[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]

 
                     REPUBLICANS' PRETZEL POLITICS

  (Mr. SCHUMER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. Speaker, the two things that you do not want to 
watch, as the old saying goes, is making sausage and making law.
  Well, the Republicans have come up with a new one--making pretzels.
  The Republicans are practicing what some are starting to call pretzel 
politics. They bemoan gridlock on the one hand and they tie the 
legislature in knots on the other.
  And they have succeeded. They have scuttled GATT, the housing bill, 
campaign finance reform, Superfund, and legislation banning free meals, 
trips, and golf games to Congressmen.
  They complain about unfair rules in the House and Senate when what 
they really want is inaction.
  They gripe about a Congress that does not respond to the American 
people and then they filibuster every bill, even bills like lobbying 
reform that have support in every corner of America.
  Mr. Speaker, as Congress winds down, the Republican pretzel politics 
is certainly tying Congress and the American people in a knot. But on 
November 8, the Republicans are going to find they have tied someone 
else in a knot--themselves.

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