Roy Cooper: “because of a very small group of Republican leaders, they are preventing this House from helping 12 million poor…”

“because of a very small group of Republican leaders, they are preventing this House from helping 12 million poor children around America. I would like to give my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, the rank-and-file Republicans, the benefit of the doubt. I do not believe that their heart is in this fight. I believe they are being compelled by their leaders to do the wrong thing. It is still not too late to do the right thing. The checks are being mailed out today to the rich families in America, and Members know it was a mistake made also 2 months ago to prevent the other families in America from also getting help. That is not just my opinion. Our President, George Bush, called once again yesterday to help these children. President Bush is trying to be a compassionate conservative, but the other side of the aisle is not letting him do that. He has been calling for this 2 months now. Let us listen to our President. It is not just our President; the other body, by a vote of 94-2 has voted to do the right thing. But too often we see in the House younger Members, Republicans, compelled in some cases to do the wrong thing. It happened last week when Member after Member came to this House to say that the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means had done the right thing; when, thankfully, that same chairman came to the House floor this week to admit that he had done the wrong thing.”