[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 26, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H202]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 PRESERVING SAFETY NET FOR SOCIAL SECURITY, AND CAUTIOUS DELIBERATION 
                  NEEDED REGARDING NEXT STEPS IN IRAQ

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I would be quite interested in 
accepting my good friend's challenge on Social Security, but let me say 
to my colleagues, the proposed plans of Republicans are an absolute 
betrayal of the American people and the safety net of Social Security, 
and I, for one, and those of us who stand under the Democratic 
umbrella, are not going to stand around while Social Security is being 
destroyed. Social Security is secure until 2053, and we need to make 
sure that that safety net remains in place.
  Mr. Speaker, I also rise to acknowledge the 35 marines that lost 
their lives this morning in Iraq. I, too, believe in freedom, as most 
Americans believe in freedom, but I do also believe in truth. As 
Secretary-to-be Condoleezza Rice will be approved today, I hope that we 
recognize in this Congress that we have an obligation not to political 
philosophy, but to the lives of those young men and women on the front 
lines.
  Iraq may be able to be a democracy as we know it in decades and 
decades to come, but what do we say about the blood of Americans who 
came to fight a war in Iraq on the basis of weapons of mass 
destruction? I believe we owe them an apology, and I believe that we 
owe cautious deliberations on the next steps in Iraq.

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