[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 12 (Friday, January 20, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H414]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         MEMO PUTS SPEAKER'S INTERESTS ABOVE NATIONAL INTERESTS

  (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, in a memo to the White House last night, a 
senior Republican linked our right to raise important and valid 
questions about the Speaker's book deal to passage of vital 
legislation. The memo actually seems to put the personal interests of 
the Speaker above our national interest. It shows that Republicans 
would rather do the Speaker's bidding than the people's business.
  We seem to have crossed a very troubling line. The Speaker's book 
deal is no longer merely a personal ethical issue. It is now 
threatening the vital interests of this country. What is more important 
for America, the North American economy, or a $4.5 million check for 
the Speaker?
  After the election, many pundits told President Clinton he should 
take a page out of Harry Truman's book and call us the do-nothing 
Congress. At the rate it is going, he is going to call this Republican 
group the Keystone Cops Congress.


                          ____________________