Date: 2007-01-12
Speaker: DAVID DAVIS (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Tennessee

It is a great opportunity. As we get ready to coilclude this second week of the 110th Congress. I look back over this time. and I think of the elections. We look back at the elections that took place. and I think the American people voted for change. I think there has been a. change. as the majority changed. but I am not sure it is the.change that the American people voted for. I tell you what I heard back in my district about change: Government had gotten too big. I think the American people voted for change to make sure that we brought some responsibility to the government. If I look back over what has taken place in the last 2 weeks. we are not going towards the change the American people voted for. we are going just the opposite. I dont think the American people are going to be happy with that type of change. One of my roles in life as a Tennessee State representative was to work with the Democratic majority in Nashville to open up government. When I first went in to the Tennessee legislature. I went in and I found out that you could go on to the House floor. in the committee system. the subcommittees. and take votes. and those votes were not even counted. That is just wrong. I thought it is going to be nice and refreshing to go to Washington. where we have an open process. and we have a party that has just taken over the majority. and they tell us. it is going to be even better than it was. .When I look back at Tennessee. you could cast a vote in committee or subcommittee. and you could tell the speaker. Mr. Speaker. dont worry about me. I am with you. Then you could go back to your home district and say. dont worry about me. I am with you. and be talking about two different things. I was hoping it was going to be different as I came to Washington. It was. until last week. Last week. one of our first votes on the House floor was to close the House of Representatives and the Rules Committee to the American people. That is not openness. That is not transparency. That is just wrong. That is exactly where we have come to in this House of Representatives. We have come to a situation where Rules Committee Members can go in and decide on the American peoples business and not have their votes counted. That is not right. Then we look at some of the other things we have voted for on the House floor. Again. as we recall. the American people voted for change. and in my district. the first district. the beautiful mountains of east Tennessee. I think they were telling me. and I think as we saw change coming across the United States. they wanted the government to be more responsible. What I found the first week we are here. we actually removed the rule that took a threefifths majority to increase taxes. and we lowered that threshold in the majority rule down to a simple majority. Now. Mrs. BLACKBURN. I dont know about you. but I certainly believe it will be much easier to raise taxes. I dont believe that rule would have been changed had they not have foreseen a tax increase coming down the road. That is not what thb people of Tennessee want. I can tell you that. I think what it leads to is bigger government. bigger bureaucracies. somebody has to pay. Money comes from the people. and it comes from small business owners. It comes from people that are willing to work hard. Another vote we have taken in the first two weeks. well. I dont know exactly where the first 100 hours starts or when it stops. but in the first 2 weeks. we passed a bill on this floor. without my vote. that threatens the life of the unborn. I think we have done it under some deception. because if you look at embryonic stem cells. they have been researched for a number of years. it was not illegal. The bill that was passed on this House floor did not change that law. It was about taxpayer funding of destruction of human life. I dont think that is what the people of the First Congressional District wanted. I dont think that is the change the American people wanted. Another bill we dealt with was a bill that would put our national security under control of the United Nations. I certainly dont believe that is what the people of the First Congressional District or the people of America wanted. We are a sovereign Nation. we should be able to protect ourselves without the approval of the U.N. In my opinion. bigger government is not always the answer. At times. oftentimes. it is the problem. What I find as I talk to real people back in my district and what I believe deeply in my soul is that the answers to American problems come from our families. they come from our State legislatures. our local governments. our business owners. Big government in Washington is not always the answer. Oftentimes it is the problem. With that. I yield back and welcome your comments.