Date: 2006-09-20
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

I am going to tell you right now. this poster here is very interesting because this poster is the longestliving poster that we have in the 30Something Working Group arsenal of posters. to be able to break this down so everybody can understand. We dont want to confuse Members or the American people by using big words and acronyms and just kind of talking inside a Washington game. We want to make sure that people understand. We want to make sure that people understand that here as it relates to our efforts on the Democratic side of the aisle. that it is not about the Democratic National Committee. That it is not about. because I am a Democrat. I am right. It is not about okay. I am going to speak to only the Democratic Members of the House. because that is not what this democracy is set up to do. This democracy. Article I. section 1. of the U.S. Constitution. says as a legislative body. we have oversight and investigative powers. We are supposed to hold this government accountable. The House is the only body you have to be elected to. The Senate. you can be appointed as a Senator. If a Senator was to say I have to retire. health rea- � sons or whatever the case may be. or somebody is picked for Vice President. a Governor in that given State can appoint an American citizen to carry out that Senators term. That has happened. That has happened in this Congress. When we look at the House of Representatives. we are the true- body of the democracy. We have to be elected. If any Member of the House has to leave. they have to hold a special election to fill a seat. Let me say. it takes the House and the executive branch to do what has happened. $1.05 trillion has been borrowed in 4 years between 20012005. President Bush. he is our Commander in Chief and he is our President. period. dot. but he cannot do it by himself. The Republican Congress allowed him to do it in raising the debt ceiling. We had those letters out here. and we still have those letters from the Secretary of the Treasury saying we have to raise the debt ceiling. What does that mean? That means we havent been responsible. the Republican majority. in administering the dollars that the American people have given in trust to this Congress and this House to do on their behalf. Spending is out of control. borrowing is out of control. Borrowing is out of control. $1.05 trillion. In 224 years. and here I am in the 109th Congress. a second generation Member of the House. okay. and this has never happened in the history of the Republic. This is not something that happened maybe 20 years ago. even 100 years ago. In 224 years. 42 Presidents have not been able to accomplish what the Bush administration and the rubberstamp Republican Congress has been able to accomplish in allowing foreign nations to buy our debt. to have their hands in the pockets of the American people. and counting. This chart. as far as I am concerned. when we get back here after November. we are probably going to have some new numbers. That $1.05 trillion is higher. This chart is falling apart. goodness gracious. because this chart has been the wakeup call. We decided to come up with this chart to paint the picture. regardless of what the Members on the other side who come to the floor say about fiscal responsibility. The Government Accountability Office released a report that there are agencies that are coming to the Hill that cant explain where millions of dollars have gone. And we are supposed to have oversight. We have the Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld that says if anyone in the Pentagon says anything else about redeployment of troops or a different strategy than what I believe. "I believe." or that the administration has embraced. then they are fired. Ms. WASSERMAN. SCHULTZ. not even a hearing. not even a Member from the Republican side outraged to the point where they are going to their party leaders saying we have got to call the Secretary of Defense in and find out what he is talking about. because this thing is supposed to be. using your own words. Mr. Speaker. using their words. saying if we hear from the military commanders on the ground what they need. we are going to give it to them. So when you have this lack of oversight. no matter what your party affiliation is. no matter what your motivation may be to vote or not vote in November. you have to have issue with individuals that are saying. "Either its my way or the highway." That is okay if you had a Ihousehold somewhere and you are the big paycheck guy or gal or whatever the case may be and you are paying the bill. But when you are paying the bills with U.S. taxpayer dollars. we have to bring issue to that. And because of that relationship that this Republican majority has with the executive branch of. this government. of our government. I must add. it is problematic when you have folks that are not willing to ask the question. When we walk through these doors into this Chamber. Mr. Speaker. and the lights are up in this Chamber. and it says the board is open. what we call the voting board is open. and we take our voting card out. and we come in here to vote. we are voting on behalf of 600- or 700.000 Americans that have elected us to come here to represent them. not what the special interests say that we should do here in this House. There are some very obvious issues that should be resolved. that need to be resolved. but will not be resolved as long as we have a rubberstamp Congress in place.