[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 10 (Wednesday, January 18, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H308]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO A BRIGHT NEW DAY?

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE asked to address the House for 1 minute.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE. Mr. Speaker, I came this day to support unfunded 
mandates. But unfortunately it is not on the floor today.
  Mr. Speaker, a crisis abounds in the House, an institution the 
American people look to to protect the sanctity of a Nation founded on 
democratic ideals.
  Yet we come today facing the most egregious denial of the first 
amendment in a body sworn by oath to uphold it.
  What has happened to a bright new day? What has happened to an open 
House, a direct reach to the American people to ensure their full 
participation?
  Today we have been gagged, pierced by the sword of secrecy, keep from 
simply inquiring on behalf of the American people of the true facts of 
a pending issue, the book deal of the Speaker.
  The House Committee on the Judiciary was shut down.
  Mr. Speaker, when I go into a third-grade class in Houston, TX, help 
me, please, help me convey in good conscience and in truth that there 
is no gag rule in the U.S. House of Representatives, and in fact that 
we do uphold the first amendment of the Constitution of the United 
States.


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