[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 160 (Tuesday, October 17, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H10119-H10120]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         CONGRESS SHOULD KEEP IN TOUCH WITH THEIR CONSTITUENTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Kingston] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, you know, there are a lot of great 
statesmen that have walked through the halls of Congress for many years 
from both parties, people who have done so much with the budget, people 
who have done a lot with the Judiciary, people who have done a lot with 
the House rules and appropriations process. Fair men and women on both 
sides of the aisle have added so much to the institution. Sometimes 
people ask me, well, what is your identity? What great issue have you 
done?
  I guess after thinking about this, oh, for a long time, Mr. Speaker, 
I would say, maybe I could be best described as the Congressman in the 
carpool line. Not really glamorous, but you know, I do, every Monday, 
drive the carpool. Then often after driving the carpool, I go over to 
the Piggly Wiggly, buy a little milk or whatever we happen to run out 
of. Then if you see me on a Saturday, I am at the soccer field. Our 
daughter plays soccer.
  Often I will go to other things. Last weekend, for example, I went to 
Midway, GA, for an opening of a school down there, actually not an 
opening, but a new building of a school in the community that was an 
African-American community in coastal Georgia over 100 years ago. We 
are trying to restore that area. There is a lot of good leadership on 
that.
  After that meeting I went to the Farm Bureau meeting in Folkston, GA. 
Then the next day, Mr. Speaker, I went to Odom, GA, to the Odom 
homecoming. The population of Odom last year went from 692 to over 700 
people this year.
  During this period, all day long, whether I am in the carpool line or 
at the grocery store or at the Farm Bureau meeting or at the Odom 
homecoming, people are coming up to me and asking me about Medicare, 
asking me about the budget, asking me about the debt ceiling. They are 
giving me opinions on Bosnia, and all kinds of different things, the 
space station B-2. Sometimes the questions are from people that know 
more about the issue than I do. Other times they are general questions. 
Generally they just want me to listen to them. I try my best to do 
that, Mr. Speaker, as I know every other Member of Congress does.
  I think we can be proud that so many of our Members are good 
listeners. They do return back home. They do listen. But now let us 
compare ourselves to the other body. In this House, in this great U.S. 
Capitol, we have two bodies. We have the lower House and then we have 
the other body, which decorum does not permit me using their name. When 
we refer to the folks on the other side of the Capitol as the other 
body, I did not know we were speaking of a corpse. But that is what we 
are. We are speaking of folks who are not coming home and are not 
listening and not going to the grocery store and are not going to the 
homecomings and listening to the man and woman on the street on their 
different views.

  I think as a result of that, Mr. Speaker, our product of government 
is not as good as it should be, because I believe that one of the key 
things we have to do as representative government is always remember 
who sent us here, why they sent us here, and remember the promises and 
the representations that were made to these folks.
  We are going into a very critical period, Mr. Speaker. We have passed 
12 appropriations bills. They are now in that other body. Some of them 
have come back and we have had some conference committee meetings on 
them. But the bulk of our work is still yet to be done. The bulk of our 
work, including not just finalization of the appropriations process, 
but the reconciliation, where we amass all the bills, all the 
legislation into one monster bill that we have to pass on both sides. 

[[Page H 10120]]

  Through this process, I believe House Members in both parties have 
paid close attention to the constituents back home. A lot of our 
constituents in Georgia, for example, are saying you all are not going 
far enough. You are backing off on your promises. You are not doing 
what you said you are going to do. Maybe in some areas you have gone 
too far too fast. But people want us to listen, and they want to be 
assured that what we are doing is in the interests of what is best for 
the Republican Party but for the American public.
  I believe that that is the case, Mr. Speaker. But I must say I worry 
about our friends on the other side of the aisle, if they are listening 
to the degree that they need to be listened to. I would urge the folks 
back home, because of that, to continue writing Members of the House 
and the Senate and give opinions on how they feel, because I do not 
think the message in every case is getting through. As we go into the 
budget process, right now it is even more important than other times.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California [Mr. Dornan], 
if he would like some time.
  Mr. DORNAN. Mr. Speaker, I just wanted to tell the gentleman, I want 
to associate myself with his remarks. I am going to ask for a 5-minute 
special order here myself to discuss the infamous O.J. Simpson trial. I 
wanted to let the Chair know that I was going to ask for that when the 
gentleman is through. I certainly appreciate the 5-minute special 
order.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from California is never 
without an opinion and never without truth and righteousness. It was 
refreshing to see the gentleman the other night spouting some of his 
views.

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