[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 14 (Tuesday, January 24, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H544]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


     RENEWED CALL FOR INDEPENDENT COUNSEL IN SPEAKER'S ETHICS CASE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 1995, the gentlewoman from Connecticut [Ms. DeLauro] is 
recognized during morning business for 2 minutes.
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, I concur with my colleague who was up here 
a moment ago, that in fact what we are about here is the people's 
business and that we need to talk about the issues that affect middle-
class families, working families every single day.
  As a Democrat, I have done that in the 2 terms that I have been here 
and I submit to you this evening that the President will build on what 
he said several weeks ago on a middle-class Bill of Rights that will 
include a minimum wage.
  I would like to find out from my colleagues if that is something that 
he will support because in fact people in this Nation are not looking 
at an increased higher standard, but that is an important issue.
  Education and training. Not cutting Social Security for families. And 
when we look at the balanced budget and what that is going to do, when 
my friends on the other side of the aisle would not in fact exempt 
Social Security from the balanced budget amendment.
  There is rhetoric and there probably is rhetoric on both sides. But 
let me tell you what is important and what my Republican colleagues do 
not want to talk about.

                              {time}  1010

  That is a need for an outside counsel to answer questions. That is 
what is being asked, answer questions about Speaker Gingrich's 
financial empire.
  The last 2 weeks have been filled with press revelations. We are not 
making these things up about this multi-billion-dollar book deal but, 
more importantly, about a private meeting with publishing magnet Rupert 
Murdoch. Any appearance of impropriety could have been voided if the 
contents of the book had been disclosed.
  My colleague from Colorado talked about a Newsweek report. This week 
Americans read in Newsweek this is not the first time Rupert Murdoch 
has published a book by politicians, promoting them huge sums of money. 
In 1990 while seeking special rules to allow his Australian company to 
expand his empire in Great Britain Rupert Murdoch asked the help of the 
Thatcher government, and not long after Margaret Thatcher signed an 
eye-popping $5.4 million book deal. This appears to be a pattern for 
Mr. Murdoch.
  We need to have an outside counsel take a look at it.

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