Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., praised the new leadership of House Democrats and took several opportunities to attack President Bush at a speech Tuesday night in the Woods-Brown Amphitheater.
Van Hollen's speech was delayed about 55 minutes because he was held up in Congress by a vote on the Children's Health Insurance Plan, he said. The bill passed by a vote of 265 to 159. It will allow the program to cover all children currently eligible and will be funded by an increase in the federal tobacco tax, he said.
The chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said the bill could not have passed without Democratic leadership.
"This bill would never have passed in the old House [under Republican leadership]," he said.
He compared the passage of the bill, which he said will cost $35 billion over five years and will be fully funded by the tobacco tax increase, to the president's recent request for $200 billion in funding for Iraq for this year. Bush wants to put this money "on the national credit card," meaning it is not fully funded, Van Hollen said.
Van Hollen also attacked the president for his vow to veto any legislation granting a full voting member in the House to the District of Columbia.
"I have to wonder about the image of the president of the United States as we are trying to promote democracy around the world," he said.
Van Hollen also denounced the president for the war in Iraq, saying it has damaged the United States' reputation abroad.
"The president had a big opportunity to rally the international community" after Sept. 11, he said. "The world was with us."
House Democrats' successes include raising minimum wage, increasing veterans' health benefits and passing legislation raising federal financial aid and instituting lobbying and ethics reforms, he said.
Van Hollen also discussed the impact of young people in politics. He defined young people as those ages 18 to 30.
"There is a huge untapped potential in the youth vote," he said, noting 20 million young voters did not vote in the 2004 presidential election and the turnout rate in the 2006 election for that age bracket was 24 percent.
Increased turnout by younger voters would help the Democrats, Van Hollen said. He noted 55 percent of young voters voted for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in the 2004 election, and six out of every 10 voted for Democrats in the 2006 midterm elections.
Van Hollen encouraged students to become politically active.
"I ask you tonight to think of the world as you would see it shaped" and use the political process to achieve that ideal, he said.
The event was sponsored by the Kennedy Political Union and College Democrats in conjunction with Artemas Ward Week.
