The Official Truth Squad

THE OFFICIAL TRUTH SQUAD -- (House of Representatives - March 28, 2006)

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Ms. FOXX. Thank you, Congressman Price. We are fortunate indeed to have you doing yeoman's work on the Truth Squad and making sure that we are organized every night and here to bring the truth to the American people, because they are certainly not hearing the truth from our colleagues across the aisle.

Those of us who are freshmen, as the audience can see, very often are in the Chair at night, and we heard these untruths being said over and over and over again last fall and we spoke to the leadership and said, we need to do something about this. And the leadership threw that back to us and said, Well, what are you going to do? So the freshmen decided that we would take on this task and be here to present the facts, the facts as they are, indisputable facts.

Earlier this evening, I came to this podium and spoke about Sergeant Anton Hiett from the little town of Mount Airy, in the Fifth District in Surry County, North Carolina, and about the fact that he had been killed in Afghanistan. I expressed my sorrow and concern for his family and my gratitude for his service. Sergeant Hiett represents the best of this country and the folks willing to serve our country in the military.

We are really, really fortunate to have the best and the brightest in our military. We have an all-volunteer military now, and these folks are stepping forward to do what needs to be done to keep this country free. Our enlistments are up and our reenlistments are up. And no matter what the national media would like you to believe, things are going much better in Iraq and Afghanistan than you hear about in the news on a daily basis. So we are fortunate to have those folks.

I have often come to this podium and spoken about the role of the Federal Government vis-a-vis national security. Anyone with just a moderate amount of history education will know that the Federal Government was formed to provide for the defense of this Nation. It was formed to break away from England, first of all, and then for the defense of the Nation. And that is our number one goal and our number one role.

The Federal Government, unfortunately, over the last many years, has taken on many other roles, but we should never lose sight of the fact that the Federal Government is the only level of government that can deal with national security and the defense of this Nation. So it is entirely appropriate that our focus here in Congress is on national security and on the defense of this country.

Night after night and day after day we hear the Democrats decry the amount of money being spent on national security and national defense.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, if we don't have our freedom, nothing else matters. And maintaining that freedom is the number one role of the Federal Government and of our wonderful military out there willing to sacrifice every day so that we can remain free.

I want to talk a little bit about something that is going to happen tomorrow, Mr. Speaker, on this issue of national security. Tomorrow, the Democrats are scheduled to host a media stunt to unveil their so-called ``strategy'' on national security issues. While I am sure that the Democrats will talk the talk, their actions speak far louder than words.

The American people need to look beyond the Democrats' spin and study their record. Again, let's go to the facts, not what they try to tell us, and their record on this issue. When the American people do that, they will see that the Democrats have no credibility because they have voted against many measures to keep our country safe.

I am going to give you some points on this. Republicans voted to pass a major border security bill in December, but Democrats, led by the minority leader, opposed the bill. Republicans believe that border security is national security.

Republicans voted to pass the PATRIOT Act to keep Americans safe, but Democrats, led by their minority leader, opposed the bill. In fact, the minority leader over in the Senate boasted that he had killed the PATRIOT Act.

Republicans voted to pass the REAL ID Act to make sure people who received drivers' licenses are here legally. But Democrats, led again by their minority leader, opposed the bill. And we all know that the terrorists that attacked us on 9/11/2001 had several drivers' licenses they were not entitled to, which led them to be able to do the horrific acts they were able to do.

If this wasn't bad enough in terms of these things I have outlined that the Democrats have done just in this session alone, they are now trying to cut $60 billion from military weapons systems that keep our brave men and women in uniform safe.

If Democrats want to talk the talk like they are for a strong national security, then they need to start walking the walk. They need to stop coming in here every day and criticizing our President for doing all that he can to keep this country free. They need to stop patronizing us for supporting our men and women in uniform, and they need to understand what the role of the Federal Government is, because it is obvious that they do not.

National security is our number one issue, and as long as Republicans are in charge, we are going to see that it is our number one issue. We are going to see that this country remains free so that we can continue to do the great things that we have done.

We are the greatest nation on earth. We are not perfect. Nobody ever said that we were. But we know how to get things done and we know how to allow for freedom, not just for this country but for others.

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