[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 102 (Wednesday, June 21, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H6164]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     ELIMINATE GIFTS FROM LOBBYISTS

  (Mr. VOLKMER asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. VOLKMER. Mr. Speaker, as you all know, later on today we will be 
taking up the legislative appropriation bill. And it has been said by 
one of the earlier speakers there are cuts in that bill from what we 
have had previously. But in my opinion, there are not sufficient cuts. 
There is still too much spending. And I am going to be voting for some 
of the amendments that will cut further.
  But one thing I find is that the Committee on Rules has not permitted 
the most important amendment that could have been offered to this bill 
and that is the Baldacci amendment, which would have said that Members 
of Congress who accept elaborate gifts from lobbyists, and who have 
those same lobbyists write their bills, could not get paid as a Member 
of Congress.
  Why should they get paid when they are getting all the free gifts 
from the lobbyists? But the Committee on Rules, under the gentleman 
from New York [Mr. Solomon] and the Republican majority, said, no, we 
are not going to permit that amendment. We are not going to have reform 
up here.
  Ladies and gentlemen, this Republican majority is not really reform 
minded. And I am going to talk about that more in the special orders 
this afternoon.


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