Howard Dean Outlines Democratic Agenda for Real Change on This Week
May 8, 2006
Today, on ABC's "This Week," Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean outlined the Democratic Party's agenda for bold leadership and real change. He answered tough questions from host George Stephanopoulos. The following are excerpts from Dean's appearance:
The Democratic Agenda for Real Change:
"The fact is we want real change in this country. We're going to balance the budget, we're going to have American jobs that stay in America and we're going to have honesty and openness in government again. I think those are pretty important. The next thing we're going to do after that is make sure that everybody has health care in this country. If they can do that in 36 countries around the world, we can do that here in the United States of America...
"We want real change in this country, and that's the central election issue. Do you want more of the same, or do you want real change? Because the Democrats are ready to lead again."
Ending the Republican Culture of Corruption:
"There is a culture that goes from the White House to the Vice President's office to the leadership of the United States Senate to the leadership of the United States House of Representatives, and in the agencies. Corruption has become a way of life and it has to change. We have to pass real ethics legislation, not the nonsense that was passed last week in the House of Representatives.
"We promise you that within 100 days we will vote on real ethics legislation. It will pass and there will be no more free trips. There will be no more free lunches and there will be no more sticking things in big appropriations bills that give oil companies and HMOs billions and billions of dollars of taxpayers' money in the middle of the night."
Commitment to Balanced Budgets:
"Republicans, of course, have been the biggest spenders, I think, since any Congress that I can think of except during World War II. This is just outrageous what they've done. They wouldn't know a balanced budget if they saw one. And the thing that is so telling about what the Republicans did, they got rid of this legislation that we used to call "pay/go" legislation. That is, you can't spend money unless you say where you're going to get the money. Every American family has to do that, and the federal government should do that too. And they will do that when the Democrats take back the Congress and the White House."
On Failed Republican Leadership:
"The truth is we've got some big problems in this country. We've got a major health care problem. We're losing jobs. The economy is in good shape if you look at corporate earnings, but for 80% of the American people they're struggling. We're in a war that the President says he wants to pass on to the next President to fix. This is ridiculous what's going on in Washington."
On the Bush Administration's Use of Prewar Intelligence:
"I think it's time to stop beating up on the professionals in the CIA. The fact is they did their job. They gave the intelligence to the White House. The White House didn't want to use the intelligence. The intelligence failures that got us into Iraq were not by large in the CIA, they were in the White House. They wouldn't listen to what they were being told by the CIA."
