DENNIS A. CARDOZA: “Thank you, Mr. Ross. You know, what you just spoke about is a matter of priorities. It is what I spoke about earlier…”

“Thank you, Mr. Ross. You know, what you just spoke about is a matter of priorities. It is what I spoke about earlier when I was talking about the foster care system and was there not a better place to cut. Number five on our planks of the 12 step program for Blue Dog fiscal responsibility is make Congress tell the taxpayers how they are spending our money. The American people want to know that their tax dollars are being spent on our national priorities. I got to tell you, if you ask the folks around the country what our national priorities are, they are going to tell us they want to get those folks in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama back on their feet. That is a priority. Education is a priority. Fighting the war effort is a priority. But what happens here in Congress is we pass these bills on voice votes. And today, just today in this House, on a voice vote they passed a continuing resolution for 30 days, until December 31, well, two weeks. And we are spending billions and billions of dollars on a voice vote. I got to tell you, I know that if the American people knew all the money that is being spent in that continuing resolution, they would not be happy about it. So the Blue Dogs have decided that we need to tell the American people what the priorities are. We need to tell the American people what we are spending their money on.…”