[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 71 (Thursday, May 1, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E787]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          REMARKS ON THE ILWU MAY DAY PROTEST OF THE IRAQ WAR

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                          HON. JACKIE SPEIER-

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 1, 2008

  Ms. SPEIER. Madam Speaker, today many of the 40,000 members of the 
International Longshore and Warehouse Union--the ILWU--are expressing 
their outrage at the Administration's war policies and their effect on 
working families by staging a walkout at ports and other facilities 
along the West Coast.
  I stand in solidarity with these workers whom, like the truckers who 
mobilized in Washington earlier this week and many other working and 
middle-class Americans, have simply had enough of the diet of mistruths 
and deceptions that our President continues to feed the American 
public.
  Madam Speaker, Americans are saying enough is enough. We spend 
billions every week in Iraq while the government there banks its oil 
profits and refuses to pitch in to help fund the necessary projects 
required to get the Iraqi people back on their feet.
  Madam Speaker, my tenure in this house is short, but my interest in 
the institution has been a life-long pursuit. May I say that you have 
done more to bring peace to our nation and get our troops back home to 
their families than any other war-time Speaker in our history. I am 
proud to stand by you and the ILWU as we all do our part to bring an 
end to this war.
  It is time to bring our men and women home to their families and 
communities. It is time for all Americans, like the Longshore and 
Warehouse workers, to stand up and tell the President ``Enough is 
enough. End this war before your term is over. Eight tragic years for 
our country is bad enough, don't saddle future generations with a 
prolonged commitment in a country we never should have gone into in the 
first place.''

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