Congressional Record—House H8276
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H8276 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE September 16, 2003 in this body and by the first President ther into debt have the leadership say and reconstruction activities in Iraq. Bush who displayed leadership quali- and now we need tax cuts more than That number is larger than rumored a ties which unfortunately seem to be ever. I thank the gentleman from Vir- couple of weeks ago, caught most Mem- missing at the White House right now. ginia (Mr. SCOTT) for this very useful bers of Congress by surprise, although There was a budget agreement in 1990 discussion. we knew a big request was coming cer- concluded on bipartisan terms, and Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, tainly, on top of the $79 billion re- then a budget passed entirely with I want to end with this chart that re- quested and approved last April for fis- Democratic votes in 1993; the economy minds people of the hole that we have cal year 2003. Many of us feel that we responded positively to that discipline dug ourselves into. And when people need more information from the ad- and it thrived in the 1990s, and we got ask what is the Democratic plan, I just ministration at this point before deal- out of deficit spending and ran $400 bil- point to the green because that was ing with this supplemental request for lion in surpluses and paid off a chunk done without any Republican assist- $87 billion for activities in Iraq. No one of that national debt. Just think what ance, and here we are right now. As we in this Congress wants to do anything would be the case if we could have con- look at how dire this situation is, we that hurts the troops in the field. Of all tinued on that path. have to look forward to the Social Se- the things going on regarding Iraq, the Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Speaker, curity situation where we will not diplomacy, the reconstruction, the the projection was by 2011 and 2013, we enjoy a nice surplus year after year. comments about weapons of mass de- would have paid off the entire national We are going to have a challenge of struction, the comments about our al- debt and had no interest on the na- deficits in the Social Security plan lies, the activities of the Ambassador, tional debt to pay year after year. that we could have covered with just Mr. Bremer, of all the things happening Mr. HOLT. I seem to recall standing what the 1 percent got in the 2001, not in Iraq, the only truly good thing is the here on the floor with the gentleman the 2003, not what everybody got, but behavior of the troops. Our young men from Virginia (Mr. SCOTT) and the gen- the top 1 percent got in 2001 would have and women in uniform have performed tleman from North Carolina (Mr. been more than enough to cover all of brilliantly during the period of time PRICE) 3 years ago saying that the ma- this deficit. But we have a challenge when active warfare was under way and jority should not be so quick to spend with Social Security, and we are going during the period of time after victory this surplus. They began salivating at in the wrong direction. I thank all was declared by the President but the the sight of this projected surplus. I re- Members that participated tonight be- guerrilla war has continued and over call my friends here saying number cause we have to remind people how 100 Americans have been attacked and one, it is projected; number two, things bad a situation it is. assassinated by those guerrilla warfare happen. We should not spend it all tactics in Iraq, the men and women of down. We should not give it all back in b 2230 the Armed Services have really per- tax cuts; there might be some unfore- We can change directions as we did in formed brilliantly and have done all seen events. Well, indeed there were. It 1993 and go back to fiscal sanity, go Americans proud. So the issue is not happened on September 11; it happened back and do a surplus, pay off the na- whether we support the troops in the with a stock market bubble popping. tional debt, or we can continue in the field. We all do. Of course we do. And We were caught unprepared because direction we are going now. We will we also want to make sure that we live the budget allowed absolutely no lee- make those decisions in the upcoming up to our commitments, that we see way. It was built on the most opti- weeks. I thank the gentlemen for par- this challenge through. Some of us who mistic of circumstances and pre- ticipating. engage in Iraq Watch, such as myself, dictions, as well as, I would say, the f voted in favor of the military author- greediest of ingredients. ity sought by the President last fall. IRAQ WATCH Mr. PRICE of North Carolina. Just to Some of us voted no. But all of us un- add to the gentleman’s thought, we got The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. derstand, now that the military activ- off of a disciplined path toward debt re- KLINE). Under the Speaker’s announced ity has occurred, we have an obligation duction. Whatever else we did in the policy of January 7, 2003, the gen- to see this process through. We cannot way of new investments or tax cuts, we tleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. cut and run. We cannot leave Iraq with certainly should have reserved a cer- HOEFFEL) is recognized for 60 minutes. no functioning government. We cannot tain amount of that anticipated rev- Mr. HOEFFEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise leave a vacuum, a power vacuum that enue to protect Social Security in the tonight to start another of the Iraq would allow the bandits and the bad future and to protect ourselves against Watches that we have been conducting guys to resume power using the weap- exactly the kind of eventuality we are for the past 2 months or so. The first ons that they have and once again sub- now facing. night of each week that we are in ses- jugate innocent Iraqi civilians. But in I thank the gentleman from Virginia sion, a group of us come to the floor to the face of this very large request for (Mr. SCOTT) for a helpful discussion. As talk about Iraq, to talk about the for- $87 billion, about two-thirds of which we face this $87 billion supplemental tunes of our fighting forces and our re- would go to our military operations appropriations request, of course, we lief workers who are toiling in that and about one-third of which would go will do the right thing by our troops in country. We talk about the problems to reconstruction costs, many of us in Iraq and Afghanistan and meet our that we see, we suggest changes in our Congress feel that we need more infor- international obligations, but we will national policy, we ask questions of mation from the administration. and we should ask some tough ques- the administration and seek answers, I would put into three categories the tions of this administration for an ac- both for the Congress and for the questions that we have and the infor- counting of where we have been thus American people. I have been joined mation we are seeking: The first is far and where we are going, and above each week, and I will be as well to- simply more information on the cost of all, how we are going to pay for this night, by the gentleman from Massa- our activities, the length of time that and how this fits in with the overall chusetts (Mr. DELAHUNT), the gen- the military operations would be ex- fiscal health of the country we love. tleman from Hawaii (Mr. ABERCROMBIE) pected to continue, the length of time Mr. HOLT. The gentleman from Ha- and the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. that the reconstruction would last, ac- waii (Mr. CASE) said it very well, it EMANUEL). We have often been joined curate information regarding the would be easier for us to deal with this by other Members. We would welcome whereabouts of the weapons of mass de- with the $87 billion, with all of the eco- all Members of the House to partici- struction, the casualty lists of Amer- nomic problems facing us, if the leader- pate tonight or in future Iraq Watches. ican soldiers wounded and otherwise ship here and the leadership down the Democrats and Republicans are wel- incapacitated in Iraq. We need more avenue would level with the American come to participate during this hour of good information about what is hap- people about how this happened. I discussion. pening over there, and we need the full think that is what the American people Mr. Speaker, recently the President truth about the problems and the bad ask, is that their leaders level with has sought $87 billion for fiscal year information that is happening there. them and not just go on as we go fur- 2004 to pay for our military operation The administration has not been as VerDate jul 14 2003 05:33 Sep 17, 2003 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00054 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\K16SE7.106 H16PT1 September 16, 2003 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE H8277 forthcoming as most of us would like it President when he was running for of- can leave? We have to know where we to be over the past 6 months.