Floor Statements

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of my friend Daniel Gathright, who passed away January 25, 2007, in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.

Dan Gathright was a pillar of the community of Arkadelphia and of Southern Arkansas for decades. While attending school at Southern State College, now known as Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia, Dan worked as a dispatcher at the Magnolia Police Department. Upon graduating, he worked at Washington Regional Hospital in Fayetteville before being named Assistant Administrator at Crittenden Memorial Hospital in West Memphis. In 1979, Dan moved to Arkadelphia and joined the Baptist Medical System where he served as Administrator of Twin Rivers Medical Center. He was later named Administrator and Senior Vice President of Baptist Health where he served until his death.

Dan Gathright was a member of the First Baptist Church of Arkadelphia, the Arkadelphia Rotary, the Clark County American Red Cross and a Board Member of the Arkadelphia Chamber of Commerce. Dan also served as President of the Clark County United Way and the Arkadelphia Band Boosters. His dedication to making Arkadelphia a better place to live could not have been greater. I am glad our paths crossed and I had the honor of knowing and working with Dan on health care issues.

My deepest condolences go to his wife, Shayron Looney Gathright of Warren; his son Michael Gathright of Frisco, Texas; his father, Archie Gathright of Magnolia; his sister Maretta Bullock of McNeil; and to his 2 grandchildren. Dan Gathright will be greatly missed in Arkadelphia and throughout the State of Arkansas.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of my friend Nathan Barrett, who passed away January 25, 2007, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

Nathan Barrett was a pillar of the community of Warren and Bradley County for decades. After serving in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, Nathan returned to Warren where he was the owner and operator of Barrett-Pirtle Pharmacy since 1960. In 1964, Nathan received the A.H. Robins Bowl of Hygeia Award, one of the most prestigious professional pharmacy honors in Arkansas. In 2005, Nathan was honored by the Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy for 50 years of service as a certified pharmacist.

Nathan was a member of the First Baptist Church of Warren where he served as Deacon, Sunday School Director and member of the choir. Nathan was also a member of the Warren Rotary Club, past President of the Bradley County Chamber of Commerce, an Eagle Scout and a member of Order of the Arrow in the Boy Scouts of America. His dedication to making Warren and South Arkansas a better place to live could not have been greater.

I am glad our paths crossed and that I had the honor of knowing Nathan and calling him my friend.

My deepest condolences go to his wife, Mary King Barrett of Warren; his two daughters, Edie Coleman of Ft. Worth, Texas, and Laurie Moore of Ruston, Louisiana; his sister, Peggy Barrett of Greenbriar; and to his 4 grandchildren. Nathan Barrett will be greatly missed in Warren and throughout the state of Arkansas.

Mr. Speaker, this afternoon I rise on behalf of the 44- member strong fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition.

Mr. Speaker, as you walk the Halls of Congress, you will notice these Blue Dog Coalition posters along the hallways which signify that you are walking by the door to an office of a fellow Blue Dog Member. And the reason you will find these posters scattered across the Cannon, Longworth and Rayburn House Office Buildings is because we are committed to restoring common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's government. And it is important to us, Mr. Speaker, that we remind every Member of Congress, as well as the general public that walk these Halls, that our Nation is in debt. In fact, the U.S. national debt, as of today, is $8,721,415,192,294. And we ran out of room on the poster, Mr. Speaker, but 43 cents. Our national debt, $8,721,415,192,294.43. That is a big number. What does it mean?

Well, Mr. Speaker, I will tell you what it means. For every man, woman and child living in America, including those children being born today, their share of the national debt is $29,093.20. It is what we refer to as the debt tax, D-E-B-T. That is one tax that cannot be cut, that cannot go away until we get our Nation's fiscal house in order.

Why is it important? Because our Nation is borrowing about $1 billion a day. But, Mr. Speaker, before we borrow $1 billion a day, we are going to spend a half a billion dollars paying interest on the debt we have already got. And many of America's priorities in the area of education, veterans benefits, health care, roads, many of America's priorities continue to go unmet and they will until we get our Nation's fiscal house in order.

As members of the Blue Dog Coalition, which is just another name for fiscally conservative Democrats, we are concerned about this. But, Mr. Speaker, our concerns do not end with the debt and the deficit. We are also concerned about accountability, and this Democratic Congress is going to restore accountability to this Chamber, to this administration, and, yes, to the Government of the United States of America.

The Constitution clearly gives Congress, not only the power and the authority, but it is our constitutional duty to provide oversight of this administration. And yet this Republican Congress that we have had for the past 6 years has been nothing more than a rubber stamp for President Bush and his administration.

It is time that Congress did its job. It is time that Congress put the rubber stamp in the drawer and pull out the Constitution and read it and understand that we have a duty, a constitutional duty, to provide oversight to this administration and to this government. We are going to do that. And we are doing it in many areas, including providing for accountability for how the hardworking people of this country's tax money is being spent in places like Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, you ask a hundred different people what they think about this Iraq war policy, you will get about a hundred different answers. And by the way, very few or none of them are going to agree with the direction that President Bush is currently going. If you ask fellow Blue Dog members, you will get different answers as well. I, personally, am opposed to the surge. Others may not be. That is something that we believe each Member must make a decision on and speak from their heart and represent their constituency.

But one of the things that we are united on as Blue Dog members is restoring accountability for how this money is being spent in Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, I want to show here a couple of numbers that are very important. One is the cost of the Iraq war. They spent $2.5 billion pre-invasion in 2001 and 2002. In 2003, $51 billion was spent. In 2004, $77.3 billion was spent. In 2005, $87.3 billion was spent. In 2006, $100.4 billion. 2007, to date, we are getting ready to vote on another supplemental appropriation bill for the war, but to date, $60 billion. That puts the total cost to the taxpayers of America at nearly $400 billion, $378.5 billion.

Now, what does that mean? That is a lot of money. How do you break it out? The total cost for 2006 alone, $100.4 billion. That is $8.44 billion per month of your tax money, Mr. Speaker, going to Iraq.

Another way of putting it, $275 million a day, or about 11 or $12 million per hour. And yet there has been a lack of accountability on how your tax money is being accounted for and how it is being spent in Iraq.

So we, Mr. Speaker, have what is called House Resolution 97 that we have filed as members of the Blue Dog Coalition. And it is a resolution to provide for Operation Iraqi Freedom cost accountability. And let me just get to the meat of it. Basically, the resolution says this: that within 30 days after the adoption of this resolution, and every 90 days thereafter, the Department of Defense Inspector General and the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction shall prepare and transmit to Congress an unclassified report with a classified annex, if necessary, that would contain, one, a detailed accounting of how military and reconstruction funds in Iraq have been spent thus far; two, a detailed accounting of the types and terms of contracts awarded on behalf of the United States, including the methods by which such contracts were awarded and contractors selected; three, a description of efforts to obtain support and assistance from other countries toward the rehabilitation of Iraq; and, four, an assessment of what additional funds is needed to complete military operations and reconstruction efforts in Iraq, including a plan for security of Iraq, a detailed plan for how any future funds will be spent and a statement of how those funds will advance the interests of the United States and Iraq.

If either Inspector General fails to submit a quarterly report, the Government Accountability Office shall conduct an audit and report to Congress. Sanctions shall be imposed against contractors who have engaged in fraud or abuse or war profiteering. Congress should create a Truman-like committee to conduct an ongoing study and investigation of the awarding and carrying out of contracts by the United States to conduct activities with regard to Operation Iraqi Freedom and make such recommendations to the House as the Select Committee deems appropriate.

Funding requests for Operation Iraqi Freedom in fiscal year 2008 and beyond must come through the regular appropriations process and not be hidden through these so-called emergency supplementals. In furtherance of the partnership that is critical to success in Operation Iraqi Freedom, the administration should firmly condition further American financial, military and political resources upon steady improvement in Iraq, assumption of principal responsibility for internally policing Iraq.

In other words, Mr. Speaker, this resolution says that it is time for this administration to be accountable for how the hardworking people of this country's tax money is being spent in Iraq, no more rubber stamps for this administration. We will fulfill our constitutional duty of providing oversight.

And it also says, Mr. Speaker, that the President should do all he can to get Iraq to take responsibility for their own actions and to take the lead on trying to restore order to that country.

And it also says that this administration must be held accountable for how your tax money is being spent, that there should be transparency to the process, and full disclosure of who is getting paid to do what in Iraq when it comes to private contractors, and to make sure that this war profiteering in Iraq by private contractors comes to an end. That is basically what the resolution says.

Mr. Speaker, every one of us in the Blue Dog Coalition, and I think every one of us in this Congress, Democrat and Republican alike, supports our troops. We can't do enough for our troops. And I can tell you, as far as I am concerned, as long as we have men and women in uniform in harm's way, I am going to do my part to ensure that we provide them the resources they need to get the job done as safely as possible.

But it is also important that this Congress fulfill its constitutional oversight responsibility and demand that this administration be accountable for how your tax money, some $275 million a day, is being spent in Iraq. And there are reports that indicate that at least 20 percent of the money going to Iraq cannot be accounted for.

Think what we could do to provide health care benefits, housing benefits and other benefits for our veterans. And in Iraq and Afghanistan we have got a new generation of veterans coming home, and we have got to be there for them as a country. We cannot do enough for our men and women in uniform. We cannot do enough for our veterans. We have got to be there for them.

We have also got to be sure that this money, some $100.4 billion in 2006 that this administration is sending to Iraq, is accounted for and that it is being spent in support of our soldiers and that we have the resources to take care and to honor our veterans, including a new generation of veterans coming home today from Iraq and Afghanistan.

A number of fellow Blue Dog members will be joining me this evening as we talk about providing for Operation Iraqi Freedom cost accountability. And one of those who has joined me is a fellow Blue Dog member, someone that is very active in the Blue Dogs, was a member of our nominating committee for officers earlier this year, and that is the gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Chandler). And I yield to the gentleman from Kentucky.

I thank the gentleman from Kentucky, former State auditor, former State attorney general for his leadership within the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, and someone who played an important role in helping us draft this resolution, House Resolution 97. And I certainly thank him for helping sponsor this resolution that, hopefully, we will get through the House to demand accountability, fiscal responsibility and accountability for how this administration spends billions of tax money, Mr. Speaker, in a place a long way from Arkansas and a long way from America, and that is in Iraq.

And I couldn't help but think when the gentleman from Kentucky was talking about accountability, I think it is important to note that Congress has appropriated over $25 billion to various departments and agencies for reconstruction projects that are intended to improve the lives and living standards of the Iraqi people, and, yes, to endear them to our way of life; and yet we find that only half the projects have been completed.

For example, the Special Inspector General for Iraq reconstruction reported that funds allocated for health care projects, health care projects, are more than 65 percent expended--that is, the funds--but fewer than 36 percent of the projects have been completed. Funds were allocated for construction of 142 primary health care clinics and only 20 were completed.

Likewise, the Inspector General reported that a contract was made to construct 20 rehabilitation hospitals, and only 12 were completed.

A New York Times report found that thousands of weapons intended for Iraqi forces, the good guys in Iraq, our allies in Iraq, are missing. This study investigated 19, count them, 19 contracts that totaled $133 million for more than 370,000 weapons. No one knows where these weapons are. Three hundred seventy thousand weapons in Iraq, bought with U.S. tax money, are missing, and no one can account for them.

We need accountability in Iraq.

Because this Republican Congress for the past 6 years did not fulfill its constitutional duty of providing oversight of this administration and the Department of Defense. There was no oversight. It was rubber stamp after rubber stamp, and more money after more money, and no accountability.

The gentleman is right. It shouldn't matter if it is a Democratic Congress or a Republican Congress, the American people are sick and tired of all the partisan bickering. What the American people want is for us to provide leadership and accountability on how their tax money is being spent. And I can assure you, Mr. Speaker, that as members of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, we are going to do our part to hold this administration accountable to find out where in the world this $133 million of your tax money, Mr. Speaker, that went to purchase 370,000 weapons, what happened to them.

It doesn't matter if there is a Democratic President or a Republican President, the gentleman from Kentucky is absolutely right, what matters is being accountable and being good stewards of the tax money of the people of this country.

I yield to the gentleman from Kentucky.

And for the troops.

I want to thank the gentleman from Kentucky for joining us today. And, Mr. Speaker, if you have any questions comments or concerns for Mr. Scott or any of us, you can e-mail us at [email protected].

And it is a pleasure for me to be joined by a real leader within the Blue Dog Coalition, someone that demands fiscal responsibility and accountability, someone who is helping us with this House Resolution 97, a cosponsor of it, someone that helped author it, and a member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Mr. Chandler, and that is my friend, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Scott).

I thank the gentleman from Georgia, a fellow Blue Dog member, a member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, for joining us to discuss the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition's House Resolution 97 that provides for Operation Iraqi Freedom cost accountability.

The Constitution clearly gives Congress oversight authority, and this Congress, this new Democratic Congress, is going to provide oversight of this administration, of this government, and fulfill our constitutional duty and demand that our troops get the money they need to get the job done as safely as possible; but also demand that it be done in a way to where this administration is held accountable for how, Mr. Speaker, your tax money is being spent in Iraq.

I recently received an e-mail from a soldier from my hometown. He wrote to me in an e-mail from Iraq, and there are a couple of points I would like to point out. I am quoting this soldier now in Iraq. ``Needless to say, war profiteering is high, and disgusting to witness as a taxpayer.'' This is a citizen soldier, this is a soldier that comes to us from the Army Reserve. He has now been in Iraq 7 months. And in his e-mail to me he said, ``Needless to say, war profiteering is high, and disgusting to witness as a taxpayer.''

He goes on to say, ``And the black market thrives over here as well. For example, much of the fuel never reaches the military; it ends up in the wrong hands through a complex network of interconnected relationships that truly reminds me of the Mafia.''

Another example from a soldier on the ground in Iraq that has been there 7 months about the need for accountability for how tax money, some $400 billion so far, some 20 percent of that $400 billion is unaccounted for, according to the most recent reports.

As members of the Blue Dog Coalition, we are offering up a resolution to demand that this money, your tax money, Mr. Speaker, be accounted for in how it is being spent in support of our soldiers in Iraq. And you know what? We might just find enough waste, fraud and abuse in Iraq that we could take that money and invest it in veterans' benefits, to ensure that our men and women coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan are properly cared for.

With that, I yield to a gentleman that knows a lot about this subject, a gentleman that is not only a very important member of the Blue Dog Coalition, but someone who served on the House Armed Services Committee, someone who now serves on the Foreign Operations Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, and that is the gentleman from Long Island (Mr. Israel).

I thank the gentleman from Long Island for his insight on this resolution to put an end to war profiteering and demand accountability on how the American people, the hardworking American people's tax money is being spent in Iraq.

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

I thank the gentleman from Georgia for his heartfelt comments.

This war has had an impact on just about every family in America; and my brother-in-law, who is in the United States Air Force, career, is now in Kurdistan, which is one of the entry points to Afghanistan.

My first cousin, his wife, gave birth to their first child while he was in Iraq, and it has had a tremendous toll on the families, and not only for the military but also the citizen soldier, those who serve as members of a National Guard and as a member of an Army reserve.

When the President talks about a surge, when the President talks about adding another 21,500 troops to Iraq, that is code for calling back up the National Guard and the Reserves. Many folks in the National Guard today have been sent out of country at historic levels. In many instances, the citizen soldiers, those in the Guard, have been called up more times than some soldiers that are in the full-time military as a career. It has a tremendous toll on the family, the families that are left behind, and a huge increase in the number of divorces that occur when they come back.

The bottom line is we are creating a generation of veterans in Iraq and Afghanistan, and we can sit here and talk about being patriotic and supporting our soldiers all night long, but what is important is that we cast our votes in a way that honors them and ensures that they have health care and the things they need when they come back so hopefully we can minimize the number of divorces. We cannot do enough to thank our men and women in uniform for their service to our country.

One of the ways I think we can honor them is by demanding accountability for how tax money is being spent in Iraq, not only in the rebuilding efforts but also in support of them, making sure those men and women in uniform have the resources they need to stay safe while they are there.

Mr. Speaker, if you have got any comments, questions or concerns for us, I would encourage you to e-mail us at [email protected]. Again, that is [email protected].

The gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Chandler) was talking about Halliburton earlier. Let me just make this quick point and I want to yield to the gentleman from Long Island, but last year, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction reported that the Coalition Provisional Authority could not track over $8 billion it had transferred to Iraqi ministries and that CPA officials left millions of dollars in cash unsecured in their offices.

Halliburton failed to complete required work under its oil infrastructure work, leaving distribution points unusable. Auditors in one region found that contract managers could not account for $97 million disbursed from the development fund for Iraq.

Under its no-bid contract to rebuild Iraq's oil infrastructure contract, Halliburton overcharged by over 600 percent for the delivery of fuel from Kuwait. An audit of programs designed to train guards to protect Iraq's oil and electrical infrastructure concluded that U.S. agencies could not provide reasonable assurance that $147 million expended under these programs was used for its intended purpose.

In one case, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction found that a company which was awarded a security management contract worth

hundreds of millions of dollars could provide no assurance that it was providing the best possible safety for government and reconstruction personnel as required by the contract and could not even show that its employees, authorized to carry weapons, were trained to use those weapons.

Halliburton tripled the cost of hand towels, hand towels at taxpayer expense, by insisting on having its own embroidered logo on each towel, and Halliburton employees dumped 50,000 pounds of nails in the desert. Why? Because they ordered the wrong size, all at taxpayer expense because it was a cost-plus contract.

Halliburton double charged tax payers for $617,000 worth of soda and charged taxpayers for services that it never provided and tens of thousands of meals that it never served our soldiers.

That is why, Mr. Speaker, we have filed H. Res. 97 to demand accountability on how tax money is being spent in Iraq, and I yield to the gentleman from Long Island.

H. Res. 97, providing for Operation Iraqi Freedom cost accountability, and it is quite simple. We want this administration to be accountable for your tax money, Mr. Speaker, that is being spent in Iraq, number one.

Number two, we want a Truman-like commission to put an end to war profiteering in Iraq.

And, finally, we want this administration to stop playing games and asking for emergency supplementals to hide the true cost of the war and ask for the money the way that all other funds are appropriated by this Congress, through the normal process.

One hundred point four billion dollars was the cost for 2006. Over $400 billion has been spent since this war began. That is $8.4 billion a month. That is $275 million a day, and that is nearly $12 million an hour of your tax money, Mr. Speaker, and the tax money of every hardworking man and woman in this country; and it is time to restore commonsense, fiscal discipline and accountability to our government. That is one way, Mr. Speaker, that we believe we can honor our men and women in uniform.

Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening on behalf of the 44-member fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. Each week we come to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives to discuss with you and the people of this Congress, Mr. Speaker, about the need to restore fiscal discipline and common sense to our national government.

We speak of the need for accountability. Why? Because today the U.S. national debt is $8,710,232,192,210; and, we ran out of room on the poster, but if you want to be exact about it, 43 cents. And for every man, woman, and child living in America today, their share of the national debt as of tonight is $29,061.20. It is what those of us in

the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition refer to as the debt tax, D-E-B-T, which is one tax that will never go away until we get our fiscal house in order.

Mr. Speaker, as you walk the halls of Congress, it is easy to detect when you are walking by an office of a fellow Blue Dog member, because you will see this poster reminding Members of Congress and reminding the American people of the fiscal recklessness that we have witnessed all across this Nation for the past 6 years. The American people have spoken, the American people have given the Democrats an opportunity to lead this Chamber, and we are determined as members of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition to getting our Nation's fiscal house in order and restoring fiscal discipline and common sense to our national government.

The Blue Dog Coalition is about accountability. And, Mr. Speaker, tomorrow, on Tuesday, many members of the Blue Dog Coalition will be filing a resolution for the 110th Congress, a resolution providing for Operation Iraqi Freedom cost accountability. I want to thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Patrick Murphy) for his work on this, a veteran of the Iraqi war who will be joining us later this evening on the floor.

This evening, as members of the Blue Dog Coalition, we plan to talk about providing for Operation Iraqi Freedom cost accountability. You ask people what they think about this postwar Iraq policy, you ask 100 people, you get 100 different ideas about how we ought to do it. One thing is for sure, everybody believes that we need to move in a new direction.

But, Mr. Speaker, one of the things that really makes me proud to be an American is that, unlike Vietnam, and I believe one of the painful lessons to come out of Vietnam is this time, this time at least, we are getting the support for soldier part of this right, because I see us all, not as Democrats and Republicans, but as Americans first. And what I have witnessed this time around has been truly amazing and has made me proud to be an American, and that is that everyone, regardless of how they feel about the war in Iraq, regardless of whether they are a Democrat or a Republican, everyone in America for the most part has stood united in support of our men and women in uniform.

I couldn't help but notice the plane I was on today from Little Rock to Atlanta had about a half dozen soldiers heading to Iraq, and I had the opportunity to shake their hand and thank them for their service to our country. I noticed others doing the same when I was changing planes in Atlanta. There were a lot of soldiers today in Atlanta headed for Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, personally I am opposed to this surge. I think that is not a new direction, I think it is more of the same. But as members of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, we didn't take a position on that because everyone needs to represent the views of their district, and everyone needs to speak from their heart.

We have approached this, Mr. Speaker, from an accountability standpoint. And, Mr. Speaker, I would like to read to you this resolution so you will know exactly what is in it, and you will know exactly what the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition stands for and what we are talking about, and then a number of Blue Dog fellow members will be joining me in this Special Order to discuss various aspects of this.

But resolution providing for Operation Iraqi Freedom cost accountability says:

Whereas it has been nearly 4 years since Operation Iraqi Freedom began;

Whereas our military personnel have performed with honor and bravery, and deserve the support of all Americans;

Whereas more than 3,000 American military personnel have been killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom and more than 20,000 have been injured;

Whereas the United States has spent nearly $400 billion in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom;

Whereas the United States has spent tens of billions of dollars paying private contractors for services performed in Operation Iraqi Freedom;

Whereas government investigations and media reports have detailed waste, fraud, and possible war profiteering by some of these contractors;

Whereas American taxpayers deserve a detailed cost accounting for funds spent in Operation Iraqi Freedom;

Whereas instead of the normal budgetary process, the administration has used emergency supplemental appropriation bills to fund Operation Iraqi Freedom;

Whereas the normal appropriations process gives Congress greater oversight concerning both the need for and use of budgeted funds;

Whereas the annual need to budget substantial funding for Operation Iraqi Freedom is not unanticipated within the meaning of section 502 of the fiscal year 2007 budget resolution, and further funding for Operation Iraqi Freedom should be attained through the normal budgeting process;

Whereas since coalition forces removed Saddam Hussein from power, success in Operation Iraqi Freedom has depended upon an active and effective partnership between coalition forces and the Government and people of Iraq, a partnership that provides indispensable leverage to the coalition's financial, military, and political investments;

Whereas Iraqis must assume principal responsibility for internally policing Iraq, failing which past, present, and future coalition investments will not lead to security in Iraq and Iraq will dissolve in chaos.

Let me read that again: Whereas Iraqis must assume principal responsibility for internally policing Iraq, failing which past, present, and future coalition investments will not lead to security in Iraq and Iraq will dissolve in chaos. In other words, we are in this together, and it is time for the Iraqi people to step up to the plate and assume more accountability and responsibility for the internal policing of Iraq.

Now, therefore, be it resolved that; and this is what the Blue Dog Coalition's accountability measure is about: Within 30 days after the adoption of this resolution, and every 90 days thereafter, the Department of Defense Inspector General and the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction shall prepare and transmit to Congress an unclassified report, but with a classified annex if necessary, that would contain:

Number 1. A detailed accounting of how military and reconstruction funds in Iraq have been spent thus far; $400 billion of tax money from the hardworking people of America has gone to Iraq, and they deserve to know how that money has been spent in support of our men and women in uniform in support of this new Iraqi Government;

Number 2. A detailed accounting of the types and terms of contracts awarded on behalf of the United States, including the methods by which such contracts were awarded and contractors selected;

Our cities and counties all across this Nation are expected to advertise for bids and award bids based on the lowest bid they receive for services rendered for what they are looking for. Our Federal Government should not be any different.

Number 3. A description of the efforts to obtain support and assistance from other countries toward the rehabilitation of Iraq;

And, number 4. An assessment of what additional funding is needed to complete military operations and reconstruction efforts in Iraq, including a plan for security of Iraq, a detailed plan for how any future funds will be spent, and a statement of how those funds will advance the interests of the United States in Iraq.

That is one point.

The second point:

If either Inspector General fails to submit a quarterly report, the Government Accountability Office shall conduct an audit and report to Congress.

Sanctions shall be imposed against contractors who have engaged in fraud or abuse or war profiteering.

Congress should create a Truman Committee to conduct an ongoing study and investigation of the awarding and carrying out of contracts by the United States to conduct activities with regard to Operation Iraqi Freedom, and make such recommendations to the House as the select committee deems appropriate.

Funding requests for Operation Iraqi Freedom in fiscal year 2008 and beyond must come through the regular appropriations process, and not through so-called emergency supplementals.

No more hiding the cost of the war.

In furtherance of the partnership that is critical to success in Operation Iraqi Freedom, the administration should firmly condition further American financial, military, and political resources upon steady improvement in Iraqi assumption of principal responsibility for internally policing Iraq.

That is the resolution that many members of the Blue Dog Coalition will be filing, a resolution endorsed by the 44-member strong, fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition, with the Clerk of the House on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week. I just read it in detail, word by word, so the American people, Mr. Speaker, will know exactly what it is that we are offering up.

It is not complicated. It is not partisan. It is not about whether we should or should not be in Iraq and about whether we should or should not leave tonight or tomorrow, next month or next year. It is about being accountable for the $400 billion that has already been spent in Iraq, and God knows how much more will be spent in Iraq, and the American people, the hardworking people of this country that get up, go to work, work hard and pay taxes, deserve to know and have a full accounting for how their money is being spent in Iraq.

That is what this resolution is all about. It is what the Blue Dog Coalition is all about. It is about standing for responsibility, transparency and accountability and in getting our Nation's fiscal house in order so we can see this number, Mr. Speaker, the national debt, begin to trend downward, because as long as we are spending a half a billion dollars a day paying interest on the debt we have already got, before we increase it another billion dollars a day, many of America's priorities will continue to go unmet.

We have got to get our fiscal house in order because, you know what, coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan and other parts of the world is a whole new generation of veterans. It is our duty in these United States to be there in support of our veterans, to be there in support of our men and women in uniform, regardless of whether they are serving us in Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere across the globe.

We can have differences of opinion with the President on Iraq and his Iraq policy, but what makes me proud to be an American is that we are standing together in support of our men and women in uniform.

Mr. Speaker, we have got a number of folks that have joined me this evening to talk about accountability in this Iraq War, and at this time, I yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Scott).

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Georgia and would invite him to stay and continue this conversation with me this evening during this Special Order that is being hosted by the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition.

Mr. Speaker, if you have any comments, questions or concerns for us, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. Again, you can e-mail us at [email protected].

One of the new Members of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition comes to us from the State of Pennsylvania, and that is Patrick Murphy, a veteran of the Iraq War who was very involved, as I mentioned at the beginning of the discussion this evening, in helping to carefully craft this resolution to demand accountability for how the tax money of the people of America is being spent in Iraq while continuing to remain steadfast in our support of our soldiers.

At this time, I yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Patrick Murphy).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania, a veteran of the Iraqi war, a new member of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, for not only joining us for this Special Order this evening on demanding accountability of the American people's tax money and how it is being spent in Iraq, but also playing a very important role in helping draft, carefully craft and write this resolution that the Blue Dog Coalition has endorsed and will be filed as a House resolution on the floor of this House this week. I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania again for his work on that and for his service to our country.

At this time I yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois, Ms. Bean, another very active member of the Blue Dog Coalition, someone who comes to

this town and demands fiscal accountability and responsibility like we are doing here on the floor of the House this evening.

Mr. Speaker, I thank an active member of the fiscally responsible Blue Dog Democrat Coalition, the gentlewoman from Illinois, Melissa Bean, for being a part of this discussion this evening to talk about the Blue Dog Coalition's resolution to demand accountability for how tax money is being spent in Iraq, just as we do here at home through our Blue Dog 12-point plan for budget reform.

This resolution will be filed on the floor of this House this week as the Blue Dog Coalition demands this administration to be accountable for how your tax money, Mr. Speaker, is being spent in Iraq.

At this time I yield to the gentleman from New York, a new member of the Blue Dog Coalition, someone who has come here and been a very active member of our coalition and has been doing a lot to help us with this resolution, and that is the gentleman from New York, Mike Arcuri.

I thank the gentleman from New York (Mr. Arcuri), a new Member of this Congress, a new member of the Blue Dog Coalition, for coming and visiting with us this evening about the need for accountability and responsibility in Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, as you know, the Blue Dog Coalition is about fiscal responsibility. It is about restoring common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's government, not only here at home, but also in Iraq. And that is why this week the Blue Dog Coalition will file a resolution that its coalition, the Blue Dog members, have endorsed to demand accountability in Iraq.

We read the resolution in its entirety at the beginning of this Special Order. Basically, we want a detailed accounting of how military and reconstruction funds in Iraq have been spent thus far, a detailed accounting of the types and terms of contracts awarded on behalf of the United States, including the methods by which such contracts were awarded and contractors selected; a description of efforts to obtain support and assistance from other countries toward the rehabilitation of Iraq. The U.S. should not be going this alone; an assessment of what additional funding is needed to complete military operations and reconstruction efforts in Iraq, including a plan for security in Iraq; a detailed plan for how any future funds will be spent; and a statement of how those funds will advance the interests of the United States in Iraq. Sanctions shall be imposed against contractors who have engaged in fraud or abuse or, yes, war profiteering.

We are calling for the creation of a Truman-like committee commissioned to conduct an ongoing study and investigation of the awarding and carrying out of contracts by the United States to conduct activities with regard to Operation Iraqi Freedom, and make such recommendations to the House as the select committee deems appropriate.

Funding requests for Operation Iraqi Freedom in fiscal year 2008 and beyond must come through the regular appropriation process, not through the so-called emergency supplementals; no more of not being accountable; no more hiding the true cost of the war.

And finally, the administration should firmly condition further American financial, military and political resources upon steady improvement in Iraqi assumption of principal responsibility for internally policing Iraq.

Now, why are we filing this resolution? Because our Nation has now spent over $400 billion, nearly a half a trillion, in Iraq. Total for 2006, $100.4 billion; for the month, $8.44 billion; the cost per day, $275 million. And, Mr. Speaker, yes, each hour we are sending $11,458,333 of your tax money to Iraq. And we believe it is time for this Congress to fulfill its constitutional duty to provide oversight on how this money is being spent.

I yield to my fellow Blue Dog member from California Mr. Costa.

I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Costa). And in the 8 minutes or so we have remaining, I have got three other members of the Blue Dog Coalition that have joined us, and we are very pleased that they have. At this time I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Cardoza).

I thank the gentleman from California for demanding accountability of how your tax money, Mr. Speaker, is being spent, the tax money of hardworking Americans is being spent, not only here at home, but also abroad in places like Iraq.

I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee, my fellow Blue Dog member, Mr. Lincoln Davis.

I thank the gentleman from Tennessee for his assessment in support of this Blue Dog resolution to demand accountability in Iraq. And with the remaining 3 or 4 minutes left in this Special Order, Mr. Speaker, I yield as much time as the gentleman from Florida, a new member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a new Member of this Congress, Mr. Mahoney, may so desire.

Mr. Speaker, let me be clear the Blue Dog Coalition stands for fiscal responsibility and accountability

here at home and in Iraq, and we stand in support of our men and women in uniform, and we demand accountability for them to ensure that these resources are going to them to support them, to keep them safe, and to return them home to their families. May God bless our troops and their families.

With that, Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Madam Speaker, it is with honor and great pride that I recognize and congratulate the Jessieville Lions of Jessieville, AR, whose outstanding teamwork and dedication on the football field earned them a Class 2A Arkansas State Title at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock on December 8, 2006. The Jessieville Lions embody the spirit of teamwork, determination, and all that defines a champion.

As a parent, I value the important lessons that teamwork teaches our students in pursuit of a lifetime of success. I have long been an advocate of sports and extracurricular activities as they complement academic excellence, inspire leadership, and build character, which better prepare our State's students to face the challenges of the 21st century.

It is a tremendous honor to congratulate the Jessieville High School football program on winning the Class 2A Arkansas State Football Championship. I applaud the Jessieville Lions for their season. This victory is the result of hard work contributed by the players, students, coaching staff, faculty and the community. I salute all who remained focused on this goal and especially the players who rose to the occasion to become State champions. Congratulations Lions.

Madam Speaker, it is with honor and great pride that I recognize and congratulate the Nashville Scrappers of Nashville, AR, whose outstanding teamwork and dedication on the football field earned them a Class 4A Arkansas State Title at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock on December 9, 2006. The Nashville Scrappers embody the spirit of teamwork, determination, and all that defines a champion.

As a parent, I value the important lessons that teamwork teaches our students in pursuit of a lifetime of success. I have long been an advocate of sports and extracurricular activities as they complement academic excellence, inspire leadership, and build character, which better prepare our State's students to face the challenges of the 21st century.

It is a tremendous honor to congratulate the Nashville High School football program on winning the Class 4A Arkansas State Football Championship. I applaud the Nashville Scrappers for their season. This victory is the result of hard work contributed by the players, students, coaching staff, faculty and the community. I salute all who remained focused on this goal and especially the players who rose to the occasion to become State champions. Congratulations Scrappers.

Madam Speaker, it is with honor and great pride that I recognize and congratulate the Arkansas High School Razorbacks of Texarkana, AR, whose outstanding teamwork and dedication on the football field earned them a Class 6A Arkansas State Title at War Memorial Stadium in Little Rock on November 25, 2006. The Arkansas High Razorbacks embody the spirit of teamwork, determination, and all that defines a champion.

As a parent, I value the important lessons that teamwork teaches our students in pursuit of a lifetime of success. I have long been an advocate of sports and extracurricular activities as they complement academic excellence, inspire leadership, and build character, which better prepare our state's students to face the challenges of the 21st century.

It is a tremendous honor to congratulate the Arkansas High School football program on winning the Class 6A Arkansas State Football Championship. I applaud the Arkansas High School Razorbacks for their season. This victory is the result of hard work contributed by the players, students, coaching staff, faculty and the community. I salute all who remained focused on this goal and especially the players who rose to the occasion to become State champions. Congratulations Razorbacks!

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Katheryn Reeves Jean, who passed away January 14, 2007, in Magnolia, Arkansas.

Katheryn Reeves Jean was a pillar of the community of Magnolia and of greater Columbia County for decades. Mrs. Jean was a homemaker and president of Reeves Land and Timber Company. She also served the community in numerous ways, including Chairman of the Columbia County Election Commission, Justice of the Peace for Columbia County and Director of Farmer's Real Estate.

Mrs. Jean was a member of the Jackson Street Church of Christ, Quota Club International and the local and state Republican Party. Mrs. Jean was a former Girl Scout troop leader and a den mother for the Boy Scouts of America. Her dedication to making Magnolia and South Arkansas a better place to live could not have been greater.

My deepest condolences go to her two sons, Hal Jean and Mayor Lane Jean of Magnolia; her sister, Ann Reeves Eddy; and to her 4 grandchildren. Katheryn Reeves Jean will be greatly missed in Magnolia and throughout the state of Arkansas.

Mr. Speaker, this evening, on behalf of the 44 member strong fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog coalition, I rise to spend an hour this evening talking with you and Members of this body about the Blue Dog Coalition's desire to restore fiscal discipline and common sense to our national government.

Over the next hour, we plan as members of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog coalition to talk on this floor about the Blue Dog Coalition's 12-point plan for budget reform. We plan to discuss our accountability measures, because we believe it is time to restore accountability, fiscal discipline, and common sense to our national government.

Before I begin the formal presentation this evening, and will be joined by other members of the Blue Dog Coalition, I would like to take a moment to recognize Sergeant Marcus Wilson. Sergeant Wilson grew up in Dermott, Arkansas, in southeast Arkansas, in our congressional district back home.

This afternoon I had the honor to go to Walter Reed Army Hospital where I was able to sit down and visit with Sergeant Wilson and his wife and his son and thank him for his service to our country. He is there because of injuries suffered in Iraq.

Before that he served in Afghanistan. All of us have different ideas about what we should be doing with this post-war Iraq policy. But one of the things that I believe is absolutely critical and important is that as Members of this Congress, and as American citizens, that we remain united in support of our men and women in uniform. This evening I pay tribute to Sergeant Marcus Wilson of Dermott, Arkansas, and thank him for his service to our country and pray for him as he recovers from injuries he suffered in Iraq.

Mr. Speaker, I wish you could have been with me there this afternoon in conversations with Sergeant Wilson because he makes all Americans proud with his attitude, his attitude of perseverance, his attitude of service to our country as a soldier in the United States Marines. Again, I pay tribute and salute Sergeant Wilson.

Mr. Speaker, on this day my brother-in-law leaves to go to Kyrgyzstan, which is the entry point for Afghanistan, much like Kuwait is the entry point for Iraq, for his second mission there. I hope that all of us will keep him and all our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere across this globe in our hearts and in our prayers.

Mr. Speaker, the underlying purpose of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition is to demand a balanced budget in this country. Mr. Speaker, it was not too long ago from 1998 through 2001 that we had a President named Bill Clinton, from my native State, from my home State, who gave us a balanced budget.

One of the ways he did that was with PAYGO rules in place on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, rules that the Republican leadership threw out after they took control of the House and Senate and the White House in 2001, the beginning of the 107th Congress.

What we have witnessed over the past 6 years has been absolutely staggering, if not startling. We have seen the largest deficit year after year after year until we have accumulated the largest debt ever in our Nation's history.

As members of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, we are committed through our 12-point plan for budget reform and through our accountability package to restore fiscal discipline to our Nation's government.

As we begin this evening, today the U.S. national debt is $8,701,316,295,722.43. We ran out of room. For every man, woman and child in America, their share, your share of the national debt, $29,035.60, what we refer to as the debt tax, d-e-b-t, which is one tax that cannot be repealed, cannot be cut until we go away and get our Nation's fiscal house in order.

If this is not startling enough, what's even more alarming is the fact that our Nation is borrowing about $1 billion a day. On top of that, we are spending about half a billion every day paying interest on the debt we have already got before it increases by another $1 billion a day. It is important that we get our fiscal house in order, that we return to the days of a balanced budget, that we restore fiscal discipline to our national government, because it is about priorities.

Many of America's priorities, honoring our soldiers, giving them the resources they need to get the job done, honoring our veterans and providing them the services that they were promised and so desperately need, especially with this new generation of veterans coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan and other parts of the world, the priorities in education, and so many other areas that are going unmet, half a billion dollars a day is not going to those priorities, they are going to simply pay interest on the debt we already got before it increases another $1 billion just about every single day.

We want to do something about this. We want to effect change. We are sick

and tired of all of the partisan bickering that goes on in our Nation's capital. As members of the Blue Dog Coalition we don't care whether it is a Democrat or Republican idea. We ask ourselves if it is a commonsense idea and does it make sense to the people who sent us here to be their voice.

We have pushed, for 6 years we have asked the Republican leadership to reinstitute the PAYGO rules on the floor of this House, and for 6 years they turned a deaf ear to us. We are really proud that this new leadership, the Democratic leadership, has listened to the Blue Dog Coalition. In the first 24 hours of the 110th session of Congress, we saw the new Democratic leadership on this floor institute rules that reinstated PAYGO, which is the first step in returning to a balanced budget and putting an end to deficit spending.

This evening, Mr. Speaker, I am honored to be joined by a former cochair of the Blue Dog coalition, a real leader within our group from the State of California (Mr. Cardoza). At this time I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Cardoza).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for joining us this evening as a member of the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition to talk about the need to restore common sense and fiscal discipline and accountability to our Nation's government.

On the accountability front, Mr. Speaker, under the United States Constitution Congress has an obligation to provide Congressional oversight of the executive branch. Congressional oversight prevents waste and fraud, it ensures executive compliance with the law and evaluates executive performance.

What we saw, Mr. Speaker, for the last 6 years is a Congress that failed to uphold its constitutional duty to provide oversight of the administration. Rather, what we saw was a Congress that provided a rubber stamp.

The 110th Congress will be different. We will uphold the Constitution of the United States of America and we will provide oversight of the executive branch, as the founders of this country wrote into our Constitution. The reason we are doing that is because when Congress does not do that, it abandons its responsibility by failing to conduct meaningful investigations of allegations of serious waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement of taxpayer dollars.

Mr. Speaker, it is time for this Congress to hold this administration and the Pentagon accountable for how your tax money is being spent in Iraq. Let me be clear about it: As long as we have soldiers in harm's way, we will support our men and women in uniform. As I mentioned earlier, my brother-in-law is in the U.S. Air Force, and today is headed from Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane, Washington, to Kurdistan, where he will be serving for the next few months, if not the first year. My first cousin is in the U.S. Army. His wife gave birth to their first child while he was in Iraq.

This war has impacted all of us across this country in one way or another. I have had 3,000 National Guard soldiers, brave soldiers from Arkansas, spend more than a year in Iraq. I e-mailed today with a soldier from my district in Iraq. Make no mistake about it, as long as we have men and women in uniform in harm's way, we will support them and ensure that they receive the resources they need to get the job done.

But that should never be confused with holding the administration, the Pentagon and the Department of Defense, accountable for how this money is being spent. We are sending some $9 billion a month, with a B, of your tax money to Iraq. The last report I got, it was some $57 million a day to Afghanistan. It is time that this Congress held this administration and the Department of Defense accountable for how it is spending your tax money in Iraq, Afghanistan and other parts of the world.

Additionally, Mr. Speaker, it is time that we hold this new Iraqi government accountable. They must be accountable for their actions. If we are going to put soldiers in harm's way, if we are going to have soldiers dying and becoming injured and returning home without arms and legs and with other injuries that forever change their life, it is time we hold this new Iraqi government accountable for what they are doing or not doing in Iraq.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, it is important, it is absolutely critical, that we stop this nonsense of passing supplemental after supplemental in funding for the Iraq war when we know that this is a long-term deal. It is time for the President to quit playing games with the American people, to stop this nonsense of passing supplements. It is my understanding he is going to ask for billions more in a supplemental just days, if not weeks, before the budget comes out for fiscal year 2008. It is time to make the cost of Iraq and Afghanistan clear to the American people, provide a level of transparency, and include it in the budget.

This is what we are talking about when we are talking about restoring accountability to our national government. Once we demand accountability we will see these deficits begin to disappear.

When I was a small child growing up, I always heard it was the Democrats that tax and spend, and yet I come to Congress and we have got for 6 years a Congress that is controlled by Republicans in the House, the Senate and the White House, a country controlled by the Republicans, and what do they give us? They gave us the largest deficit ever in our Nation's history, year after year after year, in fact, the largest deficit ever. $413 billion in hot checks occurred in 2004; in 2003, it was $378 billion in hot checks; in 2005, $318 billion; in 2006, $296 billion in hot checks.

It is time to restore fiscal discipline to our Nation's government. It is time for this government to have a balanced budget once again, because where is this money coming from? It is not only coming from taxpayers, but we are spending more than we are taking in. It is coming from foreign central banks and foreign investors. In fact, this administration has borrowed more money in 6 years from foreigners than the previous 42 Presidents combined.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to be joined this evening for this discussion

by the cochair of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, the gentleman from Florida, Mr. Boyd.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Florida, a real leader in the fiscally conservative movement, cochair for administration in the Blue Dog Coalition, for his insight this evening.

Mr. Speaker, if you have any comments, questions or concerns for us, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. That is [email protected].

Mr. Speaker, we are often asked how we got the name Blue Dog Coalition if we are just simply a group of fiscally conservative to moderate Democrats. Quite frankly, Mr. Speaker, ironically, after the Republicans took control of Congress in 1994, we were a group, which I wasn't yet a part of, I came here in 2000, but the conservative- moderate movement in this Congress was a group of Democrats that, you have heard the phrase ``yellow dog Democrat,'' well, the Democrats to our left were choking us blue and the Republicans to our right were choking us blue, and we found ourselves in the middle, which is where we believe America is and where we are trying to bring our country, or at least our Congress as we try to restore fiscal discipline to our national government.

But on this accountability measure, if you think with me, Mr. Speaker, no business in our country could succeed financially if it failed to fully report to its shareholders on how it is spending its money. However, that is exactly how our Federal Government has been operating for the past 6 years. This administration is not telling its shareholders, the American taxpayers, how it spends the money coming into our Nation's capital.

In 2004, $25 billion of Federal Government spending went absolutely unaccounted for, according to the Treasury Department.

The Bush administration was unable to determine where the money had gone, how it was spent or what the American people got for their tax money. Even worse, the Republican-controlled Congress at the time failed to hold the executive branch accountable for this omission. Again, a rubber-stamp Congress year after year. The 107th Congress, a rubber-stamp Congress; the 108th Congress, a rubber-stamp Congress; the 109th Congress, a rubber-stamp Congress; the 110th Congress, no more rubber-stamp Congress.

You are going to see a Congress that upholds its constitutional duty given to it in the Constitution of the United States of America to provide oversight. That does not mean go on witch hunts. It means do our job that we have been elected to do in providing oversight and accountability on how the American people's tax money is spent.

In fact, in 2005, the General Accountability Office reported that 18 of 24 major Federal agencies had such bad financial systems that they do not even know the true cost of running some of their programs. Yet the Republican-controlled Congress at the time did not force these agencies to fully account for how money was being spent before doling out billions more of your tax money, Mr. Speaker, to the same programs.

Clearly, Congress year after year has failed to ask the serious questions

about the Bush administration's fiscal irresponsibility and record-high deficits 4 years in a row and have now pushed the Federal debt to nearly $9 trillion.

The time has come to hold this administration accountable for its reckless behavior here at home, as well as in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other parts of the world. You are going to see this 110th Congress do that under the leadership of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition.

I believe Congress must act now to renew its constitutional responsibility to serve as a check and balance for overspending, waste, fraud and financial abuse within the executive branch. Wasteful government spending has forced the national debt to its current record level; and future generations, our children and grandchildren, have to pay that bill. Future generations will have to pay back with interest the money the Federal Government is borrowing from other countries due to this administration's fiscal recklessness.

The time has come to restore commonsense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's government. As members of the Blue Dog Coalition, we have a plan to restore accountability to our government and we have a 12-point plan for budget reform.

At this time, Mr. Speaker, I yield to a new Blue Puppy, if you will, a new member of the Blue Dog Coalition from Ohio (Mr. Wilson).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Ohio, and we welcome him to the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition and appreciate his commitment to restoring accountability, commonsense, and fiscal discipline to our national government.

A lot of times when people think of conservative Democrats, they think of the South; and you will find with the Blue Dog Coalition that we come from every region of the country, Arkansas, Ohio, Long Island, Burbank, Florida, California, and everywhere in between, and we share a common value, and that is, to be responsible stewards of the tax money that is sent to this capital and to ensure that we leave this country just a little bit better than we found it for our children and grandchildren.

Mr. Speaker, what brings us here this evening is, as this poster demonstrates, the national debt, $8,701,316,295,722 and some change. Again, you divide that number by every man, woman and child in America, everyone's share of the national debt is $29,035. A lot of money, a number we need to pay down by going back to the days of a balanced budget, as we had in this country from 1998 through 2001.

Mr. Speaker, as you walk the Halls of Congress, it is easy to detect when you are walking by the office of a Blue Dog member because you will see this poster as a welcome mat by their door to constantly remind Members of Congress and the American people of the national debt. This number, unfortunately, not only changes daily but will go up some $40 million during the hour that we are on the floor this evening discussing this crisis.

I would yield to the gentleman from Florida.

Mr. Speaker, I guess a good way of putting that was the total national debt, not just 6 years ago, but the total national debt from 1789 to 2000 was $5.67 trillion. Today, it is approaching $9 trillion; and by 2010, it is estimated to total more than 10 and approaching $11 trillion. Put it another way, it is doubling, a doubling of the 211-year debt in the past 6 years.

The reason the debt should matter, Mr. Speaker, is because interest payments on this debt are one of the fastest growing parts of the Federal budget, which means less money for education, less money for veterans benefits, less money for health care, less money for roads, and on and on and on.

So deficits do matter. Deficits reduce economic growth. They burden our children and grandchildren with liabilities. They increase our reliance on foreign lenders who now own a sobering 40 percent of our debt.

I yield to the gentleman from Florida.

The gentleman makes an excellent point. In fact, I have a list here. I guess it is like David Letterman's top 10 list. It is the top 10 current lenders. These are the countries that the United States of America are borrowing money from, and for the past 6 years, we have literally gone out and borrowed money from foreign central banks, foreign investors to give folks in this country earning over $400,000 a year a tax cut and leaving our children and grandchildren to foot the bill to pay back these foreigners, if you will.

But the top 10 current lenders are Japan, $640 billion; China, $321.4 billion; United Kingdom, $179.5 billion; OPEC, imagine that one, $98 billion. The United States of America has borrowed from OPEC to run our government. It is time we learned to live within our means again. Korea, $72.4 billion; Taiwan, $68.9 billion; Caribbean banking centers, $61.7 billion; Hong Kong, $46.6 billion; Germany, $46.5 billion. And are you ready for this? Mexico. Mexico, our Nation has borrowed $40.1 billion from Mexico to fund this reckless spending that we have seen in this Chamber and in this government in the past 6 years.

Mr. Speaker, I can assure you, this is every bit as critical to our national security as anything else we have got facing us today because it is a threat to our Nation. It is a threat to our Nation for us to owe this kind of money to so many foreign countries and their central banks and their investors.

I yield to the gentleman from Florida.

I thank the gentleman from Florida. As you can see, in 2000 we had a surplus, in 2001 we had a surplus, and then in 2002 you can see what happened. And the purple demonstrates that we have been in the red, deficit spending year after year after year, record deficit after record deficit.

I think it is important to note that what we are trying to do here is set the stage, explain the mess we are in, and we are not here to simply criticize the Republican leadership of the past 6 years; we are here to offer up commonsense solutions to fix this mess. I think the American people want us to fix it.

As members of the Blue Dog Coalition we have tried to spend the last half hour framing how we have gotten to where we are, because a lot of people remember when we did have a balanced budget in this country. We want to get back to those days, and the way we believe we can do it is through the Blue Dog Coalition's 12-point plan for budget reform.

Point number one is require a balanced budget. Blue Dogs support a constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget every year except in times of war or national emergency. We believe a balanced budget amendment is the only way to ensure fiscal discipline in Congress. Forty-nine States require a balanced budget. Holly Ross requires a balanced budget. And I don't believe it is asking too much and I believe the American people expect it from us to provide them a balanced budget with their tax money and how we run our government here in these United States of America.

If the gentleman would yield. When we talk about PAYGO rules, that is an acronym used on the floor of Congress; but to a lot of the folks of America they probably ask, what is this PAYGO business? It means pay-as-you-go. It was the policy that was in place in this Chamber when we saw the first balanced budget in 40 years, and it went out the window with the Republican leadership of 2001 and we have seen record deficit after record deficit since then. And for 6 years we begged the Republican leadership to listen to us conservative Democrats and work with us to reinstitute this PAYGO rule, and for 6 years it fell on deaf ears. And I am very pleased that one of these 12 points for budget reform, in fact a couple of them, have now been implemented as a policy in the rules of this House under the new Democratic leadership, and I want to thank them for not only listening to us but heeding our call and doing it in the first 24 hours of the 110th Session of Congress under the Democratic leadership, which demonstrates that our message is getting out. People are identifying with our message of restoring fiscal discipline to our national government.

But many folks on the Republican side still don't get it, Mr. Speaker. I will never forget when we were down here debating the PAYGO rule, and PAYGO means pay-as-you-go; it means if you have got some new idea for a new program, you have got to show us. And I watched Member after Member on the Republican side get up and say that it is nothing more than a disguise for a tax increase, because if you are going to have new spending, you have got to have more money. They don't get it. They are the party that used to believe in cutting spending, and now they think the only way to pay for a

program is raising taxes. Not so, Mr. Speaker. We are talking about paying for programs, paying for ideas that are good for the American people by cutting other programs, cutting the waste out of government.

People say, well, there is really waste in the government? Yes, sir, Mr. Speaker. I have got $400 million worth of waste sitting in a cow pasture at the Hope Airport in Hope, AR, in some 8,000 brand-new, fully furnished, manufactured homes that FEMA ordered for Hurricane Katrina victims that never got to those victims. They still are sitting there in a hay meadow at the airport in Hope, AR. That is just one of many examples of waste. That is a $400 million example. It is a symbol of what is wrong with FEMA and what is wrong with this administration.

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

The gentleman from Ohio is exactly right. In fact, that is point number 4 in the Blue Dog's 12-point plan for budget reform: Require agencies to put their fiscal houses in order. Number 3 was put a lid on spending. Number 5: Make Congress tell taxpayers how much they are spending.

I want to thank the gentleman from Florida for helping me go through the first 6 of our 12 points for budget reform that we believe can go a long way toward cleaning up this mess here in Washington. And next week, Mr. Speaker, we will be going through the other six points for budget reform. And the gentleman is right, a rainy day fund makes so much sense. No more of these supplementals, which is another word for skirting the budget and skirting the normal appropriations process. We are kidding ourselves if we don't believe there is going to be some kind of disaster or need for a rainy day fund in America every year. These are 6 of the 12 points that we believe can lay a foundation to return to the days of a balanced budget to restore fiscal discipline and accountability to our government.

A lot of people, Mr. Speaker, want to know, what is this Blue Dog Coalition? We are 44 members strong. But what exactly is the Blue Dog Coalition and what exactly do they stand for? And Mr. Speaker, if you have got any comments or concerns for us, you can e-mail us at [email protected].

I am pleased to be joined this evening by a real leader of the Blue Dog Coalition from the State of Tennessee, Mr. Lincoln Davis, who in these closing few minutes is going to tell us exactly what the Blue Dog Coalition is all about and what we as fiscally conservative Democrats stand for.

I yield to the gentleman from Tennessee.

I thank the gentleman from Tennessee for joining us for this Special Order as we talk about the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition's 12-point plan for meaningful budget reform, what we believe can lay a foundation to return us to the days of a balanced budget, to put an end to this reckless spending, to put an end to this deficit spending, and as we discuss our plan for accountability.

We are here to offer up commonsense solutions to many of the challenges facing this country today, Mr. Speaker. As I conclude, I would just remind you that the national debt as of today is $8,701,316,295,722. And that debt during the past hour while we have been on the floor of this House has gone up by an estimated $40 million. It is time to restore fiscal discipline to our national government.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this motion to recommit.

Mr. Speaker, I don't really know where to begin. My wife is a pharmacist. We own a family pharmacy back home in Prescott, Arkansas. Just minutes ago she shared with me by telephone that she had to turn her television set off because she has heard so many untruths and misinformation coming from the Republican side of the aisle during this debate here today.

But let me be clear about this: A ``yes'' vote for the motion to recommit is a vote for the big drug manufacturers, and a ``no'' vote on the motion to recommit is a vote for America's seniors. Now, today we are trying to correct a wrong that occurred back in 2003. Let us reflect back for a moment.

We passed the so-called Medicare part D prescription drug benefit back in 2003, some 500 pages, gave us less than a day to read it and somewhere around 50 or 60, they actually, the Republican leadership actually put language in the bill that says the Federal Government shall be prohibited from negotiating with the big drug manufacturers to bring down the high cost to medicine for America's seniors.

That is in the bill, and that is what today we are fixing, and then, to be sure the big drug manufacturers would not have to lower their prices, the Republican leadership back in 2003, they decided that they would spread all 43 million Medicare beneficiaries, over 30 companies, offering more than 1,200 private plans, so no plan and no company would be able to negotiate on behalf of very many seniors. That is what they did.

Now we know, Mr. Speaker, now we know why back in 2003 the vote on this occurred at 3:00 in the morning. Now we know why the vote took 3 hours for passage.

Today, Mr. Speaker, we are letting the sun shine on our seniors, and on the way we conduct business in this Chamber as we hold the big drug manufacturers accountable and bring down the high cost of medicine for America's seniors.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Berry) for 2 minutes.

Mr. Speaker, I would inquire, how much time do we have remaining?

Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I now yield the remainder of my time to the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Rodriguez).

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share my strong support for raising the federal minimum wage. Today's legislation would increase the existing minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour over two years.

The minimum wage has not increased in more than nine years which is the longest period in the history of the law. The real value of the minimum wage has plummeted to its lowest level in 51 years.

At the current rate of $5.15 an hour, a full-time minimum wage worker brings home $10,712 a year--nearly $6,000 below the poverty level for a family of three. Increasing the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour would benefit up to 13 million Americans who struggle to raise a family.

Last year the state of Arkansas, along with varying other states, realized the need for raising the minimum wage and did so. Now it is time for the Congress to accept this plan and move forward with passage of this important legislation, which can make a real difference in the lives of working families across this country.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Q. Byrum Hurst, who passed away December 4, 2006, in Hot Springs, AR, at the age of 88.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of W.E. Ayers, who passed away December 8, 2006, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, at the age of 76.

W.E. Ayers was a pillar of the city of Pine Bluff and the state of Arkansas for decades. Ayers was the former Chairman and CEO of Simmons First National Corporation of Pine Bluff. He joined the organization in 1957 and became Senior Vice President in 1969. Mr. Ayers was then named President of the Bank in 1985 and named Chairman of the Board the following year.

A graduate of Louisiana State University, W.E. Ayers also received an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and Southeast Arkansas College.

W.E. Ayers was an active member of Lakeside United Methodist Church where he served as a former trustee and Sunday School teacher. He was a past President of the Arkansas Bankers Association as well as a member of the Kiwanis Club, Pine Bluff Chamber of Commerce, Arkansas Arts Council and the Arkansas School for Mathematics and Science Foundation.

My deepest condolences go to his wife, Diane Ayers; son and daughter- in-law, Tim and Leigh Ayers of Atlanta, GA; daughter Cathy Zimmerman of Boulder, CO; and to his 5 grandchildren. W.E. Ayers will be greatly missed in Pine Bluff and throughout the state of Arkansas.

Mr. Speaker, I rise this evening on behalf of the 44 member strong fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. We are a group of fiscally conservative Democrats that are committed to restoring common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's government. During the 109th session of Congress, we had 37 members; in the 110th session of Congress, we have grown to 44 members, 44 fiscally conservative Democrats that share my vision of putting America on a path toward fiscal responsibility, putting America on a path toward accountability, and putting America on a path that will restore common sense to our national government.

As you walk the Halls of Congress, as you walk the Cannon House Office Building, the Longworth House Office Building, as you walk the Rayburn House Office Building, you will see this poster, Mr. Speaker; and as you see this poster, it will be a symbol that you are walking by an office that houses a Blue Dog member. You will find 44 of these posters in the Halls of Congress to remind the American people and to remind the Members of Congress and to remind all of us as we walk these Halls that our Nation is one that is tragically in debt.

The current national debt of these United States of America is $8,690,905,471,722, and actually 43 cents. I just didn't have room to put it on the poster. I ran out of room. And for every man, woman, and child in America, your share of the national debt is $29,005.60. It is what we have coined in the Blue Dog Coalition as the debt tax, D-E-B-T tax. It is one tax that cannot be cut, that cannot be repealed until we get our Nation's fiscal house in order.

Mr. Speaker, you might be thinking, Now, didn't President Clinton leave us with a balanced budget, the first one in some 40 years? Didn't we have a balanced budget from 1998 through 2001? Yes, Mr. Speaker, we did. But in the past 6 years, this Republican President and this Republican Congress has given us record budget deficit after record budget deficit.

On this chart you will see the four largest deficits ever in our Nation's history. The first rank was 2004 when our Nation wrote $413 billion worth of hot checks. The second largest deficit

ever in our Nation's history was in 2003 when our Nation wrote $378 billion in hot checks. In 2005, it was $318 billion. And in 2006, the President actually had a press conference to brag on the fact that he came in under projection and only wrote $296 billion worth of hot checks, the largest deficit year after year after year under this Republican-controlled Congress that has given us the largest debt ever in our Nation's history.

As members of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, we believe that the American people have given us the majority in this Congress because they want us to do something about it; and, Mr. Speaker, we have a plan. We have a 12-point plan to restore budget discipline and common sense to our national government.

Why is this important? It is important because if you think with me, Mr. Speaker, the total national debt from 1789 to 2000 was $5.67 trillion; but by 2010, the total national debt will have increased to $10.88 trillion. That is a doubling, a doubling of the 211-year debt in just 10 years.

Interest payments on this debt are one of the fastest growing parts of the Federal budget, and the debt tax, D-E-B-T tax, is one that cannot be repealed.

Mr. Speaker, the reason this should matter to every man, woman, and child in America is quite simple: deficits do matter. Deficits reduce economic growth; they burden our children and grandchildren with liabilities; they increase our reliance on foreign lenders who now own 40 percent of our debt. Let me repeat that: foreign lenders now own 40 percent of our debt.

Put another way, this administration and this Republican Congress over the past 6 years have borrowed more money from foreign central banks and foreign investors than the previous 42 Presidents combined. It is time to restore some common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's government.

Why? Why does it matter to the working families and seniors to this country? It is quite simple. Our Nation is borrowing some $1 billion a day. We are spending one-half billion dollars each day paying interest on the debt we have already got before we increase it another $1 billion today. And as you can see, the red graph is the increase we spend on your tax money paying interest on the national debt. The blue is how much we spend on education. Look at the difference. The red graph illustrates the amount of your tax money that is going not to pay principle but to pay interest on the national debt. The blue represents how much we are investing in our young people, how much we are spending on education. The green represents how much we are spending on homeland security. Tragically, the dark blue illustrates how much we are spending taking care of our veterans.

It is time this country gets its priorities in order, and I believe the American people on November 7 spoke loud and clear in giving us a chance to lead in this Chamber, and we are ready to lead, and we are ready to lead with the Blue Dog Coalition's 12-point plan for budget reform.

Mr. Speaker, I mentioned that we have grown to 44 members in the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, and one of those members that has joined our ranks is the gentleman from Ohio, and at this time I would yield to my friend from Ohio, Charlie Wilson, for as much time as he would like to take.

I thank the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Wilson) for joining us on the floor this evening for the Blue Dog Special Order as we talk about restoring common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's government. And the gentleman from Ohio, a new member of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, he mentioned that one of the things that we have done already in this 110th Congress under the Democratic leadership is reinstitute the PAYGO rules. That means pay- as-you-go. And on the very first day in the first 24 hours of the 110th session of Congress, we are very pleased as members of the Blue Dog Coalition that the leadership of this House under Democratic control chose to include in their rules package reinstituting the PAYGO rule, because that rule was in place from 1998 through 2001 when we saw a balanced budget in this country. It makes sense to me.

You know, 49 States require a balanced budget. Holly Ross requires a balanced budget at the Ross family in Prescott, Arkansas. We own a small business; we are required to balance the books there. And in our opinion, it is not asking our Nation too much to balance its books. And one of the ways that you begin the process of doing that is instituting the PAYGO rule, which means pay-as-you-go. If you have got a wonderful program, then show us what program you are going to cut to pay for it.

Now, I got a big kick last week during the debate on this very floor when Republicans jumped up and down opposed to reinstituting the PAYGO rule. When I was a small child growing up, I always heard it was the Democrats that tax and spend, and yet it was the Republicans over the last 6 years that has given us record deficit after record deficit, the largest debt ever in our Nation's history. And last week they said they were opposed, many of them said they were opposed to the PAYGO rule because it meant to pay for a new program raising taxes. They don't get it, Mr. Speaker. It is not about raising taxes; it is about cutting spending. It is about reducing the size of our government. It is about paying as you go. If you want to create a new program, show us which program you are going to cut to pay for it.

As members of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition we are sick and tired of the games; we are sick and tired of the partisan bickering that goes on at our Nation's Capitol. I don't care if it is a Democrat or Republican idea. All I care about is, is it a commonsense idea? Does it restore accountability and fiscal responsibility

and discipline to our Nation's government?

At this time I yield to Joe Donnelly, a Member of Indiana, a member of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Indiana, a new member of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, for joining us on the floor this evening as we talk about our plan to restore fiscal discipline to our Nation's government.

Mr. Speaker, on November 7, the American people spoke, and they said they wanted a new direction for this country both here at home and abroad. And in speaking, they gave us, as Democrats, a chance to lead in this 110th Congress. And Mr. Speaker, we are ready, willing and able and prepared to do so.

And part of the way that we believe we can restore fiscal sanity to our National Government, it took 6 years to create this mess, and we can't fix it overnight, but we have a plan to begin to restore some fiscal discipline to our Nation's Government. And it is what we call the Blue Dog Coalition's 12-point plan for budget reform. And I am pleased to be joined this evening by the gentlewoman from Illinois, Ms. Bean, who is going to join me in talking about some of these 12 points, and I now yield to Ms. Bean.

Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I think it is very important that we point out that not only the PAYGO rule, which means pay-as-you-go, no more borrowing money from China to fund some project and let our children and grandchildren worry about it, but pay-as-you- go is one of the rules implemented during the first 24 hours of the 110th Congress under this new Democratic leadership. It is very significant because it is one of the 12 points of the Blue Dogs Coalition's plan for budget reform. But also another one of our 12 points that was included in those first 24 hours in the rules package is adding a level of transparency, justifying, if you will, pet projects or earmarks. I think it is very significant that, of these 12 points that you are reading off, two of them we have tried for years to get the Republican leadership to work with us in a bipartisan manner on this. And two of these 12 were included in the first 24 hours of the Democratic-controlled Congress. I think that is very significant, and I want to thank the leadership for including those.

Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, that reminds me that back when we were voting on the Medicare Part D prescription drug bill, now estimated to cost billions and billions and billions of dollars over the next 10 years, it went to a vote barely a day after the final version of the 500-plus-page bill was made to Members of Congress. We are putting an end to that. We are giving Members of Congress an opportunity to know what they are voting on.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Illinois for sharing with us the Blue Dog Coalition's 12-point plan for budget reform. And if time permits, Mr. Speaker, we will go into more detail on each of these 12 points. And the ones we do not get to tonight, you can expect us back next Tuesday night for this Blue Dog Special Order where we will continue to talk about these 12 points for budget reform because if we are going to clean up the mess in Washington, if we are going to put an end to the deficit spending, if we are going to begin to pay down the debt, we have got to have this 12-point plan in place. You give us this 12-point plan, Mr. Speaker, and we can give you a balanced budget once again in this country.

And, Mr. Speaker, if you have any comments, questions, or concerns for us, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. Again, Mr. Speaker, if you have any comments, questions, or concerns for us, you can e-mail us at [email protected].

At this time, it gives me great pleasure to yield to the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Scott).

The gentleman makes an excellent point. You want to talk about something that is critical to our national security, it is this business that over the past 6 years we continue to cut taxes on folks earning over $400,000 a year with money that we borrowed from foreign central banks and foreign investors, and left our children and grandchildren with the bill to pay.

The gentleman was ticking some of these off, but if I may, it is kind of like David Letterman and his top 10 list, the top 10 current lenders: Japan, $640.1 billion; China, $321.4 billion; the United Kingdom, $179.5 billion. This is the amount of money the United States of America has borrowed from foreign countries to fund tax cuts in this country for folks earning over $400,000 a year.

The voters on November 7 said it is time for a new direction and new priorities in this country, and we are going to give them to the American people. But to continue the list: OPEC, $98 billion, and we wonder why gasoline was approaching $3 a gallon in August; Korea, $72.4 billion; Taiwan, $68.9 billion; the Caribbean banking centers, $61.7 billion; Hong Kong, $46.6 billion; and Germany, $46.5 billion; and to round out the top 10 current lenders to the United States of America, and you are not going to believe this, Mexico, $40.1 billion.

This administration over the past 6 years has borrowed more money from foreign central banks and foreign investors than the previous 42 Presidents combined, and that is why we rise tonight as members of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition to talk about leading America in a new direction, a direction that will restore fiscal discipline to our government; and the way we achieve that is through our Blue Dog Coalition 12-point plan for budget reform.

I thank the gentleman from Georgia, a real leader within the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition for joining us this evening on the House floor as we talk about this new direction for America.

The American people have spoken, and they have told us that it is time for a change. They have given us Democrats an opportunity to lead them in a new direction. I am proud of what we have accomplished in the first few hours of the 110th Congress. We have instituted the PAYGO rules, the rules that say if you are going to spend money, you have to show us how you are going to pay for it, the rules we had in place when we had a balanced budget in this country from 1998 until 2001.

You are seeing us put in place earmark reform, a greater level of transparency and knowing clearly who is asking for the money and where it is going and who is benefiting from it.

Second in our Blue Dog Coalition's 12-point plan for budget reform, in the first 24 hours of this new Congress, we are making progress. We have heard the American people. They have given us an opportunity to lead, and we are demonstrating we can do that. In the first 100 legislative hours, we are passing the 9/11 Commission recommendations that were not implemented in the 109th Congress under the Republican leadership. We are raising the minimum wage, which is something I am very excited about.

Mr. Speaker, if we are serious about moving people from welfare to work, we have to pay them more than $10,712 a year. That is what the Federal minimum wage in this country represents if you work 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, never get sick and don't take a single day off for vacation. We can do better than that by America's working families, and we will. We will this week, the first full week of the 110th session of Congress.

We will pass legislation on the floor this week that tells our government that, yes, it can negotiate on behalf of 40 million seniors with the big drug manufacturers to bring down the high cost of medicine. The American people on November 7 gave us an opportunity to lead. And in these early hours of the 110th Congress, and as members of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, we are demonstrating that we are ready to lead and that we are leading America in a new direction.

Again, Mr. Speaker, the national debt, $8,690,905,471,722. Let's think about this. $8,690,905,471,722.43. The 43 cents wouldn't fit on the poster. For every man, woman and child in America, to get us out of this mess, everybody in America would have to write a check for $29,005.60. That is why we must restore common sense and fiscal discipline to our Nation's government.

Mr. Speaker, as you walk the Halls of Congress, you will know when you are walking past the door of a Blue Dog Coalition member because you will see this poster; and, unfortunately, you will see this number change each day. We are going to do our part to hopefully see this number go down as we push for a balanced budget in this country, as we push for the day when we can see a balanced budget in this country, as we push to restore fiscal discipline and common sense to our national government and its budgeting process.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce another new member of the 44 member strong fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, the Congressman from Florida, Mr. Mahoney.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my good friend from Florida, Mr. Mahoney, for his leadership on these issues and his experience as a business person that he brings to this Congress. I appreciate his perspective and I appreciate his membership in the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition.

Mr. Speaker, in the time we have remaining, I want to spend some time talking more about the 12 point plan for budget reform, about our vision to restore fiscal discipline to our Nation's government.

Again, Mr. Speaker, if you have any comments, questions or concerns for us, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. That is [email protected].

I am delighted to be joined tonight by a number of our 44 member strong, fiscally conservative Blue Dog Coalition Members. At this time I believe we are going to open it up for a colloquy, and I yield to the gentleman from Indiana, Mr. Donnelly.

I want to thank the gentleman from Indiana for his commitment to putting an end to these record deficits in our Federal Government.

The gentleman is absolutely right. I grew up in a small Methodist Church outside of Prescott and Hope, Arkansas, Midway United Methodist Church, and I can remember Sunday after Sunday after Sunday growing up where the preacher would talk about being a good steward, that was always before he passed the plate, and the preacher would talk about being a good steward.

Well, the American people have sent us here and had us raise our right hand and put our left hand on the Bible and take the oath of office and pledge, swear to uphold the Constitution, and, yes, be good stewards of the American people's tax money. That is really what this is all about.

I think it is very important, the work that we are doing as members of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, and trying to be good stewards of the tax money of the people back home and to make sure it is spent wisely and to make sure it is accounted for.

I yield to the gentleman from Ohio, Mr. Wilson.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mahoney).

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Florida for that perspective as we discuss something that is very important to our Nation, and that is how we get our fiscal house back in order after 6 years of reckless spending. We believe we have a plan to do it. That plan is now being implemented.

In the first 24 hours of the 110th Session of Congress we saw the PAYGO rule implemented, which can give us a balanced budget again. It worked before. It can work again. And we saw transparency, a new level of transparency added to earmark reform.

Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Illinois (Ms. Bean).

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Illinois for that perspective.

It is wonderful to be joined this evening during the Blue Dog special order by a number of new members of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition. I believe we have had three, and this will be make four new members join us for this discussion and this debate here on the House floor this evening.

I am pleased at this time to yield to the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Patrick Murphy.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Indiana, and I yield to the gentleman from Georgia, Mr. Scott.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the many members of the fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition for coming to the floor of the House of Representatives this evening and joining me for a discussion on how we can restore fiscal discipline and common sense to our national government, how we can bring this number down, Mr. Speaker. As we conclude, I will remind you in that this number actually went up by some $40 million during the hour that we have been here on the floor this evening.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Brian M. Brian of Camden, Arkansas, who died on October 22, 2006, while working in Iraq as a police trainer. Brian M. Brian was 58 years old when the military convoy he was riding in was attacked. Brian M. Brian was working outside of Baghdad as an international police liaison officer.

Before going to Iraq, Brian worked for the Ouachita County Sheriff's Department for 13 years. Brian held many roles within the department and left the office with the rank Captain. In 2005, he became an instructor at the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy. Brian was a veteran of the U.S. Navy, where he served from 1968 to 1971, including a tour of duty in Vietnam. While not serving our state and our country, Brian enjoyed helping people and animals in his community who were in need of shelter, food or help.

Brian M. Brian gave his life to serve our country and will forever be remembered as a hero, a son, and a husband. My deepest condolences go out to his wife Connie. He will be missed by his family, his community and all those who knew him and counted him as a friend. I will continue to keep Brian M. Brian and his family in my thoughts and prayers.