[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 119 (Thursday, September 21, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H6897-H6899]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        REPUBLICANS OUT OF TOUCH

  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to speak out of 
turn.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from 
Washington is recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, on November 7 the American people will go 
to the polls. As the New York Times reported this morning, only one in 
four Americans approves of the job being done by the Republican-
controlled Congress. Seventy-five percent of American believes that 
Republicans have not governed in the best interests of the American 
people. That is a landslide vote of no confidence to the Republican 
Party, and I will include for

[[Page H6898]]

the Record the New York Times story found on page 1.
  The American people have given up on the Republican Party because the 
Republican Party has given in to special interests. The Republican 
vision for America is to let the privileged few run the country. That's 
what the record demonstrates. As incredible as it is, the American 
people today are subsidizing oil companies. Democrats introduced 
legislation months ago to end the taxpayers' subsidy, but Republicans 
will not even debate it. At a time when the American people are paying 
$3 a gallon for gas, they are paying even more to Big Oil in taxpayers' 
subsidies.
  Republicans are out of touch with the American people. Their taxpayer 
subsidy pipeline flows your money to Big Oil.
  So does the doughnut hole that the elderly are beginning to fall 
through because Republicans care more about drug companies than they do 
about the American elderly. A report released by the House Ways and 
Means Committee Democrats concludes that 88 percent of seniors who 
bought a drug plan through Medicare bought one with a big financial 
hole in it, dug by Republicans. We are talking about 7 million seniors. 
Within a month, they will have to pay their drug bill even as they 
continue their insurance premium to big business.

                              {time}  1630

  Under Republican rules, special interests got special treatment and 
the seniors fell in the hole. The Republicans have left no special 
interest behind. College tuition is up 57 percent at public 
universities since President Bush took office. What did the Republican-
controlled Congress do for the middle class? They passed legislation 
cutting $12 billion in student aid, and they raised the interest rates 
on student loans.
  Republicans also passed sweetheart rules to indenture the American 
people to banks after personal bankruptcy. It is worth noting that the 
number one reason for personal bankruptcy in America today is 
staggering, unpaid medical expenses. What have the Republicans done? 
They have allowed the number of uninsured in this country to swell to 
almost 47 million people. They gave the rich a tax cut, called health 
savings accounts, out of reach for most Americans. Out of reach, out of 
touch. The Republican Party caters to the top 1 percent.
  The Republicans gave the superrich on average $100,000 a year in tax 
breaks while the average American gets 50 bucks. Then the Republicans 
held hostage the Democrats' proposal to raise the minimum wage for the 
first time in 9 years. They do not care about workers. And while 
Republicans talk a lot about being afraid, they fail to protect the 
American people by implementing the recommendations of the bipartisan 
9/11 Commission. Republicans spend more effort instilling fear in the 
Americans than they do in fighting the war on terror.
  The President unilaterally chooses which laws he will enforce and 
which laws he just suspends. The President considers Syria our enemy, 
but his administration used flimsy Canadian intelligence to deport a 
Canadian citizen to Syria, where he was tortured. The man was innocent. 
Colin Powell, the former Republican Secretary of State for Mr. Bush, 
said, ``The world is beginning to doubt the moral basis of our fight 
against terrorism.''
  This President answers to no one because congressional Republicans 
have surrendered oversight to the White House. So it should come as no 
surprise that the Republicans decided to erect a security fence 
throughout America, separating millions of Americans from their 
constitutional right to vote. They did it yesterday.
  Some say Republicans have given America a do-nothing Congress. But 
the record shows that the Republicans have done one thing after another 
over and over again. They have sold out the American people to the 
special interests. And payback is coming on the 7th of November. The 
American people will have an opportunity to change and reach for new 
directions where we will take care of student loans. We will take care 
of health care. We will take care of security. We will take care of the 
things that the middle class in this country wants taken care of, not 
the 1 percent at the top.


               [From the New York Times, Sept. 21, 2006]

            Only 25 Percent in Poll Approve of the Congress

                  (By Adam Nagourney and Janet Elder)

       With barely seven weeks until the midterm elections, 
     Americans have an overwhelmingly negative view of the 
     Republican-controlled Congress, with substantial majorities 
     saying that they disapprove of the job it is doing and that 
     its members do not deserve re-election, according to the 
     latest New York Times/CBS News poll.
       The disdain for Congress is as intense as it has been since 
     1994, when Republicans captured 52 seats to end 40 years of 
     Democratic control of the House and retook the Senate as 
     well. It underlines the challenge the Republican Party faces 
     in trying to hold on to power in the face of a surge in anti-
     incumbent sentiment.
       By broad margins, respondents said that members of Congress 
     were too tied to special interests and that they did not 
     understand the needs and problems of average Americans. Two-
     thirds said Congress had accomplished less than it typically 
     did in a two-year session; most said they could not name a 
     single major piece of legislation that cleared this Congress. 
     Just 25 percent said they approved of the way Congress was 
     doing its job.
       But for all the clear dissatisfaction with the 109th 
     Congress, 39 percent of respondents said their own 
     representative deserved re-election, compared with 48 percent 
     who said it was time for someone new.
       What is more, it seems highly unlikely Democrats will 
     experience a sweep similar to the one Republicans experienced 
     in 1994. Most analysts judge only about 40 House seats to be 
     in play at the moment, compared with over 100 seats in play 
     at this point 12 years ago, in large part because 
     redistricting has created more safe seats for both parties.
       The poll also found that President Bush had not improved 
     his own or his party's standing through his intense campaign 
     of speeches and events surrounding the fifth anniversary of 
     the 9/11 attacks. The speeches were at the heart of a 
     Republican strategy to thrust national security to the 
     forefront in the fall elections.
       Mr. Bush's job approval rating was 37 percent in the poll, 
     virtually unchanged from the last Times/CBS News poll, in 
     August. On the issue that has been a bulwark for Mr. Bush, 
     54 percent said they approved of the way he was managing 
     the effort to combat terrorists, again unchanged from last 
     month, though up from this spring.
       Republicans continued to hold a slight edge over Democrats 
     on which party was better at dealing with terrorism, though 
     that edge did not grow since last month despite Mr. Bush's 
     flurry of speeches on national security, including one from 
     the Oval Office on the night of Sept. 11.
       But the Times/CBS News poll found a slight increase in the 
     percentage of Americans who said they approved of the way Mr. 
     Bush had handled the war in Iraq, to 36 percent from 30 
     percent. The results also suggest that after bottoming out 
     this spring, Mr. Bush's approval ratings on the economy and 
     foreign policy have returned to their levels of about a year 
     ago, both at 37 percent. The number of people who called 
     terrorism the most important issue facing the country doubled 
     to 14 percent, from 7 percent in July; 22 percent named the 
     war in Iraq as their top concern, little changed from July.
       Across the board, the poll found marked disenchantment with 
     Congress, highlighting the opportunity Democrats see to make 
     the argument for a change in leadership and to make the 
     election a national referendum on the performance of a 
     Republican-controlled Congress and Mr. Bush's tenure.
       In one striking finding, 77 percent of respondents--
     including 65 percent of Republicans--said most members of 
     Congress had not done a good enough job to deserve re-
     election and that it was time to give new people a chance. 
     That is the highest number of voters saying it is ``time for 
     new people'' since the fall of 1994.
       ``You get some people in there, and they're in there 
     forever,'' said Jan Weaver, of Aberdeen, S.D., who described 
     herself as a Republican voter, in a follow-up interview. 
     ``They're so out of touch with reality.''
       In the poll, 50 percent said they would support a Democrat 
     in the fall Congressional elections, compared with 35 percent 
     who said they would support a Republican. But the poll found 
     that Democrats continued to struggle to offer a strong case 
     for turning government control over to them; only 38 percent 
     said the Democrats had a clear plan for how they would run 
     the country, compared with 45 percent who said the 
     Republicans had offered a clear plan.
       Overall discontent with Congress or Washington does not 
     necessarily signify how people will vote when they see the 
     familiar name of their member of Congress on the ballot, 
     however.
       Democrats face substantial institutional obstacles in 
     trying to repeat what Republicans accomplished in 1994, 
     including a Republican financial advantage and the fact that 
     far fewer seats are in play.
       Thus, while 61 percent of respondents said they disapproved 
     of the way Congress was handling its job, just 29 percent 
     said they disapproved of the way their own ``representative 
     is handling his or her job.''
       The New York Times/CBS News poll began last Friday, four 
     days after the commemoration of the fifth anniversary of the 
     9/11 attacks, and two weeks after the White House

[[Page H6899]]

     began its offensive on security issues. A USA Today-Gallup 
     Poll published Tuesday reported that Mr. Bush's job approval 
     rating had jumped to 44 percent from 39 percent. The 
     questioning in that poll went through Sunday; The Times and 
     CBS completed questioning Tuesday night. Presidential 
     addresses often produce shifts in public opinion that tend to 
     be transitory.
       The nationwide poll was conducted by telephone Friday 
     through Tuesday. It included 1,131 adults, of whom 1,007 said 
     they were registered to vote, and had a margin of sampling 
     error of plus or minus three percentage points.
       As part of the Republican effort to gain advantage on the 
     war in Iraq, Republicans have accused Democrats who want to 
     set a timetable for leaving Iraq of wanting to ``cut and 
     run.'' But 52 percent of respondents said they would not 
     think the United States had lost the war if it withdrew its 
     troops from Iraq today.
       The poll also found indications that voters were unusually 
     intrigued by this midterm election: 43 percent said they were 
     more enthusiastic than usual about voting. However, with 
     turnout promising to be a critical factor in many of the 
     closer Senate and House races, there was no sign that either 
     party had an edge in terms of voter enthusiasm.
       Evidence of the antipathy toward Congress in particular--
     and Washington in general--was abundant: 71 percent said they 
     did not trust the government to do what is right.
       ``If they had new blood, then the people that influence 
     them--the lobbyists--would maybe not be so influential,'' 
     said Norma Scranton, a Republican from Thedford, Neb., in a 
     follow-up interview after the poll. ``They don't have our 
     interest at heart because they're influenced by these 
     lobbyists. If they were new, maybe they would try to please 
     their constituents a little better. ``
       Lois Thurber, a Republican from Axtell, Neb., said in a 
     follow-up interview: ``There's so much bickering, so much 
     disagreement--they just can't get together on certain 
     issues.
       ``They're kind of more worried about themselves than they 
     are about the country.''
       Incumbents and challengers nationwide are trying to 
     accommodate this sour mood. Democrats are presenting 
     themselves as a fresh start--``Isn't it time for a change?'' 
     asked an advertisement by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign 
     Committee directed against Senator Jim Talent, Republican of 
     Missouri.
       And Republican incumbents are seeking to distance 
     themselves from fellow Republicans in Washington. ``I've gone 
     against the president and the Republican leadership when I 
     think they are wrong,'' Representative Christopher Shays, a 
     Connecticut Republican locked in a tough reelection battle, 
     said in a television advertisement broadcast this week.
       The Republicans continue to be seen as the better party to 
     deal with terrorism, but by nowhere near the margin they once 
     enjoyed: it is now 42 percent to 37 percent. When asked which 
     party took the threat of terrorism more seriously, 69 percent 
     said they both did; 22 percent named Republicans, compared 
     with 6 percent who said Democrats.
       Voters said Democrats were more likely to tell the truth 
     than Republicans when discussing the war in Iraq and about 
     the actual threat of terrorism. And 59 percent of respondents 
     said Mr. Bush was hiding something when he talked about how 
     things were going in Iraq; an additional 25 percent said he 
     was mostly lying when talking about the war.
       Not that Democrats should draw any solace from that: 71 
     percent of respondents said Democrats in Congress were hiding 
     something when they talked about how well things were going 
     in Iraq, while 13 percent said they were mostly lying.
       Robert Allen, a Democrat from Ventura, Calif., said: 
     ``We're in a stalemate right now. They're not getting hardly 
     anything done.'' He added, ``It's time to elect a whole new 
     bunch so they can do something.''

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