[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 11361]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    TEXANS STANDING UP FOR PRINCIPLE

  (Mr. GONZALEZ asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GONZALEZ. Mr. Speaker, I had some prepared remarks, but in 
response to my colleague's remarks about these 53 individuals not being 
at the Alamo, I would say this. They are exhibiting the same type of 
courage and bravery that the defenders of the Alamo exhibited on that 
eventful day. They are standing up for principle. They are saying our 
voices will be heard.
  We are duly elected representatives of equal status with every member 
of the majority party in that Texas Legislature, and what the gentleman 
from Texas (Mr. DeLay) has attempted to do is export a corrupt and 
unfair system that in which we engage in this House floor to the Texas 
floor, and we have 53 brave and courageous Democrats that are saying, 
no, we will not allow the gentleman to export that kind of divisive 
political game into our House of Representatives.
  So I applaud and I commend these individuals, and it is time that 
someone would say something. After all, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
DeLay) has indicated that Democrats are irrelevant. Each one of us in 
this Chamber represents the same number of people. Since when is anyone 
irrelevant in the Texas House of Representatives or the United States 
Congress?

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