Stephanie Herseth Sandlin: “Mr. Chairman, it is hard to stifle the truth. It has a way of coming out. But our friends on the other side of the aisle…”

“Mr. Chairman, it is hard to stifle the truth. It has a way of coming out. But our friends on the other side of the aisle have tried all day to gag the United States Congress so that we cannot debate the issues and we cannot discuss the truth. But today the truth has leaked out, drip by drip. The truth is we all support the United States troops. There is no question about that. But the truth also is that we are poised to invade Social Security trust funds for the next 10 years to the tune of $1.5 trillion through 2012. That is the truth. The truth is the Republican plan is to spend $2.25 billion in trust funds for other programs in 2003 alone. That is the truth. The truth is our friends on the other side of the aisle should hang their heads in embarrassment. They have been caught in a procedural and political shenanigan that they employed to use American taxpayer dollars to target and influence specific political campaigns in New York and Pennsylvania. That is the truth. That has nothing to do with our troops. That has nothing to do with national defense. They are funding programs in rural hospitals in New York and Pennsylvania located in vulnerable Republican districts. The rest of America is excluded. That is the truth. There are 1,300 hospitals in this country that will be disadvantaged by this legislation.”