Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007.

Stem cell research has the capability to cure our most common and pervasive diseases and conditions. From Alzheimer's to Parkinson's disease, cancer to juvenile diabetes, the potential of stem cell research presents one of humanity's greatest leaps toward the ultimate goal of preserving, prolonging and improving life.

As a member of the Florida State Senate for 10 years, leading efforts to utilize and fund embryonic stem cell research was not just a priority of mine, it was a mission.

A large part of my passion and drive toward funding stem cell research is driven by people like Adam Susser, a young boy from the town I reside in, Boca Raton. Adam was asphyxiated at birth and, as a result, is cortically blind with quadriplegic cerebral palsy.

It is driven by Matthew Romer, a young boy in south Florida who died from a fatal genetic disease, despite both parents being told they did not carry the gene.

Both Adam and Matthew suffer from illnesses that stem cell research could find cures for.

Today, I encourage my friends in Congress to support the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act. The passage of this Act is vitally important to the millions of Americans who suffer today from incurable disease and to the millions of Americans who will suffer from incurable diseases in the future.

Mr. Speaker, today, the House of Representatives will vote on a war spending bill that does not call for accountability. Unlike the previous Iraq supplemental, the bill we are voting on today does not provide the American people with a path to end this war. For me, the issue of accountability is imperative. Without a real accountability plan in Iraq, there is no telling how long this war will continue.

We were elected to bring a new direction in Iraq, and I will continue that fight, along with many of my colleagues. As I have made clear time and time again with my votes, I fully support our troops and their families. But I also believe that it is Congress' duty to support a change in the Iraq policy that will meet our national security objectives.

When the people of South Florida chose me to be their voice in Congress, they put their trust and faith in me to represent their values and priorities. Along with the people of South Florida, I will continue to stand up and work toward a new policy in Iraq.

For these reasons, I will vote against the Iraq supplemental bill today.

I thank the gentleman for the time and thank you for the opportunity to speak to this very important issue.

Mr. Speaker, the rising cost of gasoline is causing huge problems for families throughout south Florida, which I represent, and certainly throughout the whole country. In south Florida a gallon of gasoline is well over $3.25 and rising. In fact, there is gas even at $3.59 per gallon in my local area.

What is the excuse this time? Is it disruptions of oil in the Middle East? Not that I am aware of. I haven't heard. Hurricane damage to refineries? No, again. How about the summer driving season? Seems to me this is May. So, again, no excuses, no excuses, but we just hear more and more excuses from oil companies that it's the drivers, it's this or that.

Yes, there are a lot of answers here, but let's focus on where the market manipulation is going on.

In my area, tourism drives the economy. When gas prices go up, the first thing families do is they stay within their budget and cut back on their vacations, vacations that many times are planned to Florida. When gas prices go up, families and businesses feel it, and it negatively impacts every part of our economy.

That's why I am here today to show my strong support for the Federal Price Gouging Prevention Act. This bill, authored by my friend Mr. Stupak and others, would give the Federal Trade Commission the authority to crack down on the people who price gouge. This bill is an excellent step in the short term because it protects consumers and gives the government the teeth it needs to go after market manipulators.

In the long term, we are only going to solve this problem by moving towards energy independence. American families can no longer afford to rely exclusively on oil for their energy needs. We all know that investing in alternative fuel sources is vital to our national security and to our economy.

Being energy-independent is a goal that many of us have been talking about and working on for many years. That goal has never been more important than it is right now. But today is the time we need to make changes that will reduce gas prices for American consumers now, and in the future let's work towards energy independence.

Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure and an honor to be here tonight with the Members of the freshman class. All of us were elected this past November with great ideas brought to us by the people that we represent; lots of good suggestions on how to solve some of the problems that our country, of course some of them are overseas and some of them are home, but the great news is all of them are solvable. Every problem that we have in this country is something that there is a solution to. And it typically requires good faith, working together, Democrats and Republicans, Independents, people of good minds and good faith, to solve the problems.

Tonight we are going to start out our conversation as the freshman class with something that all of us came to this Congress to talk about and to work on and to solve. And it has unfortunately risen up as another significant problem that I think that we are very unhappy about right now, and that, of course, as everyone who has filled up their tank lately knows, is gas prices.

I am from Florida, the 22nd District, which is parts of Broward and Palm Beach Counties in southeast Florida. It is fascinating to me because I have watched gas go up and down and up and down over the years, and Congress has never seemed to have the backbone, if you will, the President and this administration hasn't shown much interest in dealing with gas prices. Maybe it's because of the backbone of some of the people of the administration, or maybe not; but the bottom line is that we have a situation now where gas prices in my area are at about an average of $3.25 a gallon, and as much as $3.59 a gallon.

We understand what this means. This is a real problem for consumers, it is a real problem for our businesses. Whether you have transportation, whether your personal transportation to and from work or the shipping of goods to and from a location, this is something that is beginning to affect our economy.

And I think I am going to throw it over to my colleagues here, but I just want to throw out a few rhetorical questions, because every time we go through this and the price spikes, we hear excuses. You know, last time the excuse was we had a hurricane called Katrina, and it shut down refineries. No hurricane this time. Last time we heard there is a disruption in the oil deliveries out of the Middle East. No disruption. Last time we heard, well, there is a summer spike because of demand during the summertime. It's May, no summertime. What is the excuse? What is the bottom line?

What I am so pleased about is the fact that our freshman class, along with a more senior Member, Mr. Stupak, took on this issue this year and passed today, out of this Congress, in a bipartisan way, I am very proud to say that all the Democrats and I think 70 or 80 Republicans, I think, joined us and passed something called the Federal Price Gouging Prevention Act. The purpose of this act is to allow the FTC, the Federal Trade Commission, to go in with some teeth and enforcement authority, to go in and investigate what's wrong. If the price of oil per barrel is the same or even less than it was last year at this time, how could gas prices be so much higher? And all the commonsense things that we know.

What I am going to do is I am going to introduce each one of you, and I am going to ask you all, I know you all have your own perspectives and some thoughts on this. I am going to start out with Congressman Perlmutter from Colorado. Please give us your thoughts.

Well, I think it is fairly clear. Unfortunately, what has happened in this industry is there is a consolidation. Do you remember there was a term a number of years ago called the seven sisters? That was a term many years ago talking about large oil companies. Well, there has been big consolidation with multinational oil companies that obviously have lots of different people that are tending to their interests. And at this point in time, if you look in any community, I can look at my own community in Palm Beach and Broward Counties, there are fewer competitive stations, company stations versus independents, fewer independents, you don't see a lot of independents at all, which really drives the market a little bit. Then, at the end of the day, there really is very little activity that would show there is true competition.

But I think the real question, of course, and what this law is going to get to, is there is market manipulation, are there antitrust violations. We are going to define it, we are going to strengthen it, and there are consequences.

By the way, don't let anybody tell you, some of the Republican debate on the floor, some of the Republicans that opposed it said, oh, we are going to knock down the independent service stations, the little mom and pop groceries that have a pump in front of them.

We are not talking about them. The minimum size of activity that can become subject to this is a company that sells $500 million of fuel.

So we are not talking about the mom and pops. We are the one who are protective and interested in our communities in the mom and pops.

I think there are lots of questions out there that need to be answered. Again, I think the consequences of violating our Federal law is what is going to change this.

When we went into Iraq in the first place, they were supposed to be able to pay for their entire rebuilding through their own oil revenues. Unfortunately, that has not happened.

I know Mr. Perlmutter has been one of our leaders on renewable energy, as has Mr. Welch.

Mr. Welch, you have brought many ideas forward on renewable energy and alternative energy and energy independence. Why don't you bring us up to date on some of your thoughts.

We all are very committed, and we are seeing some great ideas. This is about business and consumer behavior changing.

You also mentioned something about National Guard. In Florida, we are coming up on our hurricane season June 1. The National Guard has played a big role in emergency services.

Mr. Braley, I know you have a lot of specific information about your National Guard.

Another big issue that many of us ran on was ethics reform and lobbying reform and the whole notion of this connection between lobbyists and legislators and Members of Congress.

I know in Florida before I left Florida, and I was in the Florida Legislature for a number of years, we passed a law that said you can't take a cup of

coffee. It used to be fancy meals, fancy trips and wine. You know something? The average person and most of us who ran said that was not necessary. It creates an impression that there is this unholy connection between a lobbyist and a Member of Congress.

Of course, we also know that many people who give us information are lobbyists, too, but they come in the unpaid variety. One of my teachers talked to me about No Child Left Behind. That's a lobbyist as well. We're talking about the paid ones.

I'm very proud that this Congress, this House, in the earliest going, one of the first packages we passed out of this chamber was to change the rules that this House governs itself by, and the freshmen of this class, of course, once again took the lead because we felt we were the closest ones, having heard the most from the public that we said no more cups of coffee, no more fancy meals, none of that.

You know something? It works just fine. I think all of us can buy our own cup of coffee. We had a little cup of coffee before. Mr. Welch and I, we had our dinner together and were glad to pay for it ourselves.

But it goes beyond that. I think there are other ways that we can break this link, and I think some of the discussions going on right now of continuing to do things and disclosure and all those kinds of things are very important in making sure that the history of this Congress, particularly over the last few years, whether it was the Cunningham and the Tom DeLay and the Bob Ney.

That's right, and there's still unfortunately a few that are still being investigated, and that's going on and that's wrong. It's wrong at home, in any business. It's wrong in any community whether it's done person-to-person, and certainly when you run for higher office in Congress, you have a higher responsibility to make sure that you do the people's business and you're an independent thinker.

So I think I'm very proud and I know these discussions are going on right now.

I thought it was George Washington Perlmutter.

If you think about accountability and confidence, if you have confidence in the people that are representing you, you will certainly have a lot more confidence in the policies and the things that they do in Washington.

And what happens in Washington, whether it's dealing with Iraq or whether it's dealing with the cost of health care, which is another huge issue which hopefully we're going to start tackling soon, or whether it's dealing with any number of issues that we are talking about right now, I feel so much better now just watching the process than looking last year and seeing the Medicare bill that was drafted by pharmaceutical companies that had a big donut hole and really took advantage of people's good intentions of needing health care at an elderly age. And certainly in Florida, in all of our communities, we have a lot of senior citizens.

So the Medicare and the pharmaceutical issues unfortunately were not handled the right way, you know, the energy issues. These are solvable problems. We started talking about that in our opening tonight, solvable issues.

Little bit of backbone, little bit of roll up your sleeves, and turn off the air conditioning, and put a coffee down and nobody's getting up and out until you finish the job, that's the kind of can-do attitude that I think we have and we're going to continue to have over the next year.

I was just thinking as you're talking about the economic dream and the responsibility, and one of the things that I heard on the campaign trail over and over and over again, and I just felt that in my own heart as a small businessman, we had 75 employees in our business, was the fact that this government, for so many years, was just operating in this deficit higher and higher, spend and spend and spend.

And it's one thing we talk about lower taxes, which obviously we want lower taxes, but you have to have lower spending. It has to balance, and it still just goes beyond my imagination as to why Members of Congress over the last number of years could spend and spend and borrow 10s of billions of dollars.

From China, and seems like such an unfathomable, unsustainable kind of thing. Did you ever operate your small business that way or you personally? You balance your checkbook.

A balanced budget. Every one of our States at the end of the year, we all participated in a balanced budget, for 14 years.

The discipline it takes to do this Federal budget, which we're doing right now and I'm really proud we're doing it, is the same discipline that you do with your own family budget. You don't keep borrowing and borrowing and borrowing if you can't afford to pay it back. And these are the kinds of things that are absolutely necessary. What is this principle that we passed I think unanimously in this House.

PAYGO, pay-as-you-go. You can't keep borrowing, you can't keep spending, adding new programs unless there's money in the budget. You can't pretend there's some trickle-down future great thing. If it happens, wonderful, but you know something, we all want lower taxes. We all want a reasonable amount of spending, but you've got to be fiscally responsible.

I'm just proud that we're getting things back on track. So maybe like in the 1990s, when we moved into a budget surplus, which we should have been proud of and sustained that over time, we want to go back to the old ways of the 1990s and certainly not the way of the last seven or eight years.

I thank you for that close, because as we do approach Memorial Day, we do want to extend our appreciation and our acknowledgment to our families all over the United States whose lives were affected by brave men and women who served our country and made the ultimate sacrifice.

We conclude this evening. I would like to thank my colleagues, Mr. Perlmutter, Mr. Braley of Iowa and Mr. Welch, representing our freshmen class. We look forward to, every week, coming back here and giving a little update on what is going on.

We look forward to another busy week, and, of course, a working week at home catching up with our friends and family. Have a nice weekend, everyone, and we will see you soon.

Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 634, the American Veterans Disabled for Life Commemorative Coin Act. This bipartisan legislation commemorates those veterans who have sacrificed so much to secure our freedom by requiring the Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in their honor.

The funding generated from the sale of these coins will be used to help build a memorial to disabled veterans on the grounds surrounding the U.S. Capitol. This memorial, which will sit within full view of the Capitol, will serve to remind us of those young men and women who put their lives on the line each day in defense of this great Nation.

Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to visit Walter Reed to meet some of the brave men and women that we seek to honor here today. I will never forget the faces of those warriors who proved that they would stop at nothing to fulfill the mission that this Nation has laid before them.

Our military veterans have served honorably around the world, in many of the most hostile and dangerous conditions known to man. Whether it is in the fields of Europe, the jungles of Southeast Asia, or the deserts of the Middle East, the selfless actions of these men and women helps to preserve the liberty that we hold so dear.

These soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines who voluntarily heeded the call to serve our Nation in combat, truly embody all that is great within our society. They have shown courage and valor, consistently performing with distinction on foreign battlefields. These honorable Americans have given us all that they have to offer. It is now time for us to show them how much we appreciate their great sacrifice.

Mr. Speaker, when the American people entrusted this House to a new Democratic majority, they wanted Congress to deliver tangible results. We are living up to that promise. In the first 100 hours, we passed rules to clean up the way that Congress operates. We implemented the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. We raised the minimum wage to expand economic prosperity to millions who have been left behind for too long, and we cut interest rates in half so college is more affordable to middle-class families in our country.

We also repealed billions of dollars in tax breaks to big oil companies and instead are investing that in alternative fuels and energy-efficient technology. We hope this legislation will begin to wean our Nation off foreign oil because today customers are once again paying record prices at the pump, and that is simply wrong. This legislation is a first step in changing our Nation's energy policy.

We also passed a budget that is actually balanced within the next 5 years, and we did it without raising taxes.

Mr. Speaker, we are living up to our promise to move our Nation in a new and better direction.

Mr. Speaker, today I would like to honor a special group of south Florida high school students for being selected to participate in a prestigious debate competition this weekend in New York City.

The students, Zoe Friedland, Samuel Natale, Alexandre Pouille, Jemma Hinkly, Emily Deyes, Christopher Bahls-Mariles, and Rachael Mielke, hail from Dreyfoos High School in Palm Beach County, and will represent the school at the National Public Policy Forum debate championship this weekend

I wish these students the best of luck. They are some of the best and brightest, and I know they will represent south Florida well. I commend them for their hard work, dedication and perseverance that got them to this level and qualified them for this competition.

I also want to take this opportunity to express the condolences from my district to the family and friends of the Virginia Tech students who were tragically killed on Monday, and wish a speedy recovery to those who were injured.

Our children are the future of our Nation and our greatest asset. I join my colleagues in the House of Representatives to express our grief and sympathy. Our thoughts and prayers are with their friends and families.

Thank you very much, Congressman Ellison.

It is a pleasure to be here once again with my freshman colleagues as we try to do this every Thursday evening and get together and speak about what's going on in the last couple of weeks and tell the American people and share with them some of the good things that we've been working on.

We ran in elections this past November. And coming into the freshman class, we heard loud and clear from the American public that it was very, very important that we get this budget under control. One of the first things that we did, and I am very proud of it and Republicans joined with us on this so it was a bipartisan effort, is we passed the PAYGO principle. PAYGO is about as simple as you can imagine; it's pay- as-you-go. It's no different than the way I run my personal family budget with my kids and my wife; it's no different than most people run their small businesses or large businesses. It is the simple point of money comes in, and you can't spend more than is coming in. It is expenses versus revenues, or cash flow.

I was very proud of that moment as one of the very first things that we did was to pass the PAYGO principle, and that was something that was, in the past, the Congress always followed that principle, but most recently, in the last number of years, it was thrown out. As a result of that, tax cuts, higher spending, and tax cuts are wonderful, we all want less taxes as long as there are corresponding spending cuts. Everything has to balance. I just want to reference that because to me that was a great start.

I am very proud of the fact that everything we have passed since then, every bill that we have taken up has a component in it which says we cannot add new expenses, we cannot build more programs unless the money is in the budget. I think that is a principle that needs to be there forever, for that matter; and I think that is the first step in beginning this process of getting our fiscal house in order.

So I am just going to highlight that for a minute and turn it back over to Congressman Ellison.

Sure. I listened to Congressman Murphy, and I listened to veterans in my home district of Broward and Palm Beach Counties, and whether it was World War II, the Korean War or the most recent conflicts we are involved in, these are brave men and women that put their lives on the line, and they deserve to be supported, both on the ground and when they come home.

I thank you for your service, and I certainly thank your colleagues over in Iraq and the men and women that are fighting and protecting our freedoms all over the world.

You know, when I think about September 11, which was a dark day for our country, and what happened in our country with the failures that allowed these terrorists to attack us, and the deaths, the needless deaths that occurred in our major cities, it was an awakening for this country. But it was also a time when we had an opportunity to really take stock of where our shortcomings were. Where were the intelligence failures? Where were the communication failures? Where were the vulnerabilities in our airports and our seaports and all these other places where people came in from other countries to harm us and kill our people in this country?

And there was a man named Osama bin Laden who is still out there. Hard to believe today. When you think about what our number one strategy should have been was to find the perpetrator and the perpetrators of this terrible, terrible tragedy, and he is still out there today. That needs to be rectified.

But beyond that, I think we all recognize things that came together after that; and there was this 9/11 Commission report, which was probably one of the most prestigious, important, qualified incredible groups that came together, Democrats, Republicans, professionals which said, let's figure this out. This isn't a Democrat/Republican issue; it is an American issue, and protecting our territory, our homes, our streets. And they came up with this 9/11 report. Which, if you haven't had a chance to take a look at it, it is not just reading you read before you go to bed and it will put you to sleep. This is gripping. This is really a very thorough analysis of what we need to do.

Unfortunately, it was a number of years that passed. Some things were adopted from that plan, but many were not. And I don't think it was anybody questioning the fact that this was a priority, but it wasn't passed. Many of the items weren't passed.

So one of the things that we said in our campaigns and we took up right away, and we are still obviously waiting for the process in Washington to be finished, but the House quickly took up the rest of the 9/11 Commission report and passed it. And I just want to highlight a few key elements.

We know that there were problems with aviation security. Those elements, those recommendations have been adopted. We know that there were port problems and port security issues. Most containers that come in, substantially most of the containers that come into our ports are not inspected. I come from southeast Florida. We have Port of Palm Beach and Port Everglades. Port Everglades is a main oil terminal among cargo and container in great bulk. Tremendous risk if you happen to be anywhere near those areas and something, God forbid, comes in in the form of nuclear materials or biohazardous materials or anything else that comes into those ports. And this is all over the United States. Ownership of the ports. We all know about the Dubai Port issue. That has been straightened out through our legislation.

Certainly the idea of preventing terrorists from even getting into this country, visa changes, rules changes, all these things are so important. And not to mention the people that are on the ground fighting for us every day, our firefighters, our emergency responders, our police officers. Every one of us feels very strongly about them. And as we grew up and you wanted to be a fireman or you wanted to be a policeman, not everybody chose that profession, but, boy, on September 11 did we as Americans have a newfound respect for what they did for us.

But what we needed to do that wasn't done was to give them the tools, the communications tools like they needed in New York and other places so they can make sure that they can communicate with each other, and that local and State and National Federal intelligence agencies can properly share that information. These things have now been passed by the House of Representatives, and it was one of the first things we did. And that is the right thing to do. And whatever it costs, that should be at the top of our budget. People say, well, it is expensive. You know something? You prioritize. You say, what is first? Homeland security, protecting our troops, making sure they are properly funded. And I know that Congressman Yarmuth is going to talk about the incredible great work we have done for our veterans.

These are the things that are our Nation's priorities. These are American

values and America's priorities. And I am very proud that we as the freshman class participated with the rest of the Congress, and mostly Democrats, and Republicans, came together that said, yes, we are going to take care of the American people first. So I just wanted to share those elements with you.

Well, that is an interesting question, and I think we should look back the last few years.

The President in his State of the Union address about a year ago correctly said we are addicted to oil. I think everybody understood what he meant by that, and yet Congress, a number of months later, passed an energy bill which gave billions of dollars to energy companies and subsidized more oil drilling.

Now, oil will always be a part of the energy policy of the United States, but this notion that oil is our way out, to me, is just ridiculous. This is interesting because when I have been speaking at schools back home, and I am sure you have been doing the same thing, and I want to talk to our young population, our students, as well as our adults.

The calling of this generation is to move toward making this country energy independent. It goes right directly to what Representative Hodes was talking about, defend our country. The number one thing that we should do to ensure that we are defending our country is making sure that we are not continually dependent on importing oil from countries that are not reliable partners, and whether that is Middle East countries or Venezuela or any other country if you have been following around the world where we are daily bringing in 60 percent of our oil in the form of imports, that is a dangerous prospect and a dangerous policy.

So what we can do about it? We can focus, just like in the past, the attention of the American people, our scientists, our public sector, our private entrepreneurs, our people that have great vision and say, what can we do to make ourselves energy independent? Is it solar, is it wind, is it wave, is it thermal, is it any combination of science that can go along with this?

We put a man on the moon when said John F. Kennedy said, we are going to fight against the Sputnik, that little can that went up into space. We created the Manhattan project, that we knew it was a matter of our national security to make sure that we developed a nuclear weapon, it was an atomic weapon at that time, to make sure that we would end World War II successfully. That was a commitment that Americans, with our ingenuity and our science, put that all together.

Well, I do not think there is anybody who is listening tonight does not believe that Americans, if they put their nose to the grindstone and we make our commitments as consumers, as scientists, as public and private people, that we cannot accomplish that same goal. It is a matter of national security. It is a matter of our environment. You already mentioned this, global warming, and the science, the carbon dioxide and all those things, and it is also a matter of a new economy.

We think about jobs for the next generation, the science, that we can lead the world and export our technology and be successful.

A new energy policy is the calling of our generation, and I hope and I believe, based on the freshman class, by the way, the freshman class of Democrats and Republicans coming in and listening very closely to the public, I think there is a great opportunity for us to all work together and change it from just an energy policy that is dependent on oil to one that will really improve our environment, create new jobs and really protect us in this next century.

Mr. Speaker, I thank you for being here tonight. It has been a pleasure to be with this freshman class, I look forward to continuing to work on all these items and more, and look forward to working with our people back home and making sure we are listening to their ideas, as we have been, and just continuing to move our country forward.

Madam Speaker, pursuant to clause 1, rule I, I demand a vote on agreeing to the Speaker's approval of the Journal.

Madam Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.

Madam Speaker, last weekend, I participated in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Walk to Cure Diabetes in my hometown of Boca Raton, Florida. I participated in this walk to help bring attention to the urgent need for finding a cure for juvenile diabetes.

I also walked in honor of two children in my district, Sydney Lubetkin and Nicky Pollack. Nicky was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes as an infant, and Sydney was diagnosed with the illness just this past year.

Juvenile diabetes is a serious disease that inflicts tens of thousands of children across the United States. Not only does this illness cost us $100 billion in health care costs alone, but living with juvenile diabetes requires 24-7 care. Children must constantly take insulin shots and have their blood checked numerous times a day, and their diet and exercise regimen must always be under strict surveillance. In severe cases, juvenile diabetes can cause blindness, heart failure, stroke and, worst case, death.

This is why I signed on as a sponsor of House Resolution 4 that urges Congress to appropriate $1.6 billion annually. I thank Members for their support.

Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize a special group of young people in Ft. Lauderdale, FL who are raising awareness about the important and urgent issue of human trafficking.

As you may know, human trafficking and forced labor is one of the most prolific areas of international criminal activity and is of significant concern to the United States and the international community. The overwhelming majority of those trafficked are women and children.

According to the most recent Department of State estimates, between 600,000 and 800,000 people are trafficked across borders each year. If trafficking within countries and forced labor are included in the total world figures, estimates rise to 4 to 27 million people.

Human trafficking is now considered a leading source of profits for organized crime generating billions of dollars. Trafficking in persons affects virtually every country in the world. Traffickers exploit poverty, war, natural or man-made disasters, and ignorance.

The students at the Ft. Lauderdale Prep School are raising money to combat global human trafficking and they have created a large mural to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the Abolition of the Trans- Atlantic Sale, which occurred on Friday, March 25th. I commend these students on their efforts to raise awareness on this issue. The passion and motivation of these students are worthy of emulation.

Mr. Speaker, I am Ron Klein, and I represent Florida's 22nd Congressional District in Congress, which is southeast Florida, Fort Lauderdale to West Palm Beach area, and I have the privilege of anchoring tonight's freshmen's Special Order. We decided as a group of freshman, and there was a large group of us that were elected this year, to meet on a regular basis and to discuss policy, those of us who had contested races, those of us who did not have contested races, but all of us new with this process coming in with a fresh perspective and the belief that hopefully we could influence the process in a way that would move things along, which is, I think, the loud message we heard from the people that elected all of us, both Democrats and Republicans this year.

Tonight our Special Order is going to focus on the importance of accountability and oversight within our Nation's government. There is no question that the ability to exercise accountability and oversight among the executive and legislative branches, that is our branch and the President's branch, is vital to making sure that our government is operating and governing within the highest ethical and moral standards, and makes sense. It is also important to make sure our government is doing the right thing for our people.

It seems that every time we are turning on the news lately or pick up the newspaper, there seems to be some story about where there is no accountability. And the oversight and lack of accountability seems to be the prime topic of conversation back home in our districts, in our offices, in our supermarkets, in our churches and synagogues. If you just think about the most recent one, the United States attorney scandal, where a number of U.S. attorneys were fired; and, of course, there is a question about for what purpose they were fired and whether there is a reason, and now there is a question of getting all the information out on the table.

The ongoing concerns over Valerie Plame and the outing of Valerie Plame. And, of course, I think most of us as Americans understand, when someone works for this country as a member of our intelligence services, we owe that person the highest degree of respect and integrity and make sure that their position is held confidential. And certainly anybody who is responsible for outing that person should be held accountable and punished.

Conditions at Walter Reed Hospital. And we are going to talk about that a little more tonight, and, unfortunately, other veterans hospitals. And I am happy to say that in my area and in many other parts of the country that there are some very good things going on in our veterans hospitals and our veterans outpatient clinics, but many times it is a matter of having the resources to have enough doctors in place. And I know I have heard from time to time about long waiting lines. But there are places like Walter Reed and other places that have now been identified where you had mold and you had ceilings falling in and lack of care, and people that were working there that were overworked and unfortunately not providing the type of treatment that should be awarded. The highest level of respect should be awarded to our men and women who are our heroes in this country.

And, of course, the no-bid government contracts being awarded to companies doing business in Iraq to the tune of billions of dollars of waste, and certainly not accomplishing the major goals. One of the goals we went in there with, of course, was to take out Saddam Hussein, but I think everybody understood very quickly that if we were going to be successful in changing the hearts and minds, that some of the rebuilding activities, getting electricity on, getting hospitals up, creating jobs, those kinds of things would be very, very important to making the people of Iraq feel that this was a worthy cause to set up their own government. Unfortunately, we have spent billions of our money over there, and, unfortunately, the condition is in many ways worse today than it was with the fall of Saddam Hussein.

The news on these subjects is everywhere. So tonight we are going to talk about accountability and oversight, and my colleagues who are going to join me tonight as freshman Members recently elected are going to be talking about how we are working to restore those features of accountability and oversight to Washington and our government.

A couple things I just want to touch on before I turn over to my colleague Congressman Hodes. On November 7, which was last year's election, we believe that the American people, I know we all heard this as we walked door to door and heard from the American people, they wanted change. It wasn't necessarily Democrat or Republican; they wanted people to come together, find common ground, and move forward. And fortunately for this country, this House has, in fact, started that process. There were six items very quickly that were passed in the beginning called the 100 Hours, the Six for '06, everything from fixing the Medicare prescription drug program, which I know many of our seniors are concerned about making it easier to use, less costly to the taxpayers; minimum wage, making the minimum wage higher, of course, is a key issue; lower student loan rates; and a number of other issues like energy policy. These are the things that we came to work on and that were done.

We also passed the lobbying reform bill and a full disclosure bill which has already significantly reduced the influence that lobbyists have on this legislative process. We need to do more, but we certainly took a lot of the right steps by not allowing lobbyists to take Members of Congress out to lunch. We had that in Florida, we changed that, and I am glad we changed that here, too.

And, of course, the earmark process. And for those of you who don't know what earmark is, that is this idea: In the past, Congressmen, Members of the Senate and House, would go behind closed doors and add millions and tens of millions of dollars, even hundreds of millions in some cases, of special projects in the dark of night to the budget without any consideration by all the Members of Congress. And that needs to change, and I am very happy to say that with new earmark reforms in place, that will change.

The way it is changing is very clear: Anything that is presented needs to be presented in the light of day. It needs to be publicly disclosed and laid out for the Members of the Congress so that a legitimate project in Alaska should be a legitimate project in Florida. Even though it may benefit one State, we all

represent this country, but it has got to be done the right way.

This week we passed important legislation which curbs waste in Federal contracting; strengthens protection for whistleblowers, and those are, of course, people that discover and come forward when there is waste and corruption in government; and also provides long overdue of the veterans health care crisis and other Federal issues. We are going to talk about accountability of tax dollars. We are going to talk about a number of other things.

I am joined by some colleagues here, and I would like to introduce them. We have got Congressman Ellison, who is going to join us and talk to us a minute; Congressman Hodes. Congressman Welch is going to join us for a few minutes.

You look like you are poised and ready to go, Congressman Hodes, so why don't you kick off and give us a little oversight on what you are going to talk about on oversight and accountability.

Thank you, Mr. Hodes. I think you laid it out very well.

I think the average American believes very strongly in accountability and oversight because they understand, that's how they live their lives. If you have a business, you can't do anything without keeping track of your books, keeping track of you inventory, keeping track of your personnel, your employees, and knowing that there is an end-point. And you will make money or not make money by running it efficiently with oversight. And I think that nobody is asking for any more than that in government. And, unfortunately, as you have pointed out very eloquently, that is exactly what has gone on without anybody looking after it. And many of the committees were either not operating or were abolished in the last number of years, and that just doesn't make any sense.

So I think you pointed out very appropriately that we are glad I think in a way that the Democrats are leading, but I think the Republicans are now joining us. And, again, this is a bipartisan approach to fixing this.

Mr. Ellison, I know that you have been leading and talking about this as well, so give us some of your thoughts, please.

Thank you, Mr. Ellison.

I think that, again, the example you gave is something that is on our front pages. We are hearing about it and we are listening.

Some people have said, well, what is the difference if someone is coming forward or if they are coming forward under oath. Well, I like to see, when someone comes forward, that they put their hand up and say, I swear to tell the whole truth. I can't imagine somebody wouldn't want to do that and what are they hiding if they are not prepared to do that. That seems to be a little battle going on between the Congress and its investigative authority and the President. But, again, I think you put your hand up, we are expecting the truth anyway, and I think that is an appropriate thing to do.

Mr. Welch, our representative from Vermont in our class, why don't you share with us some of your thoughts on this.

The examples obviously go right back to what I think we all believe in strongly as Americans: common sense. Use common sense when you do anything. When you make decisions, use common sense. When you follow up, use common sense. I mean, the examples that you have cited are so extraordinary, they defy common sense.

I am glad to see, Mr. Welch, some of the legislation coming forward. Mr. Waxman and others have proposed eliminating or limiting no-bid contracts and putting all this out there. And I think this is a bipartisan issue. Nobody seems to have any problem with it. But I think, as you said, it is long overdue.

Madam Speaker, we are joined by another Member of our freshmen group, and it is Mr. Perlmutter from Colorado. We are now geographically dispersed from the Southeast to the East to the Midwest and the West.

So why don't you give us some of your thoughts from the Colorado perspective.

Thank you, Mr. Perlmutter. And I think we have heard from some of our friends and we have a lot of others within the Democratic side of the freshmen class. There are 41 of us. It is a big class this year, along with the rest of them, Republicans as well. And I think the message is pretty clear, the things you are talking about, the checks and balances. And, by the way, we have our checks and balances with the President. There are also checks and balances with all the agencies. And those are some of the things we are talking about tonight, to be sure things are operating the way they should. A big budget. A lot of money. It has to be spent properly. We feel very committed to that.

Mr. Hodes, I know you want to add another thought here.

Well said. I know that Mr. Ellison wanted to add something to that also.

Mr. Perlmutter is about to jump through the microphone.

Madam Speaker, we have one of our senior Members present, you can tell because the rest of us freshmen have dark hair, one of the senior Members who is a mentor to all of us. Mr. Larson of Connecticut is one of the people that truly all of us look up to. Please join us.

We appreciate your guidance and counsel. As we are listening to many of the things, we are glad to add a new energy to the process here. You can see it here tonight.

I want to bring Mr. Ellison back in. He was really making a passionate statement.

Obviously there are so many things to talk about in terms of the oversight and accountability. One of the things that I think really hit hard for a lot of the people, particularly if you served in the military, was the Walter Reed Hospital revelation.

Many of us have not served in the military. We may have some family members that receive veterans benefits and things like that. We think of people we ask to serve our country or may have served in the past. They are American heroes on so many levels, and they deserve the highest level of care. So it was shocking, and then shocking even more so when we found out this has been going on for a while.

I think this oversight we have been talking about, the accountability, the proper funding, the proper level of care, doctors, nurses, things like that, so many people in the system are doing good jobs, but there are clearly deficiencies.

Mr. Welch, you have some thoughts on that.

I agree with that.

Mr. Perlmutter, I think you wanted to add something to that as well.

Thank you, Mr. Ellison. Mr. Hodes.

I thank you, Mr. Hodes, for being part of our freshman class and our working group that is going to be here every week. The 110th Congress is strengthening oversight, and the proof is in the pudding.

People can say, I have lost confidence in Congress, but look at what we are doing. We have had dozens of hearings in the Foreign Affairs Committee just on the ability of working with our diplomatic efforts and all of the strategies in dealing with Iraq on the nonmilitary side. In the past, there have not been enough opportunities to do that.

We've had hearings on the veterans health care crisis and Walter Reed, the politicalization of the Justice Department and how wrong that is and that needs to be cleaned up, the Hurricane Katrina response and the things we are doing right now, passing legislation to truly get people back up on their feet. Global warming and energy independence was mentioned, and the fact is that we are getting down to the things we need to do as Americans to deal with our energy needs and the fact that there is an environmental impact. And, of course, upcoming hearings of oversight on everything from Valerie Plame to oil and gas royalties and National Guard and intelligence.

This is part of the mandate of the last election. I look forward to working with our freshman class. We will be doing this every week. We certainly want input from our constituents back home. Tell us what you think we can be doing. We look forward to working with both Republicans and Democrats to build on this theme of accountability and oversight.

I am Ron Klein, and I represent Florida's 22nd Congressional District in south Florida.

Today, I am honoring the city of Dania Beach, a community in southeast Florida, for investing in a $1 million solar energy system to power the city's streetlights. Not only is this an innovative and environmentally sound decision made by the city of Dania Beach, but it is also a decision that will strengthen the safety of the community.

After Hurricane Wilma struck, Dania Beach could not restore its power and the pole damage quickly enough, leaving the city streets without lighting for a lengthy period of time. With the new solar panels, the streetlights will not be dependent on electricity, and the panels will be mounted to withstand even the most fierce hurricane winds.

I applaud this sort of ground-breaking, innovative way of thinking. Alternative energy sources are the way of the future. If more communities around the country would follow Dania Beach's lead, we would leave our environment in a much better condition for our children and our grandchildren.

Madam Speaker, in my district, which stretches along the coast line from West Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale, we have a number of veterans who have served in wars for this country, ranging from World War II to Iraq and Afghanistan. These veterans have been served well in most cases by clinics in our district, such as the VA Hospital and other outpatient facilities in Fort Lauderdale. But like many places around the country, these facilities have their share of problems as well, largely due to a lack of adequate Federal funding. These facilities are not always able to see and treat the veterans as quickly as they would like to, and of course we all know what is going on at Walter Reed, mold seeping from the walls and ceilings, rats and roaches running freely. These conditions are fit for no one.

This is no way to treat our men and women in uniform who have sacrificed their families, their jobs, their lives, everything to serve our country. We must change the way we are treating our veterans when they return home, and that starts with providing critical funding for health care services and infrastructure needs. To ask them to sacrifice so much for us, only to find when they come home they are treated inadequately on so many fronts is nothing less than immoral.

Mr. Speaker, the President's 2008 budget proposal does not properly address the concern of American families. President Bush once again proposes substantial cuts to programs so important to our districts like Medicare, Medicaid, education and the environment. He then uses those funds not to offset our country's massive debt, but instead to fund expensive tax cuts that do not grow our economy and give it to people who need it the least. Unfortunately, budgets like this are what we have come to expect from an administration with the worst financial fiscal record in our Nation's history.

During the 6 years of the Bush administration, the government has posted the highest deficits in history,

squandering billions of dollars in budget surpluses and making massive cuts to vital programs. The President's misguided priorities have forced him to borrow money from foreign nations like China and Japan, more than all of 42 Presidents combined. This is not a record to be proud of.

Mr. Speaker, we simply cannot handle more of the same, and unfortunately that is what this budget proposes. I stand ready to work with Democrats and Republicans to take our Nation in a new direction of fiscal responsibility. We plan to do that.