Elijah Cummings: “I will now address the issues that the Congressional Black Caucus would like to bring before the Congress. Mr. Speaker…”

“I will now address the issues that the Congressional Black Caucus would like to bring before the Congress. Mr. Speaker, at this very hour, this very moment, our servicemen and women are literally fighting for their lives. They are doing so with unbelievable courage and determination. We stand shoulder to shoulder with our military and pledge again tonight that while they are on the battlefield, they will have every resource they need to get the job done. We pray that they will return home soon to their families and loved ones. But, Mr. Speaker, I worry about what kind of country our servicemen and women will be returning to after the war. What signal and what message is the Congress of the United States sending to our men and women in the military when we pass a budget like the one that the Republican majority passed last week? A budget that cuts veterans' benefits, a budget that cuts funding to address the health care needs in America, a budget that cuts loan opportunities for college students, a budget that cuts school lunch and child nutrition programs, a budget that cuts job training programs; and on top of that, the budget does nothing to create any new jobs or businesses. Mr. Speaker, I ask what kind of America will our men and women serving in Iraq come back to and what kind of America will their families be living in while they are away? Mr. Speaker, we have to do better. We must do better. They deserve better.”