Financial Services And General Government Appropriations Act, 2008

Floor Speech

FINANCIAL SERVICES AND GENERAL GOVERNMENT APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2008 -- (House of Representatives - June 28, 2007)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank the gentleman from Ohio.

Mr. Chairman, I don't think of ourselves as a ``cast.'' I think of ourselves as the people that we were sent here to be, representatives of the hardworking people of the United States and of our districts.

I think that particularly those of us in the Republican Party, most of us have led lives that keep us in touch with our constituents. We haven't spent a lifetime in Washington. We haven't advocated for being in Washington 5 days a week, out of touch with the American public.

There are a couple of things that have been said that I think have to be responded to today. They haven't been responded to properly in the last few weeks, I don't think.

One is the Clinton-squandered surplus. Let me remind the majority party that the reason we had a surplus during the third and fourth years of the Clinton administration was because there was a fiscally responsible Republican majority in the Congress. You cannot attribute the surplus to a President who has no control except to veto.

I want to say something about the waste of money on the war in Iraq. Were we not supporting those brave men and women who are currently serving not just in Iraq, but all over the world keeping us free, we wouldn't have the right to come to this floor and say the things that we say. The Federal Government was formed for the defense of this Nation. That is where money should be spent so we can maintain our freedom.

Nobody wants to be at war. I don't want to be at war. The President, I don't believe, wants to be at war. But we are at war because we were attacked. Those people have said repeatedly they want to destroy us; they want to destroy our way of life. We need to spend what we have to spend to keep our freedom. We don't have to raise these budgets by 10 percent to keep doing what we need to do for the American people.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. FOXX. Mr. Chairman, I thank my colleague from Texas for asking me to speak on this bill again.

A few minutes ago Mr. Ryan was here and he had his children. When I spoke, I wanted to say something about the fact that they were here and how good it is that we have children on the floor and that we have young people watching what we are doing. They are here to remind us that the actions we take now are so important in the future because we are setting the stage for their future.

The majority party made a lot of promises last year on a lot of little issues, in my opinion, but they have done nothing to really fulfill those promises. They particularly have done nothing to deal with the long-term liabilities that we have facing us. We know that pretty soon 70 cents out of every dollar coming into the Federal Treasury is going to be dedicated to Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security or we won't be fulfilling the obligations we have made. So those children are going to be faced with tremendous responsibilities in dealing with those issues, and I think it is important that we acknowledge that.

The other thing I want to say is that one of my colleagues talked about wanting to compare notes on having lived in public housing projects. Without realizing it, I think he made one of my points for me. One of the problems that we have in this country is that the Federal Government is funding things it has no business funding. If the States and the localities want to subsidize housing for people, that is one thing. But having the Federal Government absorb that kind of responsibility, in my opinion, is not right.

My family didn't grow up in public housing. We never asked for public assistance. We did it on our own. We did without a lot of things, but we did it on our own. And I think we have to look for ways to help the American people learn to live without subsidies from the Federal Government.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source