[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 110 (Monday, July 10, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H6726]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                          GOVERNMENT RUN AMOK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Fox] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from 
Georgia [Mr. Kingston] to further this colloquy we were discussing 
about regulations.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, let me give another example of government 
just not using quite common sense. I have in my hand a letter from Lee 
Heyer. Lee Heyer is a student at Georgia Southern University. He is 
actually the student body president. He sent to me a letter he got from 
the U.S. Post Office declaring June 12 to June 17 National Dog Bite 
Prevention Week. It tells people how to prevent their dog from biting a 
letter carrier. Again, it is well-intended, but, he said, he called the 
office.
  First of all, this mail that was delivered at taxpayer expense went 
to his apartment complex where they do not allow dogs, so everybody in 
the apartment complex got notified how to tie their dog up, which they 
are not allowed to have.
  The second part, he called the actual office in his area and found 
out there were zero dog bites in that particular area in the previous 
year. Again, Mr. Speaker, the private sector would not do that. They 
would think it through twice.
  I see the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Weldon] has joined us. I do not 
control the time.
  Mr. FOX. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida.
  Mr. WELDON of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's 
efforts here today to do something, to speak out about doing something 
for the terrible problem of excessive regulation, and the impact that 
has a job creation. This is a very important issue in my district, Mr. 
Speaker, where the defense cutbacks have put a lot of people out of 
work, but there are a lot of people trying to set up new businesses and 
trying to be independent, and the Government regulations that are 
required in setting up a new business, and just hiring a new person, is 
actually stifling business creation all across our country, including 
in my district.
                              {time}  2045

  We as Republicans, I believe, need to continue the effort to try to 
not only downsize Government but make the Government as the gentleman 
said, more user-friendly and more open to job creation.
  One thing I do want to add to this discussion, which I think is very 
important, is the need to deal with our terrible problem of excessive 
litigation.
  I know a business in my district approached me, and this particular 
business, they had been in the printing press business for a time way 
back in the early part of the century, but they are now out of that 
business. There was a printing press that had been in use, safely in 
use, for 70 years, that an employee at a company had recently been 
injured on, and that company was, now that they have been out of the 
printing press business for something like 25, 30 years, they are now 
being sued for a product that has been in safe use for something like 
70 years.
  I just think that is wrong, it is unreasonable. We need our tort 
reform legislation to get through the Senate and we probably need more 
provisions to be passed in the future.
  Mr. FOX of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I think the support that the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Weldon] has given as well as the 
gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Kingston] for our products liability reform 
legislation will go a long way in helping businesses. As the gentleman 
from Georgia [Mr. Kingston] just talked about, we certainly need to 
have less regulation.
  Another area I would like to have us consider, not only the 
regulatory reform and legal reform but what about making sure we 
provide those investment tax credits, the research and development tax 
credits, which will encourage businesses to expand, produce and hire 
and not have those jobs go overseas but keep those jobs here in America 
for companies and employees who really want to make sure that we grow. 
That I think along with reform dealing with the ability to obtain 
credit, I think we can keep our businesses viable here in the country 
and move along.
  Mr. KINGSTON. I was meeting this last weekend with the Georgia 
Hospitality and Travel Association. One of the battles they just fought 
with regulatory reform is that on the back of your hotel door, they 
have escape plans. I was in the insurance business and I am one of 
these nerds, I guess, who always reads those things. But 99 percent of 
the people who stay in hotels, particularly at Days Inn on a ground 
level, don't read how to escape from the room. They can kind of figure 
it out on their own. But new regulation, you have to print that 
bilingual.
  In south Georgia, where you don't get that many people speaking 
Spanish, they wanted to put it in Spanish language, as well as English 
language. You cannot even tell if the door is wooden or painted already 
because you have all these different instructions on what to do in a 
hotel room.
  The Hospitality Association was able to kind of break that, postpone 
the regulation, I would say, just break the thinking pattern there. In 
Los Angeles County, they have to put the voting ballot in 7 different 
languages.
  The gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. Roth] has a bill entitled ``English 
First'' which addresses this. I believe he is on the floor.


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