Roy Cooper: “Tonight we are about to have an hour of debate on whether, in fact, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are…”

“Tonight we are about to have an hour of debate on whether, in fact, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives are the compassionate conservatives that they claim to be. Is there any compassion in their bones? We are not debating whether the U.S. Senate is compassionate, because they have already voted by a bipartisan vote of 94 to 2 to do the right thing. We are not debating whether President Bush and the Republican White House is compassionate because they have already urged House Republicans to do the right thing and do it quickly. But it has been 93 days that House Democrats have been waiting, that the President has been waiting, and that Senate Republicans have been waiting; and still there is no action from the other side of the aisle. What is the issue? The issue is the child tax credit. If you are going to be a compassionate conservative, if you are going to be compassionate at all, surely you will take care of the children in our society. Surely you will take care of the children whose parents are relatively poor, parents who earn between about 10 and $20,000 a year. That is the issue at stake. That is what the American people have been waiting for for 93 days. The other side could take action. In fact, we could probably pass it tomorrow if they would finally act. But the Republican leader has been quoted as saying, it ain't going to happen.”