Sylvester Turner

I am just convinced that we are not doing it enough, and we are not providing the essential security that we need. I participated just yesterday in an exercise out at the National Defense University, went through a simulation of a…

I do agree we are doing more than we were. The question is are we doing enough to protect America? When we look at what we are doing to protect our borders, we have yet to meet the levels that we mandated in the PATRIOT Act for border…

we all know it is the first duty of this Congress to protect and provide for the defense of the American people. In the first days of the 21st century, this means that we have to do everything we can to protect America from terrorist…

Mr. Speaker, I would urge the House to adopt H.R. 911, legislation creating a national memorial to the victims of terrorism.

Mr. Speaker, this is the week that we remember that attack on America that occurred on September 11, 2001. It is a time of mourning, a time of remembrance. We all remember the horror of the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, the crash in the open…

To win the war on terror, we must do everything we can to protect the American people from the threat posed by terrorists using weapons of mass destruction. We know that our forces in Afghanistan uncovered plans by al Qaeda to engage in…

I hope that we are successful with this legislation, and I hope that the desired result can be accomplished. But I also want to end with a caution that the ability of our enemies in the years ahead to develop, alter, and modify biological…

But as the charts shows, under your budget in 2013, the interest on debt we will be paying, the most wasteful government spending, is $656 billion in 2013. That is more than we will be spending under our budget on all of national defense…

I think what this all really comes down to is whether you believe that it is important for the future of this country to try to have a balanced budget. Every State in the Union has it, every city council, every school board, and every…

my point was that we can increase the national debt by either spending or by greater tax cuts, and we are in a position right now where we are projecting a $5 trillion deficit over the decade. Ten years from now the national debt will be…

we consider today, of course, for the first time the appropriations for the new Department of Homeland Security. Just as the new Department is taking its first steps to make America safer, we are also embarking on an effort to try to…

I know that when we look at where we are now there are many deficiencies, and we must recognize that the oversight responsibility of our committee is perhaps the most challenging of any committee in the Congress. The reorganization of 22…

I think that what we on our side of the aisle want tonight is just a little honesty. And we believe that instead of saying you are giving the American people something, you need to be honest with them and let them know that whatever you…

I am proud to join my Blue Dog colleagues tonight to address an issue that we feel very strongly about and that is the ever-increasing Federal debt that we are accumulating by continuing down this path of continual deficit spending. A lot…

as a former member of the Texas Senate and the Texas House, I know the value that the 53 Texas Democrats who are in Ardmore, Oklahoma, today place on the proud tradition of placing principle above partisanship. When the Republican leader…

In 2001 we approved a tax cut based on the Congressional Budget Office's estimate that we had a surplus over the next 10 years. Today our Republican colleagues come to the floor asking for a tax cut when the Congressional Budget Office…

on the very day that our young men and women in uniform saw the fruits of their sacrifices in the faces of cheering Iraqis, the majority party in this Congress will vote to saddle their generation with $4 trillion in debt. Tonight, my…

not too many months ago I had a teacher in my office in East Texas in the city of Lufkin, sitting across the desk, crying because she had learned she would not receive any of her husband's Social Security survivor benefit because she had…

I am joined on the floor tonight by a group of Democrats who feel very strongly about the need to be sure that our Nation is prepared to defend against terrorist attacks and to respond in the event we have a terrorist attack on our soil…

tonight American soldiers are crossing the deserts of Iraq to disarm Saddam Hussein. It is a mission that will present unknown dangers to our young men and women in uniform. They go not as conquerors, but as liberators. They seek no…

America is at war, and the Blue Dog budget reflects this new reality. Our plan strengthens national defense, improves homeland security, all in the context of a responsible budget. I have always tried to support my colleagues on the other…

That is correct. As we said, by 10 years, the end of the budget period that we are now looking at, the tax paid by every family would be $8,458, just in interest. Today, 18 percent of every tax dollar collected by the Federal Government…

That is correct. All of the discussion currently ongoing about the Federal budget, the levels of spending, do not include the cost of a conflict with Iraq or the cost of rebuilding Iraq once the conflict is over. The President has said…

a few years ago a lady came to my office in my district whose husband had died before he had ever collected a single penny of Social Security. He had worked his entire life paying into the Social Security system thinking when he died, his…

we confront in this Chamber today a decision of utmost gravity, to authorize the President to use military force if necessary to remove the threat of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons from the hands of Saddam Hussein. To risk the…