[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 72 (Wednesday, May 14, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H4018]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         TEXAS STATE LEGISLATORS--HEROES IN THE TEXAS TRADITION

  (Mr. GREEN of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, earlier this week, 53 Texas 
Democratic legislators exhibited real courage when they refused to 
participate in an unprecedented redistricting power grab. This is a 
Texas kind of courage like General Sam Houston, who marshaled his 
resources to win the Battle of San Jacinto. What Joe Moreno, Rick 
Noriega, Jessica Farrar, Kevin Bailey, and the rest of these heroes did 
was stand up to this charade.
  In a statement delivered from Oklahoma, these Texas heroes said, ``We 
did not choose our path, Tom DeLay did. We are ready to stand on the 
House Floor and work day and night to deal with the real issues facing 
Texas families. At a time when we are told we do not have time to deal 
with school finance, and when we must still resolve issues like the 
State budget crisis and insurance reform, the fact that an outrageous 
partisan power grab sits at the top of the House calendar is 
unconscionable.''
  But not all Texans consider them heroes. Yesterday the Associated 
Press reported that the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) was 
investigating whether or not the FBI and U.S. Marshals could be used to 
track down and arrest these Texas legislators.
  We should not use Federal resources committed to the war on terrorism 
and protecting our homeland. Not since Richard Nixon have we seen such 
a Federal power grab.

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