[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 17, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H285]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                  THE CONGRESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY ACT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Barrett of Nebraska). Under a previous 
order of the House, the gentlewoman from Connecticut [Ms. DeLauro] is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I wanted to talk a little bit today about 
my own support, which is strong support, of the Congressional 
Accountability Act. It was introduced by my colleague and my good 
friend, the gentleman from Connecticut, Chris Shays, and I congratulate 
him for his tenacity and for his determination to see this piece of 
legislation through.
  The Congressional Accountability Act is a commonsense piece of 
legislation. It simply requires Congress to abide by all of the laws 
that it passes, so that Congress and Members of Congress are 
accountable for the laws that they pass, and they apply to Members. It 
makes perfect sense.
  By bringing Congress under labor and workplace laws that have long 
regulated private industry, we then begin to move government closer to 
people.
  The reforms of this Congressional Accountability Act are long 
overdue, and once again I reiterate my strong support for it and in 
fact worked very, very hard for it in the last session of this 
Congress.
  However, in the midst of this wave of reform, in this package one 
perk was left untouched, and that is the ability of Members of this 
House to convert frequent-flier miles accrued from taxpayer-funded 
travel to their own personal use. Ending the frequent-flier perk is 
essential. It is essential to our ability to restore that bond of trust 
with the American people which we so need to remake with the American 
public. Members of this body should not be taking golf junkets or 
tropical vacations at the taxpayers' expense.
  Last August under Democratic leadership, the House overwhelmingly 
approved the Congressional Accountability Act, and when we did that 
last August it included a ban on personal use of frequent-flier miles 
by Members of the House of Representatives. In October, the gentleman 
from Georgia [Mr. Gingrich] objected to inclusion of the frequent-flier 
ban, so it was removed. We cannot reform this institution while the 
Republican leadership works behind closed doors to protect perks. It is 
wrong. It is not open government and it is not reform in the way that 
the American public demanded reform on November 8.

                              {time}  1400

  A ban on conversion of frequent-flier miles for personal use should, 
indeed, have been included in the Congressional Accountability Act 
today as it was last year.
  Quite honestly, what makes the omission more disgraceful is that our 
colleagues in the Senate have included a frequent-flier ban in this 
version of the bill, and that means that we will pass a Congressional 
Accountability Act that will hold the United States Senate to a higher 
standard than the House of Representatives. That is wrong, and it is 
shameful.
  By requiring that Members of Congress use these tickets only for 
official use we save the taxpayers money. That is what the debate is 
about.
  Speaker Gingrich says that hardly any money would be saved by ending 
this perk and, therefore, this is a ``Mickey Mouse reform.'' And while 
it is true that most Members of Congress only qualify for a few 
frequent-flier tickets per year, the dollars in fact do add up. Ask 
working Americans if they would not like a pair of free airline tickets 
dropped in their laps every few months to use at their own discretion 
to take a trip and get some rest and relaxation.
  It may not be a lot of money to the Speaker, but it is to most 
Americans. But by simply attaching a dollar figure to figure the value 
of reform we miss the point. It is the message, the message that 
protection of this perk sends to the public that is most destructive.
  Today, just today, Mr. Gingrich reiterated his support for keeping 
the frequent-flier perk for Members of the House and admits that he 
used these freebies to fly members of his own family. Mr. Gingrich says 
that he is interested in a more family friendly Congress and worries 
about Members of Congress of modest means who use the free tickets to 
fly family members to and from Washington.
  Modest means? Members of Congress make $126,000 a year. I doubt that 
most Americans consider this to be modest means.
  The American people, indeed, are fed up with public officials who 
live by a different set of rules. The Congressional Accountability Act 
begins to address these inequities, and the American public is right, 
Congress should not live by a different set of rules. But today we had 
a chance to go a step further and to close that loophole that allows 
Members of Congress to vacation at the taxpayers' expense.


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