Bruce F. Vento: “today, I rise to speak for American families and for the failure of this Congress to come to grips with dealing with the…”

“today, I rise to speak for American families and for the failure of this Congress to come to grips with dealing with the budget and fiscal responsibility. The fact is that the answer that was brought to us by this Republican Congress is the wrong answer. Cutting Medicare, cutting Medicaid, cutting our education and health programs, and assaulting the environment is not the answer. What our families need are the tools to take care of one another. They need the health care. They need sound education and retirement programs. They need their rights on the job so that they can receive a living wage. The fact is that families in this country are going to continue to suffer. We are going to continue to see the income disparity without some change to empower workers. This Congress has to wake up and smell the coffee in terms of where the American people are and what they want and what we need to do as a Congress, to get on and pass our necessary appropriation bills, to make the types of compromises that provide for meaningful welfare reform and provide for a sound fiscal policy for the next 7 years, not the Republican majority walking away from the task because they cannot get there way on tax breaks for those that are well off. That is what is happening in this country and in this Congress today. These issues ought to be the subject of congressional and Presidential debates. They ought to be the subject of this Congress.”