[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 30 (Wednesday, March 10, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H1001-H1002]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        TAX CUTS AND THE DEFICIT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Pearce). 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 came to the floor of the 
House to address the concerns raised by my colleague, the gentleman 
from Michigan (Mr. Conyers). But, Mr. Speaker, I just have to respond 
to some of the comments and debate that I just heard by my friends on 
the other side of the aisle.
  It is interesting to call the Democrats the tax and spend party of 
America. And I recall that when we finished the work of the 1993 budget 
resolution and the 1997 budget resolution going into 2001 after 
President Clinton left office, the spring of 2001 saw this Nation with 
somewhere between a $5 and $7 trillion surplus.
  Today as I stand here and on the eve of the Committee on the Budget's 
meeting tomorrow, addressing the questions of veterans health care and 
Medicare, Social Security, the threat that this administration has 
given to cutting Social Security, we are in a $551 billion deficit 
based mostly upon very misdirected tax cuts by this administration on 
the backs of hardworking men and women.
  To the 1 percent richest we have given all of the tax cuts, and we 
are digging a hole deeper than we could ever remove ourselves from and 
eliminating the needs of all Americans as relates to the services that 
this government has so aptly done before and having a balanced budget.
  So I would just ask my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to 
return to their administration and their committee meetings and try to 
explain to the American people how we have gone down such a slippery 
slope.
  Let me also say that when it comes to the job creation that occurred 
in the 1990s, this administration and Republican Congress is a dwarf, 
if you will, compared to the enormous steps and strides that were made 
under the leadership of the Democrats. 21,000 jobs that were made just 
in this last month, in terms of job creation, over 3 million 
manufacturing jobs that have been lost. And the 21,000 jobs were 
government jobs. No private sector job was made in the last month.


                The Administration's Policy Toward Haiti

  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, let me now move to my comments 
that are associated with those of Mr. Conyers. I again ask this 
administration for full investigation on the removal of a duly elected 
democratic president from Haiti, President Aristide and his wife.
  President Aristide's most recent press conference in the last 24 
hours again restates the fact that he was removed from the country 
without his consent. He was coerced; he was seemingly threatened and 
frightened into making a decision.
  In a hearing that was held last week and questioning Representative 
U.S. Assistant Secretary Noriega on this question, rather than ask the 
question directly, he proceeded to be directly rude, if you will, and 
also to the extent of refusing to answer the question or be

[[Page H1002]]

responsive as I would expect a representative of the administration 
should be.
  We now know that thousands of orphans in Haiti are now without food 
because there is no means of getting food supplies up into the 
locations where they are. We understand that children have been killed. 
A young boy who was willing to give his bicycle to one of the thug 
insurgents was shot dead on the street. Another young boy was injured 
by a flying canister and lost his life. A Fulbright scholar was fleeing 
for her life, having to leave the country because of the danger. 
Thousands of Americans have gone. The U.S. military, specifically the 
Marines, are in danger because of the refusal to increase the numbers 
of allied troops on the ground.
  It is noted that in 1994 when President Clinton sent 20,000 troops 
into Haiti to uphold the Santiago Agreement which requires the United 
States to defend any duly elected democratic government in the western 
hemisphere, not one military personnel was harmed or was anyone else 
harmed.
  So we know that we have a failure in this policy, we have blood shed 
in the street, violence in the street, and we have a duly elected 
president whose supporters are continuing to rebel, if you will, now in 
exile without any knowledge of his condition or ability to return to a 
place where he can engage in discussion and be part of a peaceful 
resolution of installing a peaceful government into Haiti. We have 
failed in this effort.
  It is sad to say that we have not met our goals in Iraq. We have not 
met our goal in Afghanistan. Now we come full circle to the western 
hemisphere. Children are starving. People are dying. Violence is 
raging. No government there for us to negotiate with.
  Mr. Speaker, I think for all of us this is on our hands. It is time 
now for us to stand up and be counted for peace around the world.

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