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Line of the Day
Congressman George Miller

HOMELAND SECURITY: "We issued a report card on our recommendations in December. It included 10 C's, 12 D's, and four F's. What we argued then is still true now: Americans are safer, but we are not yet safe."
-- 9/11 Commission Chairs Thomas H. Kean and Lee H. Hamilton. See their op-ed here.


Previous Lines of the Day

  1. MINIMUM WAGE: “Even some Republicans conceded Thursday night’s vote as a major defeat for their party. ‘I think this really brings serious questions about the wisdom of how they pursued this,’ said a GOP aide.”
    – On Republicans’ cynical political ploy to tie an increase in the minimum wage to a cut in the estate tax for the super wealthy. Democrats demand a clean vote on a raise in the minimum wage. [CQ Today; August 3, 2006] Click here for more information.

  2. SOCIAL SECURITY PRIVATIZATION: “If I'm around in a leadership role come January, we're going to get serious about it.”
    -- House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) on privatizing Social Security. [Washington Times, July 31, 2006; http://washingtontimes.com/national/20060730-114624-4128r.htm]

  3. TERRORISM: “Today, al-Qaeda has not only regrouped, but it is on the march...Al-Qaeda is now functioning exactly as its founder and leader, Osama bin Laden, envisioned it.”
    -- Bruce Hoffman, a terrorism expert at the Rand Corp, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, July 19, 2006. Read more here.

  4. “The Homeland Security Department wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars last year on iPods, dog booties, beer-making equipment and designer jackets, congressional investigators have concluded…Poor training, lax oversight and rampant confusion over what employees are allowed to buy with government-issued purchase cards left Homeland Security ‘vulnerable to fraud, waste and abuse,’ according to a draft report by the Government Accountability Office, Congress’ investigative and auditing arm.”
    -- Associated Press, July 19, 2006. Read more here.

  5. IRAQ WAR: "That means the only people who have fought us and fought us against the timetable, the only ones still saying there shouldn't be a timetable really are the Republicans in the United States Senate and in the Congress. Now it turns out we're in sync with General Casey."
    -- U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer on CBS's "Face the Nation," 6/25/2006. Washington Post, June 26, 2006, Democrats Cite Report On Troop Cuts in Iraq

  6. GOP SPEAKER HASTERT: “…if you earn $40,000 a year and have a family of two, you don't pay any taxes.”
    -- Congressman Dennis Hastert (R-IL), Speaker of the House, May 18, 12:38 A.M., during a debate on the Republican budget.

    Full quote: “I've heard some arguments on the other side of the aisle saying, well, if you had -- if you earn $40,000 a year, you wouldn't get a very big tax cut. Well, folks, if you earn $40,000 a year and have a family of two, you don't pay any taxes. So you probably -- if you don't pay any taxes, you are not going to get a big tax cut. Now, if you earn $1 million a year, you are going to pay about $400,000 of taxes. Maybe you'll get a $40,000 tax cut, maybe.”

    The truth is: Assuming their entire $40,000 in salary came from wages, this family paid $6,120 (15.3 percent of $40,000) in federal payroll taxes last year.

  7. ON THE REPUBLICAN SOLUTION FOR GAS PRICES: "What kind of insult is this? Instead of buying us off and treating us like we're a bunch of whores, just solve the problem."
    Rush Limbaugh, in the 5/1/2006 New York Times: More here.

  8. CALIFORNIA WATER/POLITICS: “Miller is quite right to be concerned that powerful political interests could override good science. That could mean disaster for the Delta ecosystem, which is critical to water supplies for two-thirds of all Californians.”
    -- Editorial, Contra Costa Times newspaper, (Walnut Creek, CA), March 3, 2006. Click here to read the editorial.

  9. OIL AND GAS PROFITS: "It's one of the greatest train robberies in the history of the world," said Representative George Miller, a California Democrat who has fought royalty concessions on oil and gas for more than a decade. "It's the gift that keeps on giving."
    -- Congressman George Miller quoted in the New York Times, February 14, 2006, for an article that shows taxpayers are losing $7 billion to oil and gas companies. Click here for whole story.

  10. IRAQ WAR AND U.S. INTELLIGENCE: “Official intelligence on Iraqi weapons programs was flawed, but even with its flaws, it was not what led to the war… It has become clear that official intelligence was not relied on in making even the most significant national security decisions, that intelligence was misused publicly to justify decisions already made, that damaging ill will developed between [Bush] policymakers and intelligence officers, and that the intelligence community's own work was politicized.”
    -- 2/10/2006, Former CIA officer Paul R. Pillar, national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005. From today's Washington Post.

  11. LOBBYIST REFORM: "The House Democratic package is considerably tougher than plans Republicans have so far talked up." --
    Roll Call newspaper, February 2, 2006, page 1.

  12. ABRAMOFF-CONGRESS LOBBY SCANDAL: “Never before has an individual who has been steadfast to our principles risen as high as Tom Delay… Tom Delay is who all of us want to be when we grow up.” --
    Indicted Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff introducing indicted Representative Tom DeLay (R-TX) before the College Republicans of America in 2002. See video.

    Congressman George Miller has been calling for congressional hearings and a justice department investigation of actions taken by Abramoff and DeLay and his staff regarding the sweatshop industry and the Northern Mariana Islands. http://www.house.gov/georgemiller/press/rel11106.html

Click here to see Previous Lines of the Day from 2005

Click here to see Previous Lines of the Day from 2004

 

U.S. House of Representatives Seal
Congressman George Miller
2205 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-2095
George.Miller@mail.house.gov