[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 179 (Monday, November 13, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H16950-H16951]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           PRESIDENT NEEDS TO MEET WITH CONGRESSIONAL LEADERS

  (Mr. TIAHRT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TIAHRT. Mr. Speaker, over the weekend, Speaker Gingrich from the 
House and Senate Majority Leader Dole from the Senate displayed true 
leadership by calling the President on the phone in a genuine attempt 
to reconcile the differences over the budget.
  But what happened? The President was gracious enough to let Senator 
Dole speak one sentence and the Speaker of the House two sentences. But 
then he proceeded to blast both of them and basically hung up.
  The fact is the President does not want to balance the budget, not in 
10 years as he proposed, which ended up being $200 billion over each of 
the 10 years in deficit, but also in 7 years, the plan we presented him 
with.
  Mr. Speaker, this is why we stand on the brink of a government 
shutdown. This is why the budget is not balanced. This is what the 
American people are tired of, business as usual, excuses.
  The President needs to spend less time on the golf course and more 
time meeting with congressional leaders to iron out their differences 
and make Government work, but if the President chooses, he can shut the 
Government down.

[[Page H 16951]]


       TAKE EXTRANEOUS MATTERS OUT OF DEBT LIMIT AND BUDGET BILLS

  (Mr. WARD asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WARD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address the ironic statement 
made by Speaker Gingrich yesterday concerning the debt limit extension. 
In reference to our President, Speaker Gingrich said, ``We are not 
willing to give you a blank check. We are not willing to give you an 
open credit card account,'' he said to President Clinton, when, in 
fact, it is the Speaker who is asking for a blank check to raise 
Medicare premiums and slash our environmental protection laws.
  Speaker Gingrich is using what is usually a set of bipartisan bills 
that are procedural in nature that need to be passed to continue our 
Government's operation, he is using these bills to move his extremist 
agenda because he knows he has not succeeded through the normal 
channels.
  I stand here as one who has voted for a balanced budget, but not one 
that the Speaker liked.
  These extreme extraneous matters have no business being in these 
bills, and they should be debated separately.

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