[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 21 (Thursday, February 2, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H1146-H1147]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     WOMEN AND GIRLS IN SPORTS DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Kingston] is recognized for 5 minutes.


                      Personal Responsibility Act

  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, I am glad listening to the Democrats that 
they are finally getting off Newt Gingrich and talking substance on the 
Contract but as usual it is mostly specious emotional arguments hardly 
based in reality and it would seem incredible to me for somebody to say 
that the Contract With America is going to mean that 800 senior 
citizens in his own district would be going hungry.
  I find it incredible that the gentleman who is an elected Member of 
Congress would take such a tactic and one of such stature at that. I 
hope that in the future we can have a more honest dialog.
  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. KINGSTON. I would be glad to yield time, but I have to make a 
statement on something else. Then if we run out of time, if perhaps 
someone on your side would yield time, I would like to engage you, 
because what I would like to talk about is entirely off the subject. 
But I did feel it was appropriate to react to that which of course is 
why we are here, to have good substantive debate on subjects.
  Mr. Speaker, what I want to talk about, something that happened on 
the mall outside of the Capitol this morning, and that was a 
celebration of National Day of Women and Girls in Sports. This was an 
important event for many reasons. There are so many different 
activities that go on in Washington that often we say, oh, that's just 
one more demonstration, so to speak.
  Today in high schools, 38 percent of the girls are participating in 
athletic programs. That is up from 24 percent 10 years ago. But I think 
the real story is actually in the elementary schools. The young girls 
are participating in sports. They are flooding the soccer fields. They 
are on the tee ball and baseball diamond. They are running out on the 
basketball courts, and all the other traditional boys arenas now have 
young ladies playing.
  Indeed, those of us who are fathers look forward to watching our 
girls just as much as fathers with sons look forward to watching their 
boys. I want to emphasize also that this is a national trend. This is 
not going to be stopped or end at the county
 recreation level. These young ladies will grow to be women who are 
athletic and they are going to take the sports with them throughout 
junior high, high school and college, and hopefully professional.

  We will, I believe, 20 years from now go to see women's soccer games 
and women's basketball games with the same alacrity and the same 
enthusiasm and the same vigor that we are now seeing men's sports. I 
think it is important for us as a country to realize that.
  I say that one of the best benefits of this is that for those of us 
who are maybe a little shell-shocked after the Super Bowl wondering who 
is going to go on strike next, that we are tired of the overgrown, 
pampered, greedy, self-indulgent millionaire prima donna players and 
owners who dominate our national pastime. We are sick of it. These 
striking athletes have built an empire which is collapsing under the 
weight of their own grandeur.
  I think it is time to open up the system, end their monopoly and let 
the girls on in. I am glad to see it.


                      personal responsibility act

  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Texas so we can get back 
to our dialog.
  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman 
yielding.
  I agree this is why we are here and to talk about the issues. I had 
not had an opportunity to read the Personal Responsibility Act or deal 
with it until we had the hearings yesterday.
  We had 6 witnesses, 5 of them called by the majority side and 1 of 
them called by the minority side. Of those 5, and that is what I said, 
that of those 6 witnesses, 5 of them asked that that be 
[[Page H1147]] changed, that that PRA or the Personal Responsibility 
Act that deals with senior citizens nutrition.
  They also asked for the school lunch program and breakfast program to 
be changed because the witnesses even called by the majority side said 
that that is wrong that we are cutting off food to children and some of 
the programs that have been developed over both Democrat and Republican 
administrations. But we used the testimony from the hearing yesterday 
and I called some senior citizens sites in my district and said, okay, 
just one provision of it that says that if you are under the age of 63, 
how many people are served in the Magnolia Multi-Purpose Center in 
Houston that are under the age of 63 and not disabled.

                              {time}  2100

  They told us, they said that this is the number we serve. They 
actually serve 35 people who are not classified as disabled and under 
the age of 63. The gentleman can look at the bill itself. It states if 
you are under 63, not disabled, you have to agree to work, or sign an 
affidavit to say you are working.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Reclaiming my time for the purpose of asking a 
question, I am not sure about the details of that, but if I am hearing 
the gentleman correctly, he is saying if somebody is 63 years old and 
in good physical shape and able to work they are entitled to a free 
meal just because of their age.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). The time of the gentleman from 
Georgia [Mr. Kingston] has expired.
  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Maybe next week we can continue this dialog.
  

                          ____________________