[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 80 (Wednesday, June 22, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 22, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]


                              {time}  1900
 
                  SURGEON GENERAL ELDERS SHOULD RESIGN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida [Mr. Stearns] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. STEARNS. There is a great deal of debate throughout America today 
on the need to shape a new set of shared values for this Nation. Like 
most Americans, I find this to be a welcome sign that, after three 
decades of moral relativism, we as a Nation are turning back to the 
idea that we need these core values.
  That brings me to my main topic tonight. Along with over 70 of my 
House colleagues, tomorrow, I will be sending President Clinton a 
letter requesting the resignation of Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders. 
At the very time when voices from across the political spectrum are 
calling for greater personal responsibility, the Surgeon General has 
staked out an extremist position opposed to these ideals and often 
villified the majority of Americans who disagree with her.
  I do not make this call for her resignation lightly, nor make it 
based on any one remark by Dr. Elders, but rather on a continuing 
series of statements she has made since her appointment. These 
comments, on issues ranging from drug legalization to health care for 
older Americans, demonstrate a strange hostility to mainstream American 
values.
  Dr. Elder's general philosophy is that the Government's role is to 
force those who act responsibly to subsidize the lifestyles of those 
who do not. She attacks those who believe we must instill values in our 
children, recommending instead a government-mandated philosophy of 
relativism.
  Just today, Dr. Elders launched her most vicious attack yet on those 
who support traditional values at the National Gay and Lesbian Health 
Conference in New York, villifying ``the Un-Christian religious 
right,'' stating ``we've got to be strong to take on those people who 
are selling out our children in the name of religion.''
  In my time in politics, I have disagreed with Members on both sides 
of the aisle on a wide variety of issues. But, as one who is proud to 
call myself a Christian and a conservative, I would never call someone 
who opposed me on a matter of principle Un-Christian.
  That simply has no place in our public dialog, and there is no way 
that the Surgeon General can claim to represent all Americans when she 
is making these types of blanket condemnations of a large segment of 
American society.
  That is the type of vituperative, divisive rhetoric that represents 
her only noteworthy accomplishment as Surgeon General. Rather than use 
this valuable bully pulpit to advance matters of general health 
concern, she has targeted the resources of her office to promoting her 
extremist agenda.
  Allow me to take a moment to catalog some of Dr. Elders' statements--
  Dr. Elders stated at a May Senate hearing that cancer and heart 
disease research should receive a lower priority than AIDS, because, 
and I quote, ``most of the people that die with heart disease and 
cancer are our elderly population, you know, and we all will probably 
die with something sooner or later.''
  In December, in Newsweek magazine, she responded to a question of 
whether it was wrong to deliberately have a child out of wedlock by 
saying, ``No. Everyone has different moral standards.'' This brought a 
response by the generally liberal columnist Joe Klein that ``It is 
difficult to imagine a more succinct statement of moral relativism.''
  She has condemned those who oppose government funding of abortion on 
demand saying that the 70 percent of Americans who share this view are 
trying to force slave-like conditions on poor women. She has also 
instructed those who morally oppose abortion to get over their love 
affair with the fetus.
  This is not only offensive to those who oppose abortion, but also to 
millions of other Americans who support abortion rights, but agree that 
there are profound moral questions involved in this debate and seek to 
minimize abortion.
  The Surgeon General also has suggested that one of the benefits of 
legalized abortion is that it has reduced the number of Down's syndrome 
children.
  She is on record as supporting abortion in the case of possible 
genetic predisposition to being homosexual. That, she said, would be 
the parents' choice. I imagine sex selection abortions would be 
acceptable to her too, under this theory.
  She has stated that our public schools should provide condoms on 
request, and without parental notification, to our children, even 
elementary schoolers. ``We must teach them responsibility and make sure 
they have the availability of a condom.'' She also made known her 
beliefs on casual sex stating. ``I tell every girl when she goes out on 
a date--put a condom in her purse.''
  Dr. Elders has repeatedly made attacks against the Catholic Church, 
including referring to it derisively as a male-dominated, celibate 
church opposed to women.
  As Americans, we can all rest more comfortably knowing that President 
Clinton disassociated himself from these and other statements directed 
against Catholics, but Dr. Elders refused to.
  And, in her most famous statement, she stated that legalizing 
narcotics would improve public health and welfare in this country. 
Again, President Clinton quickly disavowed these statements.
  This abuse of the office of the Surgeon General must stop. The office 
should be used to fight sickness and disease, not parents and churches.
  In her remarks today, Joycelyn Elders concluded by saying that she 
knew President Clinton and had taught him well. By allowing Dr. Elders 
to remain a Surgeon General, the President is giving credence to those 
claims and tying himself to an agenda of extremism and hostility toward 
mainstream America.
  He should take Dr. Elders remarks today, along with her many previous 
statements, as evidence that she will never be the type of Surgeon 
General who can unite all Americans behind the cause of public health. 
And, while the Surgeon General certainly has the right to engage in 
substantive debate on matters related to public health, Dr. Elders has 
shown herself unable to do so within normal and reasonable bounds of 
political discourse.
  The Office of the Surgeon General is a small one with largely 
symbolic functions. But I believe it is also an important one, and past 
holders of the office have shown us the positive effects that can come 
through proper use of the position.
  I am certain that there are any number of outstanding health 
professionals in this country who could serve the Nation well as 
Surgeon General without dividing Americans--especially on the basis of 
religion. The President should choose a new Surgeon General who will 
use the powers of that office to bring Americans together, not drive us 
apart.
  I'd like to ask all of my colleagues, both Democrats and Republicans, 
to please join me in asking President Clinton to request the 
resignation of Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders.

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