H74 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE January 8, 2009 

leaving America with a $1.2 trillion deficit. That means we will borrow $3.2 

billion a day, $2.2 million a minute. It’s 

unfathomable. That legacy of profligacy based on trickle down and bailouts has brought our economy to its 

knees. 

It would have been one thing if he 

borrowed the money to rebuild our 

crumbling infrastructure, to build new 

schools to educate our kids, to give us 

a sustainable energy future. But, no, 

the money has been squandered in bailouts for Wall Street and an unnecessary war in the Middle East. 

And now it’s up to us, this Congress, 

the Democrats, to give us a recovery 

package that will put Americans back 

to work and rebuild our country. We 

have to reject the policies of the Bush 

years. No more tax giveaways. Let’s rebuild the infrastructure of this country, put people back to work, borrow 

the money for a purpose, not more 

waste. 

f 

GOVERNMENT GONE WILD 

(Mr. POE of Texas asked and was 

given permission to address the House 

for 1 minute.) 

Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the 

Federal Government continues to 

bankrupt Uncle Sam with bailouts to 

special interest groups using taxpayer 

money. One more group has appeared 

on the steps of the Capitol dragging the 

sack for more ‘‘Free Money.’’ None 

other than the adult entertainment 

business, specifically, the CEO of 

‘‘Girls Gone Wild,’’ has asked for $5 billion to save them from calamity. 

When is this mentality going to stop 

that citizens should subsidize industries that have fallen on hard times? 

According to the Congressional Research Service, the total amount of 

bailouts in 2008 now exceeds ‘‘all the 

costs for major wars the United States 

has ever engaged in, including the 

American Revolution, the War between 

the States, World War I, World War II, 

Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan,’’—about $8.5 trillion. 

Mr. Speaker, the Federal Government has gone wild with all these giveaway programs. And so far the bailouts 

have had little or no positive impact on 

the markets or the economy. 

No more bailouts. We cannot tax, 

borrow and spend our way into prosperity during these tough economic 

times. 

And that’s just the way it is. 

f 

PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA’S 

STIMULUS PACKAGE 

(Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked 

and was given permission to address 

the House for 1 minute and to revise 

and extend her remarks.) 

Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. 

Speaker, 87 percent of the American 

people support President-elect Obama’s 

stimulus package, a package that addresses the concerns and needs of lowincome Americans, working Americans, middle-class Americans. 

It is obvious that the Federal Government has to be the spender of last 

resort. No frivolous, foolish spending, 

but spending that creates jobs, jobs, 

jobs, puts Americans back to work, 

bring home our troops from Iraq, be 

able to downsize the investment in a 

war that many of us disagreed with, 

ensure that the war in Afghanistan 

succeeds, and make sure that those in 

America’s Appalachia and Mississippi 

Delta and the inner cities of Houston, 

Texas, have the amount of money to 

begin to work, summer youth jobs. 

That’s what this stimulus package is 

about. 

President-elect Obama has it right. 

We in the Federal Government have to 

rescue those who provided the tax dollars for America to work. Put them 

back to work. You’ll see our economy 

spiraling. 

Frivolous comments about bailouts 

will not work. The American people 

know a stimulus package is for them. 

Let’s do it quickly. Let’s get the 

money to our local governments. I believe we should bypass some of our 

State governments; make sure those 

dollars are in our cities, our counties, 

our municipalities, put America back 

to work. That’s what President-elect 

Obama wants us to do. 

f 

ISRAEL HAS THE RIGHT TO SELFDEFENSE 

(Mr. WILSON of South Carolina 

asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.) 

Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. 

Speaker, America’s ally Israel remains 

under constant and frequent attack by 

Hamas. Noted columnist Charles 

Krauthammer recently revealed in a 

column in The Greenville News that 

Hamas has cruelly launched 6,464 rockets into Israel in the last 3 years. No 

other country has endured such attacks. 

Now Israel has chosen to defend itself 

by going after the Hamas terrorists. 

The loss of life is terrible, but it is 

Hamas that bears the responsibility. I 

saw firsthand, while visiting Israel this 

summer, that Hamas has fired rockets 

against civilians in Israel. 

A peaceful relationship between 

Israel and Palestine is in the best interest of both nations. It will only be 

accomplished if Hamas agrees to stop 

firing rockets targeting civilians. 

In conclusion, God bless our troops, 

and we will never forget September the 

11th. 

God bless Torry Lyons and Eric Dell 

upon their marriage tomorrow at St. 

Peter’s Catholic Church. 

CONGRATULATING THE CITY OF 

IOWA CITY, IOWA, FOR BEING 

DESIGNATED A UNITED NATIONS 

EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND 

CULTURAL ORGANIZATION 

(UNESCO) CITY OF LITERATURE 

(Mr. LOEBSACK asked and was given 

permission to address the House for 1 

minute.) 

Mr. LOEBSACK. Mr. Speaker, I want 

to express my sincere congratulations 

to the City of Iowa City for its designation as a City of Literature by the 

United Nations Educational, Scientific 

and Cultural Organization. Iowa City is 

only the third city in the world to receive such designation, and the first in 

the United States. 

This recognition is well-deserved and 

rightly honors a city which has long 

been dedicated to literature and the 

arts. The City of Iowa City alone has 

produced more than 25 Pulitzer Prize 

winners in literature since 1955, as well 

as four recent U.S. Poet Laureates. 

I am proud of all who contributed to 

Iowa City receiving this designation, 

including Christopher Merrill, the current director of the University of Iowa 

International Writing Program. I trust 

future residents and generations to 

come will not only recognize the importance of this designation, but also 

continue to carry on the city’s tradition of literary excellence. 

f 

ARRIVAL OF THE 21ST CENTURY 

ON JANUARY 20, 2009 

(Mr. COHEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 

minute.) 

Mr. COHEN. Mr. Speaker, the 21st 

century, in reality, will be arriving in 

America on the 20th of January 2009. 

It’s been put off far enough by my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, 

and we’ve heard more of their rhetoric 

today, acting like, as DICK CHENEY

said, ‘‘Herbert Hooverians.’’ If the Republican Party didn’t wake up, they’d 

be known as the Party of Herbert Hoover forever. 

When the Great Depression came, 

Herbert Hoover and his Treasury Secretary Morgenthal and his colleagues 

in the Congress did not act. It caused 

the Great Depression to be worse. 

We must act. We need a major economic stimulus package which will be 

presented by President-elect Obama, 

and this Democratic Congress and this 

Democratic Congressman will support 

it because we need jobs creation. We 

need to give people hope and the reality that we can come out of this. 

We’re going to have problems in 2009 

with the economy regardless, but 

they’ll be less. 

The 21st century couldn’t come soon 

enough. I look forward to January 20, 

2009, to working with President-elect 

Obama and this Democratic Congress 

to make America great again. 


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