[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 24 (Tuesday, February 7, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H1296]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   CALLING FOR A TRUE OUTSIDE COUNSEL

  (Mr. WISE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WISE. Mr. Speaker, what does the Speaker's dinner tonight, called 
Dining for Dollars, the minimum wage, and the outside counsel, have in 
common? It is a $50,000-a-plate dinner on which there will be a $19,000 
tax break for everyone attending, which, incidentally, will pay the 
total wage for two minimum wage earners, the waiters, valets, car 
parkers, and so on, who will be waiting on those people, and 
incidentally, those wage earners will have trouble going to McDonald's 
to get the same tax break.
  It all raises questions of access. I want to suggest a show for the 
new National Empowerment Network. Legal shows are popular. This will 
focus on questions such as media tycoons who have matters before 
Federal agencies and book deals with high congressional officials.
  It can focus on political action committees that will not release the 
contributors before January 1. It can probe all types of questions of 
access. However, Mr. Speaker, we ought to take this show for the 
outside counsel out of Congress and get it where it belongs, in the 
public and with a true outside counsel.

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