30-Something Working Group

30-SOMETHING WORKING GROUP -- (House of Representatives - March 09, 2006)

Mr. DELAHUNT. Mr. Speaker, I heard Mr. Meek mention the lack of oversight that occurs within this institution, within this branch; and it is a very serious problem, and many have spoken to it.

What I found interesting, while I was at my desk, a friend and colleague of ours, I think it was Mr. Conaway from Texas, talked about a bill that he has, I presume, already filed, which would require Members of Congress to read the Constitution once a year.

I listened to him with some fascination, and I would propose that he should consider expanding that particular proposal to include a recognition that a constitutional responsibility of the House of Representatives is oversight of the executive branch and that every Member of Congress should make a solemn pledge before God to honor that responsibility, to conduct oversight.

Because I believe if every single Member of Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, respected that constitutional principle, we would not be beset by the problems that are becoming obvious to the American people. But I didn't hear any mention of that by our friend and colleague, Mr. Conaway.

We are not meeting our constitutional responsibility because the majority party, the Republican Party in this branch, refuses, refuses to conduct oversight of the executive branch because of fear of embarrassing the White House. Well, again, their constitutional responsibility does not flow to the White House. Their constitutional responsibility, Mr. Speaker, goes to the American people, not to the White House.

I mean, it is remarkable that during the course of the Bush Presidency we have failed to conduct in-depth probes about some of the most serious allegations of executive abuse and misconduct.

And let me just note a few. The possible role of the White House in promoting misleading intelligence about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and ties to al Qaeda. Just recently, Mr. Speaker, a former CIA official, who served from 2000 to 2005 and has retired, penned a book that indicated that the intelligence was cherry-picked. Yet this House refused, refused to do any oversight; to ask a single question; to bring an executive branch official before the appropriate committee to ask questions that the American people deserve to have answers to.

And what about the responsibility of senior administration officials for abuses of detainees at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere? What about the role of the White House in withholding the Medicare cost estimates that were in their possession from Congress while we were debating a significantly expensive piece of legislation? In fact, it was acknowledged that the executive White House official in charge threatened to fire, he threatened to fire the Medicare actuary if he told Members of Congress that it was not going to cost $395 billion, according to their estimate, but about $700 billion. And again, no oversight.

And I could go on and on. But I have to tell you, if we are going to read the Constitution, if we are going to impose on ourselves the requirement, Mr. Speaker, to read the Constitution, then let us act in a constitutionally responsible way and meet our responsibility so that the American people know what is happening here in Washington and who is responsible.

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. And it is not just the war, Mr. Delahunt.

Mr. DELAHUNT. Of course not.

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Mr. DELAHUNT. But the point is, Mr. Ryan, we cannot afford it because the debt that the American people now owe is in excess of $8 trillion, and on that $8 trillion we have to pay interest.

And what is the amount of interest on an annual basis, approximately? Do we have a range?

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. In 2007 it will be almost $230 billion, with some interest.

Mr. DELAHUNT. So that is interest of $230 billion. Just imagine what we could do with $230 billion.

That interest, by the way, do you know where that interest is going to, at least a significant piece of it?

Mr. RYAN of Ohio. Japan.

Mr. DELAHUNT. China.

Mr. MEEK of Florida. OPEC countries.

Mr. DELAHUNT. And OPEC and other countries. Because to subsidize these substantial, very large tax cuts for just a small segment of the American people, we have to go into the financial markets and borrow money so that we can reduce taxes, and then that tax relief ends up not benefiting the vast majority of Americans.

But we are borrowing it. We are borrowing it from overseas. We are borrowing it from nations, many of whom could be potential adversaries, yet we are sending dollars over there of interest payments so that they can invest in roads, in health, and particularly in education, while we are slipping behind. We are slipping behind.

You know, there is a lot of talk in Washington about how this economy is growing. But what you never hear about is that the average American family is losing every year in terms of its income. It is going down. The most recent statistic was that in this past year it went down 2.7 percent. Well, that is hurting families. And that $230 billion, let us say we just invested that. That is interest payments to China, to Japan, to other countries, and to the OPEC countries. With $230 billion, we could give every young person in this country a free college education, send them to the finest graduate schools in the country and ensure that their futures would be bright. But what we are doing is we are putting on our young people a debt that they will never, never in their lifetime be able to pay off. That is just simply wrong, and that is where we have a disagreement.

But you know what is interesting, and if I can just continue, because I am going to have to leave to catch a plane; but not only are Democrats criticizing this White House, but conservatives, people with impeccable conservative credentials like Bruce Bartlett, who just wrote a book and who served in the Reagan administration; like Andrew Sullivan, another noted conservative.

Well, here is what Andrew Sullivan said, and he wrote a book, too. I can't wait to read it. It is coming out soon. "The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It; How to Get It Back." Sullivan called Bush ``reckless'' and a "socialist" and accused him of betraying "almost every principle conservatism has ever stood for." Now, those are not my words, those are the words of Andrew Sullivan.

And Bruce Bartlett, a former Reagan administration official, had this to say. He called the administration unconscionable, irresponsible, vindictive and inept. And his book is entitled "How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy."

Yet here we are serving in this branch and we never, never meet or exercise our constitutional responsibility to review the actions of this administration, because the majority does not want to embarrass a Republican President. And I agree with much of what is said by these commentators: "This is a big government agenda. The notion that the Thatcher-Reagan legacy that many of us grew up to love and support would end this way is an astonishing paradox and a great tragedy."

Something is amiss when you have people with these conservative credentials making these harsh statements about this administration and this Republican Congress not daring to exercise its oversight.

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