[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 85 (Thursday, June 23, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H5082]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               CONGRESS OUT OF TOUCH WITH AMERICAN PEOPLE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Corrine Brown) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, to see just how out of 
touch the Republican Congress is with the American people, look no 
further than the recent CBS poll taken just last week. In the poll, it 
clearly says that 81 percent of the American public believes that 
Congress does not share their priorities. This, Mr. Speaker, is just 
how out of touch the Republican leadership is with the American people. 
They just do not get it. And today's debate is just one more example of 
that. Cutting public broadcasting. I cannot tell you how many dozens 
and dozens of my constituents have been calling me on this issue 
telling me and my staff emphatically that they absolutely do not want 
to see any cuts in public radio and TV broadcasting. But their wishes, 
their calls, their complaints, their desires, their priorities are 
falling on deaf ears.
  In reality, the Labor-HHS bill that was on the floor today and will 
be back tomorrow shows once again how the Republican Party's outright 
irresponsible tax cuts for the rich have exhausted the budget. So when 
they say we have to cut money for things like job training, assistance 
for the unemployed, No Child Left Behind, community services block 
grants, training programs for health professionals, the health 
communities access program, a program which helps serve the uninsured; 
as well as children's health block grants and freezing after-school 
centers, I say to them, on behalf of the American people, four out of 
five of whom do not support the Republican leadership, shame, shame, 
shame.
  We are also spending $1 billion a week in Iraq. That is $4 billion a 
month. Yet this administration has zeroed out funding for Amtrak.

                              {time}  1830

  Just 1 week of investment in Iraq would significantly improve 
passenger rail for the entire country for an entire year. I just want 
someone to explain to the American public why investing in 
transportation in Iraq is so much more important than investing in 
passenger rail right here in the United States of America.
  Today right here in America we have 50 million people without health 
insurance. We have the highest trade deficit in the history of this 
country, and we have a $477 billion Federal deficit. We have a $375 
billion shortfall in transportation funding, and we still do not know 
what happened to the weapons of mass destruction.
  I close by posing this question: Is bankrupting this great country 
the top priority of this administration? I must repeat that. Is 
bankrupting this great country the top priority of this administration? 
They are certainly big on bankrupting Amtrak and doing away with 
passenger trains. I stand here to question the priorities of the House 
leadership, the priorities of the other body, and definitely to 
question those of the policymakers or the bean counters over in the 
White House.
  Like 81 percent of the American public, I am growing tired and weary 
of the Republican majority and the priorities of this administration. I 
call on my colleagues to change directions, to give up privatizing 
Social Security, to give up selling out our health care system to the 
pharmaceuticals, and to listen to the American public and get in tune 
with their real needs.

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