[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2490]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  THE CR AND THE DIRECTION OF AMERICA

  (Mr. ELLISON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. ELLISON. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor today to talk about the 
CR in larger context. What's going on? The American people have been 
watching us debating this stuff for days now late into the night. What 
is it all about? What it's all about, Mr. Speaker, is which direction 
will America go in? Will we cut back and scale back vital programs that 
help Americans do better and move into the middle class? Will we cut 
back and scale back vitally needed regulations to help protect us, 
allow us to have clean air and clean water and important other rights?
  Or, Mr. Speaker, will we have an America where we have labor rights, 
where we can organize, where we can have adequate regulations that give 
us the opportunity to a decent standard of life in America? It is a 
stark choice. A dim view where the vision is a small number of really 
wealthy people and a vast number of really desperate people, or a 
large, robust, strong middle class which powers America into the 
future? What we are fighting about is the soul of this country, the 
direction of this country. And the Democratic Caucus is standing firmly 
with the people as we have seen the people of Wisconsin stand up and 
snatch back their destiny from somebody who would take it from them.
  So, Mr. Speaker, today focus your attention, the people are rising up 
around America, and the Democratic Caucus is standing strong right 
here.

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