[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 179 (Monday, November 13, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H12159-H12160]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   PASS SIMPLE CONTINUING RESOLUTION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from West Virginia [Mr. Wise] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WISE. Mr. Speaker, this is a process that we are going through 
tonight, and unfortunately will be likely going through tomorrow with 
the shutdown of Federal Government, that should not be happening. In 
West Virginia there are over 17,000 Federal employees, many of whom 
will be furloughed. They will not be able to offer the services 
essential to West Virginia, and their own lives will be placed in 
uncertainty.
  This is a terrible way to do business. The first day or so, people 
probably will not notice. It is true, Social Security offices will not 
be handling claims. A day or two you can get by. Over time, you see a 
steady degradation of Government services and the very important 
functions that Government employees perform.
  In our own offices we have two district offices. The decision by the 
Republican leadership, as I understand it, essentially says that 
basically only legislative personnel can be working. We will be 
furloughing roughly half of the congressional staff. We will leave one 
person in the Charleston office and one person in the Martinsburg 
office to handle emergencies, but aside from that, our staff as well 
will be furloughed. Of course, the mobile offices, the ones that visit 
the county everyday, in a different county every day of the month, they 
will be furloughed as well. So I think it is a sorry state of affairs 
that Congress has reached this point.

  I think though it is also important to look at what is at stake and 
why we are here. There are actually two bills at stake, both basically 
simple. One says that you continue the Government services for about 2 
to 3 more weeks. The second one would say that the Federal Government 
is empowered to continue borrowing to pay back debts.
  In both cases the House has passed this bill, but, under the 
Republican leadership, measures were added that make those bills 
totally unacceptable. What should have been basically one simple sheet 
that says ``Continue the government,'' or ``You are empowered to 
continue to borrow money to pay pack debts,'' what could have been one 
sheet, two or three paragraphs, turned into hundreds of pages of 
special riders, strings attached, and basically trying to work to enact 
the Contract With America and the basic budget bill that is so much in 
controversy.
  I think it should also be pointed out, I have heard allegations that 
somehow the President has not done his job. Let me look at the facts. 
The reason this has come about is because the budget bill needs 
negotiating, right? So people ought to be negotiating. The only problem 
is, there is no budget bill. There is no reconciliation bill. We have 
yet to get that on the floor of the House.
  Incidentally, it is months overdue. By the same token, there are 13 
appropriation bills that must pass the Congress and be signed by the 
President that make up next year's budget. They all are to be done by 
October 1. Six weeks later this Congress has enacted into law only two 
of the 13 bills. Eleven are out there somewhere, drifting in the nether 
world of this Capitol. So the President has had very little that he can 
actually begin negotiating on, because the Congress has not signed it.
  Why not just go ahead? And I had this question on a talk show today 
at home, Mr. Speaker. ``Why not go ahead, Bob, and just vote for this 
continuing resolution? Just vote for the debt ceiling. It is only a 
couple weeks, and send it on down to the President.''
  The trouble with that is this: If I voted for that debt ceiling the 
other day, I would have voted for a $7 increase in Medicare part B 
premiums for every senior citizen in West Virginia, kicking them up 
from $46.10 to roughly $53 on January 1. Merry Christmas, mother and 
father. What kind of vote is that?
  I would have voted for the Republican budget in effect, and put into 
play already many of the items that still need to be negotiated between 
the White House and Congress.
  I would have been in effect voting for stiff medicare cuts, one-third 
of which is needed to save the funds, only $90 billion, not $270 
billion as is in that budget. I would have voted for Medicaid cuts that 
would have put West Virginia $4 billion in the hole over a 7-year 
period. I would have voted for tax breaks for the wealthy and tax 
increases for low income working people. That is not a good deal. That 
should 

[[Page H 12160]]
not be attached to a basic, simple, continuation of Government services 
for 2 to 3 weeks.
  Now, some have asked, is this not the way things have always been 
done, you have attached riders? First of all, never with this 
magnitude. Second, we have a unique situation here. In my time in 
Congress, I have never seen the day when two major items happen at the 
same time. You are faced with a shutdown of the Federal Government, 
that is tough enough, but the second is even more sweeping, you are 
faced with a default on the national debt, the first time in over 200 
years that that happened. Both of those come to happen this week.
  So that is why these votes are so significant. My hope is that this 
Congress stays in tonight, does its job, and passes a simple continuing 
resolution to keep the Government and a simple extension so that the 
Government can borrow money to pay back debts and the Government keeps 
functioning.

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