[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 57 (Tuesday, March 28, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H3815-H3816]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                      CUTS IN ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 1995, the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Volkmer] is 
recognized during morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. VOLKMER. Mr. Speaker, last week was a very sad week for the 
children of America, for the needy of America, for the elderly and the 
poor of America. Because last week the Republican majority did 
something that is very destructive to the elderly, to the needy, and to 
children.
  What did they do that was so radical that will injure these people? 
Well, they cut $66 billion out of programs for those people. They stand 
on this floor and they stand over here or at that microphone over there 
and repeatedly say, no, they are sending more money out for school 
lunches, for food stamps, for AFDC. They are sending more out. And yet 
CBO, their own people, admit they have cut $66 billion, not million, 
billion dollars out of those programs.
  What does it mean? Well, to my people back in Missouri, back in the 
Ninth District of Missouri I have had breakfast with some of the 
children that have reduced prices or free because they cannot afford to 
pay. I have had lunches with school children the same way in my 
district. I know of elderly who rely on food stamps, especially in the 
wintertime in order to eat because of the high winter rate for heating 
their homes and the fact that they have to live on $250 or $300 or $350 
a month in Social Security checks or SSI.
  Those people know. I talked to them. They know what is coming down 
the pike. They know when the Senate passes that bill that they are in 
for a hardship unless our President, and I understand from the Chief of 
Staff of the White House that when this bill reaches his desk the 
President would probably veto it.
  I say amen, amen. For shame that the majority party, for shame, would 
do this to the people of this country. At the same time, they are 
talking about giving more foreign aid, big foreign aid to other 
countries to help other people. That is a disgrace. That is a disgrace 
to the people of this country.
  Mr. Speaker, it just shows you how they do things here in this new 
majority. They have the votes, so they are going to run right over 
anybody that gets in their way. That is what they have been doing.
  It is an abuse of power. That is what it is, a gross abuse of power.
  Who is running the show? Right from the leadership on down, they have 
got 
[[Page H3816]] big bosses telling them what to do. A lot of their 
legislation is drafted by the special interests right here in 
Washington, DC. They do not even draft it. Lobbyists do it, because the 
lobbyists want the money.
  Where is that money going to go, folks? You know where that money is 
going to go that is coming out of the mouths of children in my district 
in Missouri, that is going to be taken away from the elderly with 
heating assistance in my district in Missouri? I have got thousands of 
people that would be injured by this.
  Where is the money going to go? It is not going to go to reduce the 
deficit. No, they rejected that. Overwhelmingly, they rejected it. Of 
all the thousands of people taken away from that need it in my 
district, I have got about 1,500 very wealthy people in my district 
that are going to get the benefit from the tax bill that they are going 
to take up.
  And they are going to pass it next week, folks. They are going to 
give people at $200,000 in income, if they are married and they have 
four children, they are going to give them $2,000 for their children. 
$2,000 for their children.
  Who are they taking away from? They are taking away from kids in my 
district whose parents are making 10 and 12 and $14,000. They say that 
those kids do not need it. They say that the person who makes $200,000, 
their children need it. Ladies and gentlemen, that to me is gross 
hypocrisy.
  They say again, no cuts in these programs. Well, if there are no 
cuts, folks, again I say to you, where does the $66 billion that is 
going to go to the wealthy, where does it come from? It does not come 
from trees. It does not come from the sky. It is coming out of those 
poor people of median income, hard-working people in my district. That 
is where it is coming from.

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