[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 1361]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   OUSTER OF VETERANS COMMITTEE CHAIR

  (Mr. STRICKLAND asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. STRICKLAND. Mr. Speaker, my Republican colleagues are willing to 
stand on this floor in support of nominee Gonzales, but the sad fact is 
they were not willing to stand up and support their own colleague, the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith).
  The gentleman from New Jersey is arguably the most pro-life Member of 
this House, a true conservative. But that was not enough for this 
Republican leadership. This good man, who had been on the Committee on 
Veterans' Affairs for 24 years, was removed of that committee, deprived 
of his chairmanship, because he spoke out for veterans and their needs.
  Speaker Hastert received a letter from 10 national veterans' 
organizations, the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Military 
Order of the Purple Heart, Paralyzed Veterans of America, Vietnam 
Veterans of America, Disabled American Veterans, AMVETS, Blinded 
Veterans Association, Jewish War Veterans and Noncommissioned Officers, 
all urging Speaker Hastert to keep the gentleman from New Jersey as the 
chairman of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs. He was removed.
  If your leadership can do it to the gentleman from New Jersey, it can 
do it to you, my friends.

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