Speech #1060027809

Mr. Chairman. I rise to strongly support the Obey substitute which supports our troops in Kosovo as Democrats unlike Republicans did in their votes last week. which gives a real pay raise to our men and women in uniform and which supports emergency assistance for Albanian refugees. But we have other real emergencies in this process. like the nearDepression conditions faced by farmers in the Midwest. like our fellow Americans in Oklahoma and Kansas and like the national interest the United States has spawned by the hurricane damage in Central America. These are real emergencies which we need to deal with responsibly. It is scandalous that 6 months after Hurricanes Georges and Mitch devastated the Caribbean and Central America the Republican leadership has failed to act. The emergency in Central America pressures are a national interest in preventing illegal immigration. preventing the spread of disease due to unhealthy conditions. preventing the spread of the narcotics trade and cementing the democracies we spent billions to promote. We have failed to address this emergent national interest. For a party seeking to stymie illegal immigration and halt the growth of the narcotics trade in the Americas. their inaction has given rise to an increase in both. It seems to me they have shown the true depth or rather the utter shallowness in upholding their responsibility as well as the contempt for the Latino community of the United States. Their actions truly reflect their priority: Politics over emergencies. rhetoric over reconstruction.