Steny Hoyer: “I was constrained to rise and respond to my friend, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay). The gentleman revises history.…”

“I was constrained to rise and respond to my friend, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay). The gentleman revises history. On a normal night, perhaps no one would rise to say that it was revisionist history at best, or at worst, depending upon one's perspective. In 1992, Bill Clinton ran for President of the United States, and he put forward a document called The New Covenant. Not a contract on America, a new covenant, a new promise, a new commitment, a new cooperation, a new working arrangement with America. And in that new covenant he said that, yes, we expect government to do good things for people. Government, in my perspective, is our community at large trying to work together trying to make lives better. But in that new covenant, that my Republican friends so quickly forget, I am sure, Bill Clinton said that we need to expect of each American personal responsibility; that they will commit themselves to use their best talents to enhance their own lives because that, in turn, would enhance the lives of our community, if each and every one of us carried our share of the load. It was the President, in 1992, who said that personal responsibility ought to be a key word for America's revival. America heard that, and America elected him. And in that new covenant as well, when he talked about personal responsibility, he said we need welfare reform. I guess the Republicans forget that.”