|
Washington, DC - As the House prepared this week to adjourn the 108th Congress, Congressman Gene Green (D-Houston) delivered the following speech on the floor of the House of Representatives to offer his congratulations to President Bush and offer a preview to the 109th Congress:
“Mr. Speaker, the election is over, and I rise to congratulate President Bush, a fellow Texan, on his reelection. I look forward to working with the President over the next 4 years, particularly to ensure the security of our Nation and to support our men and women in combat. The elimination of terrorist networks across the world and victory in Iraq are mutual goals on which I think we can work together.
“While the President's election victory was decisive, 51 percent does not constitute a mandate. Nearly half of America voted for a Democratic platform that protects Social Security and provides more Americans with health insurance. So the President should not mistake this election as a mandate for his efforts to privatize Social Security.
“To put Social Security in the hands of a volatile stock market would dismantle our Nation's secured social safety network. We must do more to stop the increase in Americans without health insurance. To expand health savings accounts and association health plans would increase the ranks of uninsured by more than 1 million per year.
“During the President's first term, we saw the middle class dwindle, the gap between rich and poor widen. If the President wants to reverse this trend and provide Americans with true health care and economic security, we can work together. But if working together means enacting controversial policies that dismantle the social safety net, this President can count on aggressive opposition.
“God bless the United States of America.”
### |
Print this page
