Alcee Hastings: “That does not help very much in a free and open society in what is supposed to be the most deliberative body in the…”

“That does not help very much in a free and open society in what is supposed to be the most deliberative body in the world. That has been curtailed and democracy loses when we close our rules, and democracy loses here today. Regarding the substance of the matter, envision that you are profoundly in debt and you have only a portion of the money you need to pay for major expenses coming up. What would you do? Would you, instead of working harder, saving more and paying off your debt as soon as possible, run up your credit card balance with expensive gifts for your wealthiest friends? No. The mere idea is preposterous. Mr. Speaker, if our economy was growing like it was before last year's obese, obtuse and downright obnoxious tax cut, I would be the first one to support cutting taxes, but our economy is not growing. In fact, it is hurting more that we are in a war, the war on terrorism, and we are not funding our homeland security responsibilities.”