[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 19]
[House]
[Page 25329]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        REPUBLICANS HAVE A PLAN

  Mr. MICA. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to have 5 minutes in 
place of the gentleman from North Carolina.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Florida?
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MICA. Mr. Speaker, I did not plan to use these 5 minutes; but as 
we hear Bush-bashing and bashing of the Republicans as you walk through 
the Halls of our Chambers here, I think it is appropriate that we do 
take a minute to respond.
  We just heard more Bush-bashing about accusations of torture in Iraq. 
I wonder where some of these same people were when Abu Ghraib prison 
had the torture of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians and other 
people in that society who had their limbs lopped off, who were taken 
to the precipice outside of the prison and lined up, to deal with 
prison-crowding. A former Iraqi prisoner told some of us Members of 
Congress they would line up the prisoners and then shoot them in front 
of a ditch and then bury them. One escaped who had been shot several 
times and he told us that story.
  The Bush administration has wanted to stop the torture of people in 
that prison and the loss of life in that country. They do not want to 
talk about the 300,000 mass graves that we have uncovered in that 
country, the slaughter of his own people that Saddam Hussein conducted.
  Then we heard the previous speaker talk about how bad things are in 
America under the Bush administration and Bush policy. They did not 
tell us that under the policy of President Bush we have actually, in 
just this last fiscal year that ended the end of September, we have 
$100 billion in additional revenue into the United States Treasury. 
That is a plan of failure? In one year we have reduced the deficit, the 
projected deficit a year ago by some 25 percent, a sizable feat; we had 
unemployment before Katrina go to 4.9 percent, one of the lowest 
percentages on record, and even in the last quarter, with the 
incredible natural disaster that we faced in the gulf coast and in 
Florida, we had a remarkable 3.8 percent economic growth. They do not 
want to talk about the jobs that have been created under this policy.
  So we do have a plan. We have a plan this week or soon to reduce some 
spending. We have balanced the budget before; we can do it again. We 
can bring about the reforms, and some of those are tough reforms, but 
we have a plan. It involves reform, and it will result in savings and 
we will see continued growth, economic growth in this country, and 
fulfill the dreams of Americans who want better jobs, who want lower 
taxes, less government regulation, and less litigation. All of those 
things, higher taxes, more government regulation, and litigation, we 
know drive jobs and opportunity out of this great Nation.
  So Republicans have a plan. We will make reforms. They will result in 
savings and better opportunities for all Americans as opposed to the 
rhetoric that we have had here on the floor this afternoon. So I am 
pleased to present those items to the House in response to the rhetoric 
we have heard.

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