Emanuel Cleaver: “Mr. Speaker, in my real life as an ordained United Methodist pastor, I say to our congregation and congregations where I…”

“Mr. Speaker, in my real life as an ordained United Methodist pastor, I say to our congregation and congregations where I speak that if you want to know what a person is really like, if you want to know who a person really is, look through their checkbook. The checkbook will reveal quite clearly what a person believes in. The same thing is true of a corporation and a nation, and the budget of the United States is a bold statement about who we are as a Nation. It says clearly what we believe in and the things we don't believe in. It is a statement that paints a picture of the United States of America. Mr. Speaker, the picture that is being painted now is a picture that could be used on the chiller channel. It is a picture of a nation that would prefer to move toward deficit and debt reduction by unduly placing pain on the poor or, most appropriately and significantly, on the men and women of this country who are now pushed aside.”