[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 137 (Wednesday, September 6, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H8546]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PRIORITIZING APPROPRIATION MEASURES
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the
gentlewoman from Colorado [Mrs. Schroeder] is recognized for 5 minutes.
Mrs. SCHROEDER. Mr. Speaker, I take this time to really question what
we are doing today by bringing up legislative appropriations.
Mr. Speaker, when I was home this weekend, people were going crazy
saying, what do you mean there is going to be a train wreck? There is
going to be a huge train wreck and all sorts of people who are Federal
employees may be asked to be furloughed forever, who knows for how
long; to go without pay, and benefits could be cut off. We are going to
look so silly, because never has Congress, in the entire history I
remember, been so late in dealing with the 13 funding bills that are
absolutely essential. Here we are, it is September, the money runs out
September 30, and not one bill has been passed.
Mr. Speaker, the shocker is, guess who is not going to be hurt by
this train wreck? Us. This is the imperial Congress in spades, and this
is wrong. Because the only bill of those 13 bills ready for action
today and ready to move to the President's desk is the legislative
appropriations.
Think how that looks to the American people, that while we could not
get around to doing the other 12 bills, and while we are later doing
these bills than any other Congress in history, and that this country
may look very, very silly as we go through all of these throes of
shutting down Government and all of the costly additions that we know
that costs. I had the Government Accounting Office do a study on how
much that cost the last time we did it, and we did it just for a few
days. Well, it ended up costing almost a half a billion dollars. For a
country with the kind of debt we have, that is a stupid way to spend
money.
So here we are, Mr. Speaker, a Congress who has not gotten its work
done on time, who has not done any of the 13 bills, but today, we are
going to take up our pay, our staff's pay, and the pay of the other
body, because heaven forbid, we would not want to be hurt by this train
wreck that is coming. This is the way we untie ourselves from the rail.
Now, the prior gentleman gave a very good speech down in the well
talking about the gift ban. That is another reason that I think that we
are taking this up with such haste today, because we do not want to
deal with the issues around the gift ban. We have dealt with them
before, we know what they are, this House has passed them before. But
if we can hurry this thing through as the very first thing that is done
in this body, just as people are getting off planes and coming back,
they will not realize that they have just exempted themselves from the
act that is going to fall on folks, and that we do not have to deal
with the ugly issues because people are not informed and will not know
to vote no on the previous question and so forth.
Mr. Speaker, the people in my district came to the rally yesterday
because I introduced a bill saying, I want to change the rules of the
House so that we never pass the funding for the House and the Senate
until we have passed the funding for every other branch of Government.
This running up and saying, exempt us, keep us out of the way, is
wrong, and we ought to change that rule.
Now, I know that putting this resolution in today is not going to
work, because you already have it on the schedule and here it is, boom,
boom, gone, over. But we really have to say that in an era where the
people were promised reform, this was going to be a
different Congress and so forth, we look like the most imperial of the
imperial Congresses.
In my district there are many, many people who work for the Federal
Government, and I think after the Oklahoma bombing, many Americans
realize, these people look just like their neighbors. We should stop
calling them bureaucrats and curl our lip as we do it. These are
families that live in our communities that are trying to make ends
meet. As I introduced this at a rally, they all said yes. They could
not believe that we would have the audacity to take ourselves out of
this train wreck and to do it as the first order of business when we
came back.
They also went on to ask all sorts of questions which I could not
answer, were they going to be impacted, what about their children in
school, what about their mortgage payment, how long were they going to
be furloughed, would they get back pay? And to all of those questions I
had to say, ``You know, I do not know, because Congress has not
finished its work on any of the 13 bills. But the good news is, today
we will have finished work on our pay.''
That did not go over well. They like my new rule. I cannot get it
passed at this late date. I just cannot believe the brazenness of our
doing this first, taking care of ourselves first. I hope every Member
of this body thinks about how this is going to look, if we rush in here
after the break, and the first thing we make sure of is that we take
care of ourselves, and then we go on to let everybody else dangle out
there in all of this anxiety of which agencies will be chopped, which
ones will not, who will be on furlough, when will people be called
back.
Think of what we would say if another country's parliament did this.
Think of what we would say if we watched France or Germany shut down
because they could not act. Well, that is what they are going to say
about us.
I certainly hope we do not do this today. I urge Members to get on
the resolution. But, better yet, vote ``no'' today, and let us get on
with dealing with the rest of the business before we put ourselves
first. That is not reform, that is the same old business, only even
worse. I have never seen that happen before.
Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing a resolution that requires
Congress to consider and pass all other appropriations before voting on
the legislative branch appropriations.
This year Congress has not finished any of the 13 appropriations
bills. Never has Congress been this derelict. My bill is needed to
force Congress to act responsibly rather than playing politics by
threatening to shut down the Government. It will prevent what has been
called the train wreck.
If Congress isn't tied to the tracks, then they are much freer to
play fast and loose with everyone else's lives.
It is outrageous that the first appropriations bill to pass is
funding for Congress. The message this sends to every household in
America is that we will take care of ourselves but everyone else is
nonessential.
The imperial Congress is alive and well. If you thought the
Republicans were reformers, you're wrong. This shouldn't surprise most
Americans. It is always the little guy who gets the raw end of the deal
when Congress plays politics.
Shutting down the Federal Government wastes money. In 1991 the
General Accounting Office estimated that as much as $607.3 million was
wasted during the 3-day 1990 Columbus Day shutdown. In my district a
shutdown will cost $10 to $15 million a day.
The rest of the world will laugh. Imagine what Americans would say if
another country shut down their government because their parliament
failed to pass funding bills.
Oklahoma City showed us our neighbors are Federal workers trying to
do the best job possible. Playing politics with their lives while
exempting Congress and their staff from any pain is the most
demoralizing act imaginable.
Stop the book tours and get to work on the huge backlog of
appropriations bills. And don't pay yourselves until you do. That's
what my bill proposes. Please back it.
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