[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 21]
[House]
[Page 29775]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                DEMOCRATS TAKE AMERICA IN NEW DIRECTION

  (Mr. WELCH of Vermont asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WELCH of Vermont. Madam Speaker, 1 year ago the American people 
went to the voting booths and voted for a new direction. This decision 
was not only asking for a new Congress, but asking Congress to head in 
a new direction. One area: Make America safer.
  The last Congress ignored the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. 
This Congress is implementing the recommendations of the 9/11 
Commission. Our ports and skies are safer. Our first responders have 
better access to emergency communication. We are also recognizing very 
straightforward and directly that the cost of the war must include the 
cost of caring for the warrior, and that is why we have passed the 
largest increase in the veterans health care budget in the history of 
the Veterans Administration.
  And finally, with cop-on-the-beat oversight, we have uncovered the 
scandal of tens of billions of dollars of waste, fraud and abuse by 
companies like Blackwater and Halliburton that have benefited 
enormously from our appropriations.

                          ____________________