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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>It creeps me out that somehow Sali has my email
address. I didn't sign up for this but keep getting emails like this
one................</FONT></DIV>
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<P>Below is an advance copy of a guest opinion that Congressman Sali has
provided to Idaho news media. I thought you'd like to see it before it hits your
local newspapers. If you have questions or comments, please contact me at (208)
336-9831. <BR><BR>Wayne Hoffman<BR>Communications Director<BR>Office of
Congressman Bill Sali <BR><BR>Clear vision, not politics, should guide
Congress</P>
<P>By Congressman Bill Sali</P>
<P>Sixty years ago, U.S. Senate chaplain Peter Marshall prayed that God would
“give us clear vision, that we may know where to stand and what to stand for -
because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything.”</P>
<P>Those words are moving in their simplicity and honesty. Only with the grace
of God, with strong values, deep conviction of principle and ongoing willingness
to listen and learn can leaders gain "clear vision" of their responsibilities to
citizens. When we believe in something - and stand firm in our principles
and values - we gain a clear compass and a clear conscience to do the right
thing for our country. </P>
<P>Unfortunately, Congress has a history of doing otherwise. Sadly, votes are
not always black and white, choices between obvious good and transparent
evil. Too often legislation is a confusing cocktail of essential items
laced with pure political pork. When there are 10 things in a bill that
you support and five things you don't, pork politics compels your vote according
to your stake in the political smorgasbord.</P>
<P>A prime example is the vote held recently in Congress on the measure to set a
strict timetable for pulling troops out of Iraq. The House of Representatives
voted 218-212 in favor of the Democrat-led legislation. I voted against the
proposal, because I believe that a publicly-declared timetable to withdraw
troops from Iraq will hurt our troops and damage national security. </P>
<P>How disheartening that Speaker Pelosi and her House lieutenants included in
the bill the worst, rawest form of political bribery - spending on the parochial
pet projects of wavering Members of Congress. By including everything from
funding for Gulf Coast levees and shrimp subsidies to peanut storage money and a
spinach program, Speaker Pelosi bought the votes of reluctant Congressmen - some
who want an immediate pullout and some who don't really support a timeline at
all.</P>
<P>Mrs. Pelosi's bill even included badly needed money for rural Northwestern
schools, counties and highway districts. For Idaho alone, the bill provided more
than $23 million for schools and counties - an extension of the “Craig-Wyden”
funds. This item was included specifically so my Pacific Northwest colleagues
and I would have to choose between a vote for the Democrat troop pull-out plan
or a difficult vote against schools and roads.</P>
<P>If House Democrat leadership truly agrees with me that relief is needed for
our rural schools and counties, they should be willing to permit a straight
up-or-down vote. I have introduced legislation in the House to accomplish this,
and Senators Larry Craig and Mike Crapo have introduced identical legislation on
the Senate.<BR> <BR>It shocks and infuriates me to see Mrs. Pelosi and the
Democrat majority in Congress use Idaho's schoolchildren and economic
infrastructure as pawns in the War against America's enemies. </P>
<P>It is wrong for Democrats to use political bribery to enact their military
micromanagement, especially so wrong-headed a strategy as the one that passed
the House. How ironic that Mrs. Pelosi was unwilling to impose a deadline on
herself and her operatives in the arm-twisting battle for sufficient votes to
pass her bill, but she is more than willing to impose a deadline on American
military personnel fighting a real war in Iraq.</P>
<P>Last week in Iraq, terrorists used children as decoys to drive a car through
a security checkpoint. After making it through the checkpoint, the terrorists
detonated the car with the children in the back seat. This is the kind of
enemy America faces in Iraq. They are not rational. They are not
patriots. They care nothing for human life or dignity. They are
murderers, and they must be stopped - on their soil, not ours.</P>
<P>Tying the war against America's enemies in Iraq with issues here at home is
politics as its worst.</P>
<P>Now, more than ever, Congress needs "clear vision.” Our nation deserves
leaders who will stand for what is right, however difficult that might be.
The pork politics of the Democrat's Iraq funding bill resulted in Congress
retreating from principle and standing for nothing that is honorable. By
proudly proclaiming victory in passing their bill, Democrat leaders have asked
our county at large, to join them in preparing to fall for anything.
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