[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 123 (Wednesday, August 24, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: August 24, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
         TRIBUTE TO THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL WORKERS

  Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, over the years, I have been privileged to 
work closely with the elected leadership of the National Association of 
Social Workers [NASW], and have been pleased to be of assistance in 
modifying our various Federal statutes to ensure that members of the 
association are appropriately recognized as autonomous health care 
providers.
  As we continue our deliberations on the extraordinarily important 
crime legislation, I wanted to take this opportunity to express my 
grave concern regarding a number of aspersions that have been raised 
about members of this honorable and respected profession. The NASW, 
with its 150,000 members working in every general hospital in the 
country, in adoption agencies, private practice, and school systems, 
provides at least 50 percent of all mental health services in the 
United States. They have dedicated their lives to helping people in 
this country and they do much to ease human suffering, often with long 
hours and low pay.
  I have been particularly sorry to hear members of our esteemed body 
malign a profession known for its courage and commitment. In my 
judgment, to put it mildly, it is simply irresponsible for the National 
Rifle Association to place advertisements by a renowned movie star 
maligning social workers as a political maneuver. The irony of these 
advertisements is the part where it is suggested that ``what the public 
is not being told is a crime.'' At the very same time, in the very same 
commercial, they do not disclose what is their probable real purpose--
to kill the ban on assault weapons. Instead, they insult our Nation's 
social workers as a diversion. Furthermore, may I suggest that the 
assertion they make, and has been made by members of this body, that 
the bill provides two social workers for every policeman has no basis 
in fact.
  According to the leadership of the NASW, the profession of social 
work is mentioned only twice in the entire crime conference legislation 
and one of those times is in relation to a proposed commission. Police 
around the country acknowledge over and over that they cannot do it 
alone, and that they need help to prevent crime in the community. They 
need the help of parents, social workers, teachers, and the clergy, and 
they need this help badly.
  Our Nation's youth, and in particular, our Nation's adolescents, are 
extraordinarily important to all of us and they truly represent the 
future of our Nation. In my judgment, we need everyone's help to ensure 
that these individuals will become productive, useful, taxpaying 
citizens. I am confident that our Nation's social workers will continue 
to be in the forefront of this important societal effort.
  By unanimous consent, I request that the letter by Mr. Sheldon 
Goldstein, executive director of the NASW, addressed to Mr. Heston 
expressing their concern be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the letter was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                              National Association


                                            of Social Workers,

                                                  August 17, 1994.
     Mr. Charlton Heston,
     c/o Mr. Jack Gilardi,
     Executive Vice President, International Creative Management, 
         Beverly Hills, CA.
       Dear Mr. Heston: We are dismayed that you agreed to read a 
     script for national broadcast that maligns a profession 
     usually admired for its courage and commitment.
       Did the NRA inform you that the National Association of 
     Social Workers (NASW) did not endorse the Crime Bill? Did 
     they tell you that ``social worker'' appears only twice in 
     the House bill? Did they tell you how they computed the 2 to 
     1 ratio? Did you bother to ask?
       Any one of our 150,000 members would uphold your right to 
     speak out on any issue important to you, even though we 
     disagree. But bashing crime prevention by casting social 
     workers as bad guys is irresponsible at least, and ignorant 
     at best.
       Do you really think that the work social workers do is so 
     inconsequential to society that you could so easily dismiss 
     us? I think you should think again.
           Sincerely,
                                             Sheldon R. Goldstein,
     Executive Director.

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