[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 23080]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       HELPING THE WEALTHIEST FEW

  (Mr. PALLONE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. PALLONE. Madam Speaker, 6 weeks ago all Americans saw the human 
face of poverty in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. President Bush 
vowed after the botched Federal response that the Federal Government 
would do everything it could to help those displaced in the gulf coast 
and to finally address the issue of poverty.
  Well, 6 weeks later and the House Republican majority is already 
forgetting about America's most vulnerable. This week Republicans plan 
to cut Medicaid, higher education, food stamps, and possibly the earned 
income tax credit. These are programs that have helped the most 
vulnerable in our Nation.
  Republicans will claim that their budget reconciliation bill is 
fiscally responsible and will cut the deficit, but that is simply not 
true. This budget actually raises the deficit, gives more tax breaks to 
the wealthy and makes matters worse for the victims of Hurricane 
Katrina. It only took Republicans 6 weeks to forget the images of 
Hurricane Katrina. They are once again putting the priorities of the 
wealthiest few ahead of working class Americans. It is now clear that 
Republicans learned absolutely nothing from Hurricane Katrina.

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