On the House Floor
This week, the House passed the State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill, which funds our nation’s efforts to combat terrorism, foster diplomacy, and provide foreign assistance as well as the Legislative Branch Appropriations bill, which funds the operations of Congress.
Just Plain Wrong
The Defenders of Wildlife, an organization funded by extremist groups and Hollywood elitists who are more interested in advancing liberal causes than the truth, have begun running attack ads against me on local radio. Innocent people’s reputations are destroyed when the media and left-wing fringe groups like this one deliberately distort the truth in order to pursue their own radical agenda. They lie about our character because they hate what we stand for when we advocate for a smaller federal government, private property rights and the other sacred rights guaranteed under the Constitution, including the right to life, freedom of religion and speech, and the right to bear arms. By attacking me, this group is attempting to use the issue of global warming to gain greater control over the public, to raise our taxes and force us to bear the costs of excessive new government regulations that are supposed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, which they assert cause global warming. And what will be the result of their plan to combat global warming? It will be the same as it has been with their other proffered solutions to other perceived problems: more taxes, bigger government and less freedom for the individual. We must actively oppose their socialistic agenda.
These extreme environmentalists are wrong with regard to my record on the environment. In 2000, I was one of the lead authors of the Lake Tahoe Restoration Act, along with Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein, which President Clinton signed into law. This measure authorized $300 million to be spent on improving the clarity of Lake Tahoe and providing related improvements to the environment of the Tahoe Basin. I have supported many other measures to benefit our environment, including assisting Yosemite National Park to recover from the severe flood of the 1990s, restoring our nation’s forests to prevent against catastrophic fires, and aiding communities with their water treatment needs. I am proud of my record, knowing the work I have done in Congress has had a much greater positive effect on our environment than radical groups achieve through character assassinations. I urge you to reject their rhetoric and join me in advancing the conservative principles I uphold in Congress each and every day.
Life Support
During consideration of the Fiscal Year 2008 spending bill for foreign operations, House Democrats voted to gut the “Mexico City Policy,” which protects taxpayers from subsidizing foreign organizations and programs that perform or actively promote abortion. My conservative colleagues and I supported an amendment that would have removed this language and prevented the government from forcing American taxpayers to subsidize the highly immoral act of abortion. Despite our efforts, Democrats used their new majority to defeat this amendment. As a result of this provision, the President has indicated his intent to veto the bill, and I will vote to sustain that veto. The very first duty of the government is to protect its citizens against violence. I believe human life begins at conception. Therefore, the government must protect innocent unborn children from abortion.
Quote of the Week
“If this legislation became law, it would compel American taxpayers – for the first time in our history – to support the deliberate destruction of human embryos. I made it clear to Congress and to the American people that I will not allow our nation to cross this moral line.” – President Bush on June 20, 2007, as he vetoed legislation which would have allowed federal funds to be used for stem cell research that would destroy human embryos.
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