[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 19]
[House]
[Pages 27070-27071]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       LETTERS FROM CONSTITUENTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Brown) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Madam Speaker, I have always believed in free 
speech in this institution, and I have always thought that we should 
have free speech throughout the country. I have for the last 4 months 
come to the House floor and read letters from constituents who often do 
not have a voice in this body, especially when the conservative leaders 
of this body so often shut down debate. They shut down debate on the 
$87 billion for Iraq. They shut down debate on discussing whether the 
President told the truth about Iraq. They shut down debate on the 
Halliburton scandals and ineptness of the Bush administration in Iraq.
  Those same people apparently want to shut down the debate in our 
country by browbeating CBS and threatening CBS to say we cannot run a 
documentary on a former President. I do not fully understand that; but 
Madam Speaker, I would like to share these letters about the concerns 
my constituents have, similar to what John Quincy Adams had done when 
the conservative leadership 160 years ago shut down debate in this 
House on slavery.

                              {time}  1930

  Madam Speaker, Amanda Harland from Brecksville, Ohio, writes: 
Congress has allowed too many cuts in America's education, housing, 
arts funding, jobs training, and other programs that are vital for 
working families in America. She says: Because of the tax cuts that 
President Bush and this Congress have given to the wealthiest 
Americans, every millionaire gets a $93,000 tax cut. Half of my 
constituents got exactly zero tax cut.
  She writes: An $87 billion bill is nothing more than an excuse for 
the opportunity of infinite military occupation and corporate 
connections. Amanda from Brecksville is obviously referring to the 
Halliburton scandal, the fact that Halliburton has gotten well over a 
billion dollars in unbid contracts, Halliburton is a major contributor 
to the President of the United States, Vice President Cheney is still 
receiving $13,000 a month from the Halliburton corporation while 
taxpayers are funneling money to that corporation to the tune of 
hundreds of millions of dollars a month.
  Wesley from Strongsville writes: This administration's go-it-alone 
policy will not accomplish a long-term secure Iraq, and will only 
result in a bankrupt American economy and government. If there are 
sacrifices to be paid, they should be paid now and not by my children 
when they must pay off the growing deficits from too much spending and 
not enough revenue.
  Madam Speaker, I get letters talking about shared sacrifice. The only 
people that are sacrificing in this war are the soldiers and the 
sailors, the young men and women in Iraq, and their families, and 
people who have lost jobs under the Bush economy, while the 
administration is not sacrificing at all because they have politically 
gained from giving these huge tax cuts to their friends who have turned 
around and given major campaign contributions to the Bush 
administration.
  Wesley writes: I urge you to work to change the administration's 
unilateral policy on Iraq and to seek a more equitable manner of 
funding the transition to include more contributions from other 
countries, from future Iraq oil revenues, and from tax cut rollbacks 
for the most privileged people of our society.
  Jeannie of Akron writes that $87 billion could be spent here for 
families, for senior citizens, and for college loans that people cannot 
repay. She says, by the way, we read the people in Washington got a 
raise. How nice. My husband has not had one in 3 years.
  What Jeannie is also talking about is that almost 200 Republican 
Members of Congress voted for a raise for themselves, yet voted against 
a raise for our troops. A $3,000 raise for themselves, and against a 
$1,500 raise for our men and women in harm's way.
  Richard of Valley City writes: They have created a real mess in Iraq 
and Afghanistan, now they want to take money from the taxpayers to help 
the people in Iraq and Afghanistan, who will never pay us back. There 
are so many things we need money for in our country. What about 
Medicare, Social Security, the space program, and cities and schools 
who are running a deficit.
  Madam Speaker, there is a theme in these letters that people are 
sickened by the ineptness of the Bush administration in Iraq, they are 
sickened by the corruption of Halliburton and Vice

[[Page 27071]]

President Cheney and all that is happening in Iraq. They are saddened 
by the fact that while the administration is so focused on helping 
Halliburton and Bechtel get richer, they have lost their focus on 
supplying and providing for the troops. The fact that one-fourth of our 
troops still do not have enough antibiotics, they do not have safe 
drinking water, all of the things that the President and Vice President 
have forgotten to supply and protect our troops, while at the same time 
they are giving hundreds of millions of unbid dollars in contracts to 
these largest corporations who are major contributors to the President.

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