[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9473]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 ASK QUESTIONS OR STUPID THINGS HAPPEN

  (Mr. EMANUEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, Chairman Grassley from the other body said, 
``We Republicans have never quite reached the level of competent 
oversight that the Democrats developed. We tried to emphasize 
legislating and we have delegated so much authority to the executive 
branch of government and we ought to devote more time to oversight than 
we do.''
  This Congress in the last 43 days has been in session 14 days. What 
have we done with our time? We have named 11 post offices, recognized 
the Garden Club of America, recognized the importance of music 
education, authorized the use of the Capitol grounds for the Soap Box 
Derby.
  What has happened to our troops? 175 have died in the last 43 days, 
bringing the total in Iraq to 775.
  While we name post offices and recognize sports teams, our 
constituents are asking questions of how we got in a war without an 
exit strategy, and for what purpose did we miscalculate and how did we 
miscalculate our entry into that war.
  And this week, how are we handling controversies in Iraq? We are 
going home a day early. President Kennedy once said, ``To govern is to 
choose.'' We can name post offices, or we can ask questions, and even 
this Congress might try to do both.

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