[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 179 (Monday, November 13, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H12162]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                THE EFFECTS OF THE CONTRACT WITH AMERICA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas, Ms. Eddie Bernice Johnson is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise to dialogue 5 
minutes with my colleague. Would my colleague continue her remarks?
  Ms. BROWN of Florida. Yes, I am very concerned as to this contract. 
The Republicans talked about the Contract With America. I have often 
said it was a contract on America. A contract on the elderly people, a 
contract on the children, a contract on the poor people.

                              {time}  1915

  This reverse Robin Hood, robbing from the working people and the poor 
people to give to the rich.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, they have offered up provisions in this Contract 
With America that they could not pass in the Senate. I have always been 
so very proud of being a Member of the House. I served 10 years in the 
Florida House and 2 years here, and I have always been proud of the 
fact that the House deliberates, we have hearings.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, I can thank God for the other body who just do not 
take up this work, this sometimes trashy work this House has produced, 
and pass it on.
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. I served in both the Texas House 
and the Texas Senate, and I have never been in a position where I could 
say that I did everything the way I wanted it to be done, but what I 
can say is that everyone had an opportunity to be heard, to call 
witnesses, and then there was a fair vote.
  Very, very frequently, I got a part of what I wanted, others got 
parts of what they wanted. But in the end, it was a piece that was made 
up of input and one that we could say that a clear majority wanted. 
It was called compromising, negotiating, agreeing, and then a majority 
win.

  Mr. Speaker, I believe that that will work in any deliberative body, 
but without that, it cannot. Here I am not even sure we are listening, 
because poll after poll, and then finally last week's local elections, 
have demonstrated the growing level of opposition to the Medicare and 
Medicaid cuts and the education cuts, which are not popular, but no one 
is listening.
  This budget is being held hostage in order to impose higher Medicare 
premiums on seniors. This is not what the public wants. This is a body 
of, by, and for the people. This is a democracy, but nobody is 
listening; at least the ones who are trying to ram their ideas through 
are really not listening.
  Mr. Speaker, I do not believe that the Republicans really are 
interested in negotiating, despite these weak complaints about the 
Democrats. The Republican leadership has demonstrated no sincere 
interest in negotiating. If there was interest in negotiating, we would 
use the proper procedures. We would simply not load up these simple 
resolutions with all of the legislation for the entire session to be in 
them.
  It is not fair. It is not right. It is not according to anyone's 
procedure. It is heavy-handed. It is insulting, and it is ignoring the 
wishes of the American people.
  Ms. BROWN of Florida. One thing I have learned from the Republicans 
is: He who has the gold makes the rules. It is like if you invite 
someone over to your house to play cards and you change the rules each 
step of the way, that is what we are experiencing here. The Republicans 
change the rules to fit whatever they are trying to do at that moment.
  Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Clearly, this has been a long-
time strategy; one that I really could not believe that we would have 
persons in the kind of responsible positions as we have planning this 
shutdown longer than 6 months ago, planning to ramrod unpopular ideas 
and policies that will hurt the majority of the American people in 
simple resolutions, simply because we have not completed our work.
  If these are policies that ought to stand, they ought to stand 
without being loaded into these simple resolutions. We should be able 
to work those out. We should be able to allow the resolutions to go 
forward clean, and then come to the negotiating table.
  This is simply a technique, in my opinion, to pull the President into 
a fight, where he has clearly stated that using the proper procedure 
for negotiating is acceptable, but he will not be hoodwinked into 
attempting to negotiating by allowing these higher premiums to go in 
and all these protections to be removed from our air, food, and water.
  Ms. BROWN of Florida. Do we have a final word for our constituents as 
to what is going on in Washington and what they should do? I suggest 
that they call their Congresspeople and let them know how they feel 
about how they are wasting taxpayers' dollars by furloughing people, by 
shutting down the Government.

                          ____________________