[Page H16648]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   POLITICAL GAMES SHOULD NOT STAND IN THE WAY OF PROTECTING AMERICA

  (Mr. BOUSTANY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BOUSTANY. Yesterday, the Democratic leadership unveiled a half-
trillion-dollar spending bill because they were unable to fulfill their 
constitutional duties.
  This spending bill is 3,500 pages long, and the majority gave Members 
of Congress less than 24 hours to look at it. And that's simply 
ridiculous. We had less than 24 hours to review a bill funding our 
national priorities, but chock full with earmarks and frivolous 
spending, and it failed to go through the proper committee checks. But 
the liberal leadership of this House added mounds of earmarks for their 
friends and liberal policies that most Americans do not support.
  In all of this spending, however, the glaring neglect by the 
Democratic leadership is our troops. Those fighting around the world, 
making us safer from al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, will not 
receive the necessary resources to continue their mission.
  Mr. Speaker, ensuring our Armed Forces have the tools at their 
disposal to defeat the terrorist threat is one of our responsibilities 
in Congress. And I urge all of my colleagues to remember that.

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