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Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

Date: Nov. 17, 2005
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Unemployed and Low-Income Entitlements and the Safety Net Higher Education


ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SPEAKER PRO TEMPORE -- (House of Representatives - November 17, 2005)

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Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, it has been a difficult year for our country: a brutal hurricane season, this government's inadequate response, leaving thousands homeless without power or a roof over their heads, energy costs skyrocketing, poverty on the rise, the recently passed mark of 2,000 troops killed in Iraq, an ongoing insurgency, little good news coming out of the country.

Americans want leaders who put the public interest first, who put the American people first when we face difficult national choices.

I look at this legislation with its cuts to student loans, food stamps, health care, child support enforcement, and I wonder, could this Congress possibly be more out of step with what the American people expect from their leaders right now. Most Americans saw Katrina and the extraordinary poverty and problems exposed and asked where did we go wrong. What can we do to get this right?

I look at this legislation, to $70 billion in tax cuts planned for the wealthiest Americans, and I wonder, why is this Congress not asking the same questions.

I have deep reservations about this legislation, about the values that would motivate such a terrible response to our times. It runs counter to our better nature. It does not reflect the moral responsibility of our government and our obligation to the people of this great Nation, and I urge my colleagues to oppose it.

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