[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 49 (Wednesday, March 26, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H2373-H2374]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  UNREAL BUDGET PASSED IN HOUSE ENDANGERS OUR ARMED FORCES, AMERICA'S 
                   FAMILIES AT HOME, AND OUR ECONOMY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, last week, as our Nation engaged in war in 
Iraq, this House voted to approve a budget resolution for fiscal year 
2004 that seriously jeopardizes the health, well-being, and security of 
our families, our economy, and our communities. It is a budget that 
benefits the few, the wealthy, and those who are not in need at the 
cost of working families, the young, the vulnerable, the aged, and the 
sick. It is a budget that puts both our present and our future at risk.
  I do not know what world those who supported the budget live in, but 
it certainly is not the real world. In the real world, our economy is 
in trouble. We face massive budget deficits, and our States are 
confronting the worst fiscal condition in over 50 years.
  In the real world, our communities are laying off teachers, police, 
and firefighters. In the real world, our infrastructure needs repair 
and modernization. In the real world, our families need quality schools 
and child care. In the real world, our current and future veterans 
deserve health care and other support. In the real world, our Social 
Security and Medicare systems are in financial crisis.
  It is past time for this Congress to debate how to meet our 
obligations; not a time for silence, cynicism, and accounting tricks.
  Mr. Speaker, we simply cannot afford the tax cuts passed in the 
Republican

[[Page H2374]]

leadership's budget resolution. We are at war in Iraq; we are in fiscal 
crisis at home. We have critical needs for our hometown security.
  Next week, this House will debate the President's $75 billion 
supplemental request to support the immediate costs of the war and the 
immediate needs of homeland security. This House was also going to take 
up a tax bill to approve at least the $726 billion in tax cuts desired 
by the President. That tax bill might now be temporarily postponed 
because yesterday the other body was shocked into a moment of clarity. 
If only this House might also be jolted into facing reality.
  Mr. Speaker, I had, and I still have, great reservations about our 
policy in Iraq. I continue to believe that this Congress has abdicated 
its responsibilities by not having a real debate about the war for more 
than 5 months. As parliaments and assemblies and congresses around the 
world debated this issue, the United States House of Representatives 
was silent. What a shameful performance.
  We must not repeat that mistake by failing to ask the tough, 
necessary questions: How much will this war cost? What are the long-
term consequences of occupying Iraq? How will that affect our ability 
to fund other priorities? What does it mean for our war on terrorism?
  I believed then and I believe today that Congress must have the basic 
information to meet its foreign and domestic obligations. We were told 
during the budget debate that the administration did not know how much 
the war might cost or what might be in the supplemental. Two days after 
the House passed its budget, however, they obviously had a very clear 
idea and a very specific request for $74.7 billion.
  Mr. Speaker, this House passed a budget that makes a mockery of our 
duty to protect and promote the common good of the American people. We 
are not responding to the needs of the people when we pass a budget 
that closes down hospitals, lays off police and firefighters, shuts 
down after-school programs and child care centers, and cuts $15 billion 
from veterans health and benefits.
  We are now preparing to debate a supplemental that deliberately fails 
to provide Congress information on the full cost of the war, of 
rebuilding Iraq, and of protecting our communities. Now it is being 
described as the first installment; but we do not know how many other 
installments are coming, or when, or for what purpose. We do know that 
this first installment includes items that have nothing to do with the 
war, the reconstruction of Afghanistan, or homeland security. In fact, 
Colombia receives more aid for military security in this supplemental 
than my State of Massachusetts does for homeland security.
  How sad. We must do better. We must make sure that America can meet 
its critical needs at home and abroad. We need to support our troops, 
and we also need to support their families and our States and our 
communities right here at home.
  Mr. Speaker, in conclusion, I urge my colleagues to get real.

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