[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 121 (Tuesday, July 25, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H7562]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                                NRA/WACO

  (Mr. GUTIERREZ asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GUTIERREZ. Mr. Speaker, when the Republicans cut the size of 
committee staffs at the beginning of this Congress, I was worried some 
congressional work would not get done.
  Then, I figured out how the new GOP chairmen were going to manage.
  As this week's Judiciary Committee hearings prove, they'll simply 
turn to the National Rifle Association for help.
  But what kind of hearings did the NRA help with?
  With hearings on welfare reform?
  With hearings on health care?
  No--with the Waco hearings.
  Hearings where the actions of law enforcement agents were called into 
question--the same agents that the NRA calls thugs.
  Hearings where laws combating the dangerous proliferation of guns are 
a central issue--the same laws that the NRA wants to wipe off the 
books.
  When I entered Congress 2 years ago, I thought that the gun lobby had 
too large a role to play in the backrooms of Congress.
  Now, it's obvious that they've moved from the backrooms to the 
committee rooms.
  We do not even have to call them the gun lobby these days--because 
now, they do not even have to do their dirty work in the lobbies 
anymore.


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