[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 21062]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         KATRINA AND IRAQ COSTS

  (Mr. EMANUEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, the double standard in this Congress takes 
your breath away. In the 2\1/2\ years since I have been in Congress, 
this body has allocated nearly $400 billion for Iraq without a worry 
about the deficit. You have funded three wars with four tax cuts and 
added $3 trillion to the Nation's debt. Yet when this Congress is 
facing a tab for rebuilding the lives of Americans that is roughly half 
of what we have spent in the Iraqi war, suddenly everybody is a deficit 
hawk in this institution.
  In Iraq we have spent millions to rebuild the Sweet Water Canal 
system, including the repair of the levee system. But here in America 
we cut levee construction and repair for Louisiana by 80 percent. When 
it comes to rebuilding Iraq, this Congress writes hot checks. 
Rebuilding America? You want to cut education and health care. Your 
inconsistency is breathtaking, especially when America draws the short 
stick. When it comes to rebuilding in the gulf coast, you are turning 
yourself into pretzels, all to protect tax cuts for the wealthy.
  But rebuilding Iraq should not come at the expense of America's 
future. Everyone must have skin in the game when it comes to meeting 
our challenges. Freedom is not free. This Congress cannot have one set 
of books and one set of priorities for Iraq and another for the 
American people and their future.

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