[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 7671]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       DO-NOTHING CONGRESS REFUSING TO ADDRESS NEEDS OF AMERICANS

  (Mr. BUTTERFIELD asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BUTTERFIELD. Mr. Speaker, today is the 130th day of 2006. Guess 
how many of those days this House has been in session to address the 
needs of the American people? Twenty-nine. Twenty-nine. This is only 
the 29th voting day of the year here in the House of Representatives.
  No wonder, Mr. Speaker, the American people have lost confidence in 
this Congress. The Republican majority would rather recess than tackle 
the tough issues of our day.
  Or could it be that the Republicans are simply incapable of 
governing? House Republicans have yet to pass a budget for the upcoming 
fiscal year. Before the April recess, the House Republican leadership 
brought a bill to this floor, but was forced to pull it from 
consideration after determining that it would fail.
  Regardless of whether or not Republicans are able to pick up enough 
Republican votes this week, the fact remains that they have presided 
over the largest fiscal collapse in American history. Five years ago 
they inherited record budget surpluses, and they have turned those into 
record deficits.

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