Rep. Corrine Brown: “today, September 24, I stand before this body in our Nation's Capitol, nearly 2 years after the Supreme Court selected…”

“today, September 24, I stand before this body in our Nation's Capitol, nearly 2 years after the Supreme Court selected the President of the United States. To this day nothing has been done, while the American people wait and wait. No new laws have been signed. No agreements have been reached to correct the 2000 election problems. In fact, the Bush administration clearly shows that election reform is not a part of their agenda. Immediately after the 2000 election, the only legislative item that was brought up has been tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts. It does matter who is in charge. I heard one of the committee chairmen on television discussing Congress giving war powers to the President, and he said over and over again, over and over again, the President is the only person that is elected by all of the people. Time out. Did I miss something? Over 500,000 Americans voted for Al Gore. Al Gore, not George W. Bush. The Supreme Court decided on a 5-4 decision that George W. Bush would be the President, and to date nothing has been done to correct it. Let me tell Members about Florida. With 16 million people, Florida spent just $32 million for election reform efforts. Just to the north of us, Georgia, with 8 million, spent $54 million. In an effort to distract the American public from issues like election reform, health care and prescription drug coverage, which was promised to our seniors, in the middle of a mid-term election we are distracted by a war.”