[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 21708]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        U.S. STRETCHED TOO THIN

  (Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California asked and was given permission to 
address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to 
express my great concern over the direction the Bush administration is 
leading our country. Simply put, we are spread too thin on every front. 
As a whole, our military is dangerously overextended. Just yesterday, 
our National Guard and Reservists were informed that their tours in 
Iraq have now been extended to 1 year, months longer than many 
initially anticipated.
  Deficits are at a record high, homeland security spending is grossly 
inadequate, and the true cost of our military campaigns in Iraq and 
Afghanistan is becoming more apparent every day. Just this past week, 
President Bush requested an additional $87 billion from Congress, an 
emergency spending request not seen since the early months of World War 
II.
  On top of all this, on top of all this, President Bush is still 
demanding that Congress make his expiring tax cuts permanent, a measure 
that will cost over $1.1 trillion through 2013. Mr. President, where 
are we going to get this money from?

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