[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 19738]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     THE RESPONSIBILITY OF CONGRESS

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, today Congress will vote to borrow $51.8 
billion as a down payment on the relief, rescue and recovery effort, a 
sum which could reach $200 billion.
  It is the responsibility of this Congress to oversee the 
administration's disbursement of these funds and to make certain it 
goes to the victims and appropriate expenditures and not disaster 
profiteering. Likewise, Congress must safeguard against opportunists, 
some even in our own ranks, who would use the disaster for their own 
petty political ends.
  In fact, in light of the huge costs, the big run-up in the deficit 
that we are about to see, some on the other side of the aisle are 
suggesting this makes the case for tax cuts for the wealthiest 
investors in America, those who earn more than $300,000, have estates 
worth more than $6 million. They say that those tax cuts will provide 
economic stimulus that will trickle down on the people of New Orleans 
and Mississippi.
  They have been trickled on more than they can stand. We need an 
appropriate, compassionate, and cost-effective recovery effort, not 
more tax breaks for the most privileged among us who were not affected.

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