[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 147 (Monday, October 20, 2003)]
[House]
[Pages H9710-H9711]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 CONSTITUENT LETTERS REGARDING IRAQ WAR

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, about 170 or so years ago, John 
Quincy Adams came to the House floor night after night reading letters 
from his constituents because the conservative leaders of the House of 
Representatives in those days passed a rule prohibiting banning the 
debate and discussion of slavery in the United States. He read letters 
mostly from women in his Massachusetts district protesting the cutting 
off of debate, the fact that conservative leadership in Congress simply 
did not want this discussed.
  Today, 165 years later, I have come to the House night after night 
reading letters from any constituents, talking about corruption in the 
Bush administration, talking about the money we are spending on 
reconstruction in Iraq, talking about the billion dollars a week, a 
third of it from private contractors, money that goes to the

[[Page H9711]]

friends of the President and the companies and contributors supporting 
the President, and really wondering why this administration and the 
conservative leaders in this Congress will not allow us to discuss 
this.
  I have gotten letter after letter from my Ohio constituents wondering 
why Vice President Cheney still gets $13,000 every month from the 
Halliburton Company, the company of which he was CEO 3 years before he 
was Vice President, a company that is still receiving millions, 
hundreds of millions of dollars in unbid government contracts.
  Just last week I tried to offer an amendment to the $87 billion 
appropriations that would have stopped some of the corporate tax 
evaders who have evaded taxes at the expense of the American citizens. 
The amendment would have banned corporate tax evaders, tax dodgers, 
from receiving any contracts on the reconstruction of Iraq.
  We know that Halliburton companies have broken Federal law, yet we 
still give them these contracts and they still pay the Vice President 
of the United States, this is on record, pay him $13,000 a month.
  I will begin to share some of these letters.
  Jill from Akron, Ohio writes, ``It is a disgrace that our government 
is willing to spend billions on another country when the education 
system in our country is crumbling.''
  Dr. Steve in Hinckley writes, ``The Iraq war has not made it safer. 
It has harmed relationships with key NATO allies as well as helped fuel 
more anti-American sentiment in the Middle East. This has to stop.''
  Francene from Akron, Ohio writes, ``Please do not vote for additional 
funding for this war. It took lies and deceit to get us into this war, 
and we should back off now and let the United Nations help rebuild the 
mess in Iraq that Mr. Bush created.'' She is talking about the things 
that the administration told us that simply are not true: the weapons 
of mass destruction, the al-Qaeda connections, all of those things.
  Terence of Avon Lake writes, ``We need to hold the Bush 
administration accountable for their poor Iraq planning and nonexistent 
exit strategy. Please withhold the funds requested until they lay out 
an exit strategy from Iraq.''
  One of the things that Terence is talking about is the fact that a 
year or 14 months after President Bush said he wanted to attack Iraq, 
we still do not have body armor for our troops. One-quarter of our 
troops still do not have body armor, are not going to have it at 
earliest until December; and I am hearing from families who just cannot 
believe that we knew we were going to do this, yet we are not taking 
care of the troops. We are not supplying them with antibiotics. We are 
not supplying them with safe drinking water. We are not supplying them 
with body armor, yet we are forcing them when they get leave, if they 
do, to pay for their own plane tickets home. Yet we are spending a 
billion dollars a week and a third of it is going to private 
contractors, many of them contributors to and friends of the President.
  Eric of Akron writes, ``I am dismayed this country can find billions 
of dollars to pay for an unnecessary and illegitimate war in Iraq but 
cannot find in its heart to solve some of the real problems this 
country and the world are facing. I am saddened and I am sickened. Very 
few of you in Congress and the Bush administration are really looking 
out for the people of this country.''
  Corky of Strongville, Ohio writes, ``It is time the American people 
hold the Administration accountable for lies in regard to Iraq. No more 
money or troops should be committed until a full investigation is 
conducted.''


                         Parliamentary Inquiry

  Mr. CUNNINGHAM. Mr. Speaker, I have a parliamentary inquiry. Is it 
proper decorum of the House to call the President a liar?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. If the gentleman's remarks were of that 
tenor, they would be out of order.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I did not mean to say that. I was 
reading a letter and talking about the Bush administration. If I 
actually called the President a liar, I withdraw that. I do not mean to 
say that.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection.
  Mr. CUNNINGHAM. Mr. Speaker, further parliamentary inquiry, there are 
slick ways to get around calling the President a liar and still doing 
it. I would object.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) may 
proceed in order.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, is that time taken away from me 
during the parliamentary inquiry?
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. No, the clock was stopped during the 
inquiry.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, Deborah of Akron, Ohio, writes, 
``Please do not give $87 billion to President Bush. He and his advisors 
did not plan well for the rebuilding of Iraq.'' I think she is talking 
about the Kevlar jackets, the body armor that simply was not planned, 
even the war was planned maybe more than a year and a half ago.
  ``Control of this project should be under the authority of the U.N. 
We should help but not by throwing more money after a very unsuccessful 
plan by the Bush team. Maybe the President should ask his rich friends 
for the money since they are the only ones benefitting big time from 
his tax cuts.''
  She is talking about the tax cut where millionaires get $93,000 while 
50 percent of people in my home State and the home State of the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur) got zero dollars from that tax cut.

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