent for such companies as Atlanta Life and American General. Because of her outstanding professionalism, work ethic and dedication to her career, she received numerous honors and awards including National Sales Achievement Award and Outstanding Sales Achievement Recognition.

Effectively balancing work and family, Mary was the dedicated mother of four loving children, Michael, Ronald, Surette and Illka. She was also the proud grandmother of one grandson, David ``Boom Boom'' Jonathan whom she loved and adored.

Always demonstrating love for her community, Mary was President of the High Ridge Neighborhood Improvement Association. With a reputation for helping others, solving problems and improving her community, she was a source of inspiration and wisdom. One of Mary's favorite programs was the Association's annual Thanksgiving Dinner, which provided an opportunity for residents, families and friends to gather in fellowship to give thanks to God for His many blessings. Mary received numerous awards and honors for her dedication and commitment to the community, including Making a Difference Award from Team Metro and Inner City Education Foundation Parent Club. She also served on the Model City/ Brownsville Charrette Steering Committee.

A committed servant of God, whatever church Mary was a member of, she stood out as a beacon of light, who demonstrated the love of God to whomever she met. An active member in her church, Mary served on several ministries. She was a Deaconess, Sabbath School Teacher and dedicated servant. Her walk with God was evident. At Bethany Seventh Day Adventist Church, she was honored by the Sabbath School Department for Outstanding and Dedicated Service. Mary loved her church family.

Last Tuesday, Mary heard and answered her Lord's call to rest. She leaves to cherish and celebrate her life four loving children, Michael, Ronald, Surette Sands (Christopher), and Illka; one grandson, David ``Boom Boom'' Jonathan; three brothers James Jordan (Loretta) of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Elvin Floyd Jordan (Sandra) of Oakland, California and Randolph of Miami, Florida; and a host of relatives and friends. May God bless her soul and grant her eternal rest.

Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Allison and Jerry Sokol for their devotion and dedication to the south Florida Jewish community, Hadassah, and Israel. They are being honored by the Galim Chapter of Hadassah at their First Annual Benefit Dinner on Thursday, October 11, 2007.

Mr. Jerry Sokol has been extremely active in numerous charitable and community endeavors for many years. Mr. Sokol co-founded the Future Generation Division of the International Israel Bonds Organization and has been bestowed volunteer leadership positions in the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, the Israel Bonds Organization, the Alexander Muss High School in Israel (AMHSI) program, the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee, and the Miami Beach Jewish Community Center. Mr. Sokol is currently spearheading the efforts to raise the funds to build a brand new state of the art facility for the Miami Beach Jewish Community.

In addition to his work for the Jewish Community, Mr. Sokol contributes substantial time to a number of community causes. He is currently a Member of the City of Miami Beach Parks and Recreation Board and dedicates a considerable amount of time to coaching youth football and basketball. Professionally, Mr. Sokol is a Partner with the International law firm of McDermott, Will & Emery and is currently a Board Certified Healthcare Lawyer as well as a licensed CPA.

Mrs. Allison Sokol has been very active in a number of Jewish organizations most of her adult life. Mrs. Sokol's charitable involvement began right out of college, where she co-founded the Future Generation Division of Israel Bonds which spread nation wide. She was also part of the inception of Survivor Alone, an organization dedicated to helping Holocaust Survivors who currently live below poverty level. Mrs. Sokol currently contributes and volunteers with the Miami Beach Jewish Community Center, the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, the Beth David Gordon Day School Board, as well as the Miami Beach Fine Arts Board.

Over the past several years, Mrs. Sokol has been a member of Ort America, Mount Sinai's Young President's Board, the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee and the New World Symphony. Mrs. Sokol is also a Lifetime member of Hadassah and a founding member of the South Miami chapter of Hadassah.

After being a partner in two very successful business ventures, Manamana, a successful children's clothing manufacturer and Magic Box, one of the largest network integration companies in the Southeastern United States, Allison and Jerry Sokol started a family and are the proud parents of four children: Jake, Sophie, Caroline and Isaac.

It is a privilege to rise in honor of their tremendous philanthropic efforts and commitment to our community that has made such a positive impact on the 17th Congressional District.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in general support for H.R. 3056, which as a primary mission puts a stop to the harassing nature of private tax collection on a targeted group of American citizens, those least responsible for the ever-growing tax gap problem.

However, I rise to speak in particular about section 3 of the Chairman's mark which delays implementation of the 3 percent withholding requirement made by section of 511 of last year's Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005, also known as

Thank you so very much, Madam Speaker. It is an honor to be here before the House once again. As you know, the 30- Something Working Group, we come to the floor weekly, if not once, twice, if not twice, three times, to share with the Members the forward progress we are making with a number of pieces of legislation. In some areas we not only need Member help, but we need the American people to stay involved and get involved in certain issues.

As you know, last week we talked quite a bit about the children's health care bill that passed in a bipartisan vote here in Congress. We know that we have given Web sites out to the Members so that they can be able to educate themselves even more and also to the American people. I think it is important, Madam Speaker, that we continue in that light.

There will be a vote, I believe not this Thursday, but next Thursday, to override the President on behalf of children's health care. There are a lot of editorials that have been written, a lot of pressure that has been applied to the President and also mainly to Members on the Republican side of the aisle that we would need to vote in the affirmative to be able to allow us to do that.

I have faith, because I have watched legislation pass. I have watched the President and I have watched Republicans on the other side say that we're not going to increase the minimum wage; we're not going to take part in increasing the minimum wage. And when the American people voted for a new direction, that legislation was one of the first pieces of legislation that came before this House. We voted an overwhelming affirmative, the whole Congress.

The President was kind of stutter-stepping on it, and, all of a sudden, he signed it, even though he said he wouldn't sign it. That is not because of an act of the Members of Congress. That is because the American people were involved in that process and thought it was very, very important. A supermajority of the American people called their Members of Congress and said this is important, we must do this, and it is important for our economy.

The same thing as relates to the student loan interest rate. We cut it in half. The President said he would not sign that bill. It was not just because of the act of the Democratic majority moving in a new direction, it was because the American people got involved in that process and President Bush changed his mind.

I think it is very, very important for us, and I just want to say this to the Members and also to staff, maybe it is important for us to get the time that the President signs these bills late Friday at like 7:30 in the afternoon before he goes to Camp David. If the President signs it in broad daylight or at night, as long as he signs the bill and allows the American people to get what they deserve, a piece of the pie.

I am going to yield right now, because I know that I have a couple of colleagues that are here that want to shed some light on action. We have finished votes.

I just want to say also, Madam Speaker, our colleague, Congresswoman Davis, our hearts go out to her family and also to her constituents and also everyone that she has touched in her lifetime. We served together, I believe on Armed Services, and even though she was on the Republican side of the aisle, we were colleagues here in Congress. She served to the very end, and I am forever grateful to her family for allowing her to serve and be a part of this body, to serve the American people.

I know that over the coming days, tomorrow, I believe, will be her home-going service, that there will be further reflections on her life.

With that, I would like to yield to Mr. Murphy.

Ms. Wasserman Schultz and Mr. Murphy, I can't help but think of the action that we are taking here in Congress, and we know that we have some of our friends on the other side of the aisle that don't necessarily see it our way. But because the American people are involved in what we are doing, because we are moving in a new direction, we are giving the American people what they asked for. That is what is supposed to happen. You run for office and say what you stand for. The people send you to Washington. Some races are closer than others. Or you are reelected to Congress and you come here to represent the people.

I see a pattern. You showed a picture of some of our friends on the other side of the aisle running down to the White House saying we are going to stand with you, Mr. President, not to allow the Congress to override, article I, section 1, of the U.S. Constitution.

I want you to talk about that a little later. There's something blowing through the air conditioning ducts, I guess, here in Congress and in the White House. One would be in disbelief of the fact that we actually have a say in what happens in this government because we appropriate the necessary dollars. We put forth the policy to be able to get the revenue to run the country.

I just want to say that some things that we have done here we can claim victory on, and I think we need to talk about a few of those things. We can claim victory on passing a children's health care bill with a bipartisan vote. This was not just powerful Democrats that voted. There are a number of Republicans that voted in both chambers. We have quotes on the Speaker's Web site. I believe it's, what is it, 45 Republicans over here and 18 Republicans in the Senate. And on www.speaker.gov you can go on the Web site and get the quotes of our Republican colleagues that spoke so very highly about this bipartisan piece of legislation.

You know something, we're putting in the work. We're putting in the work. I mean, the House last week held its 943rd rollcall vote of the year, and I mean of this year, breaking a previous record of 942 votes. That mark was set in 1978, and we're well on our way to taking care of the country's business of heading into a higher number of at least 1,000 votes by the end of this year. People wanted us to go to work. We're working now. We're working now. If it wasn't for the loss we had here in Congress, we would be working tomorrow.

But the bottom line is this, Madam Speaker, is that we have to continue to move down the track of responsibility, and that's the reason why we come to the floor because we want the Members to feel the pressure.

You might have seen me moving around here on the floor because, as Ms. Wasserman Schultz can tell you, my good friend from Florida, and Mr. Murphy can tell you, that we pride ourselves, Madam Speaker, on making sure that we share accurate information with the Members and the American people. That's just where it is. We don't talk about fiction. We just talk about facts.

Now, earlier today we had H.R. 3056. What does that mean? There's a lot of House bills that are around, but this bill was actually a very, very important bill to the U.S. taxpayer. It dealt with the Tax Collection Responsibility Act.

We had tax collectors that the Republican majority put it in power to have the phone numbers of every American taxpayer, and they were so- called to ring in dollars of individuals that are not paying taxes.

Private. I mean, these are private tax collectors that we ended up spending more money paying them than what they collected, and then they turned around and there's an instance of when an elderly couple received 150 calls in the course of 27 days. Now, anyone that knows anything about people calling your home that you don't want calling your home, and they're calling for someone else, they're calling the Murphy household and they're asking for the Johnson family, and you keep telling them that, no, the Johnson family doesn't live here, what we did today was to do the right thing on behalf of the American taxpayer by passing that piece of legislation that repealed the IRS authority to enter into private debt collector contracts. I think that's very, very important.

Also, when you look at it from a fiscal responsibility piece, Madam Speaker, and we're talking about being responsible, you have to look at this whole issue of the study that shows that the IRS employees that are employed by the IRS is 13-1 on what they can collect from what the private collectors are actually able to collect.

Also in that great piece of legislation was something that we all feel very strong about, the 1-year suspension on the 3 percent, 3 percent that is collected from small businesses up front when they contract with local governments, and a number of other issues that were in that bill.

I'm saying all of this to make this point: 210 Democrats voted for it; 22 Republicans voted for it. Now, one can say that's a bipartisan vote, but when you look at 164 Republicans voting against something that, on its surface, you don't have to dig far, the numbers, when we had hearing in Ways and Means on it, the numbers represent the true meaning of what has not happened and contracting with a private company to call the taxpayers of this great country of ours and not doing the job that they set out to do, that they ended up getting a real paycheck at the end of the day, which they didn't even do the work, and then better yet, they're calling individuals' homes that already paid their taxes, because the accountability was not there.

I think it is very, very important. I just want to make sure that it is very important that we highlight these issues and we talk about the success that we're having here in Congress where we need our Republican colleagues to join us, but we're still pushing forward because the good thing about it is the fact that the American people are with the new direction agenda, and it's their agenda. We're just a vehicle to allow it to happen, need it be children's health care, need it be cutting student loan interest rates in half, need it be increasing the minimum wage, need it be what we're doing and what's at the President's desk on the issue of energy.

I mean, we have all these issues. Some were the 6 in '06 that we talked about. Some were ideas we picked up along the way that we thought was very, very important.

As we continue to move down this track, I just want to share with my colleagues on the other side of the aisle that it is not necessarily or if it is something of a Democratic idea, because when you see votes like this, I can't help but think as a legislator going into my 14th year of public service, you have me by 2 years, to see a vote like this vote, that was obviously a good vote to take on behalf of the American people and to go the opposite way, if it was just merely politics, then I would say, well, you know, let's just go back and sit in our office and allow them to continue to take these votes.

But when we start looking at how we are going to deal with the war in Iraq, you called those numbers out of how many children I mean by day, by week, by month, by days that can receive health care, and just like this, $3,316 I think are spent every second in Iraq when children can receive health care.

And so when you look at it, I mean, when we start talking about why and it should work itself out or it's the right thing to do, it's something that's happening around here that we haven't quite uncovered yet. But I don't have a lot of time, Madam Speaker, to try to uncover the problem on the other side of the aisle. I don't.

I'm with the Speaker and I'm with the majority leader and I'm with the majority whip and I'm with the Chair of the caucus and the Vice Chair of the caucus and all of the leadership folks that are running around here in the different caucuses and saying that the American people sent us here to go to work. We've gone to work. We've already broken records. We're on our way to break another record as it relates to

what we're doing on behalf of the American people.

But that's something that Members are going to have to explain back home if they're taking these unpopular votes, when one may say the blind leading the blind and two shall fall down in the ditch, that should happen. That's what we used to stay when I was on the football field at Florida A&M.

The real issue here is we should feel good about what we have accomplished. We should feel good that the American people are on board. We're on board with the American people. We're carrying out their agenda, and that's Democrat and Republican, too. I don't want an American that opens their wallet and, you know, look at their voter registration card and say, well, I'm a Republican, Congressman Meek is not talking to me. I'm talking to you because when you look at fiscal responsibility, when you look at this issue, this is your wallet, too. When we cut interest rates in half, the President didn't want to do it. You wanted it to happen, Republican, independent, nonvoter, Democrat, you wanted it to happen. That was a bill for you, not for the three of us, for you to cut your interest rates in half. So when we look at these issues, we have to look at a functional government, that we have responsibility, and then we have to put the partisanship aside.

One thing I can say, that we have passed major pieces of legislation in a bipartisan way and have allowed Republican input that has not been the case, I know and I can attest, for the 108th and 109th Congress.

I say all of that to say that I think it's important that we continue to paint the picture, especially for our colleagues that are not voting when it's abundantly clear of why you should vote for something. I mean, someone had to say don't vote for it, and then they say, okay, I'm not going to vote for it. There has to be a reason why, when you empower private debt collectors to have private information, you know what I'm talking about because I know you wear that privacy hat, privacy information of your personal information, okay, and they abuse and they fail in the mission of collecting the dollars that they're supposed to collect from individuals that are not paying their taxes. And then to turn around and see numbers of cases of abuse where individuals have been called over 150 times that have been documented over a period of 27 days to an elderly couple and still you come to the floor and vote no? I mean, I just don't understand it.

I know we have it for the record, but I just want, when folks open the Congressional Record, that they can see that number twice, because that's the point even driven further down the street as it relates to why would you vote against something like this.

Let's just engage in a conversation here. I mean, the real issue is this: It's not an isolated incident, and that's the reason why many of our Republican colleagues that were here in the 109th Congress is now reading about what Congress is doing in their hometown paper in an involuntary retirement. It's not like they said, oh, I just don't want to be your Congressman here anymore.

No, they took votes that were unpopular, and when I say unpopular, one person may say, well, leadership, you're supposed to lead, but when you have a bill like the bill that is in question here, H.R. 3056, and I encourage the Members, staff and what have you because maybe there may be another opportunity.

We are going to start closing out here, and this is something we don't ordinarily do. We are going to end up leaving 10 minutes left open. I mean, there is just so much information we want to share, but we know that the House has to continue, but I want to recognize Ms. Wasserman Schultz.

I want to thank the Members for what they have done this far, the majority of the Members in this House, and that is including some of our Republican friends that have voted for a number of these measures that the American people want, Republicans, Democrats, you name it, those that are involved in other parties and those that are thinking about voting. We have to show that we are a functional House and that we can be able to provide the leadership, when necessary, to be able to run the country in a way that it should be operated, especially on appropriations and on the finance and tax hand.

I want to thank the Democratic leadership for allowing us to have the hour.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be a co-sponsor to this bill that will provide relief to those people in my district, the entire State of Florida, and the country as a whole who are losing their homes.

Foreclosures in south Florida are escalating way too quickly. They have tripled in Miami-Dade County and more than doubled in Broward County from this time last year. In fact, Florida as a whole is second only to Nevada in new foreclosures from January through March of this year.

Why this fast increase in foreclosures? Mostly because lenders gave high-priced loans to borrowers during the housing boom, particularly borrowers in low-income, largely minority neighborhoods. Starting in 2000, because property values were rising quickly, financial institutions made risky loans that put them and the borrowers in jeopardy. About $1.3 trillion in subprime loans was lent to these borrowers. Specifically to south Florida, in Miami-Dade, about 23 percent of these loans are subprime--in Broward about 18 percent are subprime--in Miami Gardens about 66 percent are subprime.

Florida homeowners are now bearing about one tenth of that 1.3 trillion dollar debt. This is more than any other state except California. Now the value of these homes is declining but these homeowners have this huge outstanding mortgage debt. It's bad enough that these homeowners are losing their homes, but under current law they would also have to include their discharged mortgage debt in their income and pay tax on it.

This bill will give some relief to those homeowners by eliminating that tax. Equally important, the bill will help those homeowners who are doing their best to avoid foreclosures--those that are having a portion of their mortgage discharged as part of a restructuring of their debt.

It is time for those homeowners in Florida and elsewhere to get this badly needed tax relief.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It's an honor to address the House one more time.

As you know, the 30-something Working Group, we come to share with the Members fact, not fiction. I'm so glad my good friend from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey), we came into the Congress together, Dr. Gingrey, good friend, I want to borrow that chart from him because it shows how earmarks were cut in half when the Democrats took over. But that's another story. But I'm glad that he has the accurate numbers there, and I'm glad that we're going to have an opportunity to talk about that a little bit more in the future.

Mr. Speaker, we came to the floor yesterday, or last night, and talked about the issue of the President's veto of the SCHIP bill. We, the 30-something Working Group, received a lot of e-mails on that, and we received a lot of phone calls. There were a number of Members that even had questions like, ``Is it true that 41 days of what we spend in Iraq could pay for a full year of health care for children? Is it true, 3\1/2\ months of what we spend in Iraq, which will come out to almost $35 billion, will pay for children's health care for 5 years?'' On both of those questions I would say, ``Yes. Absolutely. The numbers are there.'' I am going to have my charts here that I had last night hopefully join me here on the floor pretty soon.

It is very unfortunate, Mr. Speaker, that there are people that are focusing on the President. As far as I am concerned, the President said he was going to veto the SCHIP bill, the children's health care bill, and he did. Now it is up to Members of Congress. Yesterday we voted to set the date for the time that we are going to take up the SCHIP bill again to override the President's veto. I think between now and then, Members are going to have to reflect on if they are on the side of the President, of a bad decision that was a bipartisan bill, Mr. Speaker, that Democrats and Republicans voted in a bipartisan way to send that bill to the President, or are they with the uninsured children of this country.

Like I said last night, there are a number of provisions in the bill that some Members may not agree with. I have been in elected service now going on 14 years, Mr. Speaker. There has always been a provision in a bill that I didn't agree with. But for the greater good, especially when you are talking about health care for children, I saw past that one line or that one provision or that one piece that was not in there. I just want to say that this health care, and let me just share this because I want to make sure that the Members understand, that 10 million low-income children would have had health care in this country. Now, that is in every State. That is in my State of Florida. That is in Ohio. That is in California. That is in New York. That is in Texas. That is in Wyoming. All over. I think it is important that we shed light on that and we continue to talk about that in the face of wasteful spending in the past.

Another thing about this children's health care bill that wouldn't have been a reality in the 109th Congress, the Congress before this Congress, is the fact that it is paid for. Now, I am going to illustrate in a few minutes how things used to operate here on this House floor. The American people want to move in a new direction. At my house, if we are going to do something, we have to figure out how we are going to pay for it. We are not going to say, We will put it on a credit card and get it on some unforeseen date somewhere down in the future that is not necessarily lined out or identified yet, but we will figure it out somehow. We are going to end up in foreclosure or we are going to end up in a financial situation we can't get ourselves out of.

That is the position we find ourselves in now, Mr. Speaker. That is the reason why, in the majority, this House and the Senate agreed in the pay-as-you-go principles to make sure that if we say we are going to spend something, we are going to pay for it. So that is very, very important. When we look at some of the issues that the other side may bring up as it relates to fiscal responsibility, you have to look at, you just have to look at the irresponsibility, or the lack of responsibility, that the Republican side had when they were in control of this House.

When you look at $70 billion for the war in Iraq, $50 billion in subsidies to oil companies, $8 billion, these are billions, these are not millions, in loss, waste, fraud and abuse of no-bid contracts and billions for schools and roads and clinics in Iraq, but we cannot do the same for our children.

I am speaking in a very simple way here today, Mr. Speaker, because I want to make sure that Members totally understand what I am saying. I don't want to lose anyone with a whole bunch of acronyms in talking about things that are way out, pie in the sky, and some folks may not understand what is going on. The bottom line is, 10 million kids need health care for 5 years.

The other bottom line is the fact that we showed how we would pay for it, not building into an everlasting debt. Now, I am glad that this chart has made it to the floor. I think it is important. I pulled it out last night, and I have been using this chart almost for the last 3 years. We have been updating it, but I think it is important. We talk about foreign debt and we talk about the Bush administration and Republicans here in Congress what they were able to do, $1.19 trillion in get debt over the last 6 years, and that is between 2001 and 2006. These numbers are from the Treasury Department. These are not Kendrick Meek numbers. Forty-two Presidents, 224 years, $1.01 trillion. I say that to say that the days of just stacking on top of the $1.9 trillion are over.

Now, when we start going down the line of what is important here, and what is important is making sure that domestically we look at the needs of our children and also of our country.

This is just an example, just to show you the per month. Now this is talking about college costs, but when you look at the per-year costs, that is $120 billion. I said, four and, 3\1/2\ months. I pulled this chart just to prove a point. 3\1/2\ months, $10 billion a month pays for the children's health care program. That is every State block grant, and the States get to apply it the way they want to. Many of them use private health insurance companies to provide that level of insurance that those kids need.

So when the President and some other folk in this Chamber in the minority, our Republican friends, they start to talk about socialized medicine, I don't know where they are getting these numbers from. I don't know where they are getting the logic from. But I can tell you what will be historic is making sure that we are able to enforce this piece of legislation.

I think it is important for Americans to weigh the kind of enthusiasm that the President has and our Republican colleagues may have or they do have on behalf of the Iraqi children. I'm sorry. I am a United States Congressman federalized by the people of the 17th Congressional District to come up and give representation to them and all Americans. I care about other kids in other parts of the world. I have been to Iraq. I have held Iraqi children in my arms. But guess what? I have held American children in my arms. It is not about my kids. I have two kids. We have health care. I thank God we have health care here in Congress. The people elected me to come up here and represent them not for me to have coverage and not for my kids to have coverage that they are not allowed to have, especially those that are financially challenged.

So I want the Members who are not thinking about overriding or who are thinking about joining in with the President and not allowing the Congress, this great democracy, the House and Senate, to override the President on this very bad decision. I also think it is important to highlight the fact that we have had a number, a number of editorials throughout the country, of papers, either it be rural America or urban America, either it be the East Coast or the West Coast or the Midwest or the Deep South or the North by the Canadian border, all throughout the country, they have called the decision that the President made a very, not only unpopular, but wrong decision.

The President is not running for reelection, but we Members of Congress have to run for election every 2 years. The reason why we have elections is to bring about accountability and to make sure that people back home in their given districts have the right people up here.

I think it is important for people to pay very close attention. Mr. Speaker, if this were about politics, I wouldn't spend the time to come down to the floor. I could be doing something else on this Thursday evening after we took our last votes of the week. I could be somewhere on the telephone talking to constituents, or I could be in my house here in Washington enjoying some time with the kids and the family. But I decided to be here because representation is very, very important in this 2-week span. One day has already passed. We have 9 days left. I want to make sure that American people and every Member of Congress know that in another 9 days, there will be an action to override the President.

What side are they going to be on? Are they going to be on the side of the children and on behalf of the people of the United States? Or are they going to be on the side of the President and the bad decision? I am not saying the President is not for the folks, for the good people of the United States of America. All I'm saying is that 10 million children that are poor and families would have had a guaranteed health care opportunity in their State, at least 10 million of them. That is a big number.

So when I hear the President talk about our obligations to Iraq, I can't help but think about our obligations here to the kids here in the United States and families here in the United States. I am just as passionate as anyone else may be about it. I share that today because I want my Republican colleagues who did not vote, those that voted for the SCHIP bill, congratulations. Thank you on behalf of all Americans and the 10 million children that are seeking health care. But for those who did not vote for the SCHIP bill, for the children's health care bill, I am asking you to rethink your decision for two reasons; one, you have another chance to do the right thing if you missed the opportunity to do the right thing when we pass the children's health care bill here on this floor. You have an opportunity to do the right thing. The second thing, I think more Americans are focused, 72 percent of Americans in a bipartisan poll said that they agree with the version of the children's health care bill that we passed throughout this floor. So that means they could be on the right side of the issue, and they can provide health care for 10 million children that many of them reside in their own congressional districts. I said I would give you two. I gave you three. And I can go on and on and on.

I think it is also important for the staff here in Congress. I have a chart that my former chief of staff left with me. It is actually a picture, Mr. Speaker. It is an iceberg. It has a little tip of the iceberg up there, a little triangle just kind of showing the top, then underwater you can see a majority of the iceberg which is almost 80 or 90 percent of the iceberg. At the top it says, Member of Congress. Right under the iceberg it says, Staff, Congressional staff. I think it is important for those members of the staff that are paying attention to this debate and paying attention to what is happening right now in the country to talk to your Member or to talk to your ranking member and say that maybe you need to reconsider your vote.

Now, I am talking inside politics here under the dome. Because I don't think that this is an us-against-them kind of philosophy because we have to all be on the side of children. Like some folks say out in the neighborhood, it is what it is. And the bottom line is, 10 million children need health care and we need every person on the ground making that happen.

Also, I think that it is important, Mr. Speaker, and I just want to point out what happened recently. This is a picture of one of the first actions that we took here in this House. You remember. We all voted on it, to put benchmarks in and also timelines as relates to giving responsibility or mandating responsibility of the Iraqi Government to rise to the occasion to patrol the streets of Baghdad so we don't have to continue to watch our troops having to do door-to-door neighborhood- to-neighborhood checks. Put the Iraqi folks up front and allow them to do it, or make them do it, so that we don't have to continue to click off $10 billion a month, some $3,316 a second in Iraq, because every time we stay there another day, another month in a combat mode, we continue to lose out.

After that, the vote was so overwhelming to do that, or, as the majority, until that, the Speaker and Leader Reid decided, let's override the President because the people wanted a new direction here in the United States. Not just Democrats, not just Republicans, but the people of the United States want it.

Well, here are some of my good friends that are here with the President, my Republican colleagues, not one Democrat in this crowd, outside of the White House standing with the President. Mr. President, we are going to be with you and we are not going to allow the Congress to override your veto.

Now, what happened after this event? Well, the approval rating of Congress overall went straight down. The American people wanted action, and they got more of the same.

I don't want another picture like this, Mr. Speaker, because in nine days, if we find that our Republican colleagues run back down to the White House and stand on the steps with the President and say we stand with the President and we will not allow the Congress to override his veto, I think it will be a very sad day in the United States of America when we provide health care for children abroad, and we are spending $120 billion a year, and counting, in Iraq, and we have Members of Congress and we have a President who doesn't want to provide health care for 10 million children here in the United States.

I feel we are up here to represent especially those that are most vulnerable. I guess because the kids that will be eligible for the SCHIP program, they can't vote, they are under 18, maybe that is the reason.

But I ask, Mr. Speaker, that those of us that are adults, if you are a grandparent or granddad or you are a senior, or you are a mother or father or an aunt or an uncle, or if your kids have health care, and we talked about that last night, because my kids go to school with other kids, and if someone is in that classroom that has not received health care insurance and they have a cold or they have some sort of ailment, my kids are going to end up falling victim to that.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I have two of my good colleagues from Ohio, they are about an hour-and-a-half away from each other I guess by car, the Chair of the Ethics Committee and a member of the Ways and Means Committee, who I am happy to serve with on that committee, Mrs. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, and also Mr. Tim Ryan from the great town of Youngstown, Ohio.

With that, I would like to yield to Mrs. Stephanie Tubbs Jones.

Real quick, reclaiming my time, that is a perfect example of what we were talking about. I mean, you weren't drinking any ``Haterade'' or anything like that. You were just like, wow, I have constituents that would love to get the same health care.

Mr. Speaker, that is what I was talking about just 10 minutes ago, kids abroad having opportunities that American kids don't have, and then we have a President to speak passionately about our responsibilities in Iraq and Iraqi children. But, better yet, we have children here in the United States, Mr. Speaker.

I can tell you, it is so wrong, the veto that the President carried out. I mean, it is so wrong. I don't know how, Mr. Speaker, to be honest with you, I don't know how Members cannot vote to override the President. Because, Mr. Ryan, you know, and we said several times on this floor, that you have Members now, and you served with them too, Madam Chairman, that are watching us now and reading about the Congress, that was once upon a time, Mr. Speaker, a Member of Congress. They make bad decisions. Republicans, Democrats and independents said, guess what, we are going to send somebody up there that can make good decisions.

I am going to share with you, and if this was about politics, I wouldn't say this, and thank you for yielding, some of the new Republican Members that are on the other side can very well be reading the paper and watching Congress on television after next November if they vote against a chance for 10 million children to receive health care.

Mr. Speaker, I don't care who you are, I don't care where you came from, if you're a stone-cold conservative, Republican, what have you, we are talking about something that is paid for. It's not going into the debt. We are talking about something that provides health care for the most vulnerable children in the United States of America, and we are talking about doing the right thing as it relates to good government. The same individuals vote for subsidies for oil companies but they don't want to vote on behalf of the kids.

Before I say something here as it relates what you just said, Mr. Ryan, I think it is important for us to at least look at the argument that the President has not been able to make. He hasn't been able to make that Democrats on Capitol Hill are trying to do something that the American people should not do. We can't say that because 18 Republicans in the Senate supported the bill along with the Democrats. It is bipartisan. And 43 Governors, including 16 Republicans, are in support of the SCHIP bill and children's health care, and 270 organizations representing millions of Americans are in support. And a strong majority of the American people are in support. I have the quotes here, and I hope to put it on the 30-something Web site about what Republicans have said about the veto and even prior to the veto.

I think it is also important to point out, Mr. Ryan and Mrs. Tubbs Jones, I think it is important for us not just to focus on the action of the President. We do have the opportunity to override. The President, like I said last night, he can't run for reelection again because he is term limited out. So the only way the American people can stand in judgment of him is when someone calls their home and asks how they feel about how the President is running the country, and those numbers are very, very low as to whether the President is doing a good job.

But when you look at this issue of health care, I think there this is a gut check for many Members of Congress. There are some numbers, and I heard Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones asking Members on the floor today that voted in the affirmative for the bill: Are you going to vote with us to override the President? Out of two conversations I heard, it was ``yes.'' But I think it is important that each Member of Congress start to use their relationships with other Members of Congress, especially with the other side of the aisle. My conversation with some of my colleagues today have been, Please, I kind of like you. I think you are a nice guy. I don't know if you want to make a career decision to be with the President because that is what is going to happen. The President is talking about negotiating on children's health care when, and I am looking at a quote here, and quotes and past statements by the President, I don't think they hold any great value as to what he is going to do if it has nothing to do with Iraq.

He said at the Republican National Convention in 2004: ``In a new term, we will lead in an aggressive effort to enroll millions of children who are eligible but not yet signed up for government health care insurance programs. We will not allow the lack of attention or information to stand between these children and health care that they need.''

Well, I can tell you, based on his veto, he is standing in the schoolhouse door as it relates to children receiving health care. I have been talking to my colleagues in the halls and saying, Listen you need to be on the side of the children. Not with the Democrats, not with some group, either liberal or conservative, moderate, you have to be on the side of the children.

These are the organizations that would like, that want children to have health care. Am I correct?

They do want it. And the thing about it, they should want it and Members of Congress should want it. These are children. They don't wear $800 suits and $200 silk ties and all of the things that big-time folk wear here in Washington, D.C.

But I think it is important that letter that was sent to the President should be sent to Members of Congress to remind them the reason why they are up here.

Some Members say Kendrick is not talking about me. He can't be talking about me.

Someone who might have read the Congressional Record, said, well, he's not talking about me; yes, you too. Your children, too. Your grandchild, too. So if you're within the sound of my voice and you hear what I'm saying, your neighbor's child, too. Your child will be affected by 10 million children not having health care, will be affected by the lack of health care that that child will not have if the President and the Republican minority have their way.

Now, I commend Democrats that voted for the bill, I commend Republicans that voted for the bill, but we should make sure that we point out the fact that there are a number of Republicans in this House that will stand or say they will stand with the President. They're saying they stand with the President. They're not saying they're going to stand with the American people.

I think you're 110 percent right for sharing that with Members of Congress and letting them know, and these associations should approach their Member if they voted for it or not, just to remind them that this is very, very important.

Tim and I have a good friend by the name of Charles, and Charles was saying how excited that he was about the fact that we pointed out the folks that wanted children to be covered by health insurance. And I think it's important that even if we continue to say everything that we're saying and we say it 10 times, it's not going to hurt. It's not going to hurt the debate here.

Let me just back up. What the White House is doing now, Mr. Speaker, and I just want to kind of bring this out into the light, let's drag it out from out of the dark halls of Congress. What's happening right now, they're getting invitations to the White House: come sit down with the Vice President or the President or some major policy person, saying, you know, a little tea, a little coffee, some cookies.

Little pressure in the Roosevelt Room, somewhere around there. You are with us on this stopping the overside of the President's veto; please tell me that you're with us.

Some of them are saying, well, yeah, I'm with you, you know, I'm all impressed, and they go in and take a picture with the President in the Oval Office and they go back home or they come back over here to the Capitol. That's what's happening very quietly. I just want to put that out because that's the way the White House has been successful in getting this kind of picture.

Now, I know every last Member here in this picture, and I know the conversations I've had with them one-on-one about the war in Iraq, but better yet, they're down there with the President. All I'm saying is that all of the groups, some, was it 270 and counting, are saying that we want health care for children.

And all of the Members, I want to the make sure I say it right, a number of Republicans in the Senate that voted for this measure, and over here in the House?

Forty-five Republicans voted with Democrats on this bill.

I think somewhere like 18 or 20 that we would need to override. I think that number now is somewhere maybe, you know, around 15 or 16 we have to convince them to do it. I want to drag this out and put it out into the light.

We have I guess somewhere about a minute 30 left. I yield to Ms. Wasserman Schultz, chair of the House administration in appropriations. She's an appropriator.

I was just told that we have four additional minutes. I was given some information that was incorrect, so if you wanted to continue.

We're all happy for him.

I'm pretty sure there's some tourism dollars in there somewhere.

I just want to say that you have increased our stock. To have a chair of a full committee with us two days in a row and to have a cardinal to join us at the last minute, even though a member of the 30 Something Working Group here on the floor with Mr. Ryan and myself, I mean, in the light of other Members, they really may feel we have moved up in the world to have these two gentle ladies here with us but yet powerful.

Mr. Speaker, with that we would like to thank the Speaker and the Democratic leadership for allowing us to have this hour. We would like for the Members, if they want to get a copy of the letter that Chairwoman Tubbs Jones read into the Record, they can go on www.speaker.gov and also all of the groups that support and the folks, the Republican Senators, of why SCHIP should be overridden or passed.

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

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 5 o'clock and 43 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until tomorrow, Friday, October 5, 2007, at 3 p.m.

Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. It is an honor to come to the floor to have the 30-Something Working Group. And as you know, we have been coming to the floor now some 4 years strong, 4\1/2\ years, bringing to light issues before the Congress and also the American people on what's happening under the Capitol dome.

We have been doing a lot of legislation recently in this 110th Congress that I think should definitely be highlighted every time we have the opportunity to do so. We have a number of pieces of legislation that are in the pipeline right now that are being sent to the White House that the President has threatened to veto. These are priorities that the American people voted for to move in a new direction; need it be in Iraq; need it be domestically; or need it be making sure that we run this government in a fiscal way, one that all Americans, Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike, would like to have.

Good government is good. And it's important that we encourage not only the passage of good pieces of legislation but also make sure that we encourage the President to do the right thing, even though he may say from time to time that he is not going to do things, that he will sign pieces of legislation like the Student Loan Reduction Act, which is so very, very important. It cuts student loan rates in half.

I want to just commend the Members here in this Chamber, especially in the majority, that pushed the President to sign that bill. I want to thank all of the college kids and students and parents and grandparents that are having to help their young people pay back their student loans and to being able to cut that interest rate in half.

I am joined tonight by two of my, and I can say this, bestest friends in Congress: Mrs. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the chairwoman of the Ethics Committee and a colleague that I serve with on the Ways and Means Committee; and also my good friend Tim Ryan from Youngstown, Ohio, who is a member of the Appropriations Committee that considers himself a very important part of what we do here. As you know, Ways and Means, we find the ways and means, and he says he has appropriated to make sure it all goes to the right place, Mr. Speaker.

I guess what we usually do, and what I am going to do, without really making opening comments because we like to have a discussion, I want to allow my two colleagues here to share some of their thoughts with us. But before I do that, today, as you know, in the 30-Something Working Group, we shed light on what is happening in Iraq. We know that we have a number of our men and women that are there in harm's way. We know that we have men and women in Afghanistan and also deployed throughout the world.

But as of today, October 3, the total deaths have been 3,808. The total number of wounded in action and returning to duty within 72 hours has been 15,432. The number wounded in action and not returning to duty within 72 hours has been 12,577. The total number of wounded is 27,753.

I want to make sure, Mr. Speaker, and we want to make sure, the 30- Something Working Group, that Members know what is going on in the Middle East and that we bring this to their attention and read it into the Congressional Record so that we can every day move towards a position that would take our combat troops out of harm's way and replace them with Iraqi troops. We can provide technical support, but I think that is very important.

With that, I yield to my colleague Mrs. Stephanie Tubbs Jones.

You know, Madam Chair, I think it's very, very important for us to understand that the President is vetoing the legislation because he knows that his Republican colleagues here in the House and the Senate have his back, at least a number to stop us from overriding his veto. And this is something that, Mr. Speaker, we have to put the pressure on those Members. I'm going to put the pressure on in a few minutes when I get an opportunity to really share what I feel about what the President has done today. It wasn't the perfect bill, but it was the bill that was going to provide health care for children.

Mr. Ryan.

Tell the truth.

Excuse me, Mr. Ryan. ``These people,'' referring to who?

Thank you, Mrs. Tubbs Jones.

Tim, we used to play football once upon a time, and I remember being on the sideline as a freshman member of the football team. I used to be what they call a ``headhunter.'' I used to break the wedge in kickoff. That's the way I got on the bus to be able to travel. And many times I would sit on the sideline and say, ``Wow, the coach just let me in. I'll sack that quarterback.'' Well, you know, this is one of these moments. I'm so glad that I'm a Member of Congress and it's been federalized by the people of the 17th Congressional District to come up here and represent them and the American people. And I'm proud of the fact that we have passed a children's health care bill that covers children that are in need, that means families, that means a healthier America, that means better test scores, that means lower cost to State and local communities from picking up emergency room bills where they end up getting the care because they have to provide the care, but there's no way to pay for the care, then raise local taxes on the local community because of that lack of health care insurance for that uninsured child. I'm so glad that I've had the experience of walking to a CVS, Wal-Mart, whatever you want to call it, into a drugstore, and I'm glad as a Member of Congress I have witnessed mothers and fathers trying to figure out how they can stop their child from coughing and how can they prevent the sickness that is spreading in some communities based on the fact that it is financially challenged, need it be urban or rural. I'm glad I'm here to give them voice because apparently, Mr. Speaker, there are some Members in this Chamber and there are some Members in the other Chamber over in the Senate that, in my opinion, are failing to represent that side of America. One may say, well, Congressman, I understand, colleague, what have you, you're talking about those other folks, you're not talking about me. Well, guess what? I'm so glad, Mr. Murphy, that I have health care insurance, but I didn't ask my constituents to elect me so that I could have health care insurance and they can't. That's not how this thing works. And my kids, like Mr. Ryan said, they go to school with other kids, and if those kids don't have the necessary insurance to have preventive care to head off some of the major issues that they're going to face because they're getting drugstore care, the best care that their parents can provide for them, they're going to make my child sick. So now we're back to the point of fiscal responsibility and we're back to the point of doing the right thing and good government and where I left off.

I'm glad Mrs. Tubbs Jones mentioned that this is a bipartisan bill, passed this House overwhelmingly, passed the Senate with a very good vote. Now the question comes to my Republican colleagues, because the President is not going to run for President again, and the thing about it is that we have term limits on the Presidency of the United States, and that's

been carved out long before my presence here in Congress and long before my mother's presence here in Congress. But Mr. Ryan pointed something out, because I'm putting this back on the Members of the House and the Senate and the Congress, because I don't want Members going home saying, well, you know, the President, and the President this and the President that. My constituents want more than that. It's almost like when I walk into my Baptist church, they want to hear more as a Christian than one day Jesus Christ, he died on Calvary. They need to hear more than that. They need to hear more of a story. They need to hear more of the reason why we practice that certain religion.

Putting that aside just for a moment, our constituents have to know more about what's going on here in Washington, DC. That parent needs to know why. The President is saying socialized medicine. Well, that's what he says, that's his Potomac two-step because the average American doesn't even know what you're talking about when you say ``socialized medicine.'' They understand health care.

They understand being able to take their child to a doctor and the States understand, the 43 or 46 Governors that are supporting the SCHIP bill, they understand getting a block grant from the Federal Government so they can provide health care for their children.

I would like to talk a little bit about what Mr. Ryan mentioned. This President and the past Republican majority here in this House irresponsibly gave tax cuts to billionaires and millionaires and then turned around and gave unprecedented subsidies to oil companies of some $50 billion, $8 billion in lost waste, fraud and abuse of no-bid contracts in Iraq, billions of dollars for schools and roads and clinics in Iraq, stood up here teary-eyed saying, ``We need to help the Iraqi people.'' Well, I want folks to get teary-eyed about helping American children and their families. I want them to get teary-eyed. I want them to get emotional.

When you look at this foreign debt hold, no other time in the history of this country have we ever been in the fiscal situation that this President has put us in and the Republican, thank God the minority now, has put us in in the past, and this is what we owe these foreign countries. I am going to move on because I know we have some Members here.

Here is another issue. When you look at the cost of the war and how many kids can be enrolled in Healthy Start. I am just going to use the per hour number, $13.7 million, 2,000 kids can be enrolled. And then I am going to jump up here to the 1-year cost, $120 billion for the 1- year cost, 16.7 million kids can go into Healthy Start. Now, that is just Healthy Start.

We come to the floor with the facts, not fiction. Here is the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. I just want to make sure that all the Members are with me on this. The cost of the Iraq war is rising. Again, here are the numbers. Per second. Since I have been here talking a few seconds have passed. Per second, $3,816 is being spent per second. Do you hear the Members down here talking about wasteful spending, anything like that? Meanwhile, we are giving the Iraqi Government all kind of chances.

To further drive my point home, here it is, President Bush, Members are familiar with this, doubled the foreign-held debt. It took 42 Presidents 224 years to build up $1 trillion in foreign debt. All these Presidents, this President and his Republican colleagues here in Congress have been able to build up more than 42 presidents, 224 years of history, $1.19 trillion in debt over the last 6 years, and we have turned that around, or are trying to turn that around here.

Here they are. These are my Republican colleagues and the President of the United States. Many in this picture are my friends. But I tell you one thing: When we send this and we go to try to override the President of the United States of America and standing in the schoolhouse door not allowing kids to have health care in this country, I want to know, are you going to march down to the White House like you did when we put time limits on this war and accountability on this war to push the Iraqi Government to where they need to be to get our combat troops out of harm's way and to get their troops on the ground?

The last time, Mr. Speaker, I was on the floor was Monday with Mrs. Tubbs Jones. I walked downstairs and I don't know his name. But it was one of our people that work here in the Capitol that constantly bring the folks over from Walter Reed on what we call the ``twilight tour,'' walking around here in the Capitol, Mr. Murphy, and getting a tour of the Capitol. I am sorry, his name escapes me at this point. This vet was there with involuntary jerking of his right arm. As a matter of fact, I am shocked that they were even able to save his arm. It was so twisted with cuts and stitches and all those things. But he was happy to walk into this Capitol of great democracy. But guess what? He had a child, too. So we get all excited about, we are for the troops, and I am for the troops, and you are soft and I am hard and all that kind of stuff. That is rhetoric. The real bottom line comes down to, what are you going to do as a Members of Congress? Not as some sort of speech giver or note reader or whatever the case may be. What are you going to do as it relates to being a Member of Congress? Are you going to go down and stand with the President and say, ``I'm with the President''? Or are you going to be with the children of the United States of America?

Mrs. Tubbs Jones and I, we have to see the Federal budget when it comes through Ways and Means before it goes to the Budget Committee and we met with the Treasury Secretary just today talking about fiscal responsibility.

I think the problem, Mr. Ryan and Mr. Murphy, that the President has with this issue is that the American people asked for a new direction and accountability. Guess what? This SCHIP bill is paid for. We show paid for by saying pay-as-you-go. If you're going to do something, you have to show how you're going to pay for it. At least that's what they said in my house. The President, how did he rack up $1.19 trillion? He didn't worry about paying for it. He just said, let's put it on the credit card. Let's put it on the children. Let's put it on other folks.

Children have had enough abuse on the part of the past Republican majority and the President. Now we are trying to bring about accountability in health care and he doesn't want to sign the bill.

Mr. Speaker, the bottom line is, I challenge, this is not a WWF kind of experience here, but I challenge my colleagues with a straight face to come to this floor and say otherwise why we should not have health care for children. I want to make sure that Members understand, this is why we're elected, to represent the children, not special interests, not the oil companies, not somebody who said, ``Well, if we spend this on that, I can't get my tax cut.'' It is not all about that. If we can't represent the children of the United States of America, we got a big problem. I am so glad that Speaker Pelosi, I am so glad that our leadership has said, this is what we're going to do, and that we're going to try to override the President. The bottom line is the Republican Members of this House have to join and be with us, which they are on the bill, Mr. Ryan and Mr. Murphy, but we need more of them to override the President of the United States on this very bad veto.

Do we have issues with the SCHIP bill? Is everything in it that should be in it? Of course not. But the bottom line is children need health care and they need representation.

You know, Mr. Murphy, I am glad that you are part of our majority-making Members that came here and gave house Democrats the majority. And the way it went on in the Senate, even though there is just one majority Member there that put the quit the Senate Democratic majority. But there is still a lot of work to be done.

As I sit here, and Mr. Ryan knows and Mrs. Stephanie Tubbs Jones knows, we have been on this floor before in the 108th and 109th Congress, and saying if it was about politics, we would just not come to the floor. We would allow the Republicans, and I am not generalizing, those that are in the position of standing with the President, not with the American people, that works politically for Democrats. The majority will even get greater, Mr. Speaker, if we just sat in our office or we just went to committee meetings and didn't come to the floor burning the midnight oil here tonight. But it is not about politics. It is about the country, and that is the reason we are here.

I just wanted to point one thing out. Folks get excited about the war. But you saw the $10 billion figure I had on the whole war cost for, this is a little clearer here, $10 billion right here per month. This whole child health insurance package is $35 billion over 5 years, Mr. Speaker. Five years, $35 billion. That is 3\1/2\ months of the cost of the war in Iraq. Five years versus 3\1/2\ months.

The President's action is one thing. The Republican minority allowing it to stand is another thing.

You see, I want to give the American people some homework, because I think it is important. We can't say well, you know, the President, you know, they are not going to have another opportunity to stand in judgment on some given Tuesday on the President of the United States. But they will every 2 years have an opportunity to stand in judgment of every Member of the U.S. House of Representatives. I think that is something very, very important.

Also, Mr. Ryan, you know that we have worked very hard on veterans. Mr. Murphy, you know we have worked hard. All of us have worked hard. We have made the largest increase in VA assistance in the history of the republic. Since the VA has been created, it has received more health care assistance from this Congress than any other time, any other time in history.

Now, my mother before me who served here in the House said the thing about the House, the main thing about being elected, is bringing your experiences to the floor. I just wanted to take 2 minutes to tell you about an experience.

I have a 10-year-old and I have a 12-year-old daughter. We take pride in at least once a week riding the Mall, what we call here the Mall, from the Capitol on down to the Washington Monument on to the World War II Memorial, and we take a hard left to go over to the Jefferson Memorial on our bicycles, and we come around and we go to the Lincoln Memorial.

I just wanted for a minute for Members to realize what is going on down there at the Lincoln Memorial. You have the last outpost of Vietnam vets that are there running off a generator for power, standing there for the missing in action, raising money, selling patches and things of that nature, who have to renew their lease every 21 days to stay there on that Mall. They have been there for years, since the Vietnam Memorial was set up.

I talk to these gentleman, my kids talk to these gentleman constantly, because they are our heroes. But they are out there showing the medication and the kind of cocktail they have to use to even deal with what happened over 20 years ago.

I think when we start looking at governance here in this house, we have got to look at it beyond what the paper is going to print the next day. We have to do what is right on behalf of the country. So when we look at 5 years, a $35 billion program, versus 3\1/2\ months of operations in Iraq, we can't help but think of good governance.

I want to put the pressure to the point where the Members here willing to stand with the President on this very bad decision in the face of uninsured children in this country, that they make sure that they understand that when folks walk in on some given Tuesday voting for representation, need it be Republican, independent, Democrat, what have you, yes, your

children too, that they didn't walk in grasping the hands of the President of the United States to take some sort of talking notes from some conservative think tank, and I will let you talk about that, to talk about how they are going to deny children health care in this country.

I go back to saying nothing is perfect, but I can tell you one thing, it has to be better than what we are facing right now, the program that needs to be reauthorized and children have to have health care.

So I want my Republican colleagues that voted against this legislation for all, and as far as I am concerned, and this is my individual reason, I know people have reasons, but I think it was largely political, when you think about it, in the final analysis, I want them to feel the pressure when they step off the plane or the train or the car or whatever the case may be, and I don't care if you are Republican, independent, thinking about voting one day, 17-years- old, you are going to get your voter registration card, put the pressure on your Member of Congress on this issue.

I think it is very, very important. The bottom line is, if a Member has a problem with what I am saying, you know, it is a beautiful country. It is America. Thank God the flag is flying over the Capitol right now. I am going to say it. And I think it is important that Members understand that this is serious business.

We are down to children now. This is not about somebody walking around with a suit or something on. This is about the children of this country. Not Iraq. Mr. Speaker, time after time, Mr. Ryan, you know, Ms. Jones, Mr. Murphy, you know, as I yield over to my friends, Members come to this floor and pound and shake and throw paper and carry on on behalf of the Iraqi children.

What about the American children? What about them? What about those individuals that are catching the school bus in the morning? What about that parent catching the early bus taking their kids to school? What about the folks that work here in this Capitol that have people that live next door to them that don't have health care? What about them? Get emotional about them. Pound and shake your fist about that.

I hope we have the kind of paradigm shift when that vote comes up to override the President of the United States, that we have some of our colleagues on the Republican side that go see the wizard; get some courage, wisdom and heart, and stand up against this President, and don't allow those individuals that I see down here that are trying to block democracy from happening coming down here from the White House saying ``stick with us.'' Stick with who? Stick with the President, or the American children?

I yield to the gentlewoman from Ohio.

I know it is a proud moment for Ohio. I was watching a HBO special leading up to the fight. He has a daughter, and his trainer actually does blacktop.

It is interesting. This guy is an everyday joe and trained Kelly from a young tender age as a boxer.

In closing, Mr. Speaker, it is always an honor to come to the floor with Mr. Ryan and Mr. Murphy and Chairman Tubbs Jones. We are so glad to have a chairperson of a full committee on the floor with us. We're not used to that.

We look forward to continuing to come back to the floor to share with not only Members but also the American people. It was an honor addressing the House.

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

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 9 o'clock and 20 minutes p.m.), the House adjourned until tomorrow, Thursday, October 4, 2007, at 10 a.m.

Thank you so much, Madam Chair. And thank you, Ms. Lee, for saying thank you and showing your appreciation.

I know we have some Members that want to speak, and Madam Chair, I'm going to have to leave the floor soon, so I just want to mention two or three things.

One, I want to thank those great Americans that participated in our conference. And I think that some of the brain trusts that were held, from what I'm hearing from e-mails and telephone calls, were some of the best that we've had. That means hats off to those that put on those brain trusts and issue forums; that means one of the 43 members of the Congressional Black Caucus, individually they were able to do it.

And we were also able to shed light on ``Unleashing Our Power.'' It wasn't just a title of members of the Congressional Black Caucus. It was for those participants, black, white, male and female, that attended the conference, to leave empowered to go back to their State, back to their local community, and even in their own home, and unleash their power as it relates to education, health care, so on and so on.

One thing that I can tell you that was very, very good this year, and we were able to work very hard, is making a lot of young people feel welcome with our Emerging Leaders Initiative. Our apprenticeship program has been a really successful program. We had a lot of people that participated. We had high school students that participated; we had college and recent graduates that came to this conference. And I look forward, Madam Chair, to future years where we can be able to continue to have a successful weekend. This was obviously a large fund- raiser for our scholarship program, for our internship program. These are kids that wouldn't ordinarily have an opportunity to be a part of anything here in Washington, D.C., to serve as interns in Members' offices or committees.

So everything happened the way that it should. There are always things that we can work on to make it better next year. But as it relates to the substance, Madam Chair, I am so pleased that people walked away with more knowledge than when they walked in and were inspired by what they heard. And I took the opportunity to go into Mr. Payne's Africa brain trust. Very powerful. He had heads of state come in to address people who needed to know more about the African countries that are there.

So with that, Madam Chair, thank you. I want to thank you. We co- sponsored the ALC a couple of years ago together, co-chaired it. I want to thank you for your leadership, and thank you for hosting this hour.

Madam Speaker, I am pleased to introduce H.R. __ which includes ``new construction'' as qualified restaurant property to take advantage of the reduction from 39\1/2\ years to 15 years for