Jon L. Christensen: “why is Hurricane Katrina funding being treated differently than all other emergency funding? And why is this body…”

“why is Hurricane Katrina funding being treated differently than all other emergency funding? And why is this body proposing that the poor, elderly and children be made to pay for it while the corporations rake in the money and the wealthy in this country continue to get tax cuts? And why is it that the temporary expansion of Medicaid, unemployment and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families--the very kinds of programs that need to be provided in this emergency--are being blocked? There is something very wrong with this picture and we need to change it. There are no offsets for rebuilding Afghanistan and Iraq. There should be none for our fellow Americans. My colleagues, Congress needs to pass the Grassley-Bacchus bill to provide the lifeline to those who Katrina left devastated and homeless. We must stop the madness of proposed cuts to entitlement programs. We cannot continue to talk about Medicaid cuts in the next 2 years. And it is time that the rich share some of this country's burden for a change. The tax cuts cannot be made permanent. My colleagues, the world is watching. More importantly, God is watching. Let us do the right thing for the people of the gulf region, for all Americans, and for our country. ____________________”