[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 48 (Thursday, April 28, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 28, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                                 A TO Z

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida [Mr. Goss] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, why do we need to have an A-to-Z spending cut 
session? Why take the extraordinary time and effort needed to force the 
bill to the floor through a discharge petition? The answer is: because 
the regular procedures of this House have broken down. Members are 
frustrated by the stranglehold the majority leadership has over the 
amendment process, and they are voting with their feet by joining the 
A-to-Z effort.
  Mr. Speaker, if there is one message we receive from our constituents 
loud and clear, it's: cut spending first. Yet when we review the recent 
history of specific spending cut proposals, we consistently find 
concerted efforts by the majority leadership to block or defeat these 
measures.
  In the weeks leading up to the vote on the Penny-Kasich spending cut 
package, for example, our offices were bombarded with calls and letters 
from committee chairs, cabinet members, and every special interest 
under the sun. The campaign waged against this package--which would 
have cut a mere 1 percent of Federal spending over the next 5 years by 
targeting specific line items of the budget for reduction or 
elimination--was almost as intense as the push to pass the Clinton tax 
package.
  Today we are hearing the same hard-line language from Speaker Foley 
and the rest of the majority leadership. Saying that ``spending has 
been cut to the bone,'' the leadership wants to prevent the A-to-Z 
proposal from ever reaching the floor. In fact, it appears that they 
have even rejected a weak compromise of a promise of a spending cut 
vote at a later date in favor of killing A to Z outright.
  The sad fact is that for every specific spending cut amendment that 
makes it to the floor, there are many more that are shut out in a much 
less public process. The majority-dominated Rules Committee regularly 
blocks consideration of amendments to cut Federal spending. The Rules 
Committee room has become a graveyard for hundreds of responsible 
suggestions to save tax dollars and reduce the deficit.
  Most members who bring budget-cutting amendments to the Rules 
Committee are not looking for special treatment, they are simply trying 
to exercise their right to improve the legislation considered in this 
House. Instead of getting a fair fight--an up-or-down vote on the 
floor--these members' amendments are arbitrarily denied.
  As a minority member of the Rules Committee I see first-hand how the 
process works. Last year I tried to offer specific spending cuts to 
replace several of the major tax increases in the President's tax bill; 
despite widespread interest in both spending cuts and reducing 
Americans' tax burden, I was prevented from bringing my proposal to the 
full House.
  This year, I wanted to offer a package of 76 spending cuts to the 
budget resolution; these cuts could have saved some $285 billion over 5 
years--but again the Rules Committee set up a roadblock to my request. 
And I was not alone; Dan Schaefer and Tim Penny were prepared to offer 
a bipartisan substitute to the budget resolution, a substitute which 
again would have saved hundreds of billions, yet they too were denied 
to the ability to offer their proposal on the floor.
  The A-to-Z special session will allow Members to offer their specific 
spending cuts, without interference from the Rules Committee. These 
cuts will not have any guarantees of passage, and many may fail. The 
important point is that they will receive a fair hearing on the House 
floor, where all of the elected Members of Congress can finally work 
their will.
  Mr. Speaker, if the House were operating in a responsible, open 
manner, maybe we wouldn't need an A-to-Z session. But it's not and we 
do. I urge my colleagues to sign the discharge petition next Wednesday.

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