[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 5]
[House]
[Pages 6389-6390]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




            VEGAS IS MAD AND IS NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Nevada (Ms. Berkley) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. BERKLEY. Mr. Speaker, I'm mad and I'm not going to take it 
anymore. I've had enough of my colleagues bashing my district, my 
hometown and the community I love, Las Vegas. I've sat back as Las 
Vegas has been maligned, insulted and lied about for the sole purpose 
of making political points. I've been waiting for common sense to 
prevail. But I'm here to say that this nonsense, the bashing and the 
lies about Las Vegas have got to end, and they've got to end now.
  It started with Senator McConnell's misguided attack on the stimulus 
bill by singling out a mob museum in Las Vegas as an earmark in the 
stimulus package. There's only a couple of things wrong with that. 
There never was an earmark in the stimulus bill. There are none. And 
there certainly wasn't one for a mob museum. There was never a mention 
of it in the stimulus package. But the lies continued.
  And then we found out about the maglev train. Countless Republicans 
have misrepresented the $8 billion included in the stimulus bill as 
being an earmark for the Las Vegas-Anaheim maglev route. The only 
problem is, even after it was pointed out that there is no earmark, 
that Las Vegas and California are going to have to compete with the 
other projects, that this has been a project that's been in the works 
for 20 years, and that it will bring thousands of visitors to the Las 
Vegas area and to the Southern California area, the lies continue.
  The latest one was Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. He repeated the 
lie in his televised response to the President's remarks to Congress, 
claiming

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the bill included funding for a magnetic levitation line from Las Vegas 
to Disneyland. That is absolute nonsense.
  And then it goes one worse. Representative Trent Franks just 
mentioned today that there's a maglev train going all the way from 
Disneyland to the Moonlit Bunny Brothel. Now, I grew up in Las Vegas. 
I've never heard of the Moonlit Bunny Brothel. But I guarantee that 
maglev train is not going there.
  And then the latest whipping boy is in the omnibus bill. Sustainable 
Las Vegas. Just yesterday Senator McCain took to the floor of the 
Senate to attack Sustainable Las Vegas. What does Sustainable Las Vegas 
mean, he yelled?
  Well, let me enlighten the Senator. It's a University of Nevada 
education and research program on energy supply, water supply and air 
quality, very serious issues for the desert Southwest, cities like Las 
Vegas and Phoenix and Tucson. But the Senator knows that.
  So why is that program being singled out? Why is it different from 
the hundreds of other projects that are given to university research 
programs throughout the United States, including universities in 
Arizona? Because it has Las Vegas in its name.
  And let me tell you about my hometown of Las Vegas. It's a community 
of families looking for a better life, a community of schools and 
churches and mosques, Saturday soccer, a community of working people, 
small businesses and beautiful hotels.
  And that brings me to the most egregious affront to Las Vegas. Stop 
badmouthing Las Vegas, and stop telling businesses and major companies 
to stay away from Vegas. You are hurting our economy. You're forcing 
major layoffs of employees in the hotel industry. Hundreds of thousands 
of Nevadans depend on the tourism and convention business for their 
livelihood.
  Las Vegas has long been a city where serious business is conducted, 
where small and large conventions can be accommodated. When it comes to 
business meetings, Las Vegas is the best city on the planet. You still 
get the best bang for your buck. Great hotels, great convention 
facilities, great transportation, great restaurants and a great price.
  When you badmouth Las Vegas, you are hurting our major industry, 
you're hurting your fellow citizens. By taking away their livelihood, 
you are taking food out of their children's mouths.
  Las Vegas is having a very tough time right now. High mortgage 
foreclosure rate, high unemployment, high bankruptcy rate; we are 
hurting. Every attack on Las Vegas by my colleagues is a knife in the 
heart of my city. So I implore my colleagues, stop bashing Las Vegas. 
Find some other whipping boy. We've had enough. We're not going to take 
it anymore.

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