[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 10 (Wednesday, January 18, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H307]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              THE GAG RULE

  (Ms. KAPTUR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, today freedom of speech on this floor is at 
stake. Two weeks into this Congress we see what gag rules are all about 
when no Ethics Committee has been appointed by the Speaker, when 
Members are purposefully muzzled in committees, when no hearings are 
allowed, when witness lists are completely controlled, we understand 
what a gag rule is.
  In doing our people's business we have a right to know where a new 
author's personal interests, financial interests get tied up with his 
public duties. The deal for a $4.5 million advance for three books not 
written, plus royalties are signed with a company owned by Rupert 
Murdock, the very man who owns Fox News Network and could directly 
benefit by the obliteration of public television and radio, positions 
that the top official in this House has already publicly said he 
supports.
  So we trade Big Bird and Barney for the gag rule.

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