[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 171 (Tuesday, December 11, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H9086-H9087]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 REPUBLICAN GIVEAWAYS TO INSURANCE COMPANIES AND LARGE CORPORATIONS DO 
                  NOT SOLVE AMERICA'S ECONOMIC CRISIS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2001, the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) is recognized 
during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, 3 months ago today, as we all know, 
was September 11. That afternoon, gas stations, some number of gas 
stations all over the country raised their prices to $4 and $5 and $6 a 
gallon. We all remember that. Most of us would call that war 
profiteering.
  However, others around the country, the great, great majority of 
people in this country, came together. They put out their flags, they 
gave blood, they volunteered, some went to New York to volunteer, went 
to the Pentagon to volunteer, and schoolchildren all over the country 
collected pennies, nickels, and dimes to send to the victims and their 
families.
  But something else emerged in Washington, not war profiteering in the 
simple sense of raising gas prices, but a more sophisticated kind of 
political profiteering: this Congress, pushed by the President and the 
Republican leadership in this Congress, first of all gave a huge multi-
billion dollar bailout to the airlines, requiring nothing from the 
airline executives, requiring nothing for airport security, requiring 
nothing of airline safety.
  Then this Congress turned around and gave tax cuts for the largest 
corporations in the country: a check, a tax refund to IBM, a check from 
the Federal Government for $1.4 billion; $1 billion to Ford; $900 
million to GM, and the list went on and on and on.
  Then, this Congress gave a huge bailout to insurance companies, 
insurance executives who usually preach ``We want government off our 
backs, we believe in free enterprise, except when we have our hand out 
and want money from the Federal Government.''
  Then last week this Congress, with unemployment creeping upward to 
the highest 2-month increase we have seen in 21 years, with the anxiety 
that people have about their jobs, with LTV workers and other steel 
industry workers losing their jobs around the country, this Congress 
passed, at the behest of the Republican leadership and the largest 
corporations in the country, Trade Promotion Authority, which will send 
more of our jobs ultimately to Latin America and around the world.
  My dad used to talk about World War II and shared sacrifice, about 
war bonds and WAVES and WACs and victory gardens and scrap metal 
drives. But instead, this Republican Congress and this President demand 
tax cuts for IBM while ignoring 100,000 airline workers, doing zero for 
them. This President and this Congress demand a bailout for the 
insurance companies while ignoring workers who have lost their jobs and 
not trying to help them with any health insurance and any health care 
costs.
  Instead, instead of shared sacrifice, this Republican Congress and 
this President demand of Congress that we pass Trade Promotion 
Authority, instead of providing public investments for our broken-down 
schools and broken-down infrastructure and broken-down highway and rail 
system.

                              {time}  1300

  Imagine though, Mr. Speaker, if the President and the Republican 
Congress called on us like in World War II for shared sacrifice. 
Imagine if the President called on young patriotic Americans to enlist 
in the Army or the Peace Corps, to enlist in the Navy or Americorp, to 
enlist in the Air Force or Teach for America. That is what waving the 
American flag is all about.
  Imagine if the President said to his friends, and the Republican 
leadership said to their friends in the drug industry, no more special 
favors; we are not going to allow them to charge American consumers and 
America's elderly more for prescription drugs than anywhere else in the 
world; we are not going to allow that anymore in this Congress. That is 
what waving the American flag is all about.
  Imagine if the President called on Americans to volunteer for Meals 
on Wheels or cleaning up the neighborhood or tutoring children that are 
having difficulty keeping up. That is what waving the American flag is 
all about.
  Imagine if the President would say to his friends in the oil 
business, imagine if he would say we are going to wean ourselves off 
Middle Eastern oil, we are going to find a way to help Americans 
conserve and get better gas mileage and turn their thermostats down and 
all the things the President could do to appeal to Americans, to appeal 
to his friends in the corporate boardrooms and the oil companies, to 
wean ourselves off that Middle Eastern oil. That

[[Page H9087]]

is what waving the American flag is all about.
  Instead of this Republican President and Republican leadership 
bestowing tax cuts on the wealthiest Americans, imagine if we helped 
those who needed help the most, and imagine, instead of the President 
and the Republican leadership bestowing tax cuts on the largest 
corporations in the world in this country, imagine instead if they 
appealed to the best in America.
  Imagine.

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