Senate Proceeding on Feb 4th, 2008 :: 4:33:41 to 4:55:21
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4:33:25 to 4:33:41( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: more than any other night it's like alice in wonderland. you have a president of the united states who is scared about the economy. he's begging us to act on the stimulus package and we have intelligent

4:33:41 to 4:33:53( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: senators stand up and they are very smart, intelligent senators standing up on the floor saying, oh, my goodness, you added liheap and now we're sorry, we're holding everything up. and then maybe

4:33:41 to 4:55:21( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Barbara Boxer

4:33:53 to 4:34:10( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: we won't. what i would like to for the rest of the time that i have, and i know colleagues are waiting, i would like to put the remader of my statement in the record and i would like to summarize this

4:34:10 to 4:34:30( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: statement and it is going to take me a little while because while i support with every fiber of my body the senate package, it's just the start of what we need to do. and until we start paying attention

4:34:30 to 4:34:50( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: to the needs of the american people and end the war in iraq, which is stealing our treasure, stealing our treasure, both in our young men and women in uniform and our money. mr. reid: mr. president?

4:34:50 to 4:34:59( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: mrs. boxer: will my -- mr. reid: will my friend yield? mrs. boxer: yes. mr. reid: before the night is spent, we will try to proceed post cloture on the house stimulus package, during the 30 hours,

4:34:59 to 4:35:11( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: we be able to proceed to work on the fisa amendments, complete that work. so are you aware that i'm going to do that? mrs. boxer: i'm very glad that you're going to do that. because the president, then

4:35:11 to 4:35:29( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: -- i would say to my leader before he leaves, not only is he pushing us to pass his version of the stimulus package and he's worried about it, he's scaring the american people. he's saying, if we don't

4:35:29 to 4:35:42( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: have this fisa done, terrible things will happen. it is time to stop scaring the people and start protecting the people. and that's what we want to. so i'm want to do. support your call to move to

4:35:42 to 4:35:57( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: fisa. i believe if we have a debate on the stimulus, and we don't talk about the biggest drain on our people, the iraq war, we are missing the elephant in the room. because until we end this war,

4:35:57 to 4:36:14( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: once and for all, and end this failed policy in iraq, we are simply going to be dragged down further and further into an abyss where we don't have the funds we need for the rest of the things that

4:36:14 to 4:36:30( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: we do. where our military is being stretched and where we have no way out. we actually have republican candidates who were running for president say, well, we might be in iraq for 100 years. mr.

4:36:30 to 4:36:43( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: president, i've been around politics a long time. not quite 100 years, but my adult lifetime. and i served with four presidents in both parties. what an liquor anker it has been to -- honor it

4:36:43 to 4:37:00( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: has been to serve with all of them. but i never worked with a president who doesn't know how to end a war that he got into. not a clue. i have never seen a president who hasn't given us some idea of how

4:37:00 to 4:37:20( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: a war will end. so we need to remove this weight from around our neck. because if we don't, my future, your future, the future of our kids and grandkids are just not going to be what it ought t

4:37:20 to 4:37:39( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: be. we are spending $10 billion a month in iraq. that's $2.5 billion a week. $357 million a day in iraq. and the president and my republican colleagues say, we can't afford to extend the stimulus package to

4:37:39 to 4:37:53( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: include seniors? to include disabled veterans? well, for the price of one month in iraq, mr. president, we could provide rebates to 20 million seniors who need it the most. let me say that again.

4:37:53 to 4:38:13( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: for the price of one month in iraq, mr. president, we could provide rebates to 20 million seniors who need it the most. and i hope that the senior citizens, within the sound of my voice, i hope that they

4:38:13 to 4:38:29( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: have already contacted us, to tell us to cover them in this recovery package. they're the ones who really need it the most. because they're living on a fixed income. and they are struggling, some of them

4:38:29 to 4:38:49( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: have to cut their pills in half every day that they have to take to stay alive so that they stretch their medicine. well, the president and my republican colleagues say we can't afford to extend the stimulus

4:38:49 to 4:39:08( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: package to include disabled veterans. and that's why we have these charts made up here. 250,000 -- i hope they're calling. these are the folks that should be honored, loved, appreciated, not just with

4:39:08 to 4:39:24( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: words, but by deeds. and, mr. president, i will tell you for less than the cost of one day in iraq, we could provide rebates to 250,000 disabled veterans. one day in iraq we could take care of our veterans.

4:39:24 to 4:39:36( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: that's why we don't know why there's a stall here going on. what about our kids? for less than the cost of three months in iraq, we could enroll every eligible child in a head start program. give

4:39:36 to 4:39:55( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: them the start that they deserve. for the cost of two weeks in iraq, we could provide health insurance for six million uninsured children in the united states for a year. the list goes on and on. now, last

4:39:55 to 4:40:09( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: year in the name of budget as you tatie, the president vetoed children's health care, but has an open checkbook for iraq. puts it straight on the deck. he vetoed critical investments in our infrastructure.

4:40:09 to 4:40:22( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: you helped me work together on the environment committee, mr. president, with senator inhofe, and overrode a veto because the president said, sorry. yeah, we are rebuilding in iraq, but we can't afford to fix

4:40:22 to 4:40:37( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: our infrastructure here in america. the president vetoed education spending, health research. i don't know about my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, but when i talk to families, they're very

4:40:37 to 4:40:59( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: scared now about a lot of things and one of the things that they're scared about is someone getting cancer, someone getting alzheimer's, a child getting autism. and lots of other fears. they're real fears.

4:40:59 to 4:41:17( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: because they hit millions of our famili. but the president vetoed the bill that had the health research money in it. and we were forced to cut back. so where are we now? we are spending money that we

4:41:17 to 4:41:35( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: don't have in iraq. remember when budget director mitch daniels said that the war would cost no more than $60 billion paul wolfowitz ensured us that with the iraqi oil revenue, the war would pay for

4:41:35 to 4:41:50( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: itself. some people said, the war might cost, $200 billion, they were ridiculed as vastly overstating the cost. the president's most recen stimulus package is almost as big as that. the president has

4:41:50 to 4:42:09( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: spent more than a half trillion dollars on his failed policy. there is no end in sight. it is shorting the funds we need to rebuild our own country. and it's borrowed money. it's borrowed money. it

4:42:09 to 4:42:30( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: needs to stop. we are hemorrhaging taxpayer money in iraq, and the waste is beyond disgrace full. we spend american -- american taxpayers, listen, $32 billion for a base in iraq that was never built. we

4:42:30 to 4:42:45( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: paid a contractor $72 million to build a barracks for a police academy in bag tad, we got a building with huge cracks and human waste dripping from the kreelings. unquote. the administration loaded loaded $9

4:42:45 to 4:42:58( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: billion on pallets to iraq where it days appeared and we can't take care of 250,000 disabled veterans and we can't take care of 20 million seniors and we cut spending to find a cure for teeses that ail our

4:42:58 to 4:43:17( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: -- diseases that ail our people and we cut funding for after-school programs for kids who desperately need a place to go after school. mr. president, the republicans are stalling. they're stalling because

4:43:17 to 4:43:35( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: these facts when we have these debates are coming to light. so they're stalling. now, can you imagine what would happen if $9 billion disappeared from the federal grant in vermont oracle kalr minnesota -- or california

4:43:35 to 4:43:48( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: or minnesota or new jersey or ohio. the people responsible would go to prison. but in iraq, the president shrugging it off. the president says that we lack fiscal discipline. and, yet, look at what he has

4:43:48 to 4:44:03( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: done to this budget. he took a surplus, turned it into a massive deficit. and he took a debt that we were paying town and it exploded -- paying down and it exploded on his watch. and i have to say for

4:44:03 to 4:44:22( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: him to say that we're not fiscally responsible because we want to invest in our people, we want to invest in our infrastructure, we want to find cures for disease, and, yes, we want to invest in alternative

4:44:22 to 4:44:39( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: energy so we don't have to be dependent on foreign oil and we can clean our air of the carbon dioxide that is warming the planet.~ fiscal irresponsibility is the name of the game with this administration

4:44:39 to 4:45:00( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: -- whether it's the missing billions, the bases never built or the enormous embassy being built in baghdad, it's nothing short of breathtaking. yet, the president and his supporters shrug their shoulders. yet,

4:45:00 to 4:45:13( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: we can't get to the stimulus because somebody said they don't understand, we've added $1 billion, 1 1/2 pages to the bill, to help poor people pay for energy. they have got to be kidding. that's just a stall.

4:45:13 to 4:45:27( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: the checkbook is open for iraq, it's closed for america. and this president wouldn't even be doing what he is doing now unless he is really scared this recession is hitting. let me tell you what

4:45:27 to 4:45:43( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: else we added to this stimulus bill that is be willing held up here. we took the house language as it pertained to the housing crisis and we increased the amounts that freddie and fannie can lend our

4:45:43 to 4:46:06( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: homeowners and f.h.a. to give them a chance to refinance the mortgages it keep responsible homeowners in their hopes. we can't wait on this. we can't wait on this. thousands and thousands and thousands

4:46:06 to 4:46:25( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: of cities are witnessing now these foreclosures. what happens when a home forecloses? the pool might go, people ignore keeping up the property, the new owner of the home and it's a danger to have a

4:46:25 to 4:46:45( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: pool not attended to, and mow skit toes breed in the -- moss ski -- bugs breed in the pool and the values go down and suddenly you have a downward spiral but somebody has to hold up a bill because

4:46:45 to 4:47:00( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: they have to reach 1 1/2 pages about liheap, a program that's been around for decades-and, by the way, supported on both sides of the aisle. now, to be the toll the iraq war is having on our armed

4:47:00 to 4:47:20( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: forces is reaching the breaking point. recently we learned that saw side attempts among u.s. troops have reach a record high -- a six-fold increase since 2002. last year "the washington post"

4:47:20 to 4:47:42( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: reported that there is a readiness death spiral that senior officers warn put our nation at risk because we lack the strategic reserve of ground forces to be able to respond to potential crises throughout

4:47:42 to 4:47:53( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: the world. so, we are borrowing billions, putting that cost on the back of our kids and grandkids, shishing our shirkingour ability to help those in need of it. mr. bond: will the senator yield? mrs.

4:47:53 to 4:48:08( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: boxer: when i finish my presentation. you have to ask this president, why are we in iraq? the answer konls back, it depends on when he was asked. once upon a time we were told it was about weapons of

4:48:08 to 4:48:23( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: mass destruction -- remember? we had to go find them. our military found there were none. then we were told it was saddam hussein's ties to al qaeda. well, there was no connection to al qaeda. then

4:48:23 to 4:48:43( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: we were told we had to go get saddam's familiar and show their pictures to the world so the world knew america meant business. and we did that. and the fighting want on. then we were told they just need

4:48:43 to 4:48:57( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: to have an election and how proud we were when the iraqi people went and, as a free people, elected their leaders. well, all that happened -- the president said "mission accomplished." but it goes

4:48:57 to 4:49:17( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: on and on and on because it's a changing mission every day. no vision of how to get out of this and we have colleagues on or side talking about us being there 50 years, 100 years -- who knows, maybe 1,000

4:49:17 to 4:49:31( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: years. and this is not at no cost or little cost. it is costing us an absolute fortune. and it is tied to this deficit because it is tying our hands. the president says our commitment to iraq is

4:49:31 to 4:49:45( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: not open-ended and yet he will not tell the iraqi people, the leaders over there, gets your act together because we've trained 500,000 of you and now it's your turn to stand up and fight for your free

4:49:45 to 4:50:04( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: democrat and fight for -- for your freedom and fight for your democracy. frankly, the way we did and other countries do. there is a point in time when you have given so much blood and treasure that you

4:50:04 to 4:50:18( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: have to say we want to help you, we will be there, but we will not be in the forefront of this fight. we have never been leveled with. how many more brave men and women will die? we don't know. home

4:50:18 to 4:50:34( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: many more will be wounded? we don't know. but what we do know is, some of the wounded are coming home to my state and they're suffering, suffering, suffering. and yet in the president's stimulus package

4:50:34 to 4:50:50( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: -- no help for disabled veterans. no,no, we just couldn't do that, for a day of the cost in iraq we can help them. that's why we want the debate. and we want the debate to start. the president says

4:50:50 to 4:51:06( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: the surge would lead us to victory. we hope so. but the president says he knows it. well, how long will the surge last? it was supposed to provide a quiet time for the leaders to resolve their problems.

4:51:06 to 4:51:24( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: hasn't happened. hour brave men and women in uniform have performed remarkably. they have continue every single thing, every single thing we have asked of them and more. but, you know what? there's

4:51:24 to 4:51:43( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: get to be an end to this. as our military leaders tell us every day, there's no military solution to the situation in iraq. i said before, we trained 500,000 iraqis. i want to correct it, 440,000.

4:51:43 to 4:52:02( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: that's how many iraqis we have trained -- our taxpayers have laid the money out to train. i think we ought to look at what the british did. the british were very clear. they said their presence in iraq

4:52:02 to 4:52:19( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: was fueling the violence, fueling al qaeda and that it would be far better if they played a support of i role and most of them will be gone. as a matter of fact, the coalition of the willing has been

4:52:19 to 4:52:35( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: massively depleted. there is a beginning, a middle and an end to a mission. but you can't change the mission every few months. it's not fair to our troops. it's sending a mixed message to the iraqis.

4:52:35 to 4:52:53( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: why do i bring this up in the context of the stimulus? because the outflow of money is hurting us. we cannot take care of america. and i think we need to make a choice. and this stimulus package

4:52:53 to 4:53:09( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: is the time for us to connect all the dots. this economic recession needs our attention. we need to put the resources to it so it doesn't become a deep and darker recession. we have to ask ourselves in

4:53:09 to 4:53:25( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: the context of this debate, is it time for america, for our families, for our soldiers coming home, for our children? or is it the time to continue an open-ended commitment to a war without an end, a

4:53:25 to 4:53:39( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: price tag without an end, a war that is tying our hands as this recession becomes more real day after day. well, clearly, mr. president, it's no surprise that i say it's time for america and it is time

4:53:39 to 4:53:54( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: for change. and i do believe the people out there -- whether they're democrats, republicans, or independents -- are crying out for that change. i will also say, they may not all agree on one particular

4:53:54 to 4:54:10( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: path but one thing they want us it do is our job. they don't want stall tactics. they don't want delays. they don't want brilliant senators coming to the floor and saying, gee, there's been small

4:54:10 to 4:54:25( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: change, there's been a change to this bill and we need 30 hours to figure it out. stay up until 10:00 or 11 o'clock, you can read that part of the bill. it isn't complicated. and it isn't time to

4:54:25 to 4:54:42( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: continue an open-ended commitment to a war without end and as we try to soften the blow of this recession on the american people, let us understand that if we don't change when it comes to this

4:54:42 to 4:55:06( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: war and start bringing our troops home and start giving the iraqi leaders aking is natural that they need to take charge of their own country, i'll tell you, i just can't be part of that kind of

4:55:06 to 4:55:21( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: a value system. our people are suffering. again, my state is in a recession. i have city council city council coming to say, saying, senator, you've get to help us, we're in a spiral. when i called

4:55:21 to 4:55:35( Edit History Discussion )

Jon Kyl: and said "help is on the way," we will raise the loan limits, we're going to give the home builders some kind of a tax break, we will give a tax break to alternative energy industry so they can start

4:55:21 to 4:56:36( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Jon Kyl