[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 53 (Wednesday, April 2, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H2695]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  EDUCATING AMERICA ABOUT THE WARTIME SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS BILL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Chocola). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. WATERS. Mr. Speaker, I would like to first of all thank my 
colleague on the opposite side of the aisle for his generosity in 
granting me the opportunity to address the House prior to the hour that 
he has reserved for himself. I would also like to thank all of the 
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus for being here this evening 
to help highlight the problems with our budget.
  I think that the case has been made. I think that the Members who 
came to the floor this evening were able to point out all of the 
devastating cuts in the President's budget that are going to wreak 
havoc on America. I think they have been able to make a very, very 
clear picture about what is happening in education, what is happening 
in housing, what is happening in health care. So I do not need to 
revisit all of that, but I would like to take time to talk about an 
action that I tried to take just earlier this evening.
  Earlier this evening I went to what is known as our Committee on 
Rules. I went to the Committee on Rules because this is the committee 
that will decide whether or not we can amend the supplemental 
appropriations legislation that the President has asked us to pass in 
this House. The President has asked for supplemental appropriations 
legislation because the president needs to have more money to fund the 
war in Iraq. We understand, whether one agrees with the war or not, 
that once we deploy our soldiers it costs an awful lot of money. They 
have to be fed, their clothing, all of the supplies and the equipment, 
and I think every Member of this House is prepared to support our 
soldiers and the funding that is needed.
  But, Mr. Speaker, as we examine the supplemental appropriations, one 
can readily see that there is something else going on in that 
appropriations bill. It is not simply a bill that is designed to 
support our soldiers and that war in Iraq. What it appears is we are 
literally paying some people off. We are rewarding some folks, maybe 
because they voted with us in the U.N., maybe because we want them to 
vote with us; certainly, Turkey is in the bill for $1 billion. But in 
addition to Turkey, what I discovered in the bill was money for 
Afghanistan, for Israel, for Jordan, for Bahrain, for Oman and 
Pakistan, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, 
Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Djibouti, the 
Philippines, Colombia, and on and on and on.
  Now, I went to that committee because I decided that if they can fund 
all of these countries for whatever reasons, billions of dollars, and, 
in addition to that, Mr. Speaker, in this bill we will find a very 
generous allocation for educational needs for not only Afghanistan, but 
also for Iraq where we are talking about rehabilitating schools and 
providing building and rehabilitating buildings, and building new 
schools. We are also talking about providing health care. As a matter 
of fact, it is the universal health care system that we wish for in 
America that we will be providing to Iraq. I am not jealous of the fact 
that we have torn up the countries and we need to in fact do something 
about funding them.
  So I went and I asked that we appropriate $5 billion for our rural 
and poor communities that need health care clinics and transportation 
systems to get people to the hospital, and that we fund urban 
communities so we can get rid of buildings that are burned out and that 
are boarded up and that have been standing for 35 and 40 years on land 
that we can have people investing in for growing these communities, if 
we could but clear them and package it so that we can do some economic 
development. Of course it is not going to be made in order.
  But, in addition to a president's budget that is cutting and slashing 
domestic programs, now we have a supplemental appropriation that is 
asking for more money for all of these countries, I guess because they 
voted for us in the U.N.
  Mr. Speaker, it is not right, and the people are going to want to 
know why we are doing this. We come to this floor tonight to do some 
educating.

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