[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 171 (Wednesday, November 1, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H11682-H11685]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           FAITH AND POLITICS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Allard). Under the Speaker's announced 
policy of May 12, 1995, the gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Poshard] is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Mr. POSHARD. Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Connecticut 
[Mrs. Kennelly].


                              debt ceiling

  Mrs. KENNELLY. Mr. Speaker, we keep hearing the debt ceiling and the 
need to extend it to prevent default. We also keep hearing about the 
need to balance the budget and the need to finish appropriations bills. 
I think all of this is very confusing to the American people.
  Let's be clear. Appropriations, reconciliation and the debt are three 
separate issues although they are often thrown about together.
  Appropriations is about keeping the Government open. The President 
has signed only 2 of the 13 appropriation bills despite the fact that 
the fiscal year started October 1. In the absence of 13 full year 
appropriation bills, we have been operating under a continuing 
resolution. This is a temporary stop-gap measure designed to keep the 
Government open until we can complete 

[[Page H 11683]]

work on the remaining 11 full year appropriation. The continuing 
resolution expires on November 13. We must either complete work on the 
remaining appropriations or pass another continuing resolution by then 
in order to prevent a government shutdown. A Government shutdown means 
closing Government offices and national parks.
  The reconciliation bill currently includes the majority's plan for 
balancing the budget and a permanent extension of the debt ceiling. The 
two are tied by tradition, rather than necessity. Balancing the budget 
is an important task and one Democrats and Republicans have been 
debating all year. We should balance budget and this member believes we 
will when all is said and done and both sides of the aisle sit down and 
negotiate. The problem is such negotiations take time. And time is 
something we simply don't have when it comes to the debt ceiling.
  The debt ceiling is simply the limit the Treasury may borrow. 
Treasury Secretary Rubin has said that we are very close to that 
ceiling today and Treasury would exceed it sometime between November 6 
and November 15 without congressional action. While it is clear that 
the debt ceiling will be raised in the long run, it is not clear that a 
reconciliation bill can be enacted before we hit the debt ceiling. The 
President has threatened to veto reconciliation in its current form due 
to policy concerns over Medicare, Medicaid and spending priorities.
  It therefore makes sense for the Congress to pass a temporary debt 
ceiling as an interim measure to prevent default while a balanced 
budget agreement can be hammered out. Some have said that such a step 
isn't necessary because a default wouldn't cause serious problems in 
the economy. I strongly disagree.
  Remember we have never exceeded the debt ceiling so no one really 
knows what will happen but we do know that exceeding the debt limit 
means that U.S. debt obligations come due and the United States refuses 
to pay. Given that U.S. Treasury securities are seen as the soundest 
investment in the world, this would be a very serious development. Much 
of the economy is based on confidence. Think about the effect on the 
stock market, the dollar, the bond market, not to mention the economy 
be if the United States even for a short time says ``no we can't pay 
our debt right now''.
  At the very least, it would mean that the next time we go to sell 
bonds U.S. Treasury securities, purchasers are going to demand an 
interest rate higher than they otherwise would have because of the 
increased risk. Keep in mind that currently U.S. Treasury debt finances 
$4.9 trillion in debt. So even a risk premium of ten basis points--one 
tenth of one percent--will mean $3-$4 billion in added annual interest 
we must pay on all our debt for the future!
  While the debt ceiling and a potential default are esoteric issues to 
most Americans, they do effect the lives of average families very 
directly. Fully 31 percent of American households have mutual funds, 
many of which are invested in Treasury securities or the stock market. 
Both credit cards and auto loans often are pegged to Treasury interest 
rates. And fully 9.5 million American families have adjustable rate 
mortgages, a majority of which are pegged to Treasury interest rates. 
Therefore, millions of American families would feel a direct impact of 
a default.
  When all is all is said and done, the debt ceiling will be increased. 
We shouldn't hold the economy or average American families hostage to a 
partisan debate on a balanced budget. We should enact an extension in 
the debt ceiling immediately.

                              {time}  2145

  Mr. POSHARD. Mr. Speaker, I am very nervous about taking the floor 
tonight, because I want to talk about two topics which perhaps never 
should be discussed together. Those topics are faith and politics. I 
have listened over the past few years to the growing public cynicism of 
our own people toward our own government. I have listened to them, in 
one town meeting after another, proclaim their distrust, their lack of 
confidence in us, their sense that we have somehow abandoned ethical 
considerations in our deliberations.
  Mr. Speaker, I listened very carefully this afternoon to the debate 
on abortion, and I was so grieved in my conscience about this issue 
because of the tone it has taken on as a point of division in our 
country. I always feel troubled in my spirit when I hear the shrill 
voices rising on this issue, both pro and con. The name of God was 
invoked today several times in the debate, and it caused me to think 
again about the role of my faith in the decisions that I have to make 
in this Congress and in this country. So I want to talk about that.
  I ask your forgiveness in advance if I offend anyone here in the 
manner of my speaking or the words which I speak. I respect any 
person's faith. I am not taking the floor here to proselytize for my 
faith. I am not trying to advocate any religion. I have never 
considered myself to be a particularly religious person. I accepted 
both my faith and my politics when I was fairly young, I guess as most 
of us do. I was raised in a small, rural Baptist church. My father and 
mother were steeped in the beliefs and the traditions of the Democrat 
Party and the Christian faith. I accepted both along the way, and I 
have struggled with both my whole life.
  It has been especially difficult to integrate the two at times, but 
let me talk about just a few beliefs or assumptions that I have 
encountered along the way in the political world that may speak at 
least in part to the ``why'' of the public distrust, and share with you 
a response from my own Christian faith that may remind us of a way to 
restore that confidence.
  I know other faiths have similar responses that speak to these 
beliefs, but I can only speak out of my own faith. I remember when I 
first went to the Illinois State Senate, one of the leaders of my 
party, as the leaders of both parties do from time to time, took us in 
a little room during the orientation period, and I remember the 
gentleman saying, ``Now, here is the first and foremost thing that you 
need to remember. The most important thing that you can do here is to 
stay electable. Whatever you've got to do to remain electable, do it. 
The most important thing is that you get back here. And so if you have 
to take the floor and rail against Chicago, and show your downstate 
constituents that you are protecting their interests against the big, 
bad city, do it. You won't offend me.''
  That troubled me. And sometimes when I go to meetings here, as I did 
then, the most important thing it seems that is shared is, what is the 
spin we can put on things to make sure that we stay electable?
  I recall in my upbringing a story, a very important story in the 
scriptures, of the life of Christ. They were headed, he and his 
disciples, toward the cross. Just a few days before that, they stopped 
in the home of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. As they were sitting there 
discussing the events of the day, or perhaps what was to come down the 
road, all of a sudden there is this little slip of a girl sitting among 
them. Her name was Mary. And at some point in the discussion Mary took 
out a bottle of perfume, and the scriptures say it was worth a whole 
year's wages, very expensive. And she broke that bottle and she 
lavishly spread it upon Christ, and that evoked certain responses in 
the room. Judas immediately said, who represents the world in this 
scenario, ``Stop her. Why do you let her do that? We could have sold 
that and given it to the poor, and accomplished social objective.'' And 
the disciples, who represented the church in that scenario, said, the 
scripture said, ``they rebuked her severely.'' And then Martha, who 
represented the family there, came into the room and said to Christ, 
``Get Mary up. I have lots of work to do in the kitchen. I need help. 
She should be in there helping me. Get her up.''
  And the scripture Christ looked at Martha and said, ``Martha, Martha, 
you worry over so many things, but only one thing is most important, 
and Mary knows what this is: Just learning to love, to care about 
others, and being loved in return, in the way that God loves us, in an 
unconditional love, that is the important thing, and Mary knows that.''
  And so I am reminded by that that the most important thing here is 
not to say electable, it is not to do whatever is necessary to make 
sure that we get back here. We all know who serve here what the most 
important thing of all really is.

[[Page H 11684]]


  I remember having heard several times a second notion peculiar to the 
political realm, and that notion is that once you get in this business, 
and once you get on the ladder, that you want to climb to the top. It 
said that ``everybody wants to be President,'' and so the notion is to 
climb as far as you can, and not to worry about the cost of that, if 
you have to climb over the bodies of your friends or whatever, just do 
it; achieve, get to the uppermost rung.
  Again I am reminded of something that came out of my faith that 
speaks to that notion. Just a few days later Christ and his disciples 
are in the upper room, having the last supper together that they are 
going to have on this Earth. A few days before that the mother of James 
and John, two of the disciples, had come to Christ and said, ``When you 
come into your kingdom, I want you to seat one of my sons on your right 
and one of my sons on your left, so that they can share the power with 
you in this kingdom, this earthly kingdom that you are going to 
assume.''
  The other disciples had gotten word of that, and they were irritated 
and seething underneath about in competition for power. It said that at 
this most intimate time of all, after spending 3 years together, when 
they should have been closer than they had ever been before, it said 
that they were so angry with each other that they even refused to 
engage in the Jewish custom of washing their feet before they came into 
the room. So Christ got up and took a towel and a bowl of water, and he 
proceeded to go around the room and wash their feet. And in doing that, 
he said to them, ``Look, don't be this way. If you want to be the 
greatest in the kingdom, you have to learn to be the least. If you want 
to be the ruler of all, you have to learn to be the servant of all.'' 
He said, ``The Pharisees seek the best seats in the synagogue so they 
can display their faith, and the Gentiles lord it over their people. 
That is not the way. Don't do that. Don't sit here in envy and pride 
and jealousy about wanting to be first.''
  In the spiritual world, the way up is the way down. Yet, the 
political world tells us all the things that we have to do to climb the 
ladder. There is another thing that I have noted along the way in the 
political world. You hear it all the time. It says, ``In order to 
survive, you must be willing to compromise.'' We know that democracy 
depends upon our ability to compromise. No one gets everything they 
want in a democracy. That is the genius of a democracy. We are all 
searching for the middle ground between the extremes. That is the only 
way democracy can move forward. Yet, so much of the time in this 
business we almost treat compromise and principle as one and the same 
thing.
  There is a wonderful little story in the Book of Kings, in the old 
scriptures, that reminds us of a response to this issue. The Syrians 
have a great warrior captain by the name of Naman. He has gone over 
into Israel and made a raid, and he has brought back some captives. One 
of those captives is a young Jewish girl that now serves in his 
household.
  Naman is a great military leader, a great leader of his people, but 
he has one problem. He has leprosy, the most dreaded disease of his 
time. The little maidservant in his household said one day to Naman's 
wife, ``You know, if Naman would go over into Israel and meet with the 
prophet Elijah, he could heal his leprosy.''

                              {time}  2200

  The wife tells Naman, Naman tells his king, his king exchanges 
letters with the king from Israel, arrangements are made for Naman to 
go see the prohet, Elijah. He goes there and he proceeds to take a long 
train of wagon loads of gifts with him to give to the prohet who may 
heal him of this leprosy.
  He comes up to Elijah's door, wanting to give him these gifts, and 
Elijah will not even meet with him. He says, through a messenger, to 
Naman, ``Naman, go down to the Jordan River and dip yourself 7 times in 
the river and you will be healed of the leprosy.''
  Naman becomes very angry. He says, ``I am not going to humiliate 
myself by doing that,'' and he turned around and started to go back 
home, and one of his servants prevailed upon him to indeed go down to 
the Jordan and dip 7 times. He said, ``What do you have to lose? If he 
had asked some great thing out of you, would you not have done it?''
  So Naman went down to the Jordan, dipped himself 7 times, and was 
miraculously healed of the leprosy. He comes back to the door of 
Elijah, and now he wants to give these gifts to Elijah, and Elijah 
again says, ``I will have none of them.''
  So Naman says to Elijah, ``Well, Elijah, if you will not take the 
gifts, then just do this for me. Let me take two wagon loads of this 
earth back with me to my home, because I am a man under authority, and 
when I get back home, I know my king is going to call me to go down to 
the House of Reman where the false gods of Baal are, and I am going to 
have to accompany him there. All I want to be able to do is take a 
handful of dirt with me when I am compelled to go there and spread it 
before me so I can remember the one true God that healed me.''
  Now, Elijah could have said to Naman, ``Naman, don't you dare. You 
have gone through a miraculous experience here. Don't you dare go back 
there and worship a false god of Baal.'' But he did not say that. 
Instead, he said to Naman, ``Naman, take the dirt and go in peace.''
  Now, what is important about that to me is simply this: This is the 
greatest country in the history of the world in my judgment, America. 
This is the greatest government in the history of the world. And right 
here in this capital, in this city, is the seat of worldly power. Not 
just the seat of this Nation's government, but it is the government to 
which all governments of the world come to pay deference from time to 
time.

  There are many false idols worshiped here. Position, power, wealth, 
all kinds of things, that it would be very easy for us to look at and 
feel so empowered with that we would forget who we are and think that 
we could compromise principle in the process of engaging in these kinds 
of pursuits. So we must be reminded in this midst of position and power 
and wealth and authority and all of the other things of who the one 
true God of the universe really is.
  Now, today as I mentioned earlier, I sat and listened to the debate 
on abortion. Every time I hear that debate come up before this body, I 
am just torn asunder. I am a pro-life Democrat. It is just what I 
believe. But I want to talk about this for a moment along another line.
  I have a little niece by the name of Rita, and she married a young 
man named David some years ago, and they are two kids that really loved 
each other. They were in their early 20's. They cared so much for each 
other, they wanted to build a life of their own. They got married and 
they had a child, and that little child, Jonathan, was born with Cystic 
Fibrosis. The doctor told them that Jonathan may never come home from 
the hospital. He did, but only a couple of times in the short 7 months 
that he lived.
  The hospital bills were huge. For all the time that Jonathan was in 
the hospital, my niece and her husband were heartbroken over this 
experience, they were grieved to know that one of them was a carrier of 
the Cystic Fibrosis gene. They were warned by the doctors not to try to 
have another child.
  I remember the day that my niece called me and she said, ``Uncle 
Glenn, the doctor tells us that Jonathan is probably not going to live 
through the day. Could you come over the hospital and be with us?'' I 
remember getting in my care and starting the drive some 50 miles away 
to the hospital where they were and saying to myself as I was driving 
along, dear God, how could you let this happen? How could you let this 
child which they so wanted, they so loved, how could you let these two 
kids who loved each other to much, how could you let this take place? 
How could this little baby be dying? I was really grieved in my spirit 
and in my conscience struggling with this.
  Not in an audible voice, but in my own spirit it suddenly came to me. 
This came to me. It was like God saying, but you do not understand. I 
created Jonathan because I needed him. I am love, unconditional love, 
all forgiving love, and the nature of unconditional love is that it 
must have an object upon which to lavish itself. That is the nature of 
love.

  You see, God being unconditional love, needed Jonathan in order that 
He 

[[Page H 11685]]

may love more, in order that He may love him. Jonathan was created as 
the object of this great love. Jonathan did not have to deserve God's 
love. He did not have to be worthy of God's love. He was the beloved, 
just by virtue of being created by God. The length of his life was 
utterly unimportant, whether it was 7 weeks or 7 months in the womb or 
7 years or 70 years after birth, he was the beloved.
  There are so many voices in our world today telling us that in order 
to be loved, in order to count for something, in order to be worthy, we 
have to be the right way. We have to make a certain salary or live in a 
certain community or associate with the right people or drive a certain 
car, wear certain clothes, attend a certain church. If we will just do 
all of these things, somehow we will be worthy, we will be deserving of 
love and appreciation. As Henry Nowan, a Christian writer says, we 
drown out that voice that calls us the beloved, just because we are 
created by God as the object of His love.
  That is why those of us who are pro-life see this as a matter of 
principle, not just as an issue that can be compromised. We really do 
see this issue of abortion as a matter of life and death, as a matter 
of taking away a life that God has allowed to be created as the object 
of His love. But if we really believe that, then we must also believe 
that the lives of those caught up in the terrible circumstances of 
considering an abortion and all of the trauma that goes along with 
that, we must also believe that we have no right to further traumatize 
that person by self-righteous condemnation of their character. Only God 
must judge. If our faith teaches us anything, it is that we must have 
compassion and mercy, not judgment.
  I do not expect to ever get to a time when I stop struggling with 
either my faith or my politics. Christ said, as Christians, we are to 
be in the world, but not of the world. Some days I think that I 
understand that distinction very clearly and other days, I am not so 
sure.

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