Political Quotes

“I find the debate over how we are going to pay for the reconstruction and revitalization of the gulf coast ironic because in the past few years this body has allocated nearly $400 billion for the war in Iraq, without a peep, just a rubber-stamp Congress. We have added $3 trillion to our national debt with annual deficits at $400 billion as far as the eye can see. This has become the Congress known for hot checks. Yet when this Congress faces a tab for rebuilding America and American lives that is less than half of what we have spent in Iraq, suddenly everyone here is wearing green eye shades. In Iraq, we have spent millions to rebuild the Sweet Water Canal System, rebuilding and repairing the levee system; and here in America, we cut the levee construction down in Louisiana by 80 percent. Tuesday's Christian Science Monitor reported that the National Guard's response to Katrina was hampered by a lack of equipment because two-thirds of that equipment is in Iraq. We need a new direction with new priorities. We need a Congress that is going to put some checks and balances and not act like a rubber stump. In the coming weeks, I intend to reintroduce the American Parity Act, a bill to ensure that, as we rebuild Iraq, we ensure that we also rebuild America. This Congress cannot have one set of books, one set of priorities for Iraq, and another one for the American people. ____________________”