[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 16]
[House]
[Pages 22354-22355]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       HURRICANE KATRINA FUNDING

  (Mrs. CHRISTENSEN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mrs. CHRISTENSEN. Mr. Speaker, why is Hurricane Katrina funding being 
treated differently than all other emergency funding? And why is this 
body proposing that the poor, elderly and children be made to pay for 
it while the corporations rake in the money and the wealthy in this 
country continue to get tax cuts?
  And why is it that the temporary expansion of Medicaid, unemployment 
and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families--the very kinds of programs 
that need to be provided in this emergency--are being blocked?
  There is something very wrong with this picture and we need to change 
it. There are no offsets for rebuilding Afghanistan and Iraq. There 
should be none for our fellow Americans.
  My colleagues, Congress needs to pass the Grassley-Bacchus bill to 
provide the lifeline to those who Katrina

[[Page 22355]]

left devastated and homeless. We must stop the madness of proposed cuts 
to entitlement programs. We cannot continue to talk about Medicaid cuts 
in the next 2 years.
  And it is time that the rich share some of this country's burden for 
a change. The tax cuts cannot be made permanent.
  My colleagues, the world is watching. More importantly, God is 
watching. Let us do the right thing for the people of the gulf region, 
for all Americans, and for our country.

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