[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 3 (Thursday, January 8, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H74]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          GOVERNMENT GONE WILD

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the Federal Government continues to 
bankrupt Uncle Sam with bailouts to special interest groups using 
taxpayer money. One more group has appeared on the steps of the Capitol 
dragging the sack for more ``Free Money.'' None other than the adult 
entertainment business, specifically, the CEO of ``Girls Gone Wild,'' 
has asked for $5 billion to save them from calamity.
  When is this mentality going to stop that citizens should subsidize 
industries that have fallen on hard times?
  According to the Congressional Research Service, the total amount of 
bailouts in 2008 now exceeds ``all the costs for major wars the United 
States has ever engaged in, including the American Revolution, the War 
between the States, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and 
Afghanistan,''--about $8.5 trillion.
  Mr. Speaker, the Federal Government has gone wild with all these 
giveaway programs. And so far the bailouts have had little or no 
positive impact on the markets or the economy.
  No more bailouts. We cannot tax, borrow and spend our way into 
prosperity during these tough economic times.
  And that's just the way it is.

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