[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 184 (Tuesday, December 4, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H14133]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 MISGUIDED PRIORITIES BY ADMINISTRATION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, the American people are well aware of the 
White House's long record of misguided priorities, fear-mongering and 
incompetence. But over the last few days and weeks, the administration 
has sunk to absolutely new lows.
  First we learned that the administration is planning to slash the 
Department of Homeland Security's request for counterterrorism funding. 
The Department has asked for $3.2 billion to help States and to help 
cities protect their ports and transit systems and to give police, 
firefighters, and other first responders the tools they need to save 
lives.
  But the administration is planning to cut the request by more than 
half. My State of California could lose more than $200 million under 
the administration's plan. These drastic and life-threatening cuts are 
outrageous. Just consider the administration's logic. It has spent or 
requested over $600 billion for the occupation of Iraq which hasn't 
made us any safer, yet now it wants to cut $1.8 billion out of programs 
that actually do make us safer.
  The administration's priorities are not only twisted; they threaten 
the life of every single American person. But the administration's 
misdeeds don't end there.
  A few days after we learned about the homeland security cuts, the 
administration launched a fear campaign to scare American people into 
believing that there will be massive cuts in Department of Defense 
personnel and operations and that Congress will be to blame. But the 
truth is Congress has already approved nearly half a trillion dollars 
for the Pentagon, enough to continue its operations.
  And the majority of Congress tried to appropriate another $50 billion 
for our troops in Iraq, but the administration and its allies in 
Congress rejected the money because it was linked to the responsible 
redeployment of our troops which the American people are demanding.
  But the final evidence of the administration's blundering came 
yesterday when the National Intelligence Estimate reported that Iran 
stopped work on its alleged nuclear weapons program way back in 2003. 
It now appears that the administration knew about this months and 
months ago, but continued to tell the world that the danger of Iranian 
nuclear weapons was real and getting worse.
  The President went so far as to warn about World War III, and even 
yesterday the administration continued to raise the threat of World War 
III. A key section of the NIE said that Iran stopped its nuclear 
weapons program not because of any saber rattling, but ``in response to 
increasing international scrutiny and pressure.'' And it said that 
``Iran may be more vulnerable to influence on the issue than we judged 
previously.''
  This tells us a lot about what works and what doesn't work when it 
comes to solving threats to peace. Diplomacy works. International 
cooperation works. Saber rattling does not work. Threatening World War 
III doesn't work, and carrots work better than sticks.
  Our leaders in the White House have never learned these lessons, and 
the result has been devastating to our ability to be safe in the world. 
We cannot lead other nations in the fight against terrorism if they see 
us as warmongers, if they don't see us as peacemakers. We cannot solve 
the problems that cause terrorism, such as poverty and social 
injustice, when we have squandered our own claim to moral leadership.
  Madam Speaker, it is time for a brand-new course in American foreign 
policy, and the first step must be the responsible redeployment of our 
troops out of Iraq. This will set the table for the regional and 
international diplomacy needed, needed for reconciliation and 
reconstruction in Iraq. And it will send a clear signal to the world 
that America is ready to be America again, and that means an America 
that has compassion for the people of the world and an America that 
stands on the side of peace once again.

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