Date: 2007-06-05
Speaker: PATRICK J. MURPHY (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Penn

sylvania. Mr. Speaker. I would like to thank the gentleman from Arkansas. and point out when I was in an earlier deployment before Iraq. I was in Bosnia in 2002. Our soldiers on the ground there would often call the contractors Kellogg Brown & Root "Kellogg Brown & Loot." because of the looting. of what they were doing to their own country when it comes to our fiscal dollars. And I am not trying to be cute or funny.- That is a sad commentary on what is really going on over there in these deployments. Mr. Speaker. when I heard my colleague. Mr. DONNELLY. here from the great State of Indiana. and I know he went to the University of Notre Dame. I was with a colleague of mine on the phone yesterday. I was driving back from a memorial service for Private First Class Bobby Dembowski. who was a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division who was killed recently in Iraq. He was from Bucks County. in my district. . When I was driving back from his memorial service yesterday with a heavy heart. I called my buddy. who is also a University of Notre Dame graduate. Captain Kobe Langley. I called Kobe. Mr. Speaker. and I said to him. "Kobe. I am coming back." He said. "Bow are you doing. Murph?" I said. "Kobe. not too good. I am coming back from another memorial service for one of our heroes that gave the ultimate sacrifice." He said. "Well. you got to keep fighting. You got to keep doing what you are doing." Ie asked. What was the press conference you gave the other day? I said I was standing up to this administration. I have the great honor of serving on the Armed Services Committee. I know my colleague and my fellow Blue Dog Representative DONNELLY serves on the Veterans Affairs Committee. We were both cosigners for House Resolutiop 162 because we want to hold this administration accountable when the Armed Services Committee says our troops deserve a 3.5 percent pay increase and there is already a wide gap between military pay and civilian pay. The people who join the military are not trying to get rich. But if you are a privat6 in Iraq. I dont think making $18.000 a year is too much to ask for. We were trying to give those privates and everyone across the board a 3.5 percent pay increase to lessen that gap. President Bush in writing said a 3.5 percent pay increase for our troops is. I quote. "unnecessary." Unnecessary. A private first class making $18.000 a year in Iraq is unnecessary. It is too much money -to ask for. So this House bill in which the Speaker pro tempore. Mr. ELLSWORTH. and Mr. DONNELLY cosponsored says a sense of the Congress is it should be a 3.5 percent pay increase. We support the troops and understand their sacrifice. We can find the money through PAYGO rules which the Blue Dogs believe in. As the gentleman from Arkansas says. $9 trillion is what we owe in debt. So my daughter Maggie. who is home with my beautiful wife. when my daughter was born in Lower Bucks Hospital 6 months ago. she was born $29.000 in debt. a debt that we all owe combined. every man. woman and child. $9 trillion. Some folks. when I am meeting folks in my district. they would say. Patrick. we are at war. Of course. it is going to cost money. I tell them this Iraq war has cost $450 billion. now up -to maybe $500 billion. We owe $9 trillion to Communist China. to Mexico and to Japan. In March. 2007. the interest that we pay on that debt was $21 billion. Now I know those folks at home who believe in what the Blue Dog Democrats believe in. of fiscal responsibility. of accountability. They say to themselves. wow. Congressman MURPHY. $21 billion just in interest. When I tell them how I used to be an eduicator at West Point and how we need to be more and more competitive in a global economy. I show them the numbers. we only spent $5 billion in education in March. 2007. yet $21 billion on the interest rate and the debt that we owe that we continue to rack up and rack up. Finally. the Blue Dogs are taking such an incredible leadership role. establishing a PAYGO system and doing the things necessary to put our fiscal house back in order. Mr. Speaker. I know you cannot speak. but I know you are a Blue Dog. and I am proud that you are up there. and. Mr. Ross. I am proud you are one of our leaders of the Blue Dog Coalition. I am also proud of the freshmen Blue Dogs that I serve with. because we will demand answers and we will demand accountability of this administration and the next administration. hopefully a Democraticone. to make sure that we continue the progress that we are making in this 110th Congress.