[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 89 (Tuesday, July 12, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 12, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                       THE TIME FOR CHANGE IS NOW

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Klein). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of February 11, 1994, the gentleman from Wyoming [Mr. Thomas] is 
recognized during morning business for 3 minutes.
  Mr. THOMAS of Wyoming. Mr. Speaker, I rise to talk about change, not 
a new idea. We have been talking about change in this place for a very 
long time. But the fact of the matter is, that change does not come 
about. Change does not happen. And it is time for it to happen, because 
the American people have asked for reform.
  I just returned from Wyoming, as most of us did from our homes. 
People are tired of increased taxes, people are tired of increased 
spending, people are tired of overregulation and too much government. 
But we do not change. It continues to go on.
  My suggestion, in fact, I am certain that in order to have change, 
you are going to have to make some procedural differences happen in 
this House, procedural changes that are opposed by the leadership, 
procedural changes that have been opposed for a very long time by the 
majority party.
  Representative Hoekstra's bill for a national referendum, it seems to 
me, is a solution, a national referendum on term limits, a balanced 
budget amendment, and line-item veto. We need to allow the people to 
speak. We need to allow the people in this country to make a judgment 
on the kind of procedural changes that have to take place, and will not 
take place voluntarily in this House.
  They have been suggested for a very long time. We will have to force 
procedural changes and reforms if we want to deliver the changes. You 
cannot keep doing what you have been doing and expect the results to be 
different.
  This body will not change voluntarily. Term limits, for example. 
Recent polls suggest that over 70 percent of American people support 
term limits. I support term limits. It seems to me that this is not a 
place for career politicians. This is not a place to be for 30 and 40 
years, so that you are in a position that almost insulates you from 
people.

                              {time}  1040

  Wyoming is one of the States that has passed the term limitation. 
Only by having the States pass term limitation will this Congress move. 
The same party has been in charge of this House for 40 years.
  The procedures, the ownership rests there. It has to be wrestled away 
by procedural change.
  The balanced budget amendment, some say it is a gimmick. The fact is 
that we continue to spend more each year. All the talk last year about 
the cuts, the cuts were a transfer. We spent $30 billion more than we 
had spent the year before. The balanced budget amendments gives 
constitutional discipline to something that this House is not able to 
do on their own. Wyoming has it in my State. We have lived with it for 
years. It works. We cannot spend more than the resources that we have.
  The line-item veto, there is no question in my mind but that we need 
a line-item veto. The President is the only person in this Government 
who can reach into a large budget bill or a large highway bill and take 
out pork barrel kinds of things that have been put in by Members who 
have been here forever. That is the way it works.
  We do not have the opportunity to vote on those kinds of issues. We 
need procedural change. If we want change and results, we have to have 
change in procedure.

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