[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 22202]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              AMERICA SUFFERS WHEN BAD DECISIONS ARE MADE

  (Mr. HOLT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, I marvel at the degree of party discipline in 
the majority and the degree to which they insist on the correctness of 
their positions. The majority does not want to admit that fighting 
terrorism requires sacrifice. They do not want to admit that the U.N. 
can actually help us. They do not want to admit that we may have to go 
hat in hand to other countries to ask for financial and diplomatic 
help. They do not want to admit that our leaders did an inadequate job 
of planning for the post-Saddam occupation and transition to democracy 
in Iraq.
  They do not want to admit that exorbitant tax cuts are not 
stimulating the economy and, in fact, are costing Americans jobs.
  Some may think it is weakness to admit mistakes, but many Americans 
instead think it is arrogance and a lack of touch with reality.
  I ask myself why I would even want to give the majority party advice 
to do better if, in fact, the electorate is likely to make them pay for 
their arrogance. But I must say the longer they persist in this denial, 
the harder it will be for America to correct their course. Maybe the 
majority party will suffer for their arrogance, but the U.S. will 
suffer more.

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