Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Robert Byrd: A Call for Debate on National Priorities

Our economic resources are stretched dangerously thin, and so is our military might. We have taken on too much, turned our backs on cooperation with the international community, decided to go it alone and pursue some grandiose scheme of remaking the world in our own image. By now it should be clear to all that grand experiments are very, very costly. It is time for a national epiphany. The sound of Katrina's bugle must be heeded. We cannot continue to commit billions in Iraq when our own people are so much in need, not only now, in New Orleans, but all across America for everything from education to health care to homeland security to securing our own borders. We need to stop making excuses, stop spinning the facts, and come to grips with the unpleasant truth. The government of the United States is failing the American people.
Where is the national debate about our priorities which Katrina should prompt? What does it take to wake us up? It is a debate that must begin, if not on this Senate Floor, then in the barber shops and grocery stores of America and in the print and broadcast media of this great nation.

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