[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 69 (Friday, May 9, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H3964]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              BUSH ECONOMIC STRATEGY LEAVES AMERICA BEHIND

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my Democratic colleagues 
in expressing my outrage with the Bush administration and the 
Republican majority who are truly waging economic warfare against the 
American people, most notably our children and our grandchildren.
  Mr. Speaker, the tax package the Republicans undemocratically and 
very brutally rammed through here today represent dropping a big bomb 
on American families. It is un-American to devastate the lives of 
American families who happen not to be rich. This budget, this tax cut 
will leave a huge crater in the economy and the Federal budget that 
will take decades to repair.
  What is most troubling about this irresponsible, unfair, and ill-
advised plan for economic disaster? What does it mean for our children, 
especially our most vulnerable children? You simply cannot be for 
leaving no child behind when you are handing out massive tax cuts for 
millionaires at the expense of our children. What do we tell the 
parents of these children when they ask what is our government going to 
do to create jobs? What is our government doing to help kids? What is 
our government doing to expand health care to help senior citizens or 
to improve education or to ease inequality?
  I guess we tell them that we have a President and a Republican 
majority in Congress who care more about eliminating taxes on stock 
dividends than eliminating poverty. We tell them we have a President 
who is slashing Head Start funds, cutting job training programs and 
after school programs and spending the entire Social Security surplus. 
We tell them that this may be the first President in over half a 
century who may serve an entire term in office without creating one 
single job. And we tell them we have an administration that is seeking 
to wipe out affirmative action because it is apparently blind to the 
enormous inequalities in our country. And we let them know that this 
mean-spirited tax cut will disproportionately affect African American 
and Latino children. We tell them that we have a President who is, yes, 
waging war at home, a war on our future, a war on opportunities for our 
children, a war on equality and war on our economy. There are 9 million 
people unemployed in this country, including 2 million unemployed 
African Americans and almost 1.5 million Latinos. That is a disgrace 
and there is no help for them in this Bush plan.
  We are in a jobs depression. What our economy needs and what 
Americans need are more job opportunities. How do you benefit from a 
tax cut when you do not even have a job? Where is the compassion in 
this?
  We need increased technical training for young people and transition 
assistance for displaced workers, many of whom are victims of our trade 
policy. Just look at NAFTA. Under NAFTA we have seen a quarter of a 
million actual and potential jobs disappear. Now the administration is 
looking to expand NAFTA to virtually every single country in the 
Western Hemisphere. How many jobs will we lose then?
  As Marian Wright Edelman, President of the Children's Defense Fund, 
said, It is awfully hard to be a poor child in this country. It is 
awfully hard to be a parent. It is hard to be one of the millions of 
Americans desperately searching for jobs and not finding them while 
their unemployment benefits are expiring.

                              {time}  1545

  It is hard for tens of millions of people in Bush's mark. We could be 
turning the tide on this jobs depression. We should be investing in our 
future, but on the eve of Mother's Day, rather than saying Happy 
Mother's Day, the Republicans are shattering the lives of millions of 
mothers by cutting taxes for the rich, sacrificing the poor and 
neglecting the middle class.
  Mr. Speaker, the President waged an immoral war in Iraq and now he is 
doing it right here at home. Wake up, America, and fight this very 
unpatriotic assault on American families and children. You must fight 
back.

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