[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 13 (Monday, January 23, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H529-H530]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                        STAND UP AND BE COUNTED

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida [Mr. Scarborough] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCARBOROUGH. Mr. Speaker, it is an honor to be part of a process 
where we can actually start talking about bringing about real reform 
and once again changing the relationship back between the Federal 
Government and the States and the individuals the way our Founding 
Fathers intended it to be over 200 years ago.
  James Madison wrote 200 years ago as he was framing the Constitution, 
``We have staked the entire future of the American civilization not 
upon the power of government, but upon the capacity of each of us to 
govern ourselves, control ourselves, and sustain ourselves according to 
the Ten Commandments of God.'' And Thomas Jefferson wrote that the 
Government that governs least governs best, and our own 10th amendment 
to the Constitution said, ``All powers not specifically granted to the 
Federal Government are reserved to the States and individuals.''
  It feels great to be a part of this process where we can bring this 
new type of federalism back to Washington and to bring about real 
reforms, and one of the most important reforms is one of the most 
commonsense reforms, to make this Government do what middle-class 
citizens and businesses and States have had to do for over 40 years, 
and that is balance their checkbooks 
[[Page H530]] and spend only as much money as they take in.
  Unfortunately, as we brought forward reforms on unfunded mandates, on 
balanced budget amendments, and on other important matters that the 
American people voted us in to take care of, we have been meeting with 
resistance from Members of the other side of this House who, instead of 
bringing forth positive proposals, are creating straw men and then 
knocking them down.
  With children dying in our Nation's streets, liberal Democratic 
leaders lament a book deal that even the Washington Post calls proper, 
and while working men and women across the land struggle to survive 
until their next paycheck, liberal Democratic leaders ignore their 
plight and instead chatter incessantly over contrived imaginary 
scandals, and while conservatives on both sides of the aisle boldly 
forge, go ahead, into a new frontier of federalism, liberal Democratic 
leaders continue to engage in a desperate ham-fisted attempt to create 
a crisis, change the subject, and obstruct the latest great piece of 
reform.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time for all Members of Congress to step forward, 
stand up and be counted, and to debate real issues that will actually 
affect the lives of working men and women of this country who elected 
us to make real reforms in the 104th Congress.


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