Date: 2005-06-23
Speaker: CORRINE BROWN (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Florida

Mr. Speaker. to see just how out of touch the Republican Congress is with the American people. look no further than the recent CBS poll taken just last week. In the poll. it clearly says that 81 percent of the American public believes that Congress does not share their priorities. This. Mr. Speaker. is just how out of touch the Republican leadership is with the American people. They just do not get it. And todays debate is just one more example of that. Cutting public broadcasting. I cannot tell you how many dozens and dozens of my constituents have been calling me on this issue telling me and my staff emphatically that they absolutely do not want to see any cuts in public radio and TV broadcasting. But their wishes. their calls. their complaints. their desires. their priorities are falling on deaf ears. In reality. the LaborHHS bill that was on the floor today and will be back tomorrow shows once again how the Republicah Partys outright irresponsible tax cuts for the rich have exhausted the budget. So when they say We have to cut money for things like job -training. assistance for the unemployed. No Child Left Behind. community services block grants. training programs for health professionals. the health communities access program. a program which helps servo the uninsured. as well as childrens health block grants and freezing afterschool centers. I say to them. on behalf of the American people. four out of five of whom do not support the Republican leadership. shame. shame. shame. We are also spending $1 billion a week in Iraq. That is $4 billion a month. Yet this administration has zeroed out funding for Amtrak. Just 1 week of investment in Iraq would significantly improve passenger rail for the entire country for an entire year. I just want someone to explain to the American public why investing in transportation in Iraq is so much more important than investing in passenger rail right here in the United States of America. Today right here in America we have 50 million people without health insurance. We have the highest trade deficit in the history of this country. and we have a $477 billion Federal deficit. We have a $375 billion shortfall in transportation funding. and We still do not know what happened to the weapons of mass destruction. I close by posing this question: Is bankrupting this great country the top priority of this adminfstration? I must repeat that. Is bankrupting this great country the top priority of this administration? They are certainly big on bankrupting Amtrak and doing away with passenger trains. I stand here to question the priorities of the House leadership. the priorities of the other body. and definitely to question those of the policymakers or the bean counters over in the White House. Like 81 percent of the American public. I am growing tired and weary of the Republican majority and the prior-. ities of this administration. I call on my colleagues to change directions. to give up privatizing Social Security. to give up selling out our health care system to the pharmaceuticals. and to listen to the American public and get in tune with their real needs.