butts to prove they can't do this and get away with it, he was wise enough not to go for vengeance but to use his head and do the right policy that would not put us in jeopardy and put us in a quagmire and he said no, we're going to get our butts out of there. had he not done that and send in 20,000 american troops, we would have been on the defensive. instead, he found elements around the world who were fighting communist dictatorships and called it the reagan doctrine and let the enemies of our enemies do the fighting. that succeeded in afghanistan and elsewhere. it drained the budget of the soviet union and it collapsed. and one last story i would like to tell and that is so many people who have tried to belittle president reagan than tried to make him look, well, he is just an actor and reading scripts and you guys are script writers. i never wrote a speech for anybody until he taught me how to write a speech. we have a saying in the white house, this guy wasn't president, he is good enough to be the president's speech writer. and that's number one. but ronald reagan was not just reading lines and not just reading scripts. with his vision of the world that we had to capture, more importantly, he was making very tough policy statements that would not have been made by other presidents. and the best example is the berlin wall speech. and as we noted at the 100 birthday, there is a chunk of the berlin wall and the soviet union has fallen apart and the churches are filled with people in russia today and back in those days, christians and other people who believed in god were being repressed with all the other freedoms. but ronald reagan was going to go to berlin and the speech writers knew that the senior staff would do everything they could not to permit ronald reagan to say what he needed to say, which is tear down the wall. and so, we had to plan on it and actually we got the speech to ronald reagan that described the great details that it went through, but it was an avenue that once we used it once would be closed up to us. and when he saw it, he said, this is what i want to say. this wasn't the five speech writers against the advisers, it was the speech writers and the president. and george schultz came in and he was with us the other day and during that time he was yelling that he was trying to re-ignite the cold war by yelling tear down the wall. all of these people are happy with ronald reagan. and this particular case and many others, they were telling reagan not to do these things, especially, don't say tear down the wall. i can't tell you how far it went. colin powell gave him a speech and said all your advisers and your speech writers want this speech and it was the safe speech except tear down the wall, that page had been left out. and reagan said no, i'll use the one i've got, thank you. what happens is this, reagan gets up and he is courageous and being told not to do this. this would be -- create new cold war animosities on the other side. he knew this was a message to their leadership and to the people behind the iron curtain that we were serious about our advocacy of democracy and freedom and peace. he knew that and knew if he didn't say it, it would demoralize all of those people and change history for the worst if he didn't say it. and he got up there and made that strong statement. the next day, of course, we were all watching to find out exactly was what was going to be the reaction and i don't know how but someone from the national security council had a copy of a transcript of gorbachev's conversation with the senior staff. now, i have no idea how we happened to get that in our possession but gorbachev was saying, this guy reagan once he gets his teeth in it, he's like a dog and never let go and we have to bring down that wall and maintain our dignity. and then all those other guys we are talking about said, everything they could to do for him not to say it, they had written the speech and for it all along. the one great thing about ronald reagan, he had on his desk and it was, there is no limit to what you can achieve. reagan wasn't looking for credit but looking to do great things for america. and i will tell you, he inspired all of us -- and do i have time for one more reagan story? and i'll leave it at this, because everyone knows ronald reagan the politician and go through the speeches and the bills and things, but i think the day i remember the most about ronald reagan was in north carolina 1976, reagan was running and i was the assistant press secretary. and he had probably five -- 5,000, 10,000 people in this parking lot for a rally and this lady comes up to me and says, you are with governor reagan? yes, i am. she said i have seven grandchildren here and they can't get through the crowd and i wonder if maybe after the speech that we could bring them over here and governor reagan could shake hands with them. i said let me clear it. i went behind the podium and it was mike deaver and there was a lady here who has children and can't get through the crowd and would like to shake hands with governor reagan. reagan hears it and says of course we are going to say hello. and he says, d dana, we don't want this to be a press event and i'll spend a couple of minutes with those children. sure enough, the reporters head to the buses and the kids are brought back there behind the podium. and there's reagan he is talking to them. about seven, eight years old and reagan, this is the sense of this man, and he says, you know, i know you can't see me, but maybe you would like to touch my face so you can get a sense about who i am and what i look like. and of course they did. imagine this. there's ronald reagan, a candidate for president with seven of these little kids, beautiful little kids, touching his face. there is not a politician in the world that would not give millions of dollars to have a picture of that. they would be on the cover of all the magazines and reagan knew that. he didn't want any of those kids to think he was exploiting blind children. you know, it's like us today, we have to have a sense and feel about this man, who he really was. and i hope the reagan library and the young america's foundation will help future generations get a good feel. mr. dreier: i thank my friend for his thoughtful contribution and his last two stories remind me of the fact that ronald reagan was in charge, whether it was ensuring that he penned, mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall or whether he jumped forward and said, i'm going to meet those young people. and the famous "saturday night live" episode and he wasn't in charge and was scripted by everyone else, but himself. and what they did on the skit was, he came out and he met with some young children and he shook hands with them and said, how are you doing, and proceeded to this guy who was a long way from being in charge. and the moment he left, he went back and said, ok, fellows, let's get back to work and he was working. and we know that ronald reagan was in charge as he dealt with foreign policy and domestic policy and i'm happy that we are joined by my colleague who came to the congress during the last two years of the reagan administration. he came here in 1986, and i know was inspired by president reagan and he is a very, very thoughtful member of the ways and means committee and i recognize mr. herger. mr. herger: i thank my good friend from california, mr. dreier, particularly, i want to thank my good friend for leading us in this incredibly special, special time to remember an individual who, as we've heard from the speakers before me, individuals like mr. dreier, who actually spent a lot of time with president reagan, the sharing with us the incredible person and inspiration that our 40th president who we're celebrating this week, his 100th anniversary of his birthday is to each of us. and i, as the gentleman mentioned, i did have the privilege of serving for his last two years, in 1987 -- last two years as president. 1987 and 1988. but i think about what president reagan meant to me. and when i think about what he meant to me, i know as i listen to these speakers before me what he meant to so many of us and our nation and the world today. my friend, mr. dreier, mentioned in his early remarks what the country was like in 1980 when he ran for president. we think what it's like today. we have over 9% unemployment. we have very low inflation. but in 1980 when president reagan was running, we had not 9% unemployment, but 12% unemployment. we had something that we haven't had since the early days of president reagan's administration, and that was inflation. inflation that was running 13%. and as a small businessman then, i remember what it was like. you did not know what the price your products out, because you didn't know what you were going to be buying them for and it was an unbelievable challenging time and we had a prime interest rate that was 21.5%. we had home mortgages that were hitting 16%. now those of us who can remember back at that time, talk about challenging times, those were challenging times. and to have someone who was the type of inspiration that ronald reagan was, who literally what exemplified everything he believed in. we heard so much from our speakers before me, but to ronald reagan, it was morning in america. he believed -- he not only had confidence in himself, he had even more confidence in our nation. he had confidence in those of us who were small business people who were americans, as was mentioned. my grandparents were immigrants from switzerland and you were an american. he had not only confidence in this, but he could emulate this to all of those around us. and it was interesting because back about 10 years ago when a republican conference of fellow republicans in congress, someone asked a question, who among us -- and there was 150 of us or so, who among us were inspired by ronald reagan? and over half of us raised our hands. three-quarters of us that ronald reagan inspired us to leave our positions as a small businessman, a family rancher, dairy person, to run for office. and so we see it today. we see those who ran this last time, very similar time. but god bless ronald reagan. god bless all that he inspired us with. and mr. dreier, i want to thank you for leading us -- this is one of the greatest times of my life to be able to participate along with you and mr. lungren and mr. rohrabacher and others in remembering someone who i believe is one of the very greatest americans ever to live, ronald reagan. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, i thank my friend very much for his thoughtful remarks and i want to assure him, it didn't begin or end this evening, but we are in fact in an entire year's celebration. tomorrow evening, our colleague who represents the ronald reagan library is going to be talking about him as well. now to close out this evening, we are pleased to have the newest member who has become a veteran, one of the great champions of the conservative friends, mr. mcclintock. . mr. mcclintock: thank you. i want to talk about what kind of times brought ronald reagan here to washington. i mean, we're told today that we face the worst economy since the great depression, a lot of us remember an even worse time when we did have double-digit unemployment and double -- double-digit inflation and mile-long lines around gas stations and interest rates that exceeded 20%. and by the way, when we hear that our world's growing more dangerous by the day, i remember when an american embassy could be seized with impunity when an aggressive and expanding soviet union daily challenged american interests around the world when communism went unchallenged in the western hemisphere, when the american military had been so badly weakened it couldn't even launch a successful rescue mission. perhaps we don't remember those days as vividly because they didn't last very long. at that dark hour in our nation's history, the american people turned to ronald reagan who diagnosed our country's problems very accurately. in this crisis, he said, government is not the solution to our problems, government is the problem. he said the soviet union is indeed an evil empire and it was time, he said, that america stopped apologizing for its interests and started asserting them. at the time the american left warned that his policies would lead the nation to starvation and the world to con flig ration. instead we enjoyed a period of american prosperity and world influence that was best described with the words, morning again in america. he reduced the tax and regulatory burdens that were crushing america's economy. he reduced government spending as a percentage of g.d.p. he restored america's military strength, reasserted american interests around the world. he stopped apologizing for america's greatness and started celebrating it. it was recalled earlier in his farewell address, reagan attributed his success not to being a great communicator but to the fact that he was communicating great ideas, the self-evident truths of the american founding. he did one other thing. he restored those self-evident truths as the foundation of our domestic and foreign policy. and as a result our nation prospered and the world enjoyed a rebirth of freedom. unfortunately reagan's successors gradually abandoned his policies and americans gradually let loose of those self-evident truths that inspired and animated those policies but now as our nation endures prolonged economic distress at home and increasing strife abroad, americans are beginning to realize that our nation hasn't been struck down by some mysterious act of god. what's happened to our country's because of specific acts of government. . and as reagan knew, acts of government are fully within our power to change. reagan charted the road back, our nation followed him down that road and we discovered that, yes, it does indeed lead to a shining city on a hill. as we remember ronald reagan, all that he was and all that he stood for, let's also remember what he did and where he led us. it isn't too late to return to those policies and get back on that road. mr. speaker, i want my children to know what morning again in america actually feels like. i want them to know the optimism that america's best days are yet ahead and to know the pride and confidence of american exceptionalism. on this sent tel tenial of ronald reagan's birth -- centennial of ronald reagan's birth, let's follow his example and get our nation back on the road to freedom. let those looking back on our generation say that just when it began to appear that our nation had forgotten ronald reagan and squandered its wealth and abandoned its destiny, this generation of americans rediscovered, restored and revived the memory of ronald reagan and the promise of the american founding and from that moment in time america began her next great era of expansion, prosperity and influence. i yield back. mr. dreier: mr. speaker, i thank my friend for his very thoughtful contribution and his dedication to the reagan cause. as we think about where we are today, i said at the library the other night, that i was privileged to be part of the reagan revolution, having been elected with president reagan in 1980. but thanks to the 198 -- 87 newly elected members who have joined us, what a privilege it is to be part of the reagan revolution, because i think that it does continue. if we look at just on foreign policy again, the fact that ronald reagan had a very famous speech that he delivered in the early 1980's at westminster, talked about the need to develop the infrastructure, foster the infrastructure of democracy around the world, and he established the national endowment for democracy which has made great strides in expanding the rule of law, political pluralism, the development of self-determination and democratic institutions around the world, and this is a war of ideas that continues to this very day. it is a war of ideas that consists of that struggle. it's peace and prosperity through freedom and democracy versus oppression and poverty bred of violence and hatred. and i believe that we can in fact win this war of ideas if we do get back to the core principles of ronald reagan and as i said, mr. speaker, the museum is reopened and i want to encourage all of our colleagues to take the opportunity to visit this amazing, amazing facility which i know will bring back memories for every single american who was alive during the reagan years. and it clearly will be a model for future generations. and, mr. speaker, i ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and with that i yield back the without objection. under the speaker's announced policy of january 5, 2011, the gentleman from new york, mr. tonka, is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee from the minority leader. mr. tonko: thank you very much, mr. speaker. i rise this evening to address the house for the next hour and ask unanimous consent that all members may have five legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. tonko: this evening, mr. speaker, we will be joined by a number of colleagues in the house to discuss the clean air act and its impact on jobs, on public health and our national security. it is interesting to note that we've had an outstanding 40-year record on behalf of the improvements that have come via the clean air act. and now there are forces amongst us that would like to repeal important pollution control standards that are part that have clean air act. and roll backward the very progress that we have enjoyed. the impact that it has made and they're being joined now, these forces, by big polluters. people who would choose to have us go backward and undo the tremendous standards that have brought about an enhanced quality of life. since 1970 the clean air act has saved hundreds of thousands of lives and decreased air pollution by some 60%. and at the same time, having grown our economy by some 200%. so it is very important to note that this has been a high order of progress associated with the clean air act which came by the way with bipartisan vision that thought we could improve our situation here in america. and those visionaries were absolutely correct. we now are at risk of endangering our children's health simply by attacking the health standards that the clean air act promotes. we're also at risk of promoting ideas that will denounce innovation, innovation that has moved forward in breaking our glutinous dependency on oil, often times imported from unfriendly nations to the united states. and we're also -- and where also we'll roll back the progress that has come with creating our own sense of innovation as we have responded to these cleanup measures here in the states. this is an important juncture, after a 40-year record, 40 years of success, we're now faced with the forces of big polluters hooking up with our colleagues in the majority in this house, looking to roll back progress and denounce policies that have impacted us favorably. we're joined this evening by a number of colleagues, we're joined by representative quigley from the district i believe in illinois -- by the fifth district i believe in illinois. he has thoughts he wants to share with us. we'll be hearing from a number of colleagues, from virginia and from washington state, as the hour continues to roll. but, representative quigley, thank you for joining us this evening on this very important topic and on this very important effort to ward back any efforts made to undo the law and weaken it and put our health standards at risk. mr. quigley: i want to thank you so much for having me. i want to thank my colleague from new york for his efforts an