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Saturday, February 08, 2003
"I don't think the president had to pay a penny when he went to AA..."
Washington -- Fremont Rep. Pete Stark, whose caustic comments directed at fellow House members have provoked anger in the past, took aim Thursday at President Bush's past problems with alcohol.
The comment came during a heated hearing of the House Ways and Means Committee as Democrats grew increasingly annoyed at Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson for not divulging more details about the administration's plan to provide prescription drugs to seniors through Medicare.
Democrats oppose the administration's efforts to give religious groups money to provide drug treatment, while at the same time providing prescription drug benefits only to seniors who opt out of the traditional Medicare program.
Stark, a liberal Democrat who has represented the East Bay since 1973, complained to Thompson that he had spent "89 words in your written testimony on a [Medicare] drug benefit and a full page on a faith-based benefit for drug treatment."
Then he added: "I don't think the president had to pay a penny when he went to AA, and my impression is that it's still free."
Bush has acknowledged that he drank heavily as a youth, and that he abruptly quit all alcohol shortly after his 40th birthday. He has never said he is an alcoholic, or that he attended Alcoholics Anonymous.
The White House declined to comment on Stark's statement. And Stark was not apologizing.
"I'm happy he's recovering," Stark said after the meeting. "Some members of our committee are recovering alcoholics and I have great respect for them.
"This is a president who has cut back on the social safety net for the poorest and most vulnerable people in our country. Then he's saying: 'let's take money and give to the churches.' Why should we throw money at them while we're taking money away from people who need it."
Stark attributed the proposal as "fanaticism to force (Bush's) right wing Christian religion on the rest of the country."
For Stark, it is not the first time his pointed barbs have made news.
Two years ago, during a hearing at which Republicans were pushing abstinence, Stark sarcastically noted that the idea was coming from the right place since two former GOP House leaders -- Speaker Newt Gingrich and Speaker- designate Robert Livingston -- had confessed to extramarital affairs, and Republican Conference chairman, Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma had "children (who) were all born out of wedlock."
In fact, one of Watts' five children was born prior to his marriage, prompting an apology from Stark's office "if he overstated the number of children involved."
A few years earlier, Stark called Rep. Nancy Johnson, R-Conn, a "whore" for the insurance industry, and referring to her marriage to a doctor, said: "The gentle lady got her medical degree through pillow talk."
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