Charles Rangel: “A previous speaker referred to our distinguished Speaker pro tem with that historic name and was suggesting that we look…”

“A previous speaker referred to our distinguished Speaker pro tem with that historic name and was suggesting that we look for something to guide us that would be over the podium. What I see is ``In God We Trust,'' not the Congress, not the House, not Democrats, and certainly not Republicans, but in God we trust. Recently, I took this to be a very serious thing. I was saying that in the process of increasing the debt ceiling and cutting back spending, that a lot of people were vulnerable, and I called upon our spiritual leaders not to forget them. And, indeed, whether we're talking about Social Security or Medicare or Medicaid, that all of these things were going to be on the block, subject to being cut. The press said that I was calling upon Jesus to help Democrats. Well, that's not so. I was calling upon religious leaders, whether they were Christian or Protestant or Jewish or Gentile or Mormon or Muslim to say ``in God we trust,'' and that there comes a time when human beings, regardless of their party registration, need some help in deciding the crucial issues that actually, actually affect the lives of people. And whether we're talking about peace or war, with thousands of people being killed, no one can deny that this is a moral issue, if we were asked whether we support it or not. But yet we find that most Members of Congress cannot even give a reason why we're in Iraq and Libya and Afghanistan. But having said that, let's face it.…”