Date: 2007-01-09
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Thank you so much to my good friend. Mr. MEEK. and it is so wonderful to be with my good friends in the 30Something Working Group. We spent so many nights here talking about the need for us to move this country in a new direction. a new direction for America. That is what. Mr. Speaker. you and others talked about during the campaign. We went out and talked about making sure that we could increase the minimum wage for the first time in 10 years. have the student loan interest rate. fully implement the 9/11 Commission recommendations. make sure that we repeal the energy industry subsidies that they dont need because they are the most profitable industry in the entire world so that we can truly fund alternative energy resources. eliminate the prohibition against negotiating for lower prescription drug prices. and putting the stem cell research bill on the Presidents desk once again. and making sure that we can finally establish some accountability with this administration on the war in Iraq. Fl 2240 At last we will have the opportunity to bring them in and ask them the topgh questions that our good friends on the other side of the aisle refused to ask for years. We had an opportunity as the 30something Working Group to point out and contrast what we would do in the majority if we were given that opportunity versus what the Republican leadership was doing for the last 12 years. And the American people responded and gave us that opportunity. Some people might have started at the top of this hour. kind of.scratched their head and wondered why we were talking about the University of Florida national championship and the Gators victory. but there is some analogy. all kidding aside. The Gators showed that they came to play last night when no one expected them to win. when for months people didnt give them any chance of coming out on top and winning the national championship. I think that our victory on November 7 is analogous to that because certainly at the beginning of my first term in Congress 2 years ago. no one gave the Democrats a chance. No one gave us a snowballs chance of reaching the point that we did on November 7 and being able to elect enough Members to truly move this country in a new direction. In part because of the Members that joined us on the floor each night and our Democratic Caucus colleagues who were so committed to get the message out and talking to their constituents and really appealing to the issues that the American people cared about. as opposed to the special interests and the culture of corruption and the pall that was cast over this Capitol for so long. now we are finally being given that opportunity. It is incredibly important. One of the most amazing things for me as a woman was that last Thursday we were able to watch history in the making when the gavel was passed to Speaker NANCY PELOSI as the first woman Speaker in United States history. I had my twin 7yearolds on the floor that day. and I know you had your children on the floor with you that day. Mr. MEEK. but the opportunity for our kids to see. and especially for little girls in America. to see that really anything is possible in America. for that. for us to be able to witness that was just incredible. And today for us to be able to witness Speaker PELOSI preside over H.R. 1. the passage of H.R. 1. which was the first bill that we adopted in the 100hours agenda that fully implements the 9/11 Commission agenda. The Republicans minimally implemented those recommendations. and that is why the 9/11 Commission cochairmen gave them Ds and Fs. because they had not allocated funding on the basis of risk and vulnerabilities. They had not created and rehearsed State and local emergency response plans. They had not addressed the interoperability issues between intelligence agencies and first responders. There were at least 10 items. They have not protected privacy and civil liberties with an oversight function. They have not improved air passenger screening. They were not checking all the cargo. There was no funding or mechanism to check all of. the cargo that came through our ports. I.R. 1 that we adopted today implements that right now. It was a thrill to watch Speaker PELOSI preside over the passage of the first item in our 100hours agenda.