KATRINA AND IRAQ COSTS -- (House of Representatives - September 22, 2005)
(Mr. EMANUEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)
Mr. EMANUEL. Mr. Speaker, the double standard in this Congress takes your breath away. In the 2 1/2 years since I have been in Congress, this body has allocated nearly $400 billion for Iraq without a worry about the deficit. You have funded three wars with four tax cuts and added $3 trillion to the Nation's debt. Yet when this Congress is facing a tab for rebuilding the lives of Americans that is roughly half of what we have spent in the Iraqi war, suddenly everybody is a deficit hawk in this institution.
In Iraq we have spent millions to rebuild the Sweet Water Canal system, including the repair of the levee system. But here in America we cut levee construction and repair for Louisiana by 80 percent. When it comes to rebuilding Iraq, this Congress writes hot checks. Rebuilding America? You want to cut education and health care. Your inconsistency is breathtaking, especially when America draws the short stick. When it comes to rebuilding in the gulf coast, you are turning yourself into pretzels, all to protect tax cuts for the wealthy.
But rebuilding Iraq should not come at the expense of America's future. Everyone must have skin in the game when it comes to meeting our challenges. Freedom is not free. This Congress cannot have one set of books and one set of priorities for Iraq and another for the American people and their future.