[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 109 (Friday, June 30, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H6684]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                  WAKE UP, CONGRESS; WAKE UP, AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida [Mr. Foley] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FOLEY. Madam Speaker, first I would like to thank the employees 
of this House of Representatives who endured hours and hours of debate 
while this House went into 24-hour session the other evening: The 
cloakroom staff, the individual staff of the Members of Congress, the 
Clerk's office, the stenographers that had to take down every word, the 
pages that have come from around our Nation that have helped the 
Members, the whip teams and everyone else.
  It was quite a spectacle. It was sad for me as a freshman Member of 
Congress to watch the delay after delay, the motions to rise, the 
various tactics in order to stall the progress of this House.
  I came here to make a difference, to make change. And I know at times 
there are disagreements and I am certain at times the Republicans did 
it last time to a Democratic-controlled Congress, but I urge my 
colleagues on both sides of the aisle to stop this nonsense.
  The American public is watching and they are sick and tired of 
watching Congress go into the night, go into the early morning hours, 
go 24 hours a day, spending taxpayers' dollars while these fine 
employees of the House of Representatives have to be away from their 
homes, while the young pages 16 and 17 years old are up all night long. 
That is wrong.
  So the Democrats and Republicans have to become more responsible in 
this process and they have got to stop the nonsense and start doing the 
people's business. Start working on legislation that will change 
America's problems. I mean we must have had seven motions to rise the 
other day, which takes over 17 minutes per vote to do that work.
  So we spent hours of wasted time coming back and forth to the 
Chamber. People think it is funny in the Chamber. They laugh. How long 
can this go on? Let us take to the mattresses. The American public who 
are watching on C-SPAN or reading in the newspapers of Congress' action 
are embarrassed. I am embarrassed as a Member of Congress for the 
actions we took the other day.
  Let me talk about another problem that is confronting America and we 
have got to deal with it, and that is child abuse. The other day we may 
have read in the national newspapers about a young child named Wolfie 
whose parents abandoned him at a mall. A husband and wife abandoned 
their 3-year-old child and left him wandering in a mall thousands of 
miles away from their home.
  In South Carolina a woman allows two young children to be driven into 
a lake and drowned. In Florida two parents killed their 7-year-old 
daughter and left her in a closet for 4 days.
  To those out there that have that type of mental illness, put your 
child up for adoption. Do not take that child's life. You know, 
children are being taken advantage of. Sexual abuse of our children, 
this has got to stop.
  Members of Congress cannot legislate the protection of children, but 
neighbors have to be careful and watch out for those around them, the 
vulnerable children of our society that are falling prey to the sick 
individuals that would take their lives.
  Reading the story of young Wolfie, I can only imagine the terror in 
his mind when his parents leave him in a mall and drive off in a car 
and they are found in a park in Maryland 3,000 miles away. Left in 
California, a 3-year-old child in a mall.
  Many of you may have remembered the story of Adam Walsh, who was 
kidnaped from a mall in Florida, who was beheaded. They still do not 
have the killer. I understand they are pursuing somebody who may have 
been involved.
  I think it is important that America wake up. The children are our 
future. When we talk about balanced budgets, we keep talking about 
children, saving the children's future, taking away the debt that is 
being piled on our children's future.
  Madam Speaker and Members of this Congress, it is time to stop 
talking about the children in abstract and start talking about 
protecting their very precious lives, start talking about protecting 
children from the sick individuals that would destroy their futures and 
destroy their opportunities.
  I ask God to bless the parents of children and, again I say to them, 
if you are not happy with your child, if you are not happy being 
parents, put your child up for adoption and let somebody love your 
child the way that they need to be loved to become responsible 
citizens.
  Again, my hats are off to the dedicated employees of the House of 
Representatives who have endured many, many hours of debate and their 
willingness to put in that time to make America the great and strong 
Nation that it is.


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