Since many of us are seeing Dennis Kucinich storming from event to event and town to town on the campaign trail, we may lose sight of the fact that he remains a real leadership force -- a progressive force -- on Capitol Hill. Other presidential candidates won't join Kucinich in these battles. Indeed, one candidate (designated a "peace" candidate by mainstream media) has specifically taken issue with his stand on military spending.
"CUT BLOATED PENTAGON BUDGET"
Two days in a row, Congressman Kucinich has taken to the House Floor to call for cutting wasteful military spending to fund domestic programs. Yesterday, in debate on the $368 billion Defense Appropriations Bill, he singled out the F22 fighter plane, the V22 Ospry and other unnecessary weapons systems. Today, in debate on an education bill, he continued to critique Pentagon waste and our misplaced priorities:
"We will pass this bill today, the Ready to Teach Act, and in doing so, we all agree that the country needs the federal government to spend $300 million on teacher preparation and retention. But in fact, we won't spend that much. The President has asked that we spend only $90 million, or 30 percent of what we today all agree is necessary.
"Yesterday we passed a Defense spending bill that spends $8.9 billion on the National Missile Defense system that doesn't work, and today we will pass an education bill that, if fully funded, would work.
"We could re-allocate the $8.9 billion for missile defense and put it into education. We'd have money to hire and train thousands more
qualified teachers. We'd have money to buy 9 million new computers
for our children and schools. We'd have the money to fully fund and
expand the Head Start program, IDEA, and The No Child Left Behind Act.
"National Missile Defense doesn't work. Teachers do. They work for our children, they work for America, and they work for our future."
"BUSH WHITE HOUSE MANIPULATED CONGRESS"
Kucinich continued his antiwar leadership in Congress by taking to the House floor again today to speak out against White House deception that led to war, and to demand public hearings.
"Two days before the vote, on October 8, 2002, speaking in Cincinnati, the President spoke of his determination to attack Iraq: 'Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.'
"This chilling, apocalyptic statement was not based on clear evidence of peril, but was in fact based on falsehoods, hidden from public view by the office of the Vice President.
"Did the Vice President's office knowingly conceal information its own representative obtained that Iraq was in fact not attempting to purchase nuclear materials from Niger? Was the White House in possession of this same information prior to the President giving his shocking declaration in Cincinnati?
"There is no question that the President's statements -- we now know were false and misleading -- influenced the debate in this House and the decision to go to war. It is imperative we have open, public hearings to wash this stain from our national reputation."
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DENNIS KUCINICH SPEAKS TRUTH TO POWER. And the word is getting out about what Dennis is doing on the campaign trail and in Washington, where he co-chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus with the courageous Barbara Lee.
If you have friends and relatives who still haven't gotten the news,
please circulate this email to them and send them to
http://www.kucinich.usHelp us buy airtime in the mainstream media for the Kucinich message
by donating:
https://www.kucinich.us/contribute.php:dem:
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