Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, Dr. King brought the civil rights movement to every living room in this country. He marched for freedom in the face of unspeakable racial prejudice, yet preached a message of nonviolence, civility and tolerance. It took Dr. King's forceful movement and powerful words to bring about real and lasting change to this country.

This will be the first Martin Luther King, Jr. Day since the passing of Dr. King's wife, Mrs. Coretta Scott King, a legendary civil rights advocate who's memory we honored at a community wide march last year in Miami. During a time of national grief and unrest following Dr. King's assassination, she became a symbol of her husband's struggle for peace and unity. On this day, we also honor this wonderful matriarchal figure, a role model who helped lead the struggle for equality.

Minority communities face obstacles every day--poverty, unemployment, lack of healthcare, and access to housing. It is a tragic waste that 1 in 5 children live in poverty, including more than one-third of African American children.

Dr. King paved the way for so many people, including me, to assume roles of influence in this country. And for all this work, he created a more just society and made this country an even better place to live. On this day, let us work even harder toward fulfilling Dr. King's legacy of public service.

Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to address the House, and I will concur with my colleague, Ms. Sheila Jackson-Lee, in honoring the legacy and memory of Dr. Martin Luther King and his contributions, and I must add Ms. Coretta Scott King and the entire King family and the King Institute in Atlanta, Georgia. This country will be forever grateful for the contributions of the King family and those who carry their memory.

Many of us know that Ms. Jackson-Lee is going to have a special order on Tuesday. Many of us know that service is the way the King family wanted us to address this upcoming Monday, being able to carry out not only public service, which is random acts of goodwill throughout the country and your community where you live, but especially the day that we recognize his birthday. For his birthday to have birth here on this House floor and in this Congress is recognized as a Federal holiday, is something that this Congress should always hold on to.

I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee).

Thank you so much, Ms. Jackson-Lee. I know that many Members of Congress hopefully on both sides of the aisle will be joining you during your special order in recognition of the contributions of Dr. King and the entire King family, including Ms. Coretta Scott King.

Mr. Speaker, I want to take an opportunity to come down, and I have already given comments on the memory and legacy of Dr. King and the entire family for the record, and I know that that will be entered. I wanted to come to the floor just to sum up this week.

As you know, those of us in the 30-Something Working Group, we work to not only let the Members know what the Congress is doing and what we are leading in the direction of that the American people would like for us to go in in all areas, need it be defense, need it be standing up on behalf of our most vulnerable members of our society, our children and our elderly, those that have put forth opportunities so that we would have a better America. When we think about and reflect just on the last few hours here in the House and we reflect on what happened last week and the beginning of this week, I can't help but what we say in the Baptist Church, since I am Baptist, testify for a moment.

I have been in Congress now two terms. I believe we have done more in the last week and one or two days than we have done in a very long time as it relates to the 109th and 110th Congress.

I come today to report, because I know that some would say that while everything is happening and everything is going in reverse and people are not being included and goodness gracious, why didn't we have 10,000 hours of committee work, well, I would just say for everything that has passed, it seems like the American people are happier and pleased with the way this Congress is moving with its work.

I just want to make sure, because you can't say it enough, because it is important that the record is correct. When Members come to the floor, it is important that Members reflect on what they say before they come to the floor.

This is America. You are elected from your district. You can come and voice your opinion, not only of your constituents, but of all Americans, but I think it is important when we look at the Congressional Record that we are as accurate as possible.

Historians will look back at this time and say, let me see what took place during that time in this country's history. I think it is important that the American people know that even though we represent individual districts, like I represent Miami Dade County and Broward County in Florida, I have to make sure that I carry not only the will of the people from that district, but also the American people. That is the reason why we have to make sure that the Members are informed of what actually took place, in case some forgot, and that the American people know what is going on. I say all of that to lay the facts out, and the facts are the facts.

The fact is that in the last Congress, the 109th Congress and the Congress before that one, the American people were very disappointed in what was not taking place, Mr. Speaker. It so great we have a 30- Something Working Group in this U.S. House of Representatives. I think I said the last time we were on the House floor, I believe just the night before last, we said we didn't create this 30-Something Working Group just to get in the majority. We didn't create the 30-Something Working Group, thanks to the Speaker, who then was minority leader at that time. We wanted to make sure the American people and the Members of this Congress knew that we wanted to work in a bipartisan way towards tackling the issues that the American people wanted us to tackle and represent them and not the special interests.

Now, there are some folk that are still on the other side of the aisle that are disappointed that the American people are getting what they have been asking for, need it be polling or what have you. I can tell you, some of my friends on the other side, a lot of my friends on the other side agree with us, and when I say ``us,'' I am saying the Members on the Democratic side, on issues that are bipartisan.

Mr. Speaker, I think it is important for us to reflect on the fact that there are some Members on the majority side that have been asking for that all along. A majority of the Members on the minority side have been asking for bipartisanship. Now we have it.

Now you have the minority party, or the minority leadership, I must add, on the Republican side, they are so concerned that so many of their Members are working in a bipartisan way. It is not because they like the Democratic Members on the majority side. It is because they are voting on behalf of their constituents.

Well, what is wrong with that? I came down to the floor because, you know, I was with my daughter and we are in the office, it is the end of the

week, we are about to get some things together, and I said, you know, I want to continue to have the minority spirit that I had in the 108th and the 109th Congress, to say that this is historic in recent times, and working in a bipartisan manner.

Now, if I wasn't serious about bipartisanship and if the Democratic leadership wasn't serious about bipartisanship, I wouldn't be here. We are serious about this. We have got work to do. We don't have time to sit around here and say, I come here with a donkey hat on and say I am a Democrat and hail to the Democrats, whatever, you know. Bow down, what have you. We are in charge, and, you know, walking around here and looking important and not saying ``hello'' when I walk by people in the hall. That is not what this is about.

This is about working in a bipartisan way on behalf of the American people. I am so glad the Democratic leadership has embraced that. I am so glad that all Democrats here on this floor have embraced that.

I am also very pleased and glad that many of the Republicans have embraced that. Maybe not their leadership, because as far as I am concerned, on many of the issues that we passed on this floor a good number of Republicans have voted for it in this past week, Mr. Speaker and Members, but the Republican leadership are not voting for it.

Why? They want to show the difference between us and them. Well, we are not in the business of us and them anymore. And I think it is important that the American people and the Members understand that there is a public out there that is paying attention. There is a public out there. We have an escalation of troops out there now.

Well, we are going to separate the Members of Congress from the followers. Members are going to have to have a choice in what they want to be. We have to stand up on behalf of the people that have elected us and federalized us to serve in this U.S. House of Representatives on their behalf.

Mr. Speaker, case in point. I will just make my point with this, and I would move on to other things. I think it is important that we understand in adopting the rules of the 110th Congress, there were many carrying on and saying, well, why do we have to do that? We have a new set of rules and we want to be better than you, when the Republican leadership had an opportunity to set those rules.

Mr. Speaker, I hold in my hand four pages of how under Republican control on more than 14 or 15 or even 20 examples, as a matter of fact, it is not four pages, it is six pages, of how Democrats were blocked, how Democrats weren't even allowed to offer amendments. House votes were held open for 3 hours, making U.S. history on behalf of special interests while they twisted arms. That is the past.

I got it right here. If any Member wants to come down on the floor and debate me on this, we can get a time and talk about this, because, you know something, we are right on this one. The people are right.

So, if you want to talk, these are the facts. The Congressional Record, you can go and cite it, because we in the 30-Something Working Group on this side of the aisle, we don't talk fiction, we talk fact, because that is the only thing that will hold up; not only the test here on this floor but the test of the American people, that challenge.

I want to commend some of the Republicans and all of my caucus for voting for some of the good things. The rules of the House, like I was mentioning, 232 Democrats with one Democrat not voting because they weren't here on the rules of the House.

Forty-eight Republicans joined us on PAYGO, which brought about the kind of accountability that we needed in this House to be able to stop the out-of-control spending that the Republican Congress has built up. That was this chart. There are so many people that are familiar with this. The record, $1.05 trillion that was spent under Bush and the Republican Congress in just 4 years, that trumped 42 presidents and 224 years of history. $1.01 trillion.

That vote started moving this in reverse, Mr. Speaker, saying that we would no longer spend, and I wouldn't even say the Federal tax dollars because we borrow from all of these countries to carry out that out-of- control spending, which we put together this chart to show all of the countries that we owe because of reckless spending and not living under PAYGO rules, pay-as-we-go rules. And so I think that is important for the Members to know and reflect upon. So if it was so bad, Mr. Speaker, why did 48 Republicans vote for it?

Now, I can tell you right now, I am pretty sure there are Members on the other side saying I am not voting with Democrats just to vote with Democrats. They are voting because that is what their constituents want. And if we are to work in a bipartisan way, I think it is important for them to continue to join us on great ideas. There will be times when there will be partisan votes on this floor, but they should be few, especially when it comes down to issues of the Federal Treasury.

Mr. Speaker, on implementing the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, we were here on this floor talking time and time again about following the bipartisan commission report on making America safer. What is wrong with screening containers coming into this country before making it to U.S. ports? What is wrong with making sure we carry out all of the 9/11 recommendations? This was 9/11. We went to the war in Afghanistan, running after al-Qaeda and doing away with the Taliban because of 9/11.

Now, 9/11 Commission members and the American people, Democrats, Republicans and independents, are happy that we voted on this. Again, all the Democrats voted for it, with 68 Republicans voting for it. Mr. Speaker, that is the reason why we have some Members on the other side of the aisle running to the floor complaining. They are not complaining because they happen to be upset with us, and when I say us, I mean the Democrat majority, they are complaining because their Members are voting for their constituents.

I am sure there are Republican Members that are saying, I am a member of the Republican Caucus, I am not trying to caucus with the Democrats, but they are trying to represent their constituents. So let them. And so for the 68 Republicans who voted on behalf of the 9/11 recommendations, why not? It is protecting their constituents in America. Good for you.

So much work has been done, very little talk but so much work, on the minimum wage. Mr. Speaker, I cannot say enough about this. We have the charts from the 109th Congress, because I think it is important that Members don't get amnesia. We have a lot of new Members trying to figure out how to get around the office buildings here in Washington, D.C. I have been here now going on my third term, and I am still trying to figure out a few things myself, but I think it is important when it comes down to the business of the House, and you want to stay in the House and you want to have this honor to represent not only the people in your district but the American people, and you want to do right on behalf of the American people, then it is important, Mr. Speaker, that we share this good information not only with the new Members but the present Members that have been here, because the American people have spoken.

Let me share these figures. These are the pay increases of Members of Congress. In 1998, $3,100; in 2000, $4,600; 2001, $3,800; 2002, $4,900; 2003, $4,700; 2004, $3,400; 2005, $4,000; and 2006, $3,100.

Now, here is the point that is very, very important, Mr. Speaker and Members. I am not here to say that, well, you know, this is not justified. Just as a Member who is financially challenged, like myself, I will tell you there are some Members here, this cost-of-living adjustment, whatever the case may be, maintaining two households, I don't want to make an argument there. But if Members felt it was important to give themselves a raise and at the point when you start getting in the back years, the Democrat leadership made the decision that we will not give ourselves a pay raise unless the American people get it because we are tired of fighting for a pay raise for them, yet when it comes to Members of Congress, please join us in making sure we get a cost-of-living adjustment.

We put our foot down. And now, this week, Mr. Speaker, we were able to

give the American people a pay raise. Not because Republicans said we should do it. It is because we have a Democratic controlled Congress. And that is the problem that some Members on the minority side have with progress on behalf of the American people.

It is going to be $7.25 that people are going to be making now. Believe it or not, we are going to get it passed in the Senate and the President will hopefully sign it. We had 82 Republicans that joined, and all the Democrats on this side of the aisle, in voting to increase the minimum wage. What we called the fair Minimum Wage Act. But, Mr. Speaker, the Republican leadership voted against it.

How do you jump on top of the head of somebody making $5.15 an hour? How do you stand on top of their head and say, well, you know, we can't do it because it is gonna hurt somebody. CEOs are making, oh, boy, they are making more than the minimum wage worker would make in their entire lifetime, Mr. Speaker. In some instances, in a month. Yet we have Members here standing on top of the head of folks making $5.25 an hour and still carrying on about the vote.

If it is so bad, Mr. Speaker, why did 82 Republicans join Democrats in voting for what was right? Why? Because they were representing their constituents. So I commend all my Democratic colleagues that have been waiting for an opportunity to vote on the floor on the minimum wage, and I commend the chairman, Mr. George Miller. I am glad he lived long enough to see this happen there in the Education and Labor Committee.

But 82 Republicans joined Democrats in that. And that is good and that is bipartisan and it was the right thing to do, and I am glad they did it. But I want to make sure, Mr. Speaker, while we are here setting the record straight, not only talking about the vision of the Democratic leadership and caucus but also talking about bipartisanship, because that is the reason why I came to the floor today, to talk about bipartisanship. That is the record.

I don't care what anyone else says. And I say again, these Republicans voted for this Democratic movement to raise the minimum wage because it was a part of our six in 2006 plan. Now, some may say, well, let's have a committee meeting. Well, goodness, let me just show you this, six pages, six pages where we did not have committee meetings. In the 108th Congress I saw with my own eyes a bill filed in the morning, went to the Rules Committee, and was on the floor and passed by 2 p.m., and then passed in the Senate and went to the White House the next day. For one person I watched it happen.

So don't come to the floor, especially when it comes down to something like the Federal minimum wage that will help workers throughout this country and start raising a ``yeah, but.'' It is progress. I think the people like it. I think that is why they elected us to come to Congress, to get something done.

Here is another point. The Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act. Why is the Republican minority so scared of this? I can't understand it. Well, I look at companies, and I look at HMOs, and I look at other folks that have price negotiating opportunities and they are trying to drive down the price with their little group that they are dealing with. And now we are saying, the Federal Government, let's get the Secretary to try to see if he or she can make this happen. What is the problem? I can tell you what the problem is, it is that 24 Republicans voted with all Democrats to make that happen. What is wrong with that?

While I talk about the fact that my Republican colleagues are joining us in bipartisanship, you have to commend the Democratic leadership on this side of the aisle for having the gumption to do what they said they would do. Now, that may seem like something very small in American households throughout the country, because usually when you say you are going to do something, you do it. You know, I tell my mother, I tell a family member that I am going to do something, I try my best to do it. But when I make a promise, I have got to do it.

We made a promise, and it is not a secret, that the minimum wage would be raised in the first 100 hours. We made a promise we would pass a package on ethics. We made a promise that we would make sure that we have price negotiations for prescription drugs. We made a promise, Mr. Speaker, that we would reverse royalties and other tax breaks to large oil companies and make sure that we have innovation in alternative fuels. We made a promise, Mr. Speaker, that we would reduce the student loan package; making sure that we reduce what the Republican Congress did, taking money to give to the super wealthy in this country a tax break.

We promised we would do these things. We promised, Mr. Speaker, that we would do this in the first 100 hours. Everyone knew it. It wasn't a secret. We promised that we would make sure we wouldn't de-fund the troops when they are in harm's way. The troops. Then all of a sudden you get this escalation in troops.

What is about to happen, Mr. Speaker, and I think the administration knows, and I think the minority party knows that we are about to have some committee meeting in a few minutes. We have just organized this Congress and we are going to start asking some of the tough questions. Where did this money go? Why was this company over here able to abuse this contract and nothing was said? Why are they still receiving Federal dollars? Why are these eight brigades of Army reservists going back to Iraq for a fifth term? Why don't we have other coalition partners joining us? Why won't we take the training wheels off the Iraqi government? All of these questions have to be answered.

I like the bipartisan spirit that is going through the floor as a Congress now, or in the halls of Congress. I think it is important that we continue to encourage that, Mr. Speaker and Members. And I think it is important that Members realize that, especially when they come to the floor to start talking about issues that are facing the American people. During the 109th Congress, one of the most partisan Congresses, which passed no bipartisan votes, this week we passed bills with 60, 70, 80 Republicans joining us on these votes.

So I think it is important, Mr. Speaker, that, again, we let the facts roll out. Again, I challenge my colleagues. And the reason why I can stand here with great confidence, Mr. Speaker, and the reason why I can even challenge some of my Republican colleagues or those outside of this great institution of ours, the House of Representatives, the people's house, is that I speak of the truth. If I wasn't speaking the truth, and if I wasn't citing the Congressional Record, you know, this notebook is just not a page on the top and newspaper in the middle. These are facts.

So as we move forth in this 110th Congress in a bipartisan way, and making America stronger and better for our children and grandchildren, let that happen. The Republican leadership can say whatever they want. We are in the majority. But you know something, we still have a minority spirit. The minority spirit is making sure that we fight on behalf of those who need representation in this House. Not the special interests.

The special interests have their representation, or they had it here in this House. And those that continue to carry the water on behalf of the special interests that are totally against or versus the American people, Mr. Speaker, because it is right, they will lose. And that is just where it is.

So when we start talking about the integrity of the U.S. House of Representatives, we start talking about the things we would like to do on behalf of the American people, then we are serious about it. Now, if folks want to be serious about coming and representing special interests against the will of the American people, have at it, because there are Members of this Congress, or former Members of this Congress, who did that. And guess what? They are reading what the Congress is doing in the newspaper when it is dropped on their front door.

I am not going to be a part of that group. I am here to make sure we represent the folk that sent us up here to represent them.

I think it is important that we remember that. Have faith in the American will. If every Member was to carry

themselves in the way the night that they were elected or the day that they were elected, of all the things they said they wanted to do before they got here, then this would be a better country. I think it is important, Mr. Speaker, that while we have that spirit, bipartisanship, let's continue it. Let's continue the spirit. It's not about being in the majority and we just want as a strategy to keep you in the minority, no, it's not a strategy to keep the Republicans in the minority. It's just representing the American people. They have had their opportunity to do it. They had the last 12 years to do it. They can't come here and say, we balanced the budget. All they can say is that we have deficits as far as the eye can see.

What did we do? First order of business, Mr. Speaker, not only passing a new rules package that cut out a lot of the stuff that went on in the 109th Congress, the 108th Congress, the 107th Congress, but we also passed the pay-as-you-go rule to make sure that we say we're going to spend it, we show how we're going to pay for it.

I can tell you right now, that is a paradigm shift coming from this side of the aisle that we have the only record in Congress in balancing the budget. We on this side of the aisle are the only party that can say that without one Republican vote that took place. When that happens again, Mr. Speaker, as we work through trying to dig out of the ditch that the Republican leadership put the American people in, we want to do it in a bipartisan way. We don't want history to repeat itself without one Republican vote we balanced the budget. We don't want that to happen.

When we deal with Social Security again, we want it to happen just like when Tip O'Neill was sitting in that seat, Mr. Speaker, and Ronald Reagan was in the White House. They got together in a bipartisan way and said, let's save Social Security together. We don't need to run around here with a flag that says Democrat and says, we did it and they didn't. Let's work together. Let's work together in making that happen. That is why it is very, very important, Mr. Speaker, that we work in this bipartisan spirit as we move forward.

Mr. Speaker, as we reflect on the past, I just wanted to come down to the floor and make sure that we set the record straight that there are a lot of things that happened and did not happen in the 109th and 108th Congress. I am only speaking for the Congresses that I have been here for. My mother before me served in the five Congresses before that, so there was a lot of dining room table talk about what was going on here in Congress or what wasn't going on here in Congress. But I can tell you as it relates to the Democratic side of the aisle and even the Republican side of the aisle, Members voting common sense, Members voting on behalf of their constituents back home, I like what I see. The American people like what they see. If we didn't like the bipartisanship, Mr. Speaker, there would be no reason to come to the floor and share ideas and plans with the Republican Members of the House because we said, well, we just want all the credit for what's happening right now. No, we share that in a bipartisan spirit and we stand on the mountain of bipartisanship in this new 110th Congress.

The Republican leadership is trying not to stand on that mountain of bipartisanship. They want to stand on the mountain of us against them. Well, this is the U.S. Congress. This is us. It's not us against them. That is a debate for somewhere else. But these major, major, major, major issues that I outlined here in the last 30 minutes, Mr. Speaker, are bipartisan issues that we should be able to join elbow to elbow and lock in together and work together on these issues. I look forward to dealing with this, working with not only the American people on these issues but also Members of Congress on dealing with this issue of doing away with this issue of partisanship on major issues.

I wanted to let my Democratic colleagues and leadership know that we are on the right track. We are on the right track and the reason why we are here in the U.S. Congress. We are on the right track in working on behalf of the American people, all of us. If someone tries to pull you away from voting otherwise, against your constituents, you need to share with them that you love being a Member of the U.S. Congress, want to continue being a Member of the U.S. Congress, because those who voted against the will of their constituents are no longer Members of Congress. That's something to take into consideration.

As we have talked about the minimum wage, Mr. Speaker, I am so glad to be joined by my colleague who represents the American Samoa islands. I want to thank him for being here. We have worked together over the last two Congresses. Before that he worked with my mother who was here. They are good friends. I am so glad you came down to the floor to join me.

There is so much going on right now that is working on behalf of the American people. There are some Members of the minority party that feel that they need to come to the floor and raise objection to that, with the blessings of the Republican leadership. Because when you come to the floor, you have to have the okay of the leadership of your side of the aisle. I went through earlier this afternoon about Republicans joining Democrats in these votes. This bipartisan spirit, that is the only way I can figure this out because the misinformation that is coming to the floor and that is being given out to the American people, Mr. Speaker, you represent the area that they are so concerned about and they don't even bother to pick up the phone and say, is this true or that true or even doing the research. You can look in the law.

Thank you so very much. I am glad you came to the floor to share that. There is nothing like a representative of the American people that the Republican minority seems to be so concerned about all of a sudden, sharing misinformation, that the representative of the people comes to the floor to set the record straight.

The good thing about it is that we are in the majority right now, Mr. Speaker, and knowing that the issue will continue to receive the kind of attention it deserves, but making sure that mistruths are ironed out here in the Congressional Record, so that when we reflect on the facts, as I speak so fondly of, that we are on the right side of those facts.

I would also like to share with the Members, since we try to provide information to the Members, mainly, and hopefully we will get to the American people, we want to make sure that Americans stay tuned on behalf of the rest of this 100-hour agenda that we are carrying out right now, with the Student Loan Relief Act, which is on Wednesday; and repealing big oil subsidies, that will be coming up; and also investing in renewable fuels, that will be coming up.

All of this along these lines are going to make us a stronger America, a better America. These are issues, or issues that have been presented before Congress before, some of them passed on a committee level. Even some of them have passed in some amendatory form in a bigger package of legislation this House of Representatives, out of this House of Representatives. It should not be a surprise or a shock.

As I mention it here now, well before next week, I am pretty sure we will have some Members on the other side of the aisle who will come up and say, you know, I was walking down the hall and someone told me we were taking tax breaks away from the big oil companies. What happened to the hearing?

Well, I can tell you not only prior to the election, I know for sure I said it here on the floor in the last Congress, the 109th Congress, in the last Congress. If they did not know, if they did not know that this was going to take place, prior to the election, then I suggest you pick up a newspaper.

We notice that some people don't read the newspaper here in Washington D.C., but that is another commentary. But I am excited about the fact that we are getting some of these issues done.

We always encourage the Members to log onto www.speaker.gov. You can get any information that is coming up, if you want to learn more about the 100-hour agenda, but I would say if you want to e-mail the 30- Something Working Group, www.speaker.gov/30something, and you can send us information on things that you are concerned about or questions that you may have.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I wanted to thank the Democratic leadership for allowing me to come down to the floor. The 30-Something Working Group will be back on floor next week. We want to not only ask Members but also staff and all Americans to celebrate the memory and the legacy of Dr. King and his entire family along with Mrs. Coretta Scott King for their contributions, not only to this country but to the world.

As we carry out this day of service that the King Center for the Advancement of Nonviolence calls for every year, try to create some sort of public service project within your family of something that you can do for somebody else, because that is what his philosophy was all about.

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

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 5 o'clock and 20 minutes p.m.), under its previous order, the House adjourned until Tuesday, January 16, 2007, at 12:30 p.m., for morning hour debate.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my strong support for H.R. 2, which calls for an increase in the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour.

Thirteen million of our Nation's lowest-paid workers have not had a pay raise for nearly 10 long years. It took the intervention of the voters to kick out the Republican do-nothing Congress, which loaded up past minimum wage legislation with special interest goodies, but today we are finally getting serious about helping this Nation's working people.

The typical American worker earning $5.15 per hour has been forced to bear the brunt of rising costs and stagnant wages; since the last minimum wage increase, the cost of health insurance, gasoline, food, electricity, and education has risen, yet wages have remained frozen.

Minimum wage today in Florida is $6.67 per hour. Yet, according to the Department of Labor in 2005, 117,000 Floridians earn at or below the $5.15 per hour Federal minimum

wage. Too many Floridians are stuck in this poverty trap.

I urge the Senate to move on this with the same speed and urgency that we have here in the House.

Mr. Speaker, on rollcall No. 16, on the motion to table the Appeal of the Ruling of the Chair, had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''

Stated for:

Mr. Speaker, I am honored to come before the House again.

The 30-Something Working Group, as you know, has been coming to the floor now in the 108th and 109th Congresses and now in the 110th Congress to share with the Members of the House and the American people information about what is happening here under the Capitol dome, and I am very excited to report that there is an awful lot that is happening. More work has been done as it relates to assisting the American people over the last couple of days or the last hours, which is historic in many ways, than happened in the entire 109th Congress. It was talked about, it was promised, but it never happened. So I am glad to come to the floor with my colleagues who will be joining me shortly.

I think it is very important, Mr. Speaker, to not only commend those that have been consistent on message, not only message, but action. I can tell you that hearing my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, you would think that they have been in the minority for the last 14 or 16 years, because they sound like all of a sudden they are ready to do something about the problems that are facing this country.

I can tell you also, Mr. Speaker, that the fact is that we moved in the right direction in securing this country and passing the 9/11 Commission recommendations, and, like we promised, Mr. Speaker, in the 109th Congress, the last Congress, we worked in a bipartisan way. When we passed that piece of legislation, we had not only overwhelming, full support from the Democratic side of the aisle but a high number of Republican Members joined Democratic Members in voting for those recommendations to be placed into law pass this House.

Today is a very historic, very emotional time for those of us that fought on behalf of Americans that punch in and punch out every day to be able to receive a hike in the minimum wage to $7.25. Again, we said we would work in a bipartisan way along with our Republican colleagues, and over 300 individuals voted for, including a number of Republicans, I think 80 or 81 Republicans, joined the entire Democratic Caucus who voted in the affirmative for an increase in the minimum wage to give the American worker a well-overdue raise. That will move on to the Senate and hopefully to the President's desk.

I think it is important, Mr. Speaker, to look at the way we have moved in the right direction on ethics, saying we are willing to hold this House to standards that the American people would like for us to be held to and to also have a committee that will review any question of conduct as it relates to any Member of the House and that will consider that in a bipartisan way and report back to the appropriate overseers of the House here so that people know that we have checks and balances.

Just mentioning those three items, Mr. Speaker, and looking at how Republicans have voted with Democrats because we have taken the lead to bring these issues to the floor, it is a perfect example of what we talked about for 3 years here on this floor. The good thing that I like about what we talk about and then what we do is the fact that we follow through, Mr. Speaker, on what we have shared, not only with the Members on the majority and the minority side, now the Democratic majority side, but what we would do if given the opportunity. I think the Members should pay very close attention, because the American people responded in a very positive way.

It has been said there will be mistakes made, and it will be painful in some instances when we look at PAYGO regulations that we have imposed on ourselves. That is another initiative that passed this floor, that we will not start a program or send money out of the door of the U.S. House of Representatives unless we can show how we can pay for it.

We know there are some war issues there and some other issues, but as it relates to what we call here on the floor, Mr. Speaker, regular order, where a Member files a bill and says I want to do X, Y and Z, and don't worry about it, we will borrow it from a number of the countries I have identified in the past that own a piece of the American apple pie. As we continue to move on, Mr. Delahunt, we want to start peeling these numbers off, showing how America is now starting to make itself whole as we start to pass policy.

I think it is also very, very important, Mr. Speaker, to note that there will be a lot of things said on this floor. That has been the case since the beginning of the country. That is a good part of our democracy. Members can come to the floor and say what they wish to say. They are representing their constituents back home, and their constituents every 2 years have an opportunity to vote if they want them to return back.

Mr. Delahunt, before I yield to you, I guess I would just like to put a word of caution out there. To those who feel they can come to this floor of the People's House and share information, to make an argument or an action or inaction sound appropriate, now, I know many of my friends on the other side, and I do call them friends, because we all are friends, we see each other, but we weren't elected to come up here and pat each other on the back and say ``I am more dedicated to you than I am to the folks back home or the American people.'' I will say this. We are all in the spirit of doing the right thing.

But I just want to caution, because I think what got the Republican majority in the 109th Congress and the Congresses before that in trouble was the fact that there was more allegiance to the Republican leadership.

When we start talking about these bipartisan bills, Mr. Delahunt, which I would like to do, I stood here at this podium, this mike on this floor a similar night several months ago, starting a couple of years ago, and said bipartisanship is only allowed if the majority allows it.

I didn't have a problem with the frontline or the everyday Republican Member of this Congress. I had a problem with the Republican leadership that led their caucus in the direction of special interests and in the direction opposite of what the American people said they wanted.

So what we are doing now is we are moving in the direction the American people wanted. They said they wanted ethics. We voted for it on the floor. We received Republican votes on those issues.

The American people said they wanted to raise the minimum wage. We voted here on this floor, and 80 or 81

Republican Members voted saying that they support it.

We voted to implement all of the 9/11 recommendations. We said that we would do it. Republicans on that side followed suit, many of them, and voted to secure America.

So when we move the embryonic stem cell legislation and prescription drugs, all of these issues are based on leadership. We start talking about a bipartisan spirit, and we will let the record, Mr. Ryan and Mr. Delahunt, reflect our intentions and what we want to do.

Yes, we are going to have some partisan votes in this House. But these are major issues. I don't care what anyone, any pundit, says, some Member going back home saying ``I voted against that.'' It is going to be hard for them to say they voted against the person that is making $5.15 an hour. ``You voted against that? Oh, you are real tough, Congressman.'' Goodness gracious. These are people who can't even afford to buy gas.

But we are not going to focus on that, Mr. Speaker. We are going to focus on the 80-plus Republicans and the entire Democratic Caucus that voted to give the American people a raise.

Mr. Delahunt, Uncle Bill, we are so happy, sir, that you are a part of the 30-Something Working Group. We are so happy that this is your inaugural night in the 110th Congress, where we are in the majority, your joining us here on this floor.

We talked about your contributions last night. We said that we have a Medicare recipient within our midst. We talked about individuals that are drawing down on one of the pensions that maybe you received in your long career of public service. But we appreciate the fact that you are continuing, and we said we will continue our commitment.

She is a rabbi.

Ratified by the Democratic Caucus.

Want me to yield back to you, Mr. Ryan? Maybe you can remember. Are you having a senior moment?

Okay. A 33-year-old senior moment.

I just wanted to mention something real quick that I think is important.

There is going to be a lot of talk tomorrow. We are going to do some good legislation. We have stem cell research that is coming up, and we have negotiating as it relates to prescription drugs is coming up before the weekend. Something that is going to be common now, was uncommon in the 109th Congress, we are actually going to work a 5-day work week or a 4-day work week as it relates to the congressional calendar.

But I just want to mention something. I don't want us to leave this floor tonight unless we have an opportunity to talk about what the President's going to talk about an hour or so from now. I think it is important. I have served, Mr. Ryan and I have served on Armed Services in the last two Congresses; and you, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, have served here in the last Congress and now this Congress at war.

Mr. Delahunt, you were here when this House voted to give the President authority to go or not, what have you. And now we are after the election in November, the American people, everyone thought, Mr. Speaker, that the election was going to be about the economy. They thought it was going to be about health care. They thought it was going to be about whatever the issue may be. But it was about Iraq, and it was about the decisions that were made, and the lack thereof, out of this Congress of asking the questions and oversight.

Now what is going to happen, Members, you are going to have the Armed Services Committee, you are going to have the Defense Appropriations Committee, you are going to have the Government Operations Committee, you are going to have a number of committees that have oversight responsibility on the committee level, providing the oversight for this war.

Now the President is going to come out tonight and he is going to ask, he is going to say, I call it an escalation, he calls it something else, of 20,000 new troops on the ground, boots on the ground. 3,017 men and women are no longer with us tonight; and we appreciate their honor, we appreciate their service to the country. We have several thousand, over 15,000, who have been injured and that are a part of our medical veterans programs throughout this country. Some are learning how to walk now. Many of our injuries come by what we call IEDs, improvised explosive devices.

Many of the troops, as we look at, you look at your local television station, I know you see it in Ohio. I know you see it in Massachusetts. We see it in South Florida. We even see it here in Washington, DC. There was a new reserve unit that just left in Maryland. And I was watching the interview, and I think about when I have to travel as a Congressman, you know, my family's up here, I go back to the District. You know, that is 2 or 3 days I am away from my family. I say, oh, my goodness, I miss the kids. Imagine if I was leaving for 15 months for the second or third time. Just imagine that. How much of, how my kids would be taken away, you know. They won't get what they need from me. Just thinking about it, I can't help but get a little emotional when you think about this kind of thing.

And we know that they are being sent to do what, secure Iraq. So they are on a security mission. They are not there to say, well, you know, we are here to provide technical assistance. No, they are there to armor up.

I have been there twice. Mr. Ryan, we went together. And when they go out the gates of that base in Mosul or Baghdad or Tikrit, they may not come back.

Now we know it is a volunteer force and we know all of that. But I just want to say, Mr. Speaker, this has great gravity tonight, and I am so glad that I am hearing voices out of this Congress saying, we said during the campaign and during the election season, we will not defund the troops that are on the ground.

But no one, including the President, including the Iraq Study Commission, including all of the folks, General Colin Powell, I mean, General Colin Powell said it is a civil war going on, and if we send additional troops into a civil war it is the wrong thing to do. It is right here.

So if the Republicans or the President wants to say when someone is smart or when someone is credible, when they are carrying their message, here is a man that has served, Secretary of State, General, four-star, Joint Chiefs of Staff, well respected in this country, along with a number of other folks that are out there. So I think, Mr. Speaker, it is important that we shed light on this.

I know Mr. Delahunt has an hour that he does on a weekly basis on Iraq. But, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, I think it is time, no matter what, if you are a Democrat or a Republican, to be able to say, listen, I just came from the election, especially to Members that are new to the Congress, either in the Senate or in the House, and they heard what the American people had to say.

So, the President, I think, and this democracy needs to really speak up and say, hey, listen, we hear what you are saying. We know what the study group has said. But it seems like you are kind of out there by yourself.

Because, one other thing I just want to add and then I am going to be quiet probably for another 20 minutes, like Mr. Delahunt identified, is the fact that we see how many troops that have died.

All right, let's look at the U.S. contractors, these mercenaries we have out there, that are playing a role of when these countries are pulling out, Great Britain, they are out. They are coming out this year. A number of the other, quote, unquote, allies are pulling out of Iraq. So before we even get an opportunity to light the bulbs up in the committee room and start asking the questions about what has been going on over at the Department of Defense since everything has been classified and secret and no one has come and testified in front of these committees of jurisdiction, the President now wants to say, let's send 20,000 troops.

These are not new troops. These are individuals that are what we call a back draft. Folks want to leave. We have folks signing checks, giving them $40,000 to stay on. Are you going to go back to wherever you came from where the poverty is? Here is 40 grand. Take it to your family. Sign up for another 3 years. That is what we are talking about here.

And I am seeing these individuals that are hired, that are former military, by these companies, they are dying. When we went to the hospital over in Germany, there were contract fighters that carry out those convoys sitting there without a leg, Mr. Speaker. No one is thinking about these individuals because they are not wearing a U.S. uniform. They are veterans, and they want to work for these private contracting companies. So there is a lot of loss of life going on here, leave alone what could be happening with members of the CIA that we would never know how many of those individuals that have died in this conflict. So we have to bring the oversight management. I am saying that on the side of common sense.

I yield to any Member that wishes to pick up from this point, but it must be addressed.

Mr. Ryan, I just get so excited whenever you do your own research, and you find quotes and all.

But I can tell you what's important here is to make sure that we follow through on what we told the American people. The American people voted for representation, and I am not just talking about proud Democrats, Republicans, independents, some young people that voted for the first time in their lives because they believe that there will be balance in this democracy that we call on.

So many of the issues that we talk about here, and so many issues that are within our first 100 hours that we want to work on, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, and that we said we would do in our Six in 2006 plan, the American people said they were for it overwhelmingly.

We have to be able to understand here in this House that we would carry out what we said would do. Now that is a paradigm shift here in this U.S. House. A lot has been said. Very little has been done, but we are moving in that direction.

I was in a meeting earlier today and saying that we need an escalation in the truth and not the troops. We need an escalation in the truth and not the troops.

The truth is that the U.K. is pulling 3,000 troops out by May. The truth is, several other countries that are, quote/unquote, allies in Iraq, they are paying ransom for their troops that are captured by insurgents, because of the lack of security there. The truth very well may be, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr. Ryan and Members, the President is trying to say, well, I am going to send this in light of security, what have you.

Security missions to secure Iraq. What does that mean? Troops having to go out on patrol. What does that mean? IEDs, improvised explosive devices that will be on those roads. What does that mean? Fifteen months away from your family once again on the second or third deployment. What does that mean also when you look at the overall two theaters that we have now? Over 1.4 million troops, U.S. troops, have gone into theater over and over again.

What is our situation right now? Two-thirds of our military not ready to move as it relates to readiness if something was to happen. We have one-third that is ready. I am not giving out national secrets. You can read this in the newspaper.

So what's our job is to govern. What's also our job is to make sure that we provide oversight. That is what this U.S. House is all about. We're the People's House. You have to be elected to get here. One person said, in the Constitution, you can appoint a speaker, whatever the case may be, but mainly there is an election if a Member was to say, I no longer want to serve, whatever that reason may be.

Saying all of that, I am glad we touched on the issue. I think it is important because I know there will be a lot of talk tomorrow, because the President is the Commander in Chief. We committed during the election, when I say we, those of us that are in the majority, that we will not leave, that we will have the troops back, and we will not leave them underfunded, and that we will not pull the funding of the troops that are in Iraq now.

No one, I mean, no one, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, no one, I want to say this again, not even the bipartisan study commission, none of them, endorsed what the President is talking about right now.

The President had a meeting with some folks that he has been having a meeting with for the last 6-plus years, having a meeting with the same people, having the same input, the same advisors, and it is a merry-go- round of trust. I don't know if it is, you know, in all due respect to the folks that are making the decisions, I don't know if new people are being put into this circle of trust of saying, well, you know, maybe if I haven't been given good advice in the past, maybe I need to bring some different folks in to give me some input.

No, the only thing that happens in this circle of trust within the Bush administration is that sometimes people get off and they write a book about how bad the circle of trust was. That is what's happening.

Now, Donald Rumsfeld was the last one to jump off the merry-go-round. We don't know what he is going to say, but I think he is going to take it all the way, and he is not going to say anything at all. But there are a lot of bad decisions that have been made, and if you disagree within the circle of trust, you are out.

So I want the American people, I want the Members to pay very close attention, and, I am talking to my Republican friends as well as my Democratic friends, that we have the leader up and represent the American people on this issue as it relates to this escalation in troops. We need an escalation in the truth and not the troops, and that is where it is right now.

We look forward to the debate tomorrow. I know Ms. Wasserman Schultz is going to give the e-mail address out, and then we are going to close out.

Life is getting better, Mr. Speaker, and we will get the tools necessary, visual aids as we usually have here on the floor. We keep the chart companies in business.

Mr. Speaker, it was good to come to the floor again, 30-Something Working Group. We will be returning back next week with some of our new members that have joined us. Once again, we want to thank the Democratic leadership for allowing us to have this hour.

Mr. Speaker, historic days in the Capitol. Tomorrow will be the same. Friday will be the same. We thank God for the opportunity to be in the majority.

Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to be before 110th Congress. I can tell you that as the 30-something Working Group has been coming to the floor for 3-plus years and talking about what we would like to do if we were ever in the majority, and the American people saw fit to give the Democrats the majority here in this House last November. And we are appreciative and grateful, and I am glad to be here with my good colleague Ms. Wasserman Schultz.

Mr. Ryan is around here on the floor somewhere, Mr. Speaker. I believe he is hiding because of the lashing, or it is hard to put it in words, that the Florida Gators, who, it was reported that it was said that they shouldn't even get off the bus to play against the number-one ranked Ohio Buckeyes.

But I am going to yield to Ms. Wasserman Schultz, and then we will get into the meat of our discussion, because Ms. Wasserman Schultz has a degree and paper hanging on her wall from University of Florida, and on her car she has Florida tags. I mean, she is a real Gator. I just kind of happen to be from the State of Florida.

But go ahead, Ms. Wasserman Schultz. Congratulations.

Mr. Ryan, you did take it like a man. We were watching the game together, and it was great for college football and great for all of us here in the country to see the underdog win. And it kind of tells our story here in the U.S. House of Representatives. And I just want to thank everyone on behalf of all of us. But tonight we are going to take a moment because, Mr. Speaker, when we come back to the floor, we have a number of freshmen that are coming in that are new 30-somethings that were elected in this election, and they are going to come to the floor. I believe, and all of us in 30-Something Working Group believe, that we were effective in the 108th and the 109th Congress, communicating with the American people. We want to thank not only the Speaker but also the majority leader, Mr. Hoyer; and also Mr. Clyburn, who was our Democratic leader, now our Democratic whip; and now Mr. Emanuel for his good work, who is our chairman of the Democratic Caucus; and Mr. Larson, who is the vice chairman, for all the support they gave the 30-Something Working Group, including the Members on the Democratic side of the aisle.

We talked about what we would do, Mr. Speaker, if we had the opportunity to get into the majority. And I am happy to report that we talked about putting in standards on PAYGO, making sure that whatever we appropriated, wherever we spend, that we also identify how we are going to pay for it so that we can get away from owing all of these countries money as we owe now. And there is a lot of work that has to be done that the Republican Congress has left us with.

Looking at records like this, $1.05 trillion borrowed by the President and the Republican majority in the 109th Congress and the 108th Congress over 42 Presidents at $1 trillion. So all of the charts you see here tonight, Mr. Speaker, will only be resurrected, if I could use that word, every now and then because the charts are going to be talking about what we have done. We did that last week.

Today we implemented the 9/11 Commission's recommendations, all of them, here on this floor. And we had some of our Republican colleagues join us, and we are going to work in a bipartisan way to make sure that we do what we told the American people we would do in our Six in 2006 plan.

Also, I think it is important, on Wednesday, we are going to raise the minimum wage. Tomorrow the minimum wage will be raised here on this House of Representatives floor. This House that we talked about time after time again that we would do if given the opportunity. Later this week, securing low prices on prescription drugs, giving the Federal Government negotiating opportunity with the drug companies. Also stem cell research, ethics reform. These are things that the 109th Congress under Republican control, they didn't even do it. And we have done it within the first 100 hours, and we have a lot more that we would like to do. So I would not only like to thank our good friend, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, which our districts neighbor each other in Florida, but Mr. Ryan and Mr. Delahunt, Uncle Bill, in his absence.

Mr. Speaker, he apologized for not being here tonight, and I told him, this is the first night that we are on the floor coming back in the majority. And, Mr. Speaker, I can tell you, as I yield to my colleagues, Ms. Wasserman Schultz and Mr. Ryan, that I know from me and from all of us in the 30-Something Working Group, we are forever grateful to the American people for allowing us to have the opportunity to lead in a commonsense way on their behalf. And it took Republicans and it took independents and it took Democrats and it took the Green Party and it took folks who

voted for the first time because they had hope that we are going to move this country in a new direction. And I am so happy to our leadership and also to the members of the Democratic Caucus that we are following through on what we said we would do. It is going to be painful, but we are going to do it because the American people want a new direction. I am so happy that I am a member of a caucus and a party that has said they are going to do something, and they are actually doing it. That is a paradigm shift here in Washington.

I yield to Ms. Wasserman Schultz.

Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Ryan) is making an excellent point. If you can

elaborate more on what you were talking about, I think that is very important.

I think it is important, Mr. Ryan, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, and also Mr. Speaker and Members, a perfect example of the balance of power. Now, in the 109th there were a lot of things said. I won't be giving any speeches any time soon saying I was proud to be a Member of the 109th Congress, because we had Members that were indicted, we had Members that were saying ``I have a list, and if you are not on my contributors' list, you can't have a meeting with me.'' We had the K Street Project. We had a number of other things. We had the page scandal.

We had a number of things, because no one was policing the body of this U.S. House. No one took responsibility on telling the special interests, no, you can't have that. No one took the responsibility in standing up to the big oil companies and saying we are going to legislate on behalf of the American people.

When we start talking about investing in alternative fuels on this floor within the next couple of days, next week or what have you, that is going to be something that no one dreamed would ever take place.

I am holding this chart up because we have been holding it up, especially in the 109th Congress, to talk about the increases that Members of Congress have received in pay and what the American people have received, zero, since 1997 as it relates to an increase in the minimum wage.

Guess what? This chart, we can send it over to the National Archives across the street, because tomorrow we are going to increase the minimum wage.

Guess what a little legislative leadership brings? Now the President is saying ``I am for the increase in the minimum wage.'' Isn't that something? And when we get on that board tomorrow, Mr. Speaker, I guarantee you that there are going to be a lot of Republicans that are going to say, you know something, and they are going to send a press release out and say ``I voted for an increase in the minimum wage.'' Unheard of in the 109th Congress.

And on and on under Republican control. So I think it is very important for everyone to understand when we have legislative leadership, the writers of Constitution said there is going to be a legislative, an executive, a judicial. They did not say executive and legislative together. They didn't say someone calling from the White House and saying this is the way the vote is going to go down, and if you like it or not, this is what is going to happen.

I have been talking to some of my Republican colleagues, and we all have great relationships with our Republican colleagues, many of them. We had an issue with the Republican leadership leading them down the wrong road, and we even tried to correct some of those issues here on the floor saying, you know, we want to get in the majority, but we care about the American people first, so, please, vote for our amendment, when we could get one on the floor, a motion to recommit, saying we want to make sure the American people are involved in this. We couldn't even pull one Republican on many of those issues.

But tomorrow, thank God for our democracy, thank God for folks that voted for Democratic control of the House, we are going to have many Republicans that are going to vote. It is not going to be where were you yesterday, it is going to be thank God we are able to do something for the American people. So that is where we are.

When Ms. Wasserman Schultz talked about legislative leadership, it is important. We have to be bold and we have to be bipartisan. I am just so happy that we are going to have the opportunity to do that. That is major,

Ms. Wasserman Schultz, that is major, Mr. Ryan, for the American people to vote for change and to see it, immediately. Not, well, when is the next election? What? Two years and some change.

We are not even out of January yet, and we are already voting in a bipartisan way because of the leadership of the Democrats that say we have to increase the minimum wage, something we told the American people we would do. So I am excited about the fact, Mr. Ryan, that we are able not only in our lifetime but in our political lifetime to be able to deliver to the American people something that is important.

Ms. Wasserman Schultz and Mr. Ryan, when we come back to the floor, we are going to have members of the Freshman Caucus, of the Democratic Caucus, that are going to be joining us here on this floor. These are individuals that are fresh, out of not only the campaign, but out of private life, to bring to this House the kind of input that we need.

One thing we are committed to do in the 30-Something Working Group, there is an old spiritual that says ``we are in no ways tired.'' We are in no ways tired, because we have a war that is going on, we still have people without health care, we have a deficit that is continuing to run out of control. But we have now passed legislation to pay as we go. We now have the will and the desire to do the right thing on behalf of our veterans. All of the things we talked about.

So I look forward, Mr. Speaker, to coming to the floor to not only report on progress, but also to ask the Members on both sides of the aisle and the American people to give us the kind of input that we need.

We had the rubber stamp, Ms. Wasserman Schultz and Mr. Ryan, that we asked the American people what should we do with the rubber stamp. I want to thank Mr. Manatos with the Speaker's office, I like to say that, with the Speaker's office, that facilitated that asking of the American people.

We are going to keep the rubber stamp, the Republican Congress rubber stamp of the 109th, to remind us that we never, ever want to go back to a rubber stamp Congress. It is not good for the country and it is not good for our future, and it is not good for the men and women that are our veterans and those that are now serving for our independence for us to be able to salute one flag. It is not good. That is not what the Constitution called for and that is not what we are going back to.

So there was a discussion of destroy the rubber stamp, or put the rubber stamp on E-Bay and give it to the Troop Relief Fund or whatever the case may be. But the overwhelming e-mails that we received in the 30-Something Working Group was keep the rubber stamp as a reminder of what you don't want to do in the 110th, if God is willing, in the 111th and the 112th and so on and so on Congress, to not allow that to happen.

So, Mr. Ryan, I just want to say, I know Ms. Wasserman Schultz joined us in the 109th, I want to thank you personally on the 108th, because it was kind of lonely. It was just the two of us. Every now and then we would get other members of the 30th-Something Working Group. I want to thank you for sticking in there over the years, and then when you are in the majority, commit to coming back with the same enthusiasm to say not only thank you, but to say that we are going to continue to work and we are going to continue to reach out and continue to do the things that we did in the minority to make sure that we have a strong majority and make this country stronger.

And I want to thank Ms. Wasserman Schultz for all the things she does. And I don't know how she does it all, being a mom. I am a dad, but to be a mom is a totally different definition. But she comes to this Congress and brings not only what she brings from the Florida senate, but the same kind of energy, integrity and good will on behalf of the American people, so I want to thank you and all the other Members.

I want to thank Uncle Bill for being an individual that is receiving Medicare. He is a Medicare recipient now. The fact that he comes to the floor.

Right. When we come earlier, he comes to the floor.

And Mr. Manatos, he is the glue that keeps this whole thing together. I can't say enough about him. I want to thank him for all the work he has done. Even though we are all paid to do what we do, Mr. Speaker, it takes an extra wanting to serve the American people to come to this floor night after night.

And I want to take just a personal point. I want to thank my family for allowing me to be here, because I have two kids and a wife here in Washington, D.C. with me. They allow me to come to this floor. But the whole thing comes down to the fact that we have men and women that are deployed for 15 months at a time, so at least I can go two to three blocks to the Capitol at 10 o'clock at night, give them voice and those out in America voice that are punching in and out every day trying to figure out how they are going to get health care for their kids, how they are going to move in a direction where they will be able to have some savings and a tax cut as a middle class.

So I am very thankful. You all can tell I am a little emotional tonight. I see folks here, the Capitol Police and other folks here working tonight, saying, Congressman, you have a big smile on your face. It is my first time being on the floor in the majority. It is not only a historic majority but I am glad to be part of change and glad to do something on behalf of the American people.

Mr. Ryan.

Miami of Florida? I can tell you are from Ohio.

No, you said I am actually a Miami of Florida fan. I can tell you are from Ohio. Miami of Ohio? We say Miami, Florida. We don't say Miami of Florida. But thank you, Mr. Ryan.

Mr. Ryan, you claimed Ohio State, but you live in Niles, Ohio, far from where Ohio State is located.

I am not yielding to you. I am yielding to Ms. Wasserman Schultz for closing. I am going to close, then you are going to give the Web site. Ms. Wasserman Schultz.

Thank you, Ms. Wasserman Schultz.

I can tell you that in the 30-something Working Group we do, Mr. Speaker, kind of mix it up here and there, but I think it is very, very important. I am glad we came tonight just to reflect on the work, and to say thank you to the American people, and to say thank you to the staff here in the House, and to say thank you to all of our families.

I would like to say thank you to our personal staff that work in our offices. We get together, Mr. Speaker, and we go over this information, what works best here for the American people. So we just don't come to the floor. We actually spend a lot of staff time. So we want to say thank you to our staffs.

Once again, we would like to say thank you to the Speaker for creating this group and sticking with us and giving us the resources that we need to come to the floor night after night, and we look forward to continuing to do that.

The good thing about this 30-something Working Group, Mr. Speaker, is that this wasn't a project to get in the majority; this was a project to work on behalf of the American people. So in the majority we will continue to do the things we did in the minority because we still have people out there that need the kind of representation in a sensible way. This is not partisan. We are going to read off the song sheet of whatever the Democratic National Committee puts out. That is not what it is all about. It is about giving voice, commonsense solutions, and moving in the direction that we have to move in.

So we look forward to working with our Republican colleagues. And I am so honored, Mr. Speaker, to yield to Mr. Ryan to give the Web site out, and then I am going to yield back our time. But since we no longer can use our old Web site, because we are in the majority now, Mr. Manatos had to write it on some notebook paper to give out to the Members until we get our Web site memorized.

Can you give that out one more time?

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

The motion was agreed to; accordingly (at 11 o'clock and 14 minutes p.m.), the House adjourned until tomorrow, Wednesday, January 10, 2007, at 10 a.m.

Madam Speaker, today I rise to pay tribute to the late Honorable Yvonne Scarlett-Golden, Mayor of Daytona Beach, Florida.

On Tuesday, December 5, this great pioneering lady succumbed to cancer at the age of 80, even as she continued performing her duties as the first female and African-American Mayor of that city. She was buried with full honors in her native Daytona Beach on Wednesday, December 13, surrounded by her six grandchildren, two brothers and a bereaved constituency. Her untimely passing will truly leave a deep void in our midst, especially in our state's African-American leadership and among the august membership of the National League of Cities, which looked up to Mayor Scarlett-Golden as one of Florida's truly great mayors.

Affectionately called ``The Mayor,'' by her constituents and friends, Mrs. Scarlett-Golden was one of the best and noblest of Florida's leaders. She dedicated 38 years of her life toward championing the education and academic achievements of Florida students and those who came under her tutelage at the San Francisco (California) Unified School District. She advocated comprehensive academics for her students, along with scholastic projects designed to help students at the junior and senior college levels. Mrs. Scarlett-Golden believed that education was the best way for children of the poor to achieve and serve as responsible and productive citizens.

A native of Daytona Beach, Mayor Scarlett-Golden obtained her early education at Daytona Beach's Campbell and Kaiser Laboratory School. She went on to get her Bachelor's degree, graduating with Honors from Bethune-Cookman College (B-CC), and later on obtained her Master's Degree in Education from Boston University. In 1999, her alma mater (B- CC) conferred upon her the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.

Former Congresswoman Carrie P. Meek, a longtime friend, said of her, ``Yvonne was an incredible woman who achieved a tremendous amount in her life. She took on challenges and she was a real fighter. I never would've guessed the end was so near for my dear friend.'' ``She lived everyday as though her incredible life was never going to end.''

This public servant was a multi-dimensional leader, an indefatigable community-builder, and a loving mother and grandmother. Her leadership was truly admirable. Mrs. Scarlett-Golden was a faithful steward of Daytona Beach. She was God's faithful servant, bringing hope and optimism to thousands of ordinary folks whose lives she touched so deeply, never holding anyone at arm's length. This remarkable lady was a friend of the family. She was my confidante, and I was blessed to have her as my god-mother. Indeed, for me, she will serve as an indelible reminder of the noble commitment and awesome power of public service on behalf of the less fortunate. Her faith was deep and resolute and she was blessed with a sunny disposition and enviable optimism. She will be truly missed.

She taught us the virtues of hope, optimism and faith during her earthly sojourn. This is the wonderful legacy Mayor Yvonne Scarlett- Golden left behind. And this is the gift with which she blesses us now.

Madam Speaker, today I rise to pay tribute to Dr. Marty R. Pinkston, a longtime and dear friend of my family and one of our community's unsung heroines.

On Friday, December 15, 2006, her peers, friends and supporters will honor her at a farewell dinner as she retires from her position as Director of Governmental and Public Affairs at Florida Memorial University.

A preeminent educator, Dr. Pinkston is affectionately known as ``Marty'' to her countless admirers and is truly one of the most indomitable community activists of South Florida. Having dedicated a major portion of her life to making the public educational system work on behalf of Florida's minority and poor students, she has been relentless in developing innovative educational programs that succinctly responded to the needs of our community's underserved college student population. Responsible for developing strategies to secure additional resources for the university from local, state and federal sources, Dr. Pinkston was unrelenting in her dedication to providing quality education for all those willing to walk the extra mile in pursuing their college degree.

Having received her bachelor's degree from Florida A&M University, she went on to obtain her MA in Business Education from New York Institute of Technology and her Doctorate in Education from Nova Southeastern University. She complimented her educational achievements with her chairmanship of the Metro-Miami Action Plan Trust and service on the United Way of Miami-Dade County and the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce, as well as on the Metro-Dade County Safe Neighborhoods Parks Oversight Committee.

Dr. Pinkston epitomizes an admirable spirit of compassion and her concern for the less fortunate in our society will forever be lauded. But she is more than that. Dr. Marty Pinkston is remarkable not just for her energy, achievements and leadership, but because of the kind of person that she is. People are naturally attracted to her. The day just goes better if you get the chance to spend some time with Marty Pinkston.

As one of those hardy spirits who conscientiously chose to reach out to the less fortunate, Dr. Pinkston thoroughly understood how leadership could truly change people's lives. She wisely exercised her leadership and politic skills, alongside the mandate of her conviction and the wisdom of her knowledge. The crucial role she played all these years in developing the winning strategy for many a successful candidate for elective office evokes a genuine insight borne out of experience and expertise. She would often say that the accolades are not that important at all. Instead, she would note that what is important is that our community receives the recognition of its strength and promise amidst the tremendous challenges it has had to undertake all through the years.

It is an honor to have the the privilege of knowing this gentle and caring leader. I salute Dr. Marty R. Pinkston, a very dear friend, on behalf of a grateful community that she truly loves and cares for. Now, in retirement, she embarks upon new challenges in life and I am certain her legacy of greatness will only grow and develop as she enters this new phase of life. I wish her every happiness and success.

Madam Speaker, today I rise in solidarity with the Miami-Dade County Public Schools on the occasion of National World AIDS Day. Miami-Dade County Public Schools are working hard within my community to provide much-needed prevention information, as well as assistance to those afflicted with the HIV/AIDS virus.

Indeed, the National World AIDS Day evokes once again a special opportunity for the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, my North Dade constituents and the larger Miami-Dade County and South Florida communities to renew our collective and individual commitment to find a cure for this treatable and preventable disease. As we remember in our prayers those who passed on, as well as reach out to those who need our help, we are reminded of the urgency to fight against the spread of this virus. Despite the best efforts of our AIDS-support community organizations, in concert with the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, HIV/AIDS continues to be a devastating disease. I commend our health care professionals, the volunteers from our community organizations, and our schools, who together exemplify a symbol of strength and resilience in a way that combines true professionalism and utmost compassion along the tradition of our stewardship for one another.

The leadership of the Miami-Dade County Public Schools is readily focused on providing the opportunities of outreach information and ongoing education in a way that advances the common good of our fellow human beings, especially those who are suffering from the effects of the AIDS disease.

Despite the strategies and activities that organizations of good-will have utilized to combat this virus, we are still saddled with the fact that the pace of the AIDS infection is staggering. According to recent statistics from the World Health Organization, the past year alone has seen more infection and death from HIV/AIDS than ever before.

Of the estimated 18,371 AIDS-related deaths in the United States in 2006, approximately 52 percent were from the Black community. According to the Centers for Disease Control, Blacks accounted for 54 percent of all new diagnoses of HIV/AIDS. In Florida, HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death among Black males and females, aged 25 to 44 years old. According to the Florida Department of Health, over half of all people living with HIV/

AIDS in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties are Black.

As we celebrate National World AIDS Day in light of these agonizing facts, we must put forth a much more aggressive and concerted effort to reach out to our communities, teaching our residents about this disease, insure proper treatment for AIDS victims and continue the research needed to bring this epidemic under control. This infectious disease should not be a partisan issue, but should be a commitment for all Americans. We can and we must address the HIV/AIDS epidemic aggressively, both at home and abroad.

I encourage everyone in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties and beyond to get tested; get informed about prevention and get treatment if you need it. Let's all renew our efforts to stop the spread of this dreaded disease and, as a caring community, reach out to those of our fellow residents who are already living with HIV/AIDS. I commend the Miami- Dade County Public Schools for their leadership role in raising the awareness level about HIV/AIDS and encourage school administrators, faculty, staff and students to continue with this most laudable effort.

Mr. Speaker, as the 109th Congress comes to an end, I rise to honor the Congressional service of four outstanding members of our Florida Congressional Delegation; Jim Davis, Clay Shaw, Michael Bilirakis and Katherine Harris.

Together, these outstanding Members have decades of experience in public service and have worked on a broad range of issues of lasting importance to the great State of Florida.

I believe that public service is a truly a noble calling. Any person who assumes the challenges and responsibilities associated with this profession, and who makes the sacrifices necessary to achieve the success of these Members of Congress, merits the respect of our nation, and our thanks.

Legislating in the Congress requires men and women who are masters of the traditional skills of American government--compromise, negotiation and bargaining. While we may disagree at times on policy and share different political philosophies, our objective should always be to serve the best interests of our constituents, our state and our nation.

It is part of the genius of American government that the institution of Congress continues on and is not dependent on any particular individuals. Still, there is no doubt that the quality of people elected to Congress has a lot to do with the kinds and quality of legislation that becomes law. Each of these Members has, in his or her own way, left their mark on our laws and our nation.

I am therefore proud to join with my colleagues in the Florida Delegation and, indeed, the entire Congress, in thanking you all for your service and wishing you much happiness and success in all your future endeavors.

Mr. Speaker, I am happy to join with Congressman Costello and all of my colleagues in honoring a truly great man-- Congressman Lane Evans of Illinois, who will be leaving Congress after a quarter-century of service to our country.

When I was a freshman Member of Congress, and a new member of the House Armed Services Committee, Lane Evans, a veteran himself, a senior member of Congress and the ranking Member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee, learned of my interest in veteran's issues and took the time to show me ways to improve my service to veterans in my District and in our state. They were lessons from a master, and they have left an indelible impression on me.

His expertise is legendary. He knows the needs of veterans; their programs, history, problems and concerns. He forged alliances across the aisle and put together coalitions to pass legislation to keep this Nation's promise to our veterans. As a Vietnam Veteran himself, he never forgot what it meant to serve this country in the military. His ability is so great that he can even make those who have never served also understand the military and its culture.

I will also never forget the fun we had when Mr. Evans managed our Congressional basketball team. We played games to help raise funds for charity, and even though he was stricken with Parkinson's disease, which prevented him from participating, it was obvious how much he loved the team and the good-natured competition. He is a joy to be around, and an inspiration.

Mr. Speaker, we need only look at the walls of the Speaker's Lobby or our committee rooms to appreciate that the House of Representatives will continue on long after we are gone, and there is a certain comfort in the realization that this great institution, in which it is our honor to serve, will endure.

However, I want Mr. Evans to know how much he has touched me and the other Members of this Congress; to thank him for his friendship, his leadership and for his service to our Nation; and to let him know of our commitment to build on the foundation that he laid down over his 24 years in Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 6406, a comprehensive trade package that has great potential to create tens of thousands of new jobs in the Haitian textile industry.

While the provisions in this bill are not as strong as in the legislation I introduced, I am relieved that after years of empty promises and delay that the Republican-controlled Congress finally has allowed a bill to come to the House floor that helps Haiti.

I have traveled to Haiti a half dozen times since entering the Congress. And on these trips I have met with Haitian business leaders who have told me time and again that the textile industry has suffered greatly and is inching closer to collapse.

The Haitian garment industry currently employs a mere 12,000 people-- a tiny fraction of what it once was. In Port-au-Prince, the capital, 15 factories have closed in the last 2 years. By failing to act, Congress and the Bush Administration have enabled Haiti's miserable situation.

This bill is significant because one tenth of Haiti's national income comes from its textile exports. While the vast majority of Haitians live off less than $2 a day, the average Haitian garment worker earns twice that. Bread-winners in Haiti often support large extended families; grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, children, and their children's children often live under one roof.

Industry analysts estimate that the HOPE Act could generate as many as 30,000 new jobs. Haitians working in these textile jobs would not only possess the buying power to help stimulate the national economy, but the trickle down would directly impact the lives of tens of thousands of other people in this hemisphere's poorest country. Haitians need to return to work, and that's why I've supported granting Haiti preferential trade status for years.

The HOPE bill has the potential to revive this vital sector of the Haitian economy by allowing apparel assembled in Haiti using third- country fabrics duty-free access to the United States market. It is a scaled down version of The Haiti Economy Recovery Opportunity (HERO) bill, H.R. 4211, which I introduced in the House in 109th Congress.

It has taken this Congress far too long to act, but perhaps, at long last, help for Haiti is finally on the way.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor and congratulate Mrs. Thelma Gibson who will celebrate her 80th birthday on December 17th with friends, families and well wishers.

Mrs. Gibson is a South Florida institution, a woman who has dedicated herself to a lifelong pursuit of education, while focusing on improving public healthcare in our community and instilling the virtues of community service and volunteerism in all people who are graced by her presence.

Mrs. Gibson is the sixth of fourteen children and was born on December 17, 1926 to Sweetlon Counts Albury Anderson and Thomas Theodore Anderson. Mrs. Gibson is the mother of 2 children, Charles Gibson and Deveniece Gibson. She has 7 sisters and brothers--Joyce, Doris, Percy, Donald, Hubert, Alvin and Herma--and has a host of loving nieces and nephews. Mrs. Gibson is a native Miamian and the widow of the late Reverend Canon Theodore Roosevelt Gibson.

Mrs. Gibson received her formative education at Coconut Grove Training School for Colored Elementary School, Coconut Grove Junior High School, and George Washington Carver High School, from which she graduated in February 1944. After graduation, Mrs. Gibson attended Saint Agnes School of Nursing at Saint Augustine's College in Raleigh, North Carolina and graduated in August 1947 as a Registered Nurse with a specialty in operating room techniques. She then returned home to work at Jackson Memorial Hospital in the operating room, where she had been approved for a position. Her employer, however, upon realizing that she was of Color, assigned her to work on the Colored wards.

Mrs. Gibson continued her education in nursing by taking an advanced course from Florida A & M University taught by Dr. Mary Carnegie, Dean of Nursing, in a classroom provided by Jackson Memorial Hospital. In the summers of 1954 and 1955, while preparing to work in Public Health Nursing, Mrs. Gibson took advanced courses at Catholic University in Washington, DC. During the summers of 1956 and 1957, she attended the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, where she enrolled in courses on cancer and communicable disease nursing. From there, she attended courses given through the University of Miami in 1957 and 1958 out of the home of an instructor who lived in Coconut Grove at the corner of Main Highway and Lennox Avenue. A course was also provided at Booker T. Washington Senior High School. Finally, in 1959, Mrs. Gibson attended Teachers College at Columbia University, New York and earned her Bachelor of Science degree in nursing education.

For more than 50 years, Mrs. Gibson has been a trailblazer in education, mental and physical health programs, and a community leader who served her church and family. In August of 1997, she was appointed as Interim City Commissioner and served on the City of Miami Commission through November 1997.

Mrs. Gibson holds memberships on numerous boards, committees, and panels, and has received many honors, awards, recognitions, and certificates. The most recent accomplishment to Mrs. Gibson's credit is authoring her autobiography, Forbearance: Thelma Vernell Anderson Gibson, The Life Story of a Coconut Grove Native that was released in the Fall of 2000. Mrs. Gibson also sponsors the Thelma Gibson Health Initiative, housed at the Theodore R. Gibson Building, that provides free testing and assistance for HIV and AIDS infected persons. Her latest project is the Theodore and Thelma School of the Performing Arts located on Grand Avenue in Coconut Grove where the students receive academic training with a focus on the Arts.

Mr. Speaker, I know all my colleagues join me in honoring Mrs. Gibson, a truly great lady, as she celebrates her 80th birthday. We can only wonder and marvel at the achievements that are still before her.