[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 15 (Wednesday, January 25, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1484-S1485]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                     THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, last night was a time for rhetoric. And no 
doubt about it, President Clinton knows how to give a good long speech.
  And now that the President has delivered his speech, the Republican 
Congress will continue to deliver on the promises we made to the 
American people.
  For we know that the success of this Congress--as well as the future 
of our country--does not depend on our words. They depend on our 
actions.
  And now it is time to act. It is time to carry out the mandate the 
American people gave us on November 8. And that means limited 
Government, less spending, fewer regulations, lower taxes, and more 
freedom and opportunity for all Americans.
  As Governor Whitman said last night in the Republican response, if 
President Clinton is ready to help us achieve those goals, then we 
welcome him aboard. But we won't wait long to see if he means what he 
says. The train is pulling out of the station. Republicans are getting 
on with the business of changing America.
  If President Clinton is truly committed to change, I hope he has a 
talk with with congressional Democrats--many of whom are devoting 
themselves to derailing Republican efforts to give government back to 
the people.
  And while I do not begrudge anyone standing firm against legislation 
they oppose, some of my Democrat friends are doing their best to block 
legislation they support.
  The American people are in a demanding mood--and rightfully so. They 
are watching us very closely. And they will know who is responding to 
the message they sent, and who is restoring to 100 percent pure 
partisan politics.
  The President spoke again last night about Americans he terms as 
``middle class'' and those he terms as the ``under class.''
  We have a basic fundamental disagreement in philosophy here. 
Republicans do not believe we should create factions of Americans 
competing against one another for the favors of Government. Instead, we 
believe we should lead by taking actions that instill hope and restore 
freedom and opportunity for all Americans.
  So, this Congress will carefully consider the President's so-called 
middle-class bill of rights,--but our actions will flow from the real 
Bill of Rights--the one that contains the 10th amendment to the 
Constitution.
  The President did not mention that amendment last night, so let me 
read it for the record. It is very short.

       The powers not delegated to the United States by the 
     Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are 
     reserved to the States, respectively, or to the people.

  End of quote. That is all there is. That is the 10th amendment.
  Let me close by saying how exciting it was for some of us, 
particularly me, to look up last night and see a Republican Speaker 
sitting behind the President. We have waited--some almost a lifetime, 
40 years--to see this happen. In fact I think it was a sight I was 
beginning to loose hope of ever seeing.
  But now it is a fact. And the President well knows that this Congress 
is much, much different from those in the recent past. He talked about 
yesterdays. This is not yesterday's Congress. This is a new Congress. 
This is not a big taxing, big spending Congress. This is not a Congress 
that has a government-mandated solution to every problem.
  Rather, this is a Congress that has a very specific mandate from the 
American people. President Clinton said last night that despite his 
liberal policies of the past 2 years, he accepts and understands that 
mandate.
  Republicans and all Americans who support our efforts to return 
Government back to the people hope that is a reality, and not just 
rhetoric.
  So, Mr. President, it seems to me the President has spoken. He has 
every right to. He spoke as most Presidents do, laid out the best that 
has happened in the administration. That is true whether you are a 
Republican or Democrat President. The President talked about lobbying. 
He did not mention how many lobbyists contributed to his legal defense 
fund. So if we are going to stop and give it all back, maybe we will 
hear that announcement today that all that money is going to go back, 
the $1 million raised from lobbyists around the country for his legal 
defense fund.
  We are prepared to work with the President. I must say I did not hear 
any cheers go up on the other side of the aisle when Mexico was 
mentioned. I do not know where the Democrats are on Mexico. The 
President said it is not foreign aid, it is not a loan. Maybe there is 
something we are not aware of.
  But I would say as far as that issue is concerned, we told the 
President in good faith at this meeting at the White House, which 
Secretary Rubin has talked about a number of times, that we understood 
there was a problem and we wanted to help. But we are not going to help 
on just this side of the aisle. Unless there is some help on the other 
side of the aisle, forget it; it is not going to happen.
  I do not see much support. I did not see any applause last night when 
the President talked about our special relationship with Mexico and our 
boundaries and the history of the two countries. But I would say to the 
President that we are still prepared to work out some arrangement--
maybe a different arrangement than has been proposed so far. But it 
must be bipartisan. It cannot be Republicans in the House and the 
Senate providing the votes while the Democrats vote the other way.
  If that is the case it will never be brought up in the U.S. Senate.
  Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, as I passed through the Chamber and 
heard the distinguished majority leader, I remembered the words of John 
Mitchell, the former Republican Attorney General. He said, ``Watch what 
we do, not what we say.''
  As I heard the distinguished Republican leader, he asked that we not 
resort to class warfare. Yet almost in the same breath, he waxed 
eloquently about the ``Contract With America'' and sank into the very 
game he indicted. Yes, President Clinton has put forward a proposal to 
cut middle-class taxes. But let us not forget that an important part of 
the Republican ``Contract With America'' is none other than a middle-
class tax cut. It is ironic, if nothing more, that Republicans would 
attack the President for something they themselves have done.
  Having said that, I feel strongly that the formulation of public 
policy should not be based on class, or age, or race, or anything of 
that sort. We are Senators for all the people, in our State and 
throughout the entire country. Unfortunately, we too often fall into 
the trap of conducting politics by poll numbers and forgetting that 
fact.
  We need to get out of that habit and start doing what is best for the 
American people. Otherwise we end up admonishing each other about 
lobbyists on the one hand, and then accepting contributions from them 
on the other, as might the distinguished majority leader when he 
establishes his committee for the Presidency. In the end, we haven't 
done anything, and the electorate simply grows angrier and angrier.
  We should not resort to demeaning the Government. That is what I 
heard in the majority leader's speech today and in the President's last 
night. Sometimes I feel like Republicans and Democrats are in a 
footrace to see who can demean the Government the most, to which I take 
strong exception. After all, we are never going to work together and be 
effective, if we are always finding fault and pointing fingers.
  Mr. President, let me briefly turn to another subject, namely, the 
crisis in Mexico. I shall have more to say on this issue at a later 
time, but let me make a few brief points. It is my opinion that the 
risk subsidies which the administration is seeking on the $40 billion 
in loan guarantees would require the Mexican Government to pledge some 
of its oil revenues. While that may be a good business decision to 
secure the loan guarantee, my fear is that we will be taking the 
wherewithal from the Mexican people to recover as a country. In 
essence, in a year or two, the United States of America will not be 
seen as a friend, but as an enemy. In 
[[Page S1485]] that sense, I think it is a bad, bad policy.
  Furthermore, the President should not be obligated to get Democrats 
together.
  It is a Republican program to bail out the billionaires. Former 
President Salinas was given tremendous credit for privatizing. But if 
you look at Forbes magazine last year, you will see that of the 24 to 
25 billionaires, 22 were created under the Salinas administration. What 
we saw was the good old boys system where the newly privatized 
companies were farmed out to political allies.
  If the Mexican Government really needs money, they should tell that 
crowd to give some of the money back. The people need it badly down 
there. But what we don't want is to get into a situation where we bail 
out Wall Street and the billionaires in Mexico but breed resentment 
from the Mexican people.
  Supporters of the loan guarantees have taken pains to stress that it 
does not cost the United States anything. While that may be true on 
paper, I immediately recall the $7 billion we guaranteed to Egypt, the 
$14 billion to India, and the $2 billion to Poland. I do not mean to 
question the need for that assistance, but I merely raise that point to 
illustrate that when this crowd in Washington says it won't cost 
anything, it is the taxpayers who ends up holding the bag when loan 
forgiveness occurs.
  Mr. President, I did not intend to talk at length. I only wanted to 
comment on the tone of today's political discourse which paints 
Government as the enemy. It isn't new. I heard the same singsong when I 
was a member of the Federalism Commission under President Reagan. ``Get 
rid of the Government.'' Indeed, 15 years ago, President Reagan came to 
town pledging to slash Federal programs and send Government back to the 
States. Five years later, what we slashed was the funding by 
eliminating revenue sharing. That is what has caused the dilemma that 
brings this bill before the Senate today.
  It is time for elected officials to quit blaming the Government in 
Washington and acting as if we were not part of the Government. 
Instead, we need to get down on the floor of the Congress and do the 
job, which the distinguished Senators from Ohio and Idaho are 
attempting to do. I thank them for their courtesy in yielding.


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