[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Page 23729]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            WORKING TOGETHER

  (Mr. GREEN of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the election is over, and I rise to 
congratulate President Bush, a fellow Texan, on his reelection. I look 
forward to working with the President over the next 4 years, 
particularly to ensure the security of our Nation and to support our 
men and women in combat. The elimination of terrorist networks across 
the world and victory in Iraq are mutual goals on which I think we can 
work together.
  While the President's election victory was decisive, 51 percent does 
not constitute a mandate. Nearly half of America voted for a Democratic 
platform that protects Social Security and provides more Americans with 
health insurance. So the President should not mistake this election as 
a mandate for his efforts to privatize Social Security.
  To put Social Security in the hands of a volatile stock market would 
dismantle our Nation's secured social safety network. We must do more 
to stop the increase in Americans without health insurance. To expand 
health savings accounts and association health plans would increase the 
ranks of uninsured by more than 1 million per year.
  During the President's first term, we saw the middle class dwindle, 
the gap between rich and poor widen. If the President wants to reverse 
this trend and provide Americans with true health care and economic 
security, we can work together. But if working together means enacting 
controversial policies that dismantle the social safety net, this 
President can count on aggressive opposition.
  God bless the United States of America.

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