[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 24 (Tuesday, February 7, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H1293]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page H1293]]
                   THE $50,000 TAX DEDUCTIBLE DINNER

  (Mr. BONIOR asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BONIOR. Mr. Speaker, the American people have a right to know--
just who is coming to dinner tonight?
  And what will they be getting in return for their $50,000 tax 
deductible contribution to Empowerment TV?
  This is the same tax exempt TV network that carries Speaker 
Gingrich's college course.
  The same tax deductible course that is the core of the Speaker's 
soon-to-be-very-profitable book deal.
  Mr. Speaker, these interlocking networks of special interests--
multimillion dollar think tanks and political action committees, many 
of them subsidized at taxpayer expense for personal or partisan 
political gain--is casting a long ethnical cloud over this House.
  Is it any wonder that Public Citizen, Common Cause, and others have 
joined the chorus calling for an independent, nonpartisan investigation 
into the ethical charges surrounding the Speaker?
  It is time for an outside counsel to untangle this web.
  

                          ____________________