Madam Speaker, tear down this wall!

Today is the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan
delivered his prophetic 'tear down this wall' speech. Yet today, instead of defeating Communism,
our government is promoting it. On Saturday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed House Bill 3962 by a vote of 220-215. This is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) notorious socialized medicine bill. This will cost taxpayers well over $1 trillion in its first ten years starting in 2013.

But don't think that all Democrats went along with this. 39 Democrats voted against the bill, and only one Republican, Joseph Cao of Louisiana, voted for it. Now President Barack Obama can claim this was a bipartisan effort. The Democrats won two special House elections on Tuesday, one in California and one in New York. If Republicans had won those seats and voted against the bill along with Cao, the bill would've been defeated! The bill also has the Bart Stupak (D-MI) amendment, which prohibits public funding for abortions. It passed 240-176, with 64 Democrats voting for it and John Shaddegg (R-AZ) voting present. Now the bill goes to the Senate. I don't know what will happen there, but the bill has a long way to go until it becomes law.

The House of Representatives did something that was not American and not constitutional. Pelosi bragged about passing the bill, but she could barely hold her own coalition together. In a legislative body in which the Democrats hold a 258-177 advantage, the bill passed by five little votes. The Democrats are erecting walls in an era when socialism is on the rise in America. 20 years ago, America could brag about crushing the Soviet Empire. Now we are creating the American Empire. If you want to know how bad our debts are, log on to www.usdebtclock.org.
There you will see the horrible numbers our economy faces, including a national debt of $12 trillion and over $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities in our entitlement programs. HR 3962 will make those numbers grow higher with no end in sight.

This is nothing to brag about. Madam Speaker, tear down this wall!

G.J. LaRouche, 9 November 2009