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“ Democratic priorities are clear: we will fight to get the economy back on track, we will create jobs, and we will help unemployed workers. ” |
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Pelosi and African American Religious Leaders: In the Wake of Katrina, GOP Budget Priorities Are Misguided
Washington, D.C. – House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi joined Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, Bishop Thomas Hoyt, and Reverend John Thurston today at a news conference in the Capitol following the Democratic Leaders’ meeting with African American clergy. Below are Pelosi’s remarks:
“We have an ongoing conversation with the religious community and it centers on the budget priorities in our country. We believe that the budget should be a statement of our national values. What is significant to us should be where we should apply our resources. That has simply not been the case, and that is why religious leaders said that the budget was awry.
“But if anybody would plead ignorance of the facts, they need no further evidence of the consequences of budget decisions here than to see what happened with Hurricane Katrina and those who were helpless; so many seniors in nursing homes or people who simply do not have money at the end of the month to get a bus ticket or to buy gas for the car were left behind. So many died needlessly.
“Katrina challenged the conscience of America and now we will see how America responds. Certainly the American people have had an excellent response: their hope, their optimism, their generosity, their spirit of one country. That we are all responsible for each other has been made evident by their outpouring of support for those who were affected. There are so many volunteers going down to the Gulf Coast, taking risks, volunteering their time trying to help people.
“The American people are far better in their response than the federal government in this. Even though Katrina took a price, and even though a mirror was placed in front of America that shows a face that we sometimes choose to ignore, the majority here in the Congress has still said that they will go forth with a budget that will give $70 billion in tax cuts to the wealthiest people in America.
“And Republicans said that they will continue with their $10 billion Medicaid cuts. How in good conscience do these people sleep at night when the health care needs of the region are going to be so huge? The toxicity of the atmosphere there is so dangerous to public health.
“The religious leadership is a distinguished group to be with us for this conversation here today. We have invited them before any of us heard the word ‘Katrina.’ It was to talk about the challenge that we know our country has.
“So the stakes have been raised. What we have to do is to find the truth. We owe the American people the truth, and that will require an independent commission to find the truth and to make sure that this never happens again in our country.”
“ Democrats are united in presenting a New Direction for America, one that will make our nation as strong as its people, one that brings opportunity, security, and prosperity to all Americans. ”
Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi
