[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 24799]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          NATIONAL PRIORITIES

  (Ms. LEE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, the priorities set forth in a budget directly 
speak to what we value as a Nation. It is a statement about our sense 
of morality and about our priorities.
  What values are represented in giving away our public lands and 
coastal areas to oil companies that are making record profits at 
consumers' expense?
  What does $10 billion in Medicaid cuts to health services for poor 
children and long-term care patients, and increasing the cost of 
prescription drugs, what does that say about our values?
  What about $844 million in food stamp cuts that eliminate nutrition 
and school lunch programs and breakfast benefits for hundreds of 
thousands of families and children?
  How about $14 billion in cuts to student aid programs, including 
raising the cost of college for students and their families through 
increased interest rates and fees?
  What about eliminating $470 million of Federal housing rehab grants 
to make rental units available to low-income families, which could 
include families displaced by Hurricane Katrina?
  Let me tell my colleagues, these cuts are really going to pay for the 
$106 billion additional tax cuts for the wealthy this year and will 
still leave an enormous deficit. What does this say about our values? 
You cannot tell me that we cannot do better than this.

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