[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 17192]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                REPUBLICAN PARTY AFRAID OF LOSING POWER

  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to speak out of 
order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from 
Washington is recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, we have not returned to Washington, D.C. 
to legislate on behalf of the American people. The Republican Party 
will spend the next 30 days trying to make us all afraid. They are 
afraid of losing power, and the only way they know how to govern is to 
play the fear game.
  It is the Republican mid-term strategy that if you can make us afraid 
and keep us afraid, maybe they can cling to power. For the rest of 
September, until the moment the Republican leaders gavel the Congress 
into adjournment, Republican speakers will rise and implore the 
American people to be afraid.
  Republicans will call it security. And every time they do, just 
remember they are speaking in code. Republicans really mean insecurity. 
During September, Republicans will wield the gavel, but they won't make 
America safer.
  We will not consider, much less pass, legislation to protect our 
ports by inspecting the minimum number of cargo that it takes to stop a 
potential terrorist threat. We know what needs to be done, but the 
Republicans are hard on rhetoric and soft on action.
  Republicans are going to use their insecure words so often I hope Lou 
Dobbs, John Stewart, and the others keep track and remind people daily 
of how often Republicans are willing to talk and how little they are 
willing to act.
  After America was attacked on 9/11, the finest military in the world, 
the United States Armed Forces, was sent to Afghanistan to hunt down 
bin Laden and stop the Taliban. They did a magnificent job, until U.S. 
soldiers were ordered to leave before the job was done and go to Iraq. 
We don't have bin Laden and Afghanistan is now looking more like Iraq.
  A Republican administration is responsible for diverting our 
military, draining our treasury, destroying our credibility, and making 
America less safe. The American people know that Iraq has nothing to do 
with 9/11, but the administration denies that intelligence. Instead, 
the President mechanically recites his standard PR line.
  The American people know that we are off course and adrift in a sea 
of violence. U.S. soldiers are not fighting a war on terror in Iraq. 
They are targets in a civil war among Iraqis. When Republicans parade 
to the rostrum to outdo each other using their insecurity word, think 
of just how insecure our soldiers are.
  Republicans keep saying things are getting better. This is disproved 
by their own Secretary of Defense, Mr. Rumsfeld, who ordered another 
13,000 troops back into Iraq. There are now 140,000 targets. With 2,653 
American lives lost and 19,600 wounded, the country deserves Democratic 
leadership that knows the Republican plan to stay the course is the 
most insecure plan for our soldiers, for our Nation, and for the Iraqi 
people.
  But the Republicans are going to spend the next 30 days trying to 
stay in power. Nothing more. They will say their insecurity code word 
over and over and over again, but they won't pass the recommendations 
of the bipartisan Commission on 9/11. Republicans won't bring up 
immigration legislation intended to make our borders safer. Republicans 
won't address reforms to Social Security. Republicans won't bring up 
legislation to end taxpayer subsidies for Big Oil or launch a national 
campaign to end our addiction to oil.
  Instead, the Republicans will tell you to be afraid unless you pay 
through the nose at the pump and Big Oil can drill in every part of the 
pristine environment on our planet. Republicans will tell you to be 
afraid for Social Security unless you give your money to Enron through 
Wall Street. Republicans will tell you to be afraid unless we mortgage 
our future in the 22nd century by giving the rich tax breaks now.
  Republicans have had their chance and used it to overwhelm the 
American people with monstrous debt so the rich can have more riches. 
The Republicans had their chance and used it to divert America away 
from the real problems of this country.
  Americans are calling this Security September. Just remember to be 
afraid, afraid of what else the Republicans will do if they remain in 
power after November 8. Don't forget, there is an election coming.

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