Rick Allen: “I rise tonight like so many Americans in anticipation of what the President may say to this Congress tomorrow. These are…”

“I rise tonight like so many Americans in anticipation of what the President may say to this Congress tomorrow. These are difficult times for this country. We face extraordinary challenges abroad in grappling with the war on terrorism and also with the proposed invasion of Iraq, and we face daunting challenges here at home. Our economy is not doing well. There is no question that the jobs have been declining. We have fewer jobs in this country than we had 2 years ago. In many parts of this country people are suffering. Many States across this country are finding that their budgets are completely out of whack. They are struggling both with rising expenses, particularly with Medicaid, as the economy suffers and declining revenues, declining revenues from the Federal Government and also declining revenues at home in their own State funds. So in this context this is an appropriate time to talk about what the President may say tomorrow night and also to give a sense of what we believe as Democrats are some of the issues that lie ahead.”