[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 35 (Thursday, March 18, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H1233]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          WOUNDED CREDIBILITY

  (Mr. Tierney asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. TIERNEY. Mr. Speaker, the credibility of this administration 
abroad has been wounded severely because of the misleading 
representations about the reasons we went into that country; and no 
matter how we try to rewrite history, that fact will not go away.
  The administration's credibility at home has been shot. It is failing 
every day with the decreasing job market and the failure to do anything 
about it.
  This House must fight the loss of its credibility with respect, 
especially what has been going on with the Medicare measure that passed 
more recently.
  We now find out in today's papers and the last week's papers that the 
administration knew well ahead of time that this bill was going to cost 
substantially more than it represented it was going to cost; and in 
fact, a member of the administration was threatened with the loss of 
his job if he told Congress the facts, if he let people know the facts.
  We find that the chairman of one of the committees drafting the bill 
was offered a $2 million-a-year job by the industry that would benefit 
by $139 billion over the course of that bill; and we find that a 
Republican Member of this House now says that although he is not 
running, he was told that his son would get money or not get money for 
his campaign to succeed his father depending on the vote on that bill.
  Mr. Speaker, the credibility of this House is endangered. We need an 
investigation into those circumstances. We cannot afford to let the 
credibility of this institution go the way of the credibility of the 
administration.

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