[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 19445]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               OUR TROOPS ARE STATIONED IN THE WRONG GULF

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, the amount of money that the House just 
appropriated is only a fraction of what is needed, and all Members know 
that. Let it go forward quickly, with bipartisan cooperation and with 
heartfelt thanks to those helping to saving lives with necessary food, 
water, shelter, medical care and security.
  Congress must also demand accountability with the appropriations 
because until there are basic changes in the direction of this 
government, this tragedy will multiply to apocalyptic proportions.
  The administration said yesterday no one anticipated the breach of 
the levees. Did the administration not see or care about the 2001 FEMA 
warning about the risk of a devastating hurricane hitting the people of 
New Orleans? Did it not know or care that civil and Army engineers were 
warning for years about the consequences of failure to strengthen the 
flood control system? Was it aware or did it care that the very same 
administration which decries the plight of the people today cut from 
the budget tens of millions needed for Gulf area flood control 
projects?
  Countless lives have now been lost throughout the South in the cost 
of hundreds of billions in ruined homes, businesses and the destruction 
of entire physical and social infrastructure.
  The President said a couple of hours ago that the Gulf Coast looks 
like it has been obliterated by a weapon. It has. Indifference is a 
weapon of mass destruction. Our indifferent government is in a crisis 
of legitimacy. If it continues to ignore its basic responsibilities for 
the health and economic welfare of the American people, will there ever 
be enough money to clean up after their indifference?
  As our government continues to squander the human and monetary 
resources of this country on the war, people are beginning to ask: Is 
it not time we begin to take care of our people here at home? Is it not 
time that we rescue our own citizens? Is it not time that we feed our 
own people? Is it not time that we shelter our own people? Is it not 
time that we provide physical and economic security for our own people? 
And is it not time that we stop the oil companies from profiting from 
this tragedy?
  We have plenty of work to do here at home, and it is time for America 
to come home and take care of its own people who are drowning in the 
streets, suffocating in the attics, dying from exposure to the 
elements, oppressed by poverty and illness, racked with despair by 
hunger and thirst.
  The time is now to bring back to the United States the 78,000 
National Guard troops currently deployed overseas. Many of our troops 
are already stationed in the wrong Gulf.
  The time is now to bring back to the U.S. the equipment needed to 
search and rescue for clean up and reclamation. The time is now for 
Federal resources, including closed Army bases, to be used for 
temporary shelter for those who have been displaced by the hurricane. 
The time is now to plan massive public works with jobs going to the 
people of the Gulf Coast States to build new levees, bridges, roads, 
libraries, schools, colleges and universities, and to rebuild all 
public institutions, including hospitals. Medicare ought to be extended 
to everyone so every person can get the physical and mental health care 
they need as a result of the disaster.
  The time is now for the Federal Government to take seriously the 
research of scientists who have warned for years about the dangers of 
changes in the global climate, and to prepare other regions of the 
country for other possible weather disasters until we change our 
disastrous energy policies. The time is now to change our energy 
policies, to end the domination of oil and fossil fuel, and to invest 
heavily in alternative energy, including wind and solar, geothermal and 
biofuels.
  As bad as this catastrophe will prove to be, it is in fact only a 
warning. Our government must change its direction. It must become 
involved in making America a better place to live, a place where all 
may survive and thrive. It must get off the path of war and seek the 
path of peace, peace with a natural environment, peace with other 
nations, peace through a just economic system.

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