[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 134 (Thursday, October 20, 2005)]
[House]
[Page H9018]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             CONGRESS GOES HOME WITHOUT COMPLETING ITS WORK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, the American people might wonder why we 
have gone home today at 1 o'clock on a Thursday. Are there no problems 
facing this country? Have we rebuilt the gulf coast? Have we dealt with 
the problems in Iraq? Have we dealt with everything that is troubling 
in this society? You have to ask yourself, where did the Congress go? 
Why did they go home? Why does the Republican leadership declare that 
no, we are not going to be here, we are not going to be here on Monday. 
I think this Congress is pretty much having trouble here doing their 
job.

                              {time}  1300

  The reason we are not here on the floor dealing with the issues today 
is that the issues are tough. And the Republicans do not want to go 
into Thanksgiving with everybody saying, well, they did it again. They 
took more from the needy and they gave it to the greedy.
  But that is what the debate was about this week. It is about what 
kind of amendments, what kind of cuts. Amendments is a fancy 
congressional word for the fact that we are going to cut the budget.
  Now, where are those cuts coming from and why can the Republicans not 
make up their minds what they want to cut? Well, they are looking at 
the Medicaid program. They want to cut $10 billion there. They want to 
just raise it; now, just 1 more billion would not be very much. Just a 
nick out of some people.
  Student loans. You just heard the gentleman from California (Mr. 
George Miller) give the facts about that issue. You are talking about a 
$7 or $8 billion cut in student loans. You know, those sick people, 
what can they do for themselves? Right. Take it away from them. What 
about the students? Take it away from them.
  How about agriculture? Now you say, well, rich farmers. No. No. No. 
Half of the money spent in the agriculture budget is spent on the food 
stamp program. Buying the surpluses of our farmers and giving them to 
the poor of this country.
  Now, why would we talk about cutting another $4 or $5 billion? No, 
they only want $1.5 billion. Excuse me. $1.5 billion out of food 
stamps. So we are taking away health care and food and ability to go to 
college, and then they come to the Ways and Means Committee that I sit 
on. Those are not even mandatory. Those are just things that that 
Congress said that we would do.
  But when you get to the Ways and Means Committee, you come to things 
that are written in law, and they are called entitlements. If you are 
an American, you are entitled. It does not make any difference where 
you live, how much you have; you are entitled. And they are now going 
to go after those entitlements.
  Now, I spoke a little bit before about a couple of them. One of the 
things they want to do is go after people who have had unemployment 
payments, unemployment insurance overpayments. They figure that they 
can get that back out of their taxes. That is at a very time when we 
have rising unemployment in this country. We are going to try and save 
$1 billion going back and squeezing workers that have been out of work 
for 3 months or 6 months or whatever.
  Anybody who is at the bottom of the pile should watch out for these 
guys, because they are coming after them with a sharp stick. They are 
going to take it away, and why are they taking it away? I mean, you 
have got to ask yourself, why would they cut food stamps? Why would 
they cut health care? Why would they cut school loans? Why would they 
go after the unemployed? Why would they go after grandparents who are 
taking care of foster kids? Why would they do that?
  Did you know that we had to give tax cuts to the rich? If we do not 
give tax cuts to the rich, why, the rich will not be rich. Well, they 
will be less rich, I mean. If we do not finish those tax cuts that are 
before this Congress, somehow they are not going to get that $100,000 
tax cut if they make more than $1 million.
  Now, think about the tears. Think about the tears up in those 
apartments and those houses where those people have been expecting that 
$100,000 tax cut that they were going to get. Who knows what they are 
going to do with it. I am sure that they are going to run out and give 
it to the poor.
  But these decisions that are being made in this body are being made 
by people who stand out here and beat their chests and talk about how 
much they care about family values. Is it a family values budget that 
cuts food and medical care and student aid? I do not think so. And they 
are going to find out at the next election.

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