[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 61 (Monday, April 3, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H4075]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


   URGING MEMBERS TO JOIN IN SIGNING THE STOCKMAN DISCHARGE PETITION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Rohrabacher] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, I would like to draw the attention of 
my colleagues to the fact that since we have been negotiating and 
working out problems here on the floor, trying to save the taxpayer 
$100 million here and $1 billion here and $1 billion there, that 
billions of taxpayers dollars have been ripped off and sent to special 
interest groups, powerful interest groups, domestically and 
internationally. We are talking about the Mexican bailout.
  Yes, in the name of bailing out a country that made horrible 
decisions, economic decisions, and is governed by a corrupt elite, the 
American taxpayer has been ripped off to the tune of tens of billions 
of dollars, and the cash is still flowing.
  As we speak, every debate that goes on, the cash is still flowing to 
a corrupt Mexican elite, and to Wall Street speculators that decided 
instead of investing in the United States of American to create jobs 
here, they would invest in Mexico, to get a higher rate of return. As 
soon as they lost their shirt, because it was a risky investment, they 
come back to the American people and ask us to use our hard-earned 
money to bail them out. It is a sin. It is a crime against our own 
people that millions, and yes, billions of dollars are being spent for 
that purpose.
  Mr. Speaker, I would ask my colleagues to join the gentlewoman from 
Ohio, Marcy Kaptur, and myself and others who are dedicated to stop 
this flow of billions of dollars. Already tens of billions of dollars 
have gone. We can stop it before it is $50 billion by signing the 
Stockman discharge petition. If we can get 218 signatures on a petition 
from the rest of our colleagues, we can bring this issue to the floor 
for a vote.
  I ask my colleagues to join me, and I ask the American people to see 
if their Congressmen have signed the Stockman discharge petition. How 
can we in good faith cut the services for the American people? Yes, I 
think it is important to do that if we are going to bring down the 
budget deficit, so future generations do not have to pay for those 
services, but it is immoral for us to cut the benefits and services 
that our people have paid for over their lives in order not to balance 
the budget, but instead, to give us revenue to send to people who 
speculate in foreign countries and to prop up a corrupt Mexican elite, 
an elite that ends up shooting their own brothers and sisters; an elite 
that is so corrupt that when they cross the border, their former deputy 
Attorney General ends up being arrested in this country.
  We cannot permit the hard-earned dollars of our taxpayers to keep 
flowing in that direction while we try to balance the budget by just 
taking a little bit here and saving a little bit there. Let us get to 
this very serious issue. I think the American people ought to know that 
while we are debating these types of peripheral issues, that a large 
chunk of cash, larger than any of the issues we are talking about, is 
flowing in this direction.
  Mr. Speaker, I would please ask my colleagues to sign the Stockman 
discharge petition, and I would ask the American people to see if their 
Congressman has, indeed, gone along with this righteous attempt to 
protect the hard-earned taxpayers' dollars that should be going either 
to bring down the deficit, or providing the services that are necessary 
for our own people.
                              {time}  1800

  Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend the gentlewoman from Ohio [Ms. 
Kaptur].
  Ms. KAPTUR. I thank the gentleman for yielding.
  I would just like to endorse his proposal to the membership to sign 
House Discharge Petition 2, the Stockman-Sanders discharge petition. 
There is a bill ready to come to the floor supported by a large number 
of Members on both sides of the aisle, and I want to commend the 
gentleman from California for bringing the importance of this to the 
American people as well as the membership.
  As one of the signers of that discharge petition, I know that it is 
the only alternative we have left to get a full debate in this House on 
Executive action that has gone beyond the bounds of precedent.
  Mr. ROHRABACHER. It is a bit cynical, I believe, for us not to 
mention this, and to keep talking about other issues, about how we are 
trying to bring down the budget deficit.
  How can we debate bringing down the budget deficit by $100 million 
here or we are going to cut this benefit over here that is going to 
bring down the deficit supposedly by $2 billion, when billions and 
billions of more dollars are actually continuing to flow to bail out 
Mexico and these Wall Street speculators? It is a sin against our own 
people.
  Sign the Stockman discharge petition.

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