Date: 2007-01-17
Speaker: DAVID DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Tennessee

Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman. and here we are in our third week of 100 hours. and that is not east Tennessee math. I represent the beautiful area of northeast Tennessee and the 1st Congressional District and am very honored to do so. One thing I recall when we went through the elections last year. being a freshman legislator here in Washington. I remember the talk about we need change. and I think the American people actually voted for change. Mr. Speaker. But I am not so sure the American people are going to be happy with the change that is taking place here on the Hill. One of the things that has happened as we have moved forward in this first 100 hours. one of the very first things that we did under the new Democrat majority is. we took a vote to not require recorded votes in the Rules Committee. Now. remember. back in the elections during the talk of change. this was going to be the most open Congress that had ever been known on Capitol Hill. Well. when you go into a committee and you take a vote and that vote is not open and recorded for the people back home. you are not opening up sunshine. you are actually pulling the blinds down on government. I dont think that is exactly what the American people wanted to do. I dont think that is the change the American people wanted. I was known as a Tennessee legislator that actually worked to open up government in Tennessee. When I went there. I found out in Nashville. Tennessee. that they .were doing the very same thing. They were going into committees and subcommittees and people were taking votes. and you could go to the speaker of the house and say. Mr. Speaker. I am with you. dont worry about that. I will vote with you on that issue. And then you could go back home and say. dont worry about me. I am with you on that issue. and you would be telling two completely different stories. Well. after 8 years of working in Tennessee. we finally changed that. And so I was looking forward to coming to Washington where we were going to have the most open Congress that had ever been known on Capitol Hill. Well. here I come. and the first week of the 100 hours. 3 weeks ago. I find one of the first things the majority party did was to actually stop recording votes. That is not the change the American people wanted. Mr. Speaker. On another issue. Mr. Speaker. when the Republicans had the majority. if they wanted to raise taxes. if there was a need to balance the budget with taxes. it took a super majority to raise those taxes. It took threefifths of the Members of this august body to raise those taxes. Well. the American people voted for change. Not sure they got the .change they wanted. though. because one of the very first things that took place here on Capitol Hill was. they lowered that super majority to raise your taxes down to a simple majority. So now taxes can be raised without one Republican vote. I dont think they would have done that if that was not something they are looking at as a possibility in the future. I am not sure that is the change the American people voted for. I think they ought to be concerned. I think it can lead to bigger government. and it is going to lead to a bigger bureaucracy. We are seeing that in some of the votes. Not sure that is the change the American people voted for. One of the votes we voted for the second week of the 100 hours was to threaten life. E] 1900 What a tragedy when you dont protect the life of the unborn. We were talking about stem cells. And I am a big supporter of actually using adult stem cells. There is new research that has come out that says you can use amniotic fluid. And if you look at the science. the science tells you that there are about 72 diseases that have been treated with adult stem cells. There is zero diseases that have been treated with the embryonic. And that debate was not really about can you do it or cant you do it. It has already been legal. And I can tell you. being a businessperson. if there had been a lot of scientific possibilities for that there would be some business somewhere that would have invested capital. risked that capital because there is a potential for success in the future. Well. under the Democrat control. under the majority control. unfortunately. they decided to pass the piece of legislation to allow embryos to be destroyed. in other words. allow life to be destroyed. I am not sure that is the change the American people wanted. Mr. Speaker. Then. again. in the second week of the first 100 hours. a bill actually passed here on the floor to allow our national security to be controlled by the United Nations. Now. living in the mountains of East Tennessee. I dont know many east Tennesseeans that would want the U.N. to be in charge of our security. We are a sovereign Nation. and I honestly believe Americans across the Nation are just like most east Tennesseeans. we dont feel like we have to go ask the U.N. if we can protect ourselves. I cant think of anything that is more important than a government that is willing to protect its citizens. That is our number one responsibility is the security of our citizens. So putting us under the auspices of the U.N. is. I dont think. the change the American people wanted. Then there is going to be a bill coming up tomorrow on energy taxes. and there is a lot of talk about big oil and what are we going to do with this issue. And we are giving special interest. Well. the reality is the special interest that I want to protect is the person that turns on his light switch back in east Tennessee tonight. or has to turn their heat on because it has gotten colder outside. or the family back in east Tennessee that is having to stop and fill up their automobile with gas tonight. That is the special interest that I *want to protect. And raising taxes during this 100 hours is not the change that the American people wanted. Mr. Speaker. That is not what I hear from east Tennessee. and that is not what I hear from Americans. Big government simply isnt the answer all the time. Oftentimes. I find. as I talk to the good commonsense folks back in east Tennessee. is sometimes the government is the problem. And bigger government leads to bigger bureaucracy. I think the way we solve these problems is not look to big government. but look back to our families. back across America. Families can make good decisions for their children and for their grandchildren. Then look to the States. States have a good handle on what is going on back across the United States and look to local governments. Look to businesses. Big governments not always the answer. I dont think that is a change that the American people wanted. Mr. Speaker.