Floor Statement of Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich on Katrina emergency funding

Terrific speech by Dennis Kucinich today. Snippet:

...“The time is NOW to bring back to the United States the 78,000 National Guard troops currently deployed overseas into the Gulf Coast region. “The time is NOW to bring back to the US the equipment which will be needed for search and rescue, for clean up and reclamation. “The time is NOW for federal resources, including closed Army bases, to be used for temporary shelter for those who have been displaced by the hurricane. “The time is NOW to plan massive public works, with jobs going to the people of the Gulf Coast states, to build new levees, new roads, bridges, libraries, schools, colleges and universities and to rebuild all public institutions, including hospitals. Medicare ought to be extended to everyone, so every person can get the physical and mental health care they might need as a result of the disaster. “The time is NOW for the federal government to take seriously the research of scientists who have warned for years about the dangers of changes in the global climate, and to prepare other regions of the country for other possible weather disasters until we change our disastrous energy policies. “The time is NOW for changes in our energy policy, to end the domination of oil and fossil fuel and to invest heavily in alternative energy, including wind and solar, geothermal and biofuels....