[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 71 (Tuesday, May 2, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H4446]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                   THE GREAT TRAGEDY OF OKLAHOMA CITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 4, 1995, the gentlewoman from Colorado [Mrs. Schroeder] is 
recognized during morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. SCHROEDER. Mr. Speaker, I come to the well to join the 
gentlewoman from San Francisco in saying that the people I represent in 
Denver, CO, also send their very, very strongest sympathy and 
condolences to the tremendous tragedy that has been inflicted upon the 
people in Oklahoma City. As my colleagues know, I have many Federal 
employees in Denver, CO, and I think they have felt really under the 
gun literally of late. People have been so free with bashing 
bureaucrats 24 hours a day, like they were faceless, they were 
nameless, they are familyless, and maybe this will kind of calm us all 
down, and bring us to our senses, and point out that these are human 
beings, that they are trying very, very hard to do something that this 
country has done better than almost any other country on the planet, 
and that is provide very distinguished, high quality service through 
the Federal Government.
  Now that is not a politically popular thing to say. That is not an 
applause line on today's talk show circuit. But let us talk a bit about 
the Federal Government and its long distinguished history.
  When I was at Harvard Law School, if someone said, ``You could work 
for the U.S. Justice Department,'' they would get goose bumps because 
the U.S. Justice Department was out on the front lines making sure that 
there were not huge trusts that prevented competition. It kept some 
competition alive so the consumers got a good deal and that some big 
fish did not eat all the little fish, and we were proud of that. They 
were also out there making sure this country kept its promise, that 
when we said America believed in liberty and justice for all, it was 
out there making sure that people were not putting up racial barriers, 
or religious barriers, or gender barriers, or any other kind of 
barriers, that, if one is an American citizen, they have a right to 
have their dream become reality, that if they had the talent and the 
will to do something, this Justice Department made sure that they got 
that chance. It made sure that people were not putting barriers in 
their way to vote. It made sure that all sorts of environmental things 
were beginning to happen for the first time, that we started trying to 
take care of this planet.
  I say to my colleagues, ``Of late, when you go to law schools and say 
you can work for the Federal Government, people say, `No, no, I don't 
want to do that.' Now what has happened in these last few years that 
our young people are hesitant to sign up for Federal service when it 
has had such a long distinguished period?''
  I think that is something we, as Americans, have to ponder because 
Federal service will never be better than the people that run it, and 
we have had a history of having the most nonpolitical Federal service 
in the world, that we have believed these people should take very 
rigorous exams, and that is what they do, and that these be competitive 
exams, and that they compete for these jobs and, their loyalty is to 
you, the taxpayer, not me, a Congresswoman, or not the President of the 
United States, or not the Supreme Court. Their loyalty is to the 
citizens of America to try and make this work.
  Now things are never perfect. They never always work as well as we 
all hope they are, but they are continually trying to work and make it 
better, and I would put our public service up against any other public 
service of any other national government when we look at the high 
quality, the lack of scandal. I mean tell me the last time we saw a 
bribe or something like that occur where we really brought disgrace to 
the Federal service? It has not been the Federal servants that have 
been doing it, it has not been the civil servants that have been doing 
it. They have been exemplary in almost all cases. So to see this 
incredible reign of terror rain down on their head because they were 
such easy targets really seems very unfair.
  So, as our hearts go out to the people who have suffered this great 
tragedy, let us hope that we learn from this, that we learn from this 
that we lower our voices, that we once again take pride in the fact 
that we have a phenomenal Park Service because of the Federal 
Government, that we have a strong Immigration Service because of the 
Federal Government, that we have a Social Security System that works 
very well because of the Federal Government, that we have many, many 
things we, as Americans are proud of. We have a justice system because 
we say we are a government of laws and not of men, that people are not 
to take their law in their own hand.
  So let us be a little more thoughtful, and let us also continue to 
extend sympathy for people that have lost things that can never be 
replaced.

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