[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 1 (Wednesday, January 4, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E11-E12]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                            THE NEW CONGRESS

                                 ______


                          HON. LEE H. HAMILTON

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, January 4, 1995
  Mr. HAMILTON. Mr. Speaker, I would like to insert my Washington 
Report for Wednesday, November 16, 1994, into the Congressional Record.
                            The New Congress

       The 104th Congress that convenes in January will have both 
     the House and Senate under Republican control for the first 
     time since 1955. That changed makeup as well as the current 
     mood of the country say a lot 
     [[Page E12]] about the congressional agenda and about how the 
     President will have to deal with Congress.


                       THE NEW MAKEUP OF CONGRESS

       The shift of Congress to Republican control will have a 
     major impact on the legislative agenda.
       I hope that one lesson for the new Congress is that both 
     parties recognize they have to treat each other with greater 
     respect. Power imposes responsibility, and it is much tougher 
     to govern than make calls from the bleachers. I hope one 
     result of the election is to make politicians think about 
     Congress as an institution and what needs to be done to 
     improve it.
       Members of Congress also need to get a firmer grasp on the 
     difference between doing what is right for tomorrow and what 
     is politically popular for today. We have to get a longer-
     term perspective into our politics. We must ask what our 
     country is going to be like when we reach the twenty-first 
     century, how we can keep the economy strong and prosperous, 
     and how we can assure that our children have jobs and 
     opportunity for personal fulfillment.


                        THE MOOD OF THE COUNTRY

       The current mood of the country also shapes what issues 
     will be tackled by the 104th Congress.
       The mood of the country is often described as anti-
     government. My own judgement is that Americans primarily 
     oppose wasteful, duplicative, and corrupt government. They 
     are prepared to support government that delivers services 
     efficiently. They are saying that the growth of government 
     needs to be curbed and that the performance of government 
     needs to be improved. In a broader sense, Americans think the 
     country is losing its moral roots and that politicians are 
     not doing
      anything about it. They want more attention to traditional 
     values as well as an improved level of government 
     performance.
       Americans are alienated from government, their elected 
     representatives, and the political process. They feel a 
     deepening powerlessness and pessimism over the future of the 
     nation. As one Hoosier put it to me, ``I don't really feel 
     that the people of this country have any control over what is 
     going on.'' There is a feeling that the country has become 
     too big, too complicated, too diverse.
       Again and again, Americans say they are uneasy about their 
     future and feel that they are not getting ahead. One 
     principal reason for this is that the job market is changing 
     in swift and unpredictable ways. People are no longer sure 
     that even with two incomes in the family they can maintain 
     their standard of living. Their feeling that things might get 
     worse and their deep sense of insecurity are very difficult 
     for a politician to deal with.
       I find Americans distressed about many aspects of society 
     today: the amount of violence and vulgarity, the rise of 
     illegitimacy, the decay of responsibility, the loss of 
     traditional values. The real message is their fear of the 
     future. They are deeply concerned about crime, job security, 
     retirement income, and adequate health care. They express a 
     feeling that something is eating away at the security of 
     their lives.
       Americans certainly support welfare reform and tax cuts. 
     They have a strong view that the tax burden on middle-class 
     families has risen steadily in recent decades and that there 
     has been a decline in real income. Americans are turned 
     inward and they worry about their own financial difficulties. 
     They have become less interested in foreign affairs and the 
     problems of the poor and the minorities in this country.
       Congress has been dealing with many of the problems people 
     want addressed--the deficit, jobs, welfare reform, making 
     government leaner and more effective. We are not dealing with 
     those problems satisfactorily
      from their standpoint. Often they are not aware of what has 
     been done.
       Americans have become much more interested in local 
     concerns. Many of them feel the federal government is no 
     longer as important as it once was. They have redefined what 
     is really important to them. The closer politics is to their 
     home and their family, the more important it is to them. In 
     many communities, I find that infrastructure improvements and 
     personal security for their families are the dominant 
     concerns.
       It is clear that policymakers need to sort out which roles 
     should be played by federal, state, and local governments and 
     which should be shared with the private sector. There is 
     certainly a strong feeling among the voters that the federal 
     government is simply trying to do too much.


                  the president's approach to congress

       With the changes in the 104th Congress, the President 
     confronts two approaches about how to deal with his 
     legislative agenda. He can push ahead with comprehensive 
     changes in health care and welfare. He knows he will not 
     succeed, but he could put the blame on Congress for refusing 
     to pass his programs. The other approach is to try to work 
     out agreements with the Republicans.
       I would urge the President to proceed on a path of 
     compromise. He will have to work to develop a spirit of bi-
     partisanship. That will not be easy. In effect, he will have 
     to govern from the middle. But, of course, it takes two to 
     make a deal and the Republicans will want their agenda to be 
     given priority. If the President tries bi-partisanship and it 
     fails, he will have little choice but to go on the offensive.
       My advice to the President is that he has to broaden his 
     political base by governing from the center out, not from the 
     left in. He needs to forge an alliance with the new members 
     of Congress who are very close to their constituents and in 
     tune with the new politics of the country.
     

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