Floor Statements

Mr. Speaker, last night a Republican from Florida shamed the People's House when he stood at the podium and insulted every Native American in this country. Using cheap partisan rhetoric against the new Democratic vice presidential nominee, the Republican flung bigotry and racism against America's first citizens. And the Republican leadership stood by and said nothing and the administration stood by and said nothing.

The words spoken here were so insulting to Native Americans that I will not repeat them. I will say on behalf of every Native American, and there are

many in my home State of Washington, that we categorically detest such rhetoric. I will say on behalf of every Democrat that we wholeheartedly support Native Americans, we support treaty rights, and we recognize that this generation can and must honor the culture and contribution of Native Americans.

Last night, the Republican rhetoric should remind us all that 100 years later, there still is much left to be done in this country. I will say that that Republican from Florida made the case for why America needs people to defend its citizens on the battlefield and in the courtroom.

Civil rights, civil liberties, the First Amendment, the Second Amendment, all the amendments, the right to be safe in your home, the right to be safe from unsafe products and unsafe practices, Americans have rights we have paid for in world wars and in cold wars.

Somehow the Republicans think defending those rights in a court of law is un-American. Somehow the Republicans think that defending Americans in an American courtroom is un-American.

Truth is stranger than fiction these days in Washington, DC. It has gotten so bad that the other body had to reaffirm that the United States actually supports the Geneva Convention. And there is a question about whether the Republicans in this House will even support it here. They may not even bring it to a vote. What kind of message is that? The Geneva Convention is not for us?

We have to take a vote to say moral leadership is something he still think is a good idea. The issue is before Congress because of what administration civilian leaders have done to America's moral leadership in the world.

Senator John Edwards, the vice presidential nominee, speaks of two Americas; one for the rich friends of the administration and the other America for the rest of us. How right he is.

America has been divided by this administration into the have-less and the have much, much, much more. The Republicans would like to continue that trend. They shift the money through massive tax cuts to the rich.

Forget the rhetoric. Here are the numbers. Over $112,000 a year to the average millionaire; under 700 bucks for the rest of us.

Now Republicans want to shift power to their corporate patriarchs to ensure that companies can escape responsibility and accountability when they do something wrong. Fairness is not a word in the Republican dictionary, nor is accountability.

They will tell you the fiction that America suffers because lawyers can go to court and defend Americans. I thought protection under the law was something the Founding Fathers thought was a pretty good idea. It seems Republicans think accountability belongs in the same closet with the Geneva Convention, civil liberties and the basic respect for our first citizens.

Republicans like us to believe that every American has a right to keep and bear arms in order to defend themselves. These same Republicans would like us to believe that Americans do not have the right to defend themselves in court.

Republicans advocate unilaterally disarming Americans. Why? Why would the Republican Party want to prevent average Americans from defending themselves in court? Who benefits? Average Americans or corporate lobbyists? You decide for yourself. I think the words defy gravity.

Republicans would have us believe they know best. They are willing to let big corporations operate without the checks and balances our legal system provides for the safety and protection of every American. That is not representative government, it is Republican doctrine. Reward the rich, over and over and over and over again.

There are two Americas today, but that is going to change. America needs one America, the Nation where ordinary people count and where the common good is what we practice, not preach. The world needs one America, the Nation that recognizes its moral leadership is not secondary to military might or arrogance.

The current Republican administration divided America. The new Democratic administration will unite us.

There are only 118 days left. It is a long time to wait. But America is strong enough to hold on and compassionate enough to hold out until John Kerry is President. If you have lost hope, hang on. Help is on the way.

Mr. Speaker, let the President know he only has 117 more days down at the White House, and he ought to start packing.

Mr. Speaker, if the last speaker had ever traveled outside the United States, he might understand why it is that every country in the world wants George Bush replaced.

Mr. Speaker, I am going to rise today to address the policies of this administration. I intend to use the ``F'' word, so be forewarned.

During the administration's watch, America has lost nearly 2 million jobs in the private sector. Through no fault of their own, Americans who are out of work cannot find a job. The administration's response is to classify flipping hamburgers as a manufacturing job.

We could have helped Americans weather the storm by extending unemployment benefits, but the administration turned a deaf ear.

Health care costs have skyrocketed in America, up to an average of 49 percent in 3 years. One in seven American families are struggling to pay medical bills, families are being forced to choose between food, housing and medicine. Unpaid medical bills are a leading cause of personal bankruptcy.

So what does the administration do? Provide health care for everybody in Iraq; muzzle the expert who knows what the prescription drug bill would really cost; and passes a drug bill for seniors after drug companies raise prices three times the rate of inflation, negating any possible benefit from a prescription drug card. There is an ``F'' word in there someplace.

Today, one out of every three Americans breathes unhealthy air. Thanks to this administration, existing rules are being rolled back so that old, dirty power plants can keep belching their pollutants into the atmosphere. The American Lung Association calls it the most harmful and unlawful air pollution initiative ever undertaken by the Federal Government.

100 million Americans live in places where the air is not fit to breathe. The administration's response is to label science as fiction and then work to undermine environmental protection. We know the sources of pollution. Coal-fired power plants and diesel trucks are two big culprits. We know how to clean up the air. What does the administration do? Choose polluters over people. Choose polluters over protection. The administration wants to let oil rigs into the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The oil companies cannot wait. The only thing greater than America's greed for oil is the insatiable desire for profits by oil companies.

Certainly there must be an ``F'' word that applies when oil companies post 300 percent profits. The administration's civilian leaders must have lots of ``F'' words when the world first learned about the prisoner abuse scandals in Iraq. First they denied knowing anything. That was followed by media revelations of what they knew and approved in advance. The Geneva Conventions was something to embrace, not follow. That is the bottom line of the internal White House memos.

Need something else to use the ``F'' word? The administration has launched an undeclared draft in America. The undeclared draft compels current and former soldiers to fight in Iraq, even if they have already served. The undeclared draft uses rhetoric to mask reality. The military does not have enough soldiers. The administration knows they will be thrown out of office if they told America the truth. So the undeclared draft is called something else for now. Wait till after the election if George Bush wins.

The veterans seeking health care, the administration has a new plan. Bring your checkbooks and get in line. The administration wants to cut hundreds of positions in the VA. They want veterans to pay even more of the financial burden for the purchase of prescription drugs, and it wants veterans to pay a new enrollment fee. The administration's proposed budget for the VA is $2.5 billion too low, but that is nothing compared to what the administration intends to do to education in title I funding which helps disadvantaged kids across America. This administration underfunds title I by over $7 billion next year.

Half of every eligible school district in America will receive less grant money. The need is greater, but that does not matter. Only the rich have strong advocates in this administration.

From education to the environment, from veterans to health care, from the economy to forced military service, from moral leadership to global credibility, one word applies to this administration: the ``F'' word, failure, the administration's failure to create jobs that Americans want and deserve; the administration's failure to protect our land, air, water, and people; the administration's failure to confront military reality; the administration's failure to invest in our future leaders; the administration's failure to address the needs

of those who earn less than a million dollars a year; the administration's failure to retain America's moral leadership in the world and our moral compassion at home.

The Vice President used the other ``F'' word on the floor of the U.S. Senate. It showed a blatant disregard for a distinguished Senator. It showed a blatant disrespect of the American institution. It showed a blatant disrespect for being an American when dissent keeps the strong free. The ``F'' word applies to the administration. Failure in every way.

Mr. Speaker, I missed some votes on June 23rd and June 24th, 2004. Had I been able to, I would have voted:

June 23--``No'' on the Boehlert amendment to H.R. 4548 (rollcall vote No. 291); ``No'' on the Johnson amendment to H.R. 4548 (rollcall vote No. 292); ``No'' on the Rogers amendment to H.R. 4548 (rollcall vote No. 293); ``Yes'' on the Shays amendment to H.R. 4548 (rollcall vote No. 294); ``Yes'' on the Kucinich amendment to H.R. 4548 (rollcall vote No. 295); ``Yes'' on the Simmons amendment to H.R. 4548 (rollcall vote No. 296); ``Yes'' on the Reyes amendment to H.R. 4548 (rollcall vote No. 297); ``No'' on the Johnson amendment to H.R. 4548 (rollcall vote No. 298); ``Yes'' on the motion to recommit H.R. 4548 (rollcall vote No. 299); ``No'' on final passage of H.R. 4548 (rollcall vote No. 300).

June 24--``Yes'' on H. Res. 685 (rollcall vote No. 301); ``No'' on the previous question (rollcall vote No. 302); ``No'' on the rule for H.R. 4663 (rollcall vote No. 303); ``Yes'' on H. Res. 676 (rollcall vote No. 304); ``No'' on the Brady amendment to H.R. 4663 (rollcall vote No. 305); ``No'' on the Chocola amendment to H.R. 4663 (rollcall vote No. 306) ``No'' on the Castle amendment to H.R. 4663 (rollcall vote No. 307); ``No'' on the Hensarling amendment to H.R. 4663 (rollcall vote No. 308); ``No'' on the Hensarling amendment to H.R. 4663 (rollcall vote No. 309); ``No'' on the Kirk amendment to H.R. 4663 (rollcall vote No. 310); ``No'' on the Ryan amendment to H.R. 4663 (rollcall vote No. 311); ``No'' on the Ryan amendment to H.R. 4663 (rollcall vote No. 312); ``No'' on the Ryan amendment to H.R. 4663 (rollcall vote No. 313); ``Yes'' on the Spratt substitute to H.R. 4663 (rollcall vote No. 314); ``No'' on the Hensarling substitute to H.R. 4663 (rollcall vote No. 315); ``No'' on the Kirk substitute to H.R. 4663 (rollcall vote No. 316); ``Yes'' on the motion to recommit (rollcall vote No. 317); ``No'' on final passage of H.R. 4663 (rollcall vote No. 318); ``No'' on H. Res. 691 (rollcall vote No. 319).

Mr. Speaker, the rule of law may finally apply to U.S. military and civilian commanders running the President's war in Iraq. The American people may finally learn the truth behind the prisoner abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib.

A U.S. military judge has ruled that lawyers defending low-ranking soldiers can question top U.S. commanders. It is the first step in getting the truth, and it is about time. A lawyer for one soldier summed up a widely held view: ``No one can suggest with a straight face that these MPs acted alone.'' Yet that is exactly what this administration keeps trying to do.

Congress and the American people have heard the tortured logic from the administration and its spin doctors. No rational person is buying it.

Those who flaunted the law, regardless of rank in the military or the administration, must be brought to justice. To rebuild our credibility, the world must know that we are a nation of laws, not of men and their ideas.

Mr. Speaker, in all of the confusion of transition in Iraq, it is easy to forget that people are still dying there. Our troops are dying on a daily basis, and this President has instituted an undeclared draft, but he will not tell Members unless he is reelected.

Do Members think they need proof, last month 20,000 U.S. soldiers were told, not asked, they were not going home after a year in Iraq. Mr. Rumsfeld liked something called the stop-loss policy because the military can conscript soldiers to just keep fighting. More soldiers are staying behind because there are not enough in Iraq to begin with.

From the beginning, professionals in the Armed Forces told this President and the civilians that 300,000 soldiers would be needed in Iraq. The President and his civilians denied it, and they fired anyone who dared to disagree. So now the administration calls the draft a stop-loss order, and they are using it because they need more soldiers.

Mr. Speaker, make no mistake, a draft arrives in 2005 if this President remains in office. They just deny, deny, deny, just another day in the Bush administration.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to claim the time of the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller).

Mr. Speaker, this administration is out of control. They have made obeying the law a thing of the past.

They have implemented ``the big lie'' theory of communications. This theory takes propaganda to a whole new level.

Under the big lie, you fabricate a story and call it the truth. You disseminate the story as widely as possible. You wrap the propaganda in the mantle of national symbols, and you prey upon the fears and emotions of your citizens. You repeat the propaganda every day in every way. You say it over and over and over again, knowing if you say it long enough people will believe it.

Anyone who dares to question the propaganda becomes the enemy. Any evidence to the contrary is hidden, called tainted or dismissed as the work of your enemies.

This is a portrait of America today painted by this administration. In the face of overwhelming evidence presented by members of its own party, the administration keeps reporting the same old false story. They say anything, and they have.

War Secretary Don Rumsfeld first told the American people, we do not have to abide by the Geneva Conventions. Then after Abu Ghraib he said, America supports the Geneva Conventions.

Now the truth emerges. Rumsfeld personally ordered an Iraqi suspect held in solitary confinement at a secret location for 7 months. The inmate was hidden from the International Red Cross and any other human rights organization. Rumsfeld made someone disappear. Rumsfeld personally committed a violation of the Geneva Conventions that is so egregious, it could qualify as a war crime.

Rumsfeld has not had time yet to blame some soldiers and throw them overboard like he continues to do with the soldiers in Abu Ghraib. And the blame game is in full swing over at the White House.

Now even members of the President's own Republican Party are joining me on the enemies list. The bipartisan 9/11 Commission issued a key finding: there is no credible evidence linking Iraq and al Qaeda to attacks on America. It is not there. Saddam was a thug, but not a bin Laden pal. The 9/11 Commission finding proves without any doubt that the President misled the American people about the war in Iraq. Instead of accepting the finding, the President went into full frontal denial today.

Presented with conclusive and compelling evidence, the President simply announced that he knows there was a link, so there is a link. A bipartisan commission of distinguished U.S. leaders whose only mission is to find out the truth on behalf of America is about to be neutered by the administration.

Facts? Forget them. The President knows the truth. He must have seen it in a vision. Evidence? Who needs evidence when you have a President who is all knowing? Undeniable conclusion? Deny it.

Then what do you do when you are this President and this administration? Next, and you can count on this, Republican storm troopers come into the House, will step to the microphone and denounce the commission. The Republican leaders in the House will denounce the members of the 9/11 Commission as partisan, even the Republicans on the commission.

In the big lie theory of communication you never let the facts get in the way of the propaganda.

So less than 4 hours after the 9/11 Commission tells America that there was no link between Iraq and the attacks, the President says otherwise. The charade goes on.

Over a year ago the President misled the American people and the world about Iraq, and he continues to do the same thing today. The President retreated from the war on terror and the hunt for Osama bin Laden to settle an old score against a family enemy in Iraq, but America has lost 800 U.S. soldiers in Iraq. America has seen thousands of U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq. We have spent $200 billion.

The death, destruction and mayhem never had to happen. There are ways of dealing with Saddam, but the administration wanted blood from an old family nemesis.

The President has made the world more dangerous. The administration has made America look and act like a lawless thug. The War Secretary has made the world shudder with the awful truth seen in prisoner abuse pictures that no amount of rhetoric can deny. The big lie can make people afraid. The big lie cannot stop the truth.

America has seen and now America has heard. The President misled the American people about Iraq. The American people will respond in November. The 2nd of November is coming.

Mr. Speaker, at the President's direction the Vice President presided over secret meetings with big oil, dirty coal, and a legion of industry lobbyists.

In secret they wrote an energy policy that has turned this country into a panhandler, begging for more oil. Motorists in downtown Seattle will pay an extra quarter of a billion dollars, that is billion, in just the next 90 days because of the increase in the price of a gallon of gasoline. The administration will blame it all on the war. The price of gasoline is over $2 a gallon and the price in Iraq is 5 cents a gallon.

Yes, Mr. President, it is war all right. It is war that the oil companies are waging against the American people with the knowledge and consent and assistance of the administration. Oil company profits are up over 300 percent for one company, 200 percent for another. We are waging a war all right. It is a war to get America out of the hands of pricing, special interests and back into the hands of the American people. We want our country back. November 2 is coming, Mr. Bush.

Mr. Speaker, there seems to be a lot of confusion out here. I declare that the rubber stamp session is now in order. We are back here today doing what the Republicans love to do: That is, come out here and rubber stamp this 900-page perfect piece of legislation.

The Democrats have no opportunity to offer a substitute or an amendment. They were denied. They asked for amendments, they were denied. This is a perfect piece of legislation. The fact is we have a rubber-stamp Congress. And why are we doing that? Because Christmas has come on the 17th of June.

Now my Latino friends call this ``feliz Navidad,'' but I call it the fleecing of America. This is a Christmas tree bill that has everything in sight on it. If there is an amendment in this bill, there are 5 votes behind it or 10 votes or 20 votes. They would not accept an amendment unless they voted for the bill. That is how it was put together.

The fact is that the chairman of the committee in November of 2003 lost this piece of legislation on the floor. It got stuck. He could not move it. He went over to a meeting with EU in November and told them he was sorry

they had not put sanctions on this country because then he lost his leverage to move this bill. He had to make the American people uncomfortable. In my district, the sanctions went on Weyerhaeuser, on paper products and on construction materials. I do not know what the sanctions did in central California; but when the Committee on Ways and Means is going to the WTO people and saying could you please put some sanctions on the United States so I can get a bill through Congress, there is something really wrong.

This Christmas tree bill is put out here in order to give $150 billion of Christmas presents in June. We are all going home in a week, and we will have a fund-raiser, so Members, bring your rubber stamps.

[From Dow Jones Newswires, June 17, 2004]

Sanctions Alter Dynamic on House Tax Bill

(By Rob Wells)

Washington.--The reality of European Union trade sanctions

against U.S. exporters is a key dynamic propelling a

corporate tax bill through the U.S. House this week.

The House Ways and Means Committee late Monday approved a

bill, sponsored by committee chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif.,

to end a controversial U.S. export tax break ruled illegal by

the World Trade Organization in 2002.

That tax break is called ``foreign sales corporation'' or

the ``extraterritorial income exclusion act.'' The WTO

allowed the European Union to impose up to $4 billion a year

in trade sanctions until the U.S. repealed the export tax

break, which benefits Boeing Co. (BA), General Electric Corp.

(GE), Intel Corp. (INTC) and others.

A version of Thomas' bill passed the committee in October.

It stalled in the House amid opposition from a bloc of

Republicans who said the bill doesn't do enough to benefit

U.S. manufacturers.

A frustrated Thomas disagreed, saying his bill helps

manufacturers. International tax law changes in his plan

would benefit a broad range of companies, including U.S.

multinationals, he said.

In November 2003, Thomas' bill was stuck in the House and

he lost another piece of leverage. The E.U. postponed the

date it would begin sanctions on U.S. companies from Jan. 1

to March 1.

Thomas, in a November 2003 meeting with European Union

Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy, expressed disappointment the

E.U. didn't impose sanctions on U.S. companies sooner--on

Jan. 1 instead of March 1, according to three people familiar

with the conversation.

Thomas said earlier sanctions would have increased leverage

needed to push his corporate tax bill through Congress, these

people said. One person attended the Thomas-Lamy meeting

while the others were briefed by Lamy or other participants.

A House Republican aide said Thomas ``made the observation

reflecting what members had told to him and concerns they had

raised.'' Thomas had ``made similar observations in other

meetings,'' the House aide said.

Thomas' comments were interpreted differently by others.

``It puts you in a position where you want draconian

sanctions placed on U..S. companies early,'' said another

House aide who spoke to Lamy after the Thomas meeting.

The account circulated widely for months among lobbyists

and lawyers who handle trade and international tax issues;

several offered an unflattering view of Thomas' remarks. One

U.S. lobbyist recalled that during a visit with Lamy's staff

in Brussels, ``I heard the same story'' that Thomas ``has

been cheering on retaliation.''

A U.S.-based tax professional said his client relayed a

similar account after meeting with E.U. trade officials. A

Lamy spokeswoman declined to comment on private conns between

Lamy and members of Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I wanted to bring out the symbol for today.

Like the Queen of England, the Republican Party can declare when Christmas comes. Christmas comes on the 17th of June. We were supposed to fix an international trade practice bill here; but every day we delay, American companies have to pay more, and so they finally got around to the other day putting out this beautiful Christmas tree that we have; but instead of offering a solution to the trades problems, they just had a giveaway for all the special interests.

They raised the taxes on the exporters and lowered the taxes on those people who put the jobs overseas. They intended to give $30 billion to oil, tobacco, drug companies; and to get this bill passed, the Republican leadership bought one special interest after another.

Now, they started out with corporate jets. That is this one up here. And then the collection agents. Do you know that they are going to give your tax record to private collection agencies to collect people's debts to the IRS? And also there is tackle boxes here, and there are bows and arrows and sonar devices. And there are two for tobacco here: one, they reduce their taxes, and then they have a buy out. And they were just practically for anybody.

This one is the pharmaceutical companies. Here is Coke and Pepsi. My goodness, they have just gone on and on and on.

Now, my Latin friends say this is Feliz Navidad, but I say it is fleecing America. They are not taking care of small business people. Every one of those. Yes, I know the bow and arrow makers, they are not very big. They are just a little bauble that gets two votes or one vote. Some of these are two votes, and some of these are 25 votes. There are a whole bunch more that I wanted to put on here.

Maybe we could give unemployment benefits to people who have had long-term unemployment. That would be Christmas for them. But, no, we just got special interests. Do not vote for this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to take the time of the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller).

Mr. Speaker, ``environment'' is a dirty word in the current administration and they have the record to prove it.

The administration has turned over environmental stewardship to special interests. The Vice President held secret meetings with energy companies to craft the new energy policy. It does not address renewable resources or energy efficiency. Instead, the Cheney Special Interest Energy Task Force called for more oil drilling and more coal production.

Efforts by the public to learn for about these secret meetings were unsuccessful. That is because Attorney General John Ashcroft issued a new directive urging all Federal agencies to deny all Freedom of Information requests whenever possible.

The administration's actions go far beyond our own borders. A new film, ``The Day After Tomorrow,'' depicts a world plunged into a new ice age because we refuse to address global warming. They say the truth is stranger than fiction.

The President called the U.S. out of the so-called Kyoto Protocol. Mr. Speaker, 160 nations had agreed to work together to address critical global warming issues.

Under democratic President Bill Clinton, the U.S. had agreed to be part of this worldwide global initiative to save the world. This President not only withdrew from Kyoto, he also worked to reduce clean air standards at our oldest and most polluted power plants. The administration could not get Congress to reduce Mercury standards, so the administration reduced them on their own.

The administration has proposed something they call a Clear Skies Initiative. They could have called it the Dark Cloud Policy. The effect of dark cloud is to gut clean water and air standards. If they get it through, the industry would have another reason to pollute, direct from the White House. Now, that is a new definition of environmental stewardship.

The administration does not just propose new pollution legislation. This administration has been redefining existing definitions to help industry pollute. A case in point: older coal-fired power plants, among the worst polluters, have a new definition of ``upgrade'' that allows them to avoid installing new technology to reduce pollution.

In one of America's great places, Yellowstone National Park, we now have, surprise, calls by the administration to let snowmobiles continue to pollute the air and noise. But the Park Service plans to phase in banning snowmobiles from the park suddenly needs, yes, more study. That is administration speak for special interests.

There are plenty of places in America, millions of acres available for snowmobiles, but the snowmobile lobby went right through the oval office.

Now, Congress is trying to save Yellowstone from the administration's tactics.

The President turned his back on his own campaign pledge to reduce industry carbon dioxide emissions, a major contributor to greenhouse gases. Oil drilling has been given a green light in the Padre Island National Seashore. It is off the coast of Texas, and it is the fist national park to be open to drilling. It has dramatically increased logging in the Pacific Northwest, and is trying to convince the world that fake salmon are better than natural salmon.

The list of environmental transgressions is so long that 5 minutes is not enough, 5 hours is not enough, and 5 days would not be enough to help the American people understand what has happened to our environment since this President took office. They are polluting the air, polluting our water, and it affects human beings as much as it affects environmental degradation. Ask any one of the youngsters in this country in the epidemic of asthma.

None of this matters to the administration. The special interests have spoken and given hundreds of millions of dollars to Republican political campaigns.

That buys access to the Oval Office and, they hope, to places like Yellowstone.

The rest of us are told there is no problem. We are just reactionaries. The evidence is overwhelming, we are told we need more research. Big tobacco always said that about cigarettes and lung cancer. They said it every time someone else new was diagnosed with lung cancer. Why do we not do some more studies?

Well, this administration is doing exactly what big tobacco did. First, deny, deny, deny. Then attack your critics. Then say we need more study. Then attack the study and call for research.

At a time when the world needs environmental leadership, the Administration offers environmental plunder. We can no longer accept that.

Everyone has heard of Lord of the Rings. In fact, many have seen it. In J.R.R. Tolkien's Return of the King, the character Gandalf says something that should guide us all.

``It is not our part to master all the tides of the world, but to do what is in us for the succor of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clear earth to till. What weather they shall have is not ours to rule.''

The environment is not for sale. The American people need to know that. Look at the record. Save the environment while there is still time. November 2 is coming.

Mr. Speaker, the administration's energy program will be rubber stamped once again by this Congress. It is the rubber stamp Congress; anything the president wants, they get it.

Let me summarize it. The Vice President holds secret meetings with oil representatives, and then gas prices soar to the highest levels in two decades; American consumers pay $25 billion more; oil companies make $34 billion more; oil company profits increase 165 percent at one company and 294 percent at another company; and now the administration wants to drill in ANWR, the fragile Arctic National Wildlife Reserve.

At this rate, the administration will make an oil drilling rig part of the new Visitor's Center complex out in front of the Capitol.

This administration has sold out the American people to big oil. It is time for that well to run dry before there is more damage to the wallet of American consumers or the fragile environment that we need to protect. We need a President who is not tied to the oil industry.

Mr. Speaker, the abuse of Iraqi prisoners began with an abuse of power by the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Rumsfeld. Justice will be served in Iraq only when America accepts responsibility for the prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib and fires Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Secretary Rumsfeld and the administration can deny all they want, but the truth will not be denied. White House lawyers wrote memos about it. They tortured the English language until the President and the top civilians at the Pentagon were satisfied they could do whatever they wanted, manipulate the data, make it seem like truth. That has been the administration's approach in Iraq.

Secretary Rumsfeld pretended the Geneva Convention did not exist. Apparently it had too many constraints, like humane treatment of prisoners. Rumsfeld himself approved interrogation practices they are now trying to cover up by classifying them as secret.

Rumsfeld thought the world would never know. Mr. Nixon thought that too. Mr. Rumsfeld thought he could deny for so long the people would get tired and stop asking questions. Nixon's henchmen in the White House thought that too.

Rumsfeld thought a wave of the hand and attacking your critics could manipulate the news media into looking the other way. Nixon tried that too and it did not work.

The truth catches up with you, Mr. Rumsfeld. Like a Republican President who disgraced this country, Secretary Rumsfeld has abused the trust America has placed in its leaders. No one is above the law, not even those who show contempt for the law.

Torture is torture, Mr. Rumsfeld, no matter what you call it.

The abuse of power Secretary Rumsfeld triggered at the Pentagon has made Iraq even more dangerous for U.S. soldiers on the front lines. There is no excuse for that. There is no defense for that.

America cannot believe the pictures we have seen who came from people who call this country home. Secretary Rumsfeld tortured the U.S. values with its total disregard for a military code of conduct that applies in war.

The Geneva Convention was written to protect people in war from people like Secretary Rumsfeld, but he has dishonored this country and the tradition of the U.S. military. Instead of accepting the responsibility, the administration keeps throwing soldiers overboard in hopes that the question will stop before the truth emerges.

The latest casualty is General Janis Karpinski, who calls herself a ``convenient scapegoat.'' With the blessing of Secretary Rumsfeld, she says, the Abu Ghraib prison was ``Gitmoed.''

General Karpinski points to the top U.S. Commander for Iraq, General Ricardo Sanchez. Rumsfeld just rotated him out of the country. Out of sight, out of mind, that is the view of Mr. Rumsfeld. General Karpinski asks what was asked during the Nixon administration as they desperately tried to cover up Watergate. What did he know and when did he know it?

General Karpinski says that Sanchez needs to be questioned about the abuse. Rumsfeld says Sanchez needs a well-deserved rest after a trying time in Iraq. General Karpinski says the military commander in charge at Guantanamo Bay, Major General Geoffrey Miller, likened Iraqi prisoners to dogs. She quotes him, ``They are like dogs and if you allow them to believe at any point that they are more than a dog, then you have lost control of them.''

Secretary Rumsfeld is responsible for a military scandal that has commanders equating human beings with animals and treating them even worse.

The first step in restoring U.S. credibility is removing the weakest link in the U.S. military chain of command. That is the man at the top. Mr. Rumsfeld forgot that in war a nation must not only fight the enemy, it must also fight to retain its values. America should be a country that stands for bravery. Rumsfeld has made America a nation that is ashamed. Either resign or get fired. That is what the President ought to do, Mr. Speaker.

America deserves better than this. When they catch an American in Iraq and they say we will treat him like they treated the prisoners at Abu Ghraib, everybody gets up in arms and says what is going on here. Mr. Rumsfeld is to blame. Whatever happens to that American is because the Secretary of War in this country acted not in the America's best interest, but in the belief that he could do anything because he was the Secretary of War.

Mr. Speaker, Africa stands taller and prouder today. From Lesotho, to Nigeria, to Uganda, Sub-Saharan African nations joined together and spoke as one. Their voice was eloquent and urgent, and America listened.

Today, 400 million Africans live on less than a dollar a day. But there is great promise for the future. Today, HIV/AIDS claims millions of lives in Sub-Saharan Africa. But there is hope for the future.

Today, Sub-Saharan Africa looks inward to make the social, political and economic changes that will rekindle its pre-eminence on a great continent.

All that Africa is, all that Africa represents, has inspired and united the political parties in the House of Representatives.

Africa bridged America's political divide with a profound affirmation of its past and a persuasive optimism about its future.

For the first time in a long time, Democrats and Republicans in the People's House did not cross swords.

Instead, we locked arms and reached for something bigger than any one political leader or party.

Today, America spoke as one people-extending our hands, our hearts, ourselves, to the nations of Sub-Saharan Africa.

The winds of change are blowing across the Serengeti, and America has joined the voices of Africa's leaders.

By overwhelming passing AGOA, the House of Representatives has affirmed that Africa's Destiny is within Africa's reach.

The Trade opportunities AGOA provides will continue Sub-Sahara Africa's economic development.

Every new step taken to develop these economies is another stride toward self-sufficiency.

AGOA is a stride toward a better life for millions of African people.

AGOA is a blow to the spread of HIV/AIDS, a pandemic that threatens to rob Africa of its brightest promise--its people.

AGOA will expand trade which in turn will attract new capital and encourage the development of new infrastructure.

Roads bring goods to market and roads will bring visitors to Eco- tourism parks.

The majesty of a lion roaming free in Africa's great nature parks will be Africa's symbol of a great continent awakening.

The nobility, grace and dignity of a great nation distant land is closer to us today.

We should all be proud that the People's House reached across the ocean in friendship and joined Africa on its journey to reach its deserved destiny.