[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 11]
[House]
[Page 14781]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    TIME FOR A CHANGE IN LEADERSHIP

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. Mr. Speaker, the Middle East is near all-out war and the 
United States is on the sidelines hamstrung by the Bush occupation of 
Iraq. We will borrow $1.3 billion today to run the government and hand 
the bill to our kids and grandkids.
  Record gas prices are hamstringing family budgets and business. 
Record oil profits for the oil companies, and we are borrowing the 
money from Saudi Arabia and OPEC.
  Now, these are difficult issues, and it would be tough to hammer out 
solutions here on the floor of the House, so the Republican majority 
has chosen to walk away from these issues of real concern to the 
American people and phony up an agenda full of dead-end bills designed 
for one purpose only, to excite the Republican right wing base and 
perpetuate their hegemony here in Congress.
  Two fake stem cell bills to cover the first veto by this President of 
a meaningful stem cell bill that could provide relief to suffering 
Americans, paralyzed Americans, Americans with debilitating diseases. 
But, no, their ideologues won't allow that. They want medieval science 
to prevail here in Washington, D.C. It is time for a change in the 
leadership, to have a Congress that truly represents the needs of the 
American people, not a fringe element in this country.

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