Carol Shea-Porter

Ms. SHEA-PORTER

Ms. SHEA-PORTER. Mr. Speaker, honoring our soldiers means honoring our commitment to these soldiers. Supporting the troops means several things: It meant, first of all, making sure that the mission was essential to the United States before putting them in harm's way. Secondly, it meant making sure, if they were in harm's way, they had the equipment that they needed. And, third, after they had borne the battle, we had an obligation, if we were going to support the troops, by providing medical care for them. This administration has failed on all three levels. How did this VA medical care disaster happen? This is absolutely shameful. In a House hearing on Monday, the top military brass said there was enough money in the budget to provide care. So what was the problem here? Was it a lack of real support for the troops? This administration owes these soldiers and their families an apology and a pledge to start really supporting the troops.

Ms. SHEA-PORTER

Ms. SHEA-PORTER. Madam Chair, it is my honor to be on the committee that has brought this bill forward, and I urge my fellow Congressmen and -women to say ``yes'' to this bill. What this bill is doing is finally representing the working men and women of America. It is finally giving them an opportunity to once again regain a decent wage and to regain benefits. It is critical for our country and for our middle class to have this bill passed, but there is reason for this also. Because when people have worked in factories before without union representation, they worked under extremely difficult circumstances. In the early 1970s, I worked in a factory during the summers when I was in college. And I saw people come in and try to form a union, and I saw them get fired as soon as they heard about it. And so the people who had to work there day after day, year after year had to suffer under some pretty terrible conditions that most people would not accept. So the union is critical and the support for it is critical. But I also support the idea that people can vote out in public. And I vehemently disagree that this will in some way harm individuals. I live in New Hampshire; and in New Hampshire, many of the towns still have town hall meetings. You stand there publicly and you vote. And nobody experiences any great tragedy for speaking as a body and as an individual in that body to say what direction they want their town to go in. This has been part of our history from the very beginning, and I am proud to endorse this bill. I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes.''

Ms. SHEA-PORTER

Ms. SHEA-PORTER. Mr. Speaker, as we continue today to debate a resolution on the floor voicing this Congress' opposition to the President's plan to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq, I think it is important that we stress that Congress is not alone in opposing the President's escalation. First of all, it is critical that we remember that the people of Iraq do not wish us to be in their country. They wish to sort this out themselves, and we need to honor that. But retired and current military leaders in our country have also expressed their opposition to this plan. Retired General Barry McCaffrey described the President's plan as a ``fool's errand.'' Retired General Wesley Clark said, ``Without such fundamental change in Washington's approach, there is little hope that the troop surge, Iraqi promises, and accompanying rhetoric will amount to anything other than stay the course more.'' And this from Lieutenant General Raymond Odierno, the commander of the Multinational Corps in Iraq: ``It's clear that you cannot solve this problem militarily. You have to have the combination of military, economic and diplomatic things that we need to do.'

Ms. SHEA-PORTER

Ms. SHEA-PORTER. Mr. Speaker, President Bush's plan to escalate the war in Iraq will not bring success in Iraq or make America more secure. It faces significant bipartisan opposition in both Chambers of Congress, and the plan is opposed by a majority of people in our country. The American people rightfully want to know where their leaders stand on this critical issue, and the House is prepared to act. Unfortunately, on the other side of the Capitol, Senate Republicans blocked debate on this critical issue, and the House is prepared to do it now. While Senate Republicans cut and ran from this most important issue, over the next 4 days this House will debate, and then on Friday vote on a resolution on the President's plan to escalate the war. Mr. Speaker, House Democrats will ask the tough questions about the President's new strategy and continue to insist on a new direction, while always putting our troops first. The days of rubber-stamping the President's war plans are over. And starting today, this House is going to have an important debate on the President's troop escalation plan.

Ms. SHEA-PORTER

Ms. SHEA-PORTER. Madam Speaker, this is a very important debate. Four long years and we are searching our souls. We have sent our finest and our bravest soldiers on a mission that made no sense from the beginning. Our Nation was attacked by evil people who trained in Afghanistan. We have a right to go into Afghanistan to remove the terrorist training camps. As a matter of fact, we should be working even harder there to make sure our Afghanistan mission does not fail. We must not allow the Taliban and other terrorist groups to control Afghanistan again. However, we are unable to give Afghanistan our full attention because our President has led us into a war with Iraq. Why? There are no Iraqis on the plane that day. The Iraqis had no weapons of mass destruction. And they never asked us to come to their country. They do ask us to leave, though. And yet we will not leave. The President will not listen to the Iraqis. The President will not listen to the American people. The President will not listen to the world. But Congress will. We are ready to go in a new direction and say no to the President, and no to his plan to escalate this war. I was a military spouse. I am very, very proud of my husband's service. I am also on the Armed Services Committee. I know our troops need our support and they have it. But troops also need to know that their leaders will make sure that their mission is in the best interests of the United States before they are asked to go fight and die for their country. I watched a young soldier walk down a ramp on the way to Iraq. He was looking at all of us, and we were looking hard back at him. And I think most of us had the same thoughts in our hearts, that we could not look him in the eye and tell him that his mission was so essential to the security of the United States and the freedom of the world that he had to go and he had to die if necessary. Why could we not tell him that? Because the mission had changed. Several times the President told us why we were there, and it was always a different reason. The mission had changed. And therefore the soldier looked confused and we certainly felt confused also, because we could not tell him why we were there. I wanted to run up to him and tell him I support you, I support you by making sure that you never get sent to a war against unless we know why you are there. What is this talk I have heard tonight about freedom and liberty? This talk of glory that I heard on the floor. This romanticized language, this talk about Davy Crockett. There is no Davy Crockett in Iraq. Our troops need clear-eyed leaders, not this romantic rabble that we have been hearing. This war has cost us. We have paid a terrible price. Our military troops are strained. Yes, they are strained. Their families are strained. Our brave soldiers have died or they have been injured. The Iraqis have lost their lives. They have lost their society. They have lost their infrastructure. They are losing their middle class who are moving to other countries to keep their children safe. Their people are fleeing from their own country. We are wary, they are wary, the world is now more dangerous. Iraqis were polled and the majority of them said they wanted the Americans to go home and let them work out their problems. For 4 years the administration and its supporters here have made no plan for them to do that. Now they ask us on this side of the aisle what our plan is. This is a strange question. But it shows how confused this administration's supporters are, if they are looking to us and ask us what our plan is. They have been offered plans. They even commissioned a plan, and they do not follow any plans. The President follows his own way. We have offered plans. They will not listen. I for one want the United States to succeed in this world. Therefore, I am going to listen to all of the generals who have pled with the President and pled with the President's supporters in this administration to do the right thing here. But the President does not listen. Now, I am going to vote to tell the President that I am against his escalation.

Ms. SHEA-PORTER

Ms. SHEA-PORTER. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike the last comment. Mr. Chairman, I am deeply concerned by what I am hearing on the opposite side. And I understand fully the frustration of the American people, having listened to the leadership of this party for so many years distracting Americans from the real issues confronting us. And to hear them attack Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House for using a private airplane to take her back and forth to California, and of that size, is just outrageous. The truth of the matter is that this is the party that completely blocked the 9/11 recommendations that were so critical to the security of this Nation. This is the party that refused to make sure that all the cargo inside the belly of airplanes is inspected. And now, when we have the Speaker of the House, who is rightly concerned about security, using a plane to protect her, and it is absolutely critical that we have this, now they are standing up to speak about this. I am also deeply concerned about the claim that we are not being effective on global warming, because the American people understand this. They have seen the data. They understand it. They want us to move forward in a bipartisan manner. And they want us to stop bickering. And so I plead to all of us to stop the bickering. Let's move on with the legislation.

Ms. SHEA-PORTER. I yield to the gentleman from New York.

Ms. SHEA-PORTER. Reclaiming my time, I thank you and we intend to continue to deliver to the American people what they have asked us to do. Announcement by the Chairman

Ms. SHEA-PORTER. I yield to the gentleman from New York.

Ms. SHEA-PORTER. People in New Hampshire are deeply concerned; both parties, by the way, are deeply concerned about global warming. And they want us to get on with the job of taking care of this and not spending our time and the people's time. And we are on the payroll of the American people, arguing and quibbling about such minor issues as the airplane.

Ms. SHEA-PORTER. I yield to the gentleman from New York.

Ms. SHEA-PORTER. Reclaiming my time, yes. I absolutely agree that this is wasting our time. We are earning our paycheck from the American people, and we need to do the work of the American people.

Ms. SHEA-PORTER

Ms. SHEA-PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I feel exhilirated at the end of this week. As I was campaigning through my district, the First District of New Hampshire, over and over again I kept hearing questions about what can Congress do to help the middle class and what can Congress do to help grow the middle class, to lift people into that robust middle class that we all want. And certainly this week we have shown what we are capable of doing. People are worried about Congress being able to get together and pass any legislation that would actually help the people. This week we have shown that we know how to get this job done. It certainly is an exhilirating feeling to be part of this. We watched out for the taxpayer this week. We passed a PAYGO, pay-as- you-go. We said to the taxpayers of this country, we know your taxes are high, we know that you're worried about the highest deficits in American history, and we're going to do something about it. We're going to pass some programs that help you and we're also going to make sure that we don't drive up the deficit. And then we looked at people who have children in college and we said, we know that you need help and we're going to help you. We cut the interest rates in half. Yet it didn't cost the taxpayer a dime. That is awesome. I feel wonderful and proud of the leadership, the Democratic leadership that brought this forward, and I am delighted that so many Republicans joined in that vote, because I think that it helps all of us. Then we took a look at Medicare part D and we knew there was something wrong with Medicare part D. What was wrong with it was that the American taxpayer was not at the table when that was passed. It was the insurance companies, it was the pharmaceutical companies, but senior citizens were not there and neither were the American taxpayers. And so we said, we're changing this legislation so we will make sure that they have to negotiate the price of prescription drugs. Now, we did hear a lot of hollering that this wouldn't help, but I will tell you something, you would never find the CEO of a company ordering their purchasing department not to negotiate the price of anything. We all know, children know when they are little, they take their lunches and they try to cut the best deal for themselves trading. We understand that you negotiate if you want the best deal for the American public and that is what we did. So we can go back to our districts and we can look at everybody and say, we understand, because we come from you. We're the freshman class that have been out there listening to the issues and we have come to the floor of the House and with the help of the Democratic leadership and certainly some Republicans that joined forces with us, we have passed some pretty significant legislation. So when my child goes back to college next year and the American children go back to college next year, they know that when they leave college, we have reduced their debt $4,000 over the terms of their loan. And when senior citizens go to their pharmacies for their prescriptions, they know that we did the best that we could for them this week. It's a beginning. There will be more to be done, of course, but it is an impressive beginning. And when people go to the gas pump, which is the other way that we saved money for the American taxpayer, they know that we are not going to subsidize the oil companies anymore, that we are not going to take taxpayer money and give them a subsidy. This is what we have been asked to do and this is what we delivered this week. I congratulate everybody who had a part in this and I urge the American people to stay tuned, because we are going to continue to deliver what the American public has asked us to do and what they need us to do. While we do that, we are also going to be paying attention to the international scene. We know that we have to have a strong national defense. We understand that we have enemies in this world and that we have to be careful. That is why we made sure that we will have containers that are inspected and that is why we looked very carefully with the 9/11 Commission and we said, yes, they're right and we need to do this now. On September 11, 2001, I was on the Beltway in Washington, D.C., and it was a terrifying place to be, no question about it. But I would go out to my district and say, we can't live in fear but what we have to do is be sensible and take action to keep us safer. We can't cower in fear but we can pass legislation that will protect all of us. We need to be on the world stage. We need to be bold. We need to take action to make sure that we are safe, but we also have to make sure that we don't terrify Americans. So this week we said, here is some legislation that is going to protect you at the airports, it is going to protect you at the ports, it is going to protect our Nation and we are moving forward on every direction. I am delighted. It has been a wonderful couple of weeks and I know with all these good people working hard that America can continue to be reassured that we will lead the country in the right direction.

Ms. SHEA-PORTER

Ms. SHEA-PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I am urging my colleagues today to pass the College Student Relief Act. I speak not only as a Congresswoman from New Hampshire, but also as the mother of a college student and one about to enter college. These student loan interest rates are absolutely crippling students' ability to go to college and putting a burden on their families. These students are also deeply concerned now about what will happen when they go into the workforce and they have to pay a higher interest rate on their loans, as well as paying for higher energy costs and paying for rent and paying for all of the other expenses that young adults experience. I urge my colleagues to please ease the pain on these students, encourage this higher education, because higher education is the key to prosperity in our country.

Ms. SHEA-PORTER

Ms. SHEA-PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for yielding. I am a proud sponsor of this bill. My interest in this bill is both professional and personal. I have worked in senior centers for years and watched seniors struggle with insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies. And then I watched my father struggle, through three major illnesses, with insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies. My father would have been delighted to have somebody come from the Federal Government and say, I am here to help you, because my father needed that help, and so do all the other seniors in this country. And do not believe for a moment that things are better now, because my mother also receives prescription drugs and struggles with the cost and worries about what is happening to the money that she has left. I urge my colleagues to please support this bill. It is a beginning. It is the voice of the people, the voice of the taxpayers. Who sits at the table right now with the insurance companies and the pharmaceutical companies while they negotiate? We don't. The taxpayer cannot sit at the table. But if my colleagues pass this bill, the American taxpayer, the seniors and all those who require these drugs will finally be represented.

Ms. SHEA-PORTER

Ms. SHEA-PORTER. Mr. Speaker, I am the parent of two children with asthma, and my husband has asthma also. When my children were young, I spent many hours beside their bed helping them to breathe with machines, giving them medicine that had side effects that were very unpleasant and kept both my children and myself up. We had a great deal of worry in those early years. It is my great hope that science will find a cure. I ask all of my colleagues to reach out and help my children and the children of America to be free of these diseases.

Ms. SHEA-PORTER

Ms. SHEA-PORTER. Mr. Speaker, the President of the United States is going to urge a troop escalation in Iraq. I must protest this for the following reasons: This war was wrong from the beginning. Our focus should have been Afghanistan. We had a real opportunity to bring freedom and change to Afghanistan. Instead, we diverted our attention to Iraq with disastrous results. More troops will not bring the United States more support from the Iraqis, but it will bring our troops and the people of Iraq more misery, more fighting, more injuries and more death. We are spending our children's future in this war. There are no benefits to either the United States, to Iraq or to the world.

Ms. SHEA-PORTER

Ms. SHEA-PORTER. Madam Speaker, on rollcall No. 3, I was unavoidably detained. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yea.''