[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 137 (Wednesday, September 6, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H8546-H8547]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                      A MESSAGE FROM CONSTITUENTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida [Mr. Scarborough] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SCARBOROUGH. Mr. Speaker, I also was home this weekend and also 
for the entire month of August, and being home for the entire month of 
August, it really hit me about what is wrong with Washington, DC. There 
is such a disconnect between the inside-the-beltway-mentality and out-
side-the-beltway-mentality that I found it absolutely staggering.
  No sooner had I left Washington, DC, and touched down in my district 
than I started hearing day in and day out that people in my district 
and, in fact, my 

[[Page H 8547]]
friends and colleagues from across America, continue to report that 
Americans want us to move and act on the mandate that was handed to us 
on November 8, 1994, and that mandate is to balance the budget, to cut 
taxes, to cut spending, to cut regulations, to cut out bureaucracies, 
and make sweeping changes that will reform the welfare state and change 
the welfare state, where we stop encouraging reckless behavior and we 
start encouraging productivity and hard work.
  I held 30 townhall meetings and had over 100 other meetings and 
countless TV and radio talk shows. Again, the clear message, the 
resounding message that I heard time and time again, was make something 
happen in Washington.
  Mr. Speaker, up here when you are in Washington, if you talk about 
just cutting the increase of spending on a Federal program, they call 
you a radical. They say that it is going to have a devastating impact; 
that you are out of touch with America.
  Let me tell you something: You ain't out of touch with America when 
you talk about radically downsizing the Federal Government. You are out 
of touch with lobbyists, you are out of touch with special interest 
groups, you are out of touch with bureaucrats, and you are out of touch 
with a national press corps that still does not get it, that still 
believes that the unprecedented congressional landslide on November 8, 
1994, was a fluke, and somehow it is just going to go away.
  Let me tell you something: It ain't going away. It is here to stay. 
Americans do not trust the Federal Government to micromanage every 
single part of their lives.
  One year ago President Clinton sent Congress home, and when they came 
back, they brought in the message, ``Your health care reform bill is 
dead on arrival. Americans do not want socialized medicine.''
  Well, let me tell you something: We came home to our districts this 
time, and the American people came to us, and they are not saying that 
you are moving too fast; they are saying that you are not moving fast 
enough. They say make something happen.
  Now, we have made quite a bit of progress. The Wall Street Journal 
and congressional historians say that this Congress has done more in 8 
months than any other Congress since Reconstruction, since the 1870's, 
in over a century. We are not the imperial Congress that we were a year 
ago when the Democrats ruled this House, when Tom Foley was Speaker of 
the House. This Congress passed the Shays Act, so now Congress has to 
abide by the same laws as the rest of the country has to abide by. This 
Congress cut committee staff by one-third. This Congress passed term 
limits on committee chairmen so we do not have little empires inside of 
this Congress. This Congress passed term limits on the Speaker of the 
House. This Congress passed a ban on proxy voting. And this Congress, I 
am sure, will have no problem with also passing a ban on lobbyist 
gifts, if it comes up at the appropriate time and place.
  We have a challenge before us. I really think you would be hard-
pressed to find a time in recent American history where this Congress 
was going to deal with as many important issues as we will be dealing 
with in the next 1 or 2 months.
  We have an opportunity to do something this Congress has not done in 
40 years: balance the budget. We have an opportunity to save Medicare. 
The trustees say it is going bankrupt. Almost half of the Congress is 
sticking their head in the sand and saying ``Let's just hope it goes 
away,'' and the other half is daring to make a difference. Let us dare 
to make a difference on Medicare and save senior citizens from the pain 
that they will experience if we do nothing.
  Let us pass tough welfare reform. Forget what the lobbyists and 
special interests say. Americans want tough welfare reform. We cannot 
be cowards; we have to be bold. We have to step forward and make a 
difference with the mandate that was given to us.
  I will once again quote Bobby Kennedy, who in 1966 in Johannesburg, 
South Africa, said, ``The future does not belong to those who are 
content with today, apathetic toward common problems and their fellow 
man alike, timid and fearful in the face of new ideas and bold 
projects. Rather it will belong to those who can blend vision, reason 
and courage in a personal commitment to the ideals and great 
enterprises in American society.''
  Today I make that commitment to make a difference, to make something 
happen, and boldly move into the 21st century with the values that 
created this country and Republic over 200 years ago.


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