[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 145 (Friday, October 7, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 7, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                           PARTISAN POLITICS

  (Mr. DICKEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DICKEY. Mr. Speaker, the lobby reform bill presently in the 
Senate is being destroyed by partisanship. The partisanship was first 
evident when the so-called gag rule was attached to it after it passed 
the House; in other words there is little doubt that this was inserted 
by the liberal Democrats to risk the passage of the bill. This gag rule 
was aimed at severely threatening grassroots or spontaneous lobbying by 
individuals of the Members of Congress.
  I voted against the bill after the gag rule was attached to it; 
having voted for it without the gag rule.
  The liberal Democrats at this late date now say that they will remove 
the gag rule provisions if the Senate Republicans would allow this bill 
to come to a vote; the Senate Republicans incredibly are now saying 
that they will block this legislation anyway. This is partisanship 
obstructionism, meaning that the reason for the resistance is based 
more on which party will get the credit as opposed to the merits of the 
bill.
  It is this that is destroying our country. I respectfully ask the 
Senate Republicans to release this bill so that we can vote on it. And 
I plead with the small number of people who control this Congress to 
please quit using partisanship as a reason to strangle the attempts of 
Americans to reform this body.

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