Date: 2007-06-28
Speaker: GINNY BROWN-WAITE (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Flor

ida. I thank the gentlelady from North Carolina. I think Americans are disappointed. I think with the change in leadership in the House of Representatives as well as in the Senate. the people thought things were going to be improved. Kind of like when you buy a new container of detergent. it might say New and Improved. Well..I have to say. its not improved andit certainly isnt new. We were promised transparency. As you know. the gentlelady from North Carolina. if you recall. we had some language about making all earmarks transparent when we were in charge. when ttLe Republicans were in charge. Well. a week and a half ago on this very floor. we found out that that promise of transparency was broken and the promise of transparency in earmarks just didnt happen. As a matter of fact. We were going to be asked to vote on a bill that we had no idea what the earmarks were going to be in. We would be told that when it came back from conference. Well. that clearly. as my momma - used to say. was buying a pig in a poke. You didnt know what you were getting -and it was a very bad public policy. One of the Democrat promises was that they were going to promote smart and tough security. Let me read a direct quote: "Democrats are committed to protecting our country with real security initiatives that are smart and tough." then Minority Leader NANCY PELOSI said in a press release on October 25. 2006. before the November elections. Well. what we find is that the Democrats brought legislation to the House floor supporting the transfer of responsibility for a critical national security program to. of all- entities. the United Nations. And then 230 Democrats voted against a Republican motion to recommit which would have prohibited this transfer of responsibility and made clear that Americas national security is and should be the responsibility of America alone. That happened to be a vote on January 4 of 2007. In the Fifth Congressional District in Florida. which I represent. and I know. Ms. Foxx. in your district. too. protecting of our borders is so important. Let me read a quote from then Minority Whip STENY HOYER. The quote was made November 25. 2006: "I believe there is virtually unanimous agreement in the Congress that we must secure our borders and know who is entering our country." Contrast that with May of 2006. and then what we have is a total change on June 15. 2007. when. just 6 months after the Democrats took power in the House. 214 Democrats voted against a Republican proposal to provide funds necessary for the construction of at least two layers of reinforced fencing. the installation of additional and physical barriers. road lighting. cameras and sensors. so that we could make our borders secure. This certainly is not the secure U.S. border promise that was made before the election. The Fifth Congressional District has a large number of retirees in it and people who are relying on Social Security. They truly care about the future of our country and the absolute need to be very careful about protecting future generations. . Let me read a quote that was made and that is that they were going to reform entitlement spending to protect future generations. But heres where the broken promise came in. The Democrat budget actually puts off tough and divisive decisions. Democrats did not include proposals to control the growth of entitlement programs that are projected to swamp the rest of the budget. Again. another broken promise. While you have a list there of 100 broken promises. whether its the transparency issue or whether it is reforming entitlement spending. or let me end with one that is so important to my district and that is Social Security and the Social Security trust fund. I would like to read a quote. and this was in March 2007 by a member of the Democrat Party from New Jersey. He said. "We will not borrow the money from the Social Security trust fund and from other creditors around the world." However. when there was a Republican proposal to prohibit increases in the authorization spending levels if the Social Security surplus has been spent the previous year. that same Member from New Jersey voted to virtually break his promise. Thats what Americans are concerned about. Thats exactly why- the rating of Congress is down to 14. I think its a combination of thus far the very. very serious broken promises and what the Senate was about to do on immigration. Americans are very disappointed. and I thank the gentlelady from North Carolina for bringing this issue to the House floor. Its important that we remind the citizens. Republicans. Democrats and Independents of the broken promises that have only happened the first 6 months of the Democrat control of this House. I thank the gentlelady for bringing this veryimportant issue up.