[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 22906]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 PARTISAN POLITICS TRUMPING PATRIOTISM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Woolsey) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Madam Speaker, there are some days when I find myself 
completely baffled by the cynicism of many people who have the 
privilege to serve here in Washington. Last week, for example, the 
United States Senate did it again, staying true to its reputation as a 
graveyard for good legislation. Using the filibuster once again, a 
minority of Senators blocked the 9/11 Health and Compensation Act. This 
bill, which the House passed in September, would be the greatest 
expression of our gratitude for the 9/11 first responders. It would 
provide health care for those workers who incurred health hazards in 
their efforts to save lives in the aftermath of that horrific tragedy. 
But apparently, Madam Speaker, some in Congress are unmoved by the 
plight of firefighters and emergency medical personnel who breathed in 
toxic fumes on 9/11.
  The only way it appears the right wing in America knows to 
commemorate 9/11 is through exclusion and religious chauvinism--by 
insisting that a Muslim community center must not be built even a few 
blocks away from Ground Zero. They've got no interest whatsoever in 
lending a compassionate hand to those who answered the call on 9/11; no 
apparent interest in responding to 9/11 with healing rather than 
dividing.

                              {time}  1800

  No wonder Mayor Bloomberg of New York calls the rejection of the bill 
``a devastating indictment of Washington politics, a tragic example of 
partisan politics trumping patriotism.''
  If I had a dollar for every time a colleague on the other side of the 
aisle invoked the bravery of the 9/11 first responders, I'd probably 
have enough money to offset the cost of the bill. But talk is cheap, 
Madam Speaker; they want to play lip service to heroism. They just 
don't want to invest any actual money to help the heroes. Hundreds of 
billions in tax breaks for the very richest Americans, that's not only 
okay by them; it is the one thing that animates the Republican Party 
more than anything else, but funds for American heroes who got sick 
answering the call of duty--sorry, that's just too expensive.
  Actually, there is one other thing that animates them, and that is 
the support for endless military occupations halfway around the world. 
I have yet to hear any of the so-called ``deficit hawks'' ask questions 
about how we're going to pay for that.
  I will not, Madam Speaker, take any claims of fiscal responsibility 
seriously from anyone who is not willing to put Afghanistan war 
spending on the table. Between Iraq and Afghanistan, we have now spent 
more than $1.1 trillion in taxpayer money on wars that have undermined 
our national security goals, increasing rather than diminishing the 
terrorist threat.
  But what about the folks who were there on that one day that the 
terrorists attacked? Who jumped right into the debris and now suffer 
from lung damage and devastating respiratory illnesses? They can't get 
a modest fund from the country whose values they so valiantly embodied 
that fall morning 9 years ago.
  It is an appalling set of priorities. We ought to bring our troops 
home at once and reinvest the money in our people, including those who 
showed such courage and who sacrificed so much on 9/11.

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