[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 68 (Thursday, May 26, 1994)]
[Senate]
[Page S]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 26, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
  THE FIRST REPUBLICAN TO REPRESENT KENTUCKY'S SECOND DISTRICT BEGINS 
                                SERVICE

  (Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute.)
  Mr. LEWIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, before I get into my speech, I 
would like to recognize three men that mean a lot to me, three men that 
are wonderful and great men of Kentucky: Senator Mitch McConnell, 
Congressman Hal Rogers, and Congressman Jim Bunning.
  And I am certainly proud of my family today.
  Before I do or say anything further, however, I would like to do 
something that I feel needs to be done.
  I have just signed the discharge petition to force a vote on H.R. 
3266, the A to Z spending cut plan. I wanted that to be the first thing 
that I did as a Member of the House of Representatives.
  This legislation will force Congress to do something every family in 
America has had to do at one time or another, and that is take a look 
at every single expense and see where there is room for savings. If 
this Congress adopts H.R. 3266, this Congress will be called into 
special session with just one topic on the agenda, real reductions in 
Federal spending.
  Mr. Speaker, I was sent here to deliver the message that this 
Government has grown way too big and spent way too much. That is the 
message that roared through central and western Kentucky 2 days ago. It 
is the message that sent me to Washington, the first member of my party 
ever to represent the Second District in Congress. It is the same 
message that the people of Oklahoma's Sixth District sent to Washington 
2 weeks ago with the election of our colleague, Frank Lucas.
  But there is more to this message than just cutting spending. The 
people of Kentucky's Second District sent me here to tell Congress to 
respect the fact that they work hard for their money, and Congress has 
an obligation to spend it wisely and to leave as much as possible in 
the hands of the hardworking American families who earn it.
  They sent me here to oppose new taxes, and that I will do. As has 
been said many times, the problem is not that the taxes are too low, it 
is that the spending is too high.
  In the coming weeks and months I hope to work on the other measures 
that I talked about in my campaign: Serious crime legislation, a plan 
to reform welfare, and measures to stop this Nation's war on tobacco 
that threatens my district's very way of life.
  I would say to my colleagues that I have never held elective office. 
I do not have a network of political connections. But like many of you, 
I come here as a man who has raised a family, a small businessman, a 
pastor, at one time a teacher, the very kind of individual, I believe, 
our Founding Fathers wanted in this, the people's House, one who may 
never have written laws or regulations but one who has lived under 
them.
  I have big shoes to fill, I know. I, of course, know that better than 
anyone. Bill Natcher was a great and wonderful man, an honorable man 
with great character, a great man of work ethic, and no one, I believe, 
will ever break his record of 18,401 votes in this House.
  But with the help of God, I know I will do the best job I can to 
listen to the views of Kentucky's Second District and to represent 
those views here in this magnificent place.
  I am proud to be here, and I thank my friends and my neighbors for 
their confidence in sending me here. Thank you, Mr. Speaker, and may 
God bless the United States.

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