Date: 2007-06-18
Speaker: WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (democrat)
Chamber: H

Thank you. Mr. ALTMIRE. And I am going to maybe abbreviate my view on what happened last week and just call it what it is: hypocrisy. Where were our good friend on the other side of the aisle when they controlled this process for 12 years? And I am not going to spend a lot of time on the process because that is all they have because if they allow the debate to turn to the substance of the legislation. the substance of the appropriations bills that we are moving forward and will pass off this floor. with the vast majority of them supporting it be7 cause they have to. because when they admit that the substance of the legislation that we are putting forward in the Homeland Security bill. in the military construction bill. in the other bills that will be coming forward to this floor. they have to admit that not only are they good bills but they go much further and do a much better job of providing for the needs of this country than they ever did. On the floor last week. I took an opportunity to spend a few minutes .debating the process with them. One of the things that I had an opportunity to engage in debate on was where was their outrage on the other side when they controlled this process? Where were the reformers. leaping to their feet. urging and pounding on their leadership to adopt transparency and to adopt a process in which they could have the maximum- amount of input into earmark reform? The answer is it was nonexistent because they didnt care about it. It didnt matter to them. They were very happy fat and happy to take all the earmarks they could get. bring them home. tied up with their lobbyists and their friends and their culture of corruption. all twisted up and intertwined. and that is what their process was like. And our process is clear and transparent and participatory and inclusive. and they cant stand it. So what they have -to do is they have to try to muck up the perception of what we are doing here because if they acknowledge what is really going on. not only have we adopted a more inclusive. more transparent process when it comes to earmark reform. but the substance of our legislation they have to support because they know that we are going much further than they did. I want to go beyond process. though. to President Bushs veto threat of the Homeland Security appropriations bill. He actually has threatened to veto this bill. which is. just absolutely astonishing. And one of the things that I have heard him articulate. Mr. MEEK and Mr. ALTMIRE. is that if the Congress proposes to spend $1 over what he proposed in his administrations budget that he would veto any of that legislation. And that includes the Homeland Security bill. which provides for the homeland security needs for our border protection. for our first responders. for the 9/11 Commission recommendations that we passed in the first bill out of this Chamber during our 100hour push for the Six in 06 agenda. and the President is actually proposing to veto a bill that would ensure that we spend more money on protecting our homeland domestically. You know. you can argue process and earmarks and reform and all that. But at the end of the day. that is the stark contrast that people of this country have to choose from. When they go to the polls next November and when they evaluate how they think a Democratic Congress is doing versus how a Republican Congress did. at the end of the day. we are passing a Homeland Security appropriations bill that will really provide for the domestic homeland security needs. as opposed to continuing to twist us up and mire us in the war in Iraq with an endless. openended commitment that never proposes to get us out of there. On top of that. we have a President who has been critical of a military construction bill that will provide for the largest single increase in veterans health care in history. I mean this is how backwards their priorities are. Under the Republican control. their goal was to help lobbyists. was to make sure that they brought home as many earmarks that were pushed by lobbyists as they could. And. instead. what we are doing here is we have transparency. where people will know. anyone can know. who is sponsoring an earmark. where any Member can offer an amendment to strike an earmark. where any Member can offer to sponsor an earmark. Members will be able to participate in the conference process. which you would think that that would be a normal thing. but it wasnt normal under the Republicans because you couldnt even participate as the minority in the conference process. But at the end of the day. all of that has been a deliberate distraction because they cant argue with the content of our appropriations bills because they are much stronger and go much further and do more for the country than they did. They dont Win that debate. They dont win a headtohead. toetotoe debate on the substance. so they have to try to distract people with the process. And that is what I am hopeful that w6 can get into in this 30Something hour and future special order hours that we participate in. because what we need to make sure we focus on is the substance of our legislation. because they would like nothing better than to twist us up in debate on process.