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Reconciliation Part 2: "Vote This Down"
House of Representatives - November 17, 2005

Well here we are with the Rubber Stamp Congress again.

Watch this floor speech [Click here to get Windows Media Player]

Over the past four years the number of Americans living in poverty has grown by 5.4 million people. The number of Americans without health insurance has increased by six million people and the number of Americans who are living in hunger has grown by five million people in the last four years.

Now this is the time that the Republicans chose to cut funding for programs that help families escape poverty, access healthcare and put food on the table.

Didn't we learn anything from Hurricane Katrina?

The bill before us cuts Medicaid, food stamps, child support enforcement, foster care, student loans, and every other plan that helps people on the bottom. This is a bill that has its tandem coming along, it’s lucky we’re going to get the vote on this just about after midnight, so on one day, we can cut the living daylights out of the poor, and then we’ll bring out the gifts for the rich.

We’re going to have a bill tomorrow with tax breaks for capital gains and dividends; over half of those benefits, as you just heard, uncontested by the other side. They stand there with a straight face and say “we have to cut food stamps so we can give a tax break to people making more than a million dollars.”

Why do they have to give them a $100,000 tax break next year? What is that all about when you’re saying to people “we’re going to take away your food stamps” “we’re going to take away your child care”? “Listen lady, you leave your kids at home and you go out and get a job!” “What about some child care?” “Well, that’s not our problem, you figure that out, dear.” 330,00 mothers are going to be sent out to work with not one thin dime of child care support.

Now for a bunch that says “Leave No Child Behind”, you are so shameless. Don’t you have any decency left over there at all? That you would come in on the same day and both these cuts and right behind it, oh, well, you’ll let us go home and sleep for 6 or seven hours, I understand, you think that’ll separate and the public will never know because it will all be wrapped up in one day.

The American people are not stupid. They know that we ought to vote this down.