Vicente Gonzalez: “They are exhibiting the same type of courage and bravery that the defenders of the Alamo exhibited on that eventful day.…”

“They are exhibiting the same type of courage and bravery that the defenders of the Alamo exhibited on that eventful day. They are standing up for principle. They are saying our voices will be heard. We are duly elected representatives of equal status with every member of the majority party in that Texas Legislature, and what the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) has attempted to do is export a corrupt and unfair system that in which we engage in this House floor to the Texas floor, and we have 53 brave and courageous Democrats that are saying, no, we will not allow the gentleman to export that kind of divisive political game into our House of Representatives. So I applaud and I commend these individuals, and it is time that someone would say something. After all, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay) has indicated that Democrats are irrelevant. Each one of us in this Chamber represents the same number of people. Since when is anyone irrelevant in the Texas House of Representatives or the United States Congress?”