[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 8]
[House]
[Pages 9946-9947]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         ARE WE BETTER OFF NOW?

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I often ask the question, Are we better off 
than we were? And I think that that question needs to be posed today 
and for the next few months with regard to the Bush administration and 
the Republican majority here in the Congress.
  If we think about 4 years ago, we were in a surplus situation. Now we 
have a huge deficit. If we think about 4 years ago, we were basically 
at peace. Now in the midst of a war, a war which I think most people 
realize was essentially fought for the wrong reasons and which is 
costing us a tremendous amount of resources as well as costing us lives 
and wounded soldiers. And if we also think about 4 years ago, the

[[Page 9947]]

economy was doing very well. Jobs were being created. Four years later 
under the Bush administration and the Republican majority, we have a 
situation where something like 2.5 million jobs have been lost and many 
Americans are having a hard time making ends meet.
  So when the Republicans say to us, or anybody says to us, Are we 
better off than we were 4 years ago under this administration, the 
answer is clearly, no.

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