[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 17420]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       REPUBLICAN FISCAL MISMANAGEMENT WILL NOT SOON BE FORGOTTEN

  (Mr. HODES asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HODES. Mr. Speaker, last week, Republican leaders sent a letter 
to the White House vowing to support the President's plans to veto 
essential legislation to protect our homeland, put thousands of new 
agents on America's borders, and invest in our country's priorities.
  This sudden and newfound interest in fiscal responsibility is nothing 
more than hypocritical rhetoric. It does not match their actions or 
their record. Under Republican leadership, earmarks and deficit 
spending exploded.
  For 6 years, Republicans and President Bush set the standard for 
fiscal mismanagement and turned record surpluses, created in the last 
years of the Clinton administration, into record deficits. And the 
President has refused to change course, once again proposing a budget 
for the upcoming year that does not find balance within the next 5 
years.
  Unlike the President's budget, the final Democratic budget blueprint 
brings us out of the red in the next 5 years, while also investing in 
critical homeland security initiatives. Instead of threatening to veto 
this essential legislation that the President claims is his top 
priority, President Bush should work with the Congress and sign this 
important legislation into law.

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