Were these the changes the American people voted for?

Question

Mr. DAVID DAVIS of 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 don't think that is exactly what the American people wanted to do. I don't 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; don't worry about that, I will vote with you on that issue. And then you could go back home and say, don't 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 three-fifths 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 don't 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.



[Time: 19:00] What a tragedy when you don't 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 can't 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 don't 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 don't feel like we have to go ask the U.N. if we can protect ourselves. I can't 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 don't 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 isn't 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 government's not always the answer. I don't think that is a change that the American people wanted, Mr. Speaker.

Answer 1

Seems to me people don't care about raising taxes as long as it is raised on a tax bracket above their own! There are things they are passing now that will have negative effects on the average mans paycheck. Hopefully some of this gets stopped in the Senate.

Answer 2

Sorry, yet i can't get to worked up using fact a republican member does not think of that the democrats are making the ultimate variations. If Republicans had a clue approximately what the ultimate direction for usa is, they does no longer have won the "thumping" that they have got been given interior the final election. how many Republican costs have been handed interior the previous 6 years without democratic votes for it? The Republican social gathering had complete administration of the country for the previous six years. You had your opportunities to run the country and became each and everything you touched to dirt. From record surplus to record deficit, from relative peace to 2 concurrent wars, from Constitutional democracy to authoritarian dictatorship, i glance annoying yet can not see how any electorate have benefited by using Republican administration. firms and the elite, on the different hand, have made mega-fortunes, sucked promptly from our electorate. My preliminary reaction is that if the republican lawmakers are fairly upset, then there's a greater robust risk that the direction or newly elected majority is taking is a minimum of interior the ultimate direction. a minimum of the Dem's pay attention on your viewpoint in the previous rejecting it.

Answer 3

Have you considered running for `08 Presidency? I'd be interested in knowing your views on a wide range of subjects. Good stuff!

Answer 4

Yep sounds better than the "Do absolutely nothing but take bribes" congress the republicans gave us for 6 years.

Answer 5

If not, they get to vote again in two years.