Marilyn Strickland

I echo Chairman Sterud's testimony in highlighting both the health and infrastructure disparities for Tribal communities.

Any conversation on wastewater infrastructure and the dire need for investment must include Tribal voices at the table.

We wish we had a national strategy, but right now, we have to go with the governors.

I want to take care of those around me and I don't want to expose others to something.

I also appreciate that you brought up the mayors because they will play a big role in this rollout.

But we know that we have to get the people on the front lines of the vaccine first, health care workers, the people must vulnerable and also people who are going to be in a position where they may be carriers and spread it inadvertently.

It's unfortunate that we don't have a strong national strategy to do this and that we do have to rely on governors.

That is terribly, terribly disturbing, and I think it does point out what you said earlier, a hypocrisy that discredits us in the eyes of much of the world.

Looking at this picture, it almost makes me nauseated. What you are telling me is that Americans work hard, pay their taxes, and this administration, knowing that this kind of terrible torture and human rights abuses are occurring, still…

I thank the Speaker. I would clarify my statement by saying that I believe the President has mischaracterized the intelligence and that, in fact, has led us into a war that in my judgment has not been justified.

What this discussion needs is some maturity. I was just sitting here listening to you, and what you say is absolutely true. But I just will point out that under the President's plan, if you make more than $20,000 a year, you can expect a…

As I say, I would invite any of my Republican friends to come down here and challenge what we are saying because what we are saying is the truth.

I do not want the President to get by with this budget without its being exposed. I do not want the leaders of this House to get by and say, these are tough budgetary times and everybody has got to take a hit. The veterans have already…

No active duty service member in harm's way should ever have to question the Nation's commitment to veterans. This is the wrong message at the wrong time to the wrong constituency. And I would just repeat again, we have lost well over…

Veterans' health care is an ongoing expense of war. In other words, VA health care is not welfare.

VA health care is something that veterans have earned through their service to this country.

Well, I think it is. That may explain why there seem to be some problems developing with the enrollments. I think people are watching what this government is doing, and as they feel like promises are not being kept, I think they have just…

But it is my feeling as a Member of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and I am sure the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Evans) feels the same way, that America's veterans should be given a high priority by this Congress. Right now we have…

Reclaiming my time, people can listen to his words and make their own judgments about what he has said. I, quite frankly, think it is shameful.

Here is a member of this administration blaming veterans, saying that because of their benefits they are somehow interfering or taking away from this Nation's ability to defend itself. I mean, that is really pathetic. It is pathetic. And…

The leader of the Nation's largest military veterans organization reacted strongly to the effects that President Bush's budget plan will have on veterans. He called it a smokescreen to raise revenue at the expense of veterans. 'This is not…

But he was removed. And a senior GOP aid referred to these veterans by saying, ``If they think coming up here to argue for Chris Smith is going to help Chris Smith, they are crazy.'' Well, the Republicans in this House may think the…

The fact is that this question points to the fact that the civilian leadership within this administration really discounted the professional military advice coming to us from the military folks who had given their lives to studying and…

So it is fair to say that President Bush believes that America's senior citizens should pay more for their drugs than Canadian senior citizens. He believes that American senior citizens should pay more for their drugs than English senior…

So if a senior is on a fixed income and the Social Security premium goes up less than 3 percent and yet the Medicare premium goes up 17.4 percent, what is that senior on a fixed income to do when they are already living on the edge, they…