[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 85 (Wednesday, June 11, 2003)]
[House]
[Page H5246]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             CONGRESS NEEDS TO WORK IN A BIPARTISAN MANNER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished 
gentleman very much; and I appreciate my good friend, the gentleman 
from Georgia (Mr. Kingston), insisting that we have a balanced budget.
  Might I remind him that as we speak, the Committee on Rules is 
meeting and having the opportunity to review the $82 billion tax 
proposal of the Republicans of this House, when all that we ask for and 
all that is necessary is that we take the Senate bill that has just 
been passed to fix the major error that occurred last week when this 
body, this Republican House and Republican Senate, refused to provide a 
child tax credit for working families making $10,000 to $26,000 a year.
  The Senate fixed it last week. The bill from the Senate is right here 
at the desk. All this House needed to do was to adopt the Senate 
language. It would immediately go to the President's desk. It would be 
immediately signed by the President, and now 19 million children would 
be able to have the same child tax credit refund that the rich have 
been able to get by the President's tax bill. But lo and behold, the 
very same party that has stood up and indicated that they are willing 
to fight the deficit, they have now before us an $82 billion jump of a 
tax cut that has all of the kitchen sink in it, and they want to keep 
the children of America from getting their tax cut.
  I hope we can work on this issue in a bipartisan manner, Mr. Speaker. 
I hope the Committee on Rules right now will reject the proposal by the 
Committee on Ways and Means, the Republican Committee on Ways and 
Means. This potpourri of taxes that eliminates the opportunity for us 
to move quickly to the President's desk with a clean, stand-alone tax 
cut that provides a refund to the children of America, a simple $154 
that we can give to 19 million children and their families and those 
that make $10,000 to $26,000 a year. I hope we can do that.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to finish on this very important concern that I 
have, and that is that over the weekend we heard a lot of scrambling on 
the Sunday morning talk shows about a call for congressional 
investigations about the question of the existence of weapons of mass 
destruction.
  Mr. Speaker, I do not know if there are weapons of mass destruction. 
And I am not intending to be in an argument with my administration on 
the question of their veracity. But I do want to be in an argument on 
behalf of the American people. They need to know the truth. So I am 
calling for an independent investigation, a special prosecutor, or a 
special commission to investigate what was known by the administration 
and what level of intelligence was given when we made the decision to 
go to war with Iraq. What kind of intelligence and documentation of the 
intelligence that would have given the necessary impetus or basis of 
going to war, what was known by the intelligence community, what facts 
did they give about the weapons of mass destruction, why was a decision 
made to go to war with respect to the intelligence given when we know 
that the U.N. inspectors were doing the very same thing?
  The argument that the administration made is that we know there are 
weapons of mass destruction, we know that they are there, and the U.N. 
inspectors are not doing their job and they are not doing it fast 
enough. Two months later after the official part of the war has ended, 
although we are still at war, we do not have the weapons of mass 
destruction.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a constitutional question of war and peace. We 
were supposed to declare war under article I of the Constitution. We 
did not do that. Members of this House were moved to tears when they 
made the decision to vote on the question of going to war. What a 
tragedy if we did not have the sufficient intelligence or the accurate 
intelligence or the intelligence community did not truthfully give the 
facts necessary to make an intelligent decision that sent young men and 
women off to their deaths.
  I believe we owe the American people the truth. The Congress is not 
going to do it. I understand there is a complete collapse in the other 
body with respect to bipartisan hearings on the question of what kind 
of intelligence was given to make the decision. Then forget about it. 
Give the American people the truth. We need to have an independent 
investigation, an outside commission, and/or a special prosecutor, 
which I am calling for and will make an official demand for it in the 
following days to come.
  I hope that we realize that truth to the American people is our 
obligation as members of this government. The American people must 
depend upon our veracity, and as well they must depend upon the right 
decisions being made on their behalf and on behalf of the young men and 
women in the United States military. We salute them for their 
willingness to offer the ultimate sacrifice, but I believe truly it is 
important for us to have the truth on this issue, and an independent 
investigation is well needed.

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