[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 29 (Wednesday, March 8, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H760-H761]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 IN SEARCH OF A COMPETENT CONSERVATIVE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Davis of Kentucky). Under a previous 
order of the House, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Emmanuel) is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. EMMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, over the last couple of months and years, 
the American people have seen what has happened from Iraq, to Medicare, 
to port security, the economy and Katrina, and the government and this 
administration's response.
  In the 2000 election, President Bush said he wanted to run as a 
compassionate conservative, and when you look at what has happened and 
the chaos that is caused by this administration in every one of those 
areas, forget just compassionate conservative, I would settle for a 
competent conservative at this point.
  The response by this government in every one of those areas that 
created the kind of chaos that has happened, just take Iraq, for 
example, just as recently as this weekend. You have our ambassador 
saying that Iraq is on the beginning of a civil war. Joint Chiefs said 
that things are actually going well, and Secretary Rumsfeld, Secretary 
of Defense, said, nothing to worry about, our problem is the press does 
not accurately report. So either we are on the brink of a civil war, 
everything is going well, or the American press is actually to blame 
for what is happening in Iraq.
  We have actually sent troops to battle without enough Kevlar vests. 
We have sent troops to battle with Humvees and turn our men and women 
into scrap metal collectors. When we had to oust Iraq from Kuwait, we 
sent a half a million troops; yet, to occupy Iraq, 138,000 troops. And 
Paul Bremer, the President's personal ambassador there to run the 
country, asked the Secretary of Defense, asked the President for more 
troops, and nobody responded.
  What is the Republican Congress's response to that? Not a single 
question, not a single hearing, never asking a single question. This is 
the hear no evil, see no evil Congress. No oversight. Out of the $480 
billion appropriated, $10 billion cannot be accounted for, and nobody's 
asked a single question or had a single hearing, and, in fact, they 
have opposed oversight to war profiteering commissions like we had in 
World War II.
  So this Congress on Iraq, see no evil, hear no evil, stay the course, 
do not ask any questions, do not understand how we got to a situation 
where there is a failure on the intelligence, a failure to adequately 
supply our troops who are fighting valiantly, and they deserve a 
civilian leadership that is up to the kind of valiant leadership and

[[Page H761]]

valiant efforts that they are, but on Iraq, not a question out of the 
Congress, not a change of course out of the President. They have 
rubber-stamped that policy.
  Take the issue of Katrina. We all saw the tape last week of the 
President of the United States on that issue. Not a single question. We 
have had an American city literally wiped out, and what is the 
response? Billions of dollars are gone. Who is checking the books? Not 
this Congress. Just keep going, writing hot checks over there, and, 
again, companies are walking away with money, no services. We have 
trailers that are unoccupied. Nobody wants to ask the questions. See no 
evil, hear no evil Congress, rubber-stamp the policies. People are 
still dispersed, and nobody's back where they want to live, and we have 
trailers we bought with nobody living in them, but nobody wants to ask 
the question. See no evil, hear no evil, just rubber-stamp the policy.
  What happened in Katrina? We now know for a fact that the government 
was notified beforehand that this was going to be the big one, and the 
head of the Homeland Security Department, he is still there and not 
being held accountable for what happened, and denied, when they said 
nobody knew this was going to happen, we now know 48 hours, not because 
they wanted us to know, but 48 hours beforehand they were notified that 
this was going to be the big one, that people in the Dome were going to 
be hurt, that they did not have the ability to evacuate everybody. Yet, 
the government fell down on its responsibility.
  When you look at what has happened now in New Orleans and you are 
reminded of the fact that when George Bush ran for President in 2000, 
he said he was opposed to nation building, and you look at New Orleans 
today, who knew it was America he was talking about? Our schools, our 
health care system, the economy, the ability to be able to get back on 
their feet and get their lives moving again, this Congress, not a 
question, see no evil, hear no evil, rubber-stamp the policies. There 
we are again. The American people have been let down by their elected 
officials and this Republican Congress, this President.
  Take the economy. We now have for the last 4 years added $3 trillion 
to the Nation's debt, $3 trillion. Every year for the last 4 years, 
they have come and asked for another raise in the debt ceiling of close 
to $800 billion. By this time, end of a couple of months, we will be 
close to $9 trillion in debt accrued in the last 4 years by this 
administration. Yet median incomes are down for the average family. 
Health care costs are up 58 percent. Education costs are at 38 percent. 
What does this Congress do? Stay the course, do not change the course, 
same old policies that got us right to where we are, an endless 
occupation and a jobless economy.

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