[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 6]
[House]
[Pages 8050-8051]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        DEFINITION OF HYPOCRISY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Davis) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, Webster's Dictionary defines 
hypocrisy as a false pretension to personal qualities or principles not 
actually possessed.
  Politicize is defined as to make the subject a political discussion 
or dispute. Progress is defined as moving forward, advancing, 
developing.
  Now, of those three words, I can pick out two that occur regularly in 
this Chamber as the minority party perfects its blocking maneuvers. 
Unfortunately, it is not progress.
  Let us talk about hypocrisy. Four Members of the minority party took 
the same trip with the foreign agent that the Democrats keep crowing 
that the majority leader took. Another Member of the minority party 
filed travel papers clearly stating that a lobbyist paid for her trip, 
but then corrected the papers after reporters asked about them and 
chalked it up to human error.

                              {time}  2115

  Yet the minority leader continues to insist that the ethics problems 
her party has trumped up is a Republican issue. I think that those who 
live in glass houses should not throw stones, lest their own walls 
begin to crack.
  The minority leader's staff has not properly disclosed their own 
travel 12 times. A Democrat member of the ethics committee reported 
that a registered lobbyist paid for a trip she took

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to Puerto Rico. Two other Democrats did not even disclose that they 
went on the same trip. The minority whip took ten trips paid for by 
private parties that he never disclosed.
  If you listen closely, you will hear the tinkling clatter of cracked 
glass falling on the ground outside the minority leader's office.
  It is regrettable that the shameless hypocrisy of the liberal wing of 
the minority party in this Chamber chose to politicize the ethics 
committee. The reasons for doing this are simple: The liberal wing of 
the minority party knows that they have no agenda, no ideas, and 
frankly no leadership. So they are striking out against a successful 
majority leader who has brought forth an agenda, continues to offer 
ideas, and continues to lead his party.
  The liberal wing of the minority party, still stinging from their 
losses in November, especially in the great State of Texas, are going 
after the majority leader. He must be doing something right to account 
for all the vitriolic slander aimed at him.
  The liberal wing of the minority party had to create a distraction in 
hopes that the country would not notice that the Republicans were busy 
passing bipartisan legislation to create jobs, to help small 
businesses, to strengthen our borders, and craft a comprehensive energy 
policy.
  So what do we do now?
  The minority party will not let the ethics committee meet so the 
majority leader can clear his name. For the good of the House, the 
ethics process has to be above partisan politics. The Republicans have 
been willing throughout these long months of blustering from the 
obstructionist party to work towards a solution for the ethics 
committee to do its work.
  Maybe returning us to the rules of the previous Congress will be 
acceptable to them, maybe not. I guess we will find out as the minority 
leader is sweeping up the broken glass resulting from her shattered 
strategy of personal attacks, personal destruction, and personal 
slander.

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