[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 180 (Tuesday, November 14, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H12197-H12198]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       A WAY OUT OF THE QUANDARY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Levin] is recognized during 
morning business for 3 minutes.
  Mr. LEVIN. Madam Speaker, this is indeed an unhappy day, and I think 
to get out of this quandary it might be useful to note how the 
Government got to this point.

[[Page H 12198]]

  I heard the majority leader say this morning that the President has 
not engaged, he has not negotiated, and the opposite is really true. 
The Republicans have been negotiating with themselves. They forgot that 
they needed to negotiate with Democrats, including the President. Why 
this failure on their part? In part I think it is the arrogance of 
power. They have been engaged in a power play. Also, the radical right 
that controls this House thinks it is always right. They are know-it-
alls who sometimes have sounded like know-nothings. We see in recent 
days the Speaker, who is the father of this all, now kind of blaming 
his children that he cannot control them.
  An example is welfare reform. I saw this morning in the National 
Journal Congress Daily this headline, ``Welfare Bill Conferees Set To 
Unveil Compromise Today.''
  Compromise? This is a compromise by Republican conferees meeting with 
themselves, among themselves, shutting out Democrats, including the 
President. Congressional Republicans continue to function as if 
Congress is a partisan fiefdom. It is now 47 days since House conferees 
were appointed on the welfare reform bill and in those 47 days there 
has been no serious effort by the Republicans at bipartisan 
negotiations. They have been going it alone.
  I want welfare reform, I have been working on it for years since the 
mid-1980's. Democratic conferees have expressed our interest in working 
with the Republican majority and in a letter we sent on Friday laid out 
critical areas that should be addressed. But regrettably instead of 
negotiating a bipartisan bill, the Republicans have been busy producing 
a bill that moves in the wrong direction in critical areas such as the 
level of funding by the States in child care. It is now clear that the 
bill they are producing is unacceptable to the President. On Sunday the 
Chief of Staff Leon Panetta said the President is prepared to veto this 
legislation.
  I say there is a way out. True bipartisanship. The Republicans have 
to end their arrogance of power. Medicare, they want to stuff into the 
bill a proposal that would move this country on the path toward 
doubling the premium on Medicare in the next 7 years.
  I say to the Republicans: Look. You have decided you control this 
House and the Senate and to go it alone. You have sent this country 
into a perilous course. You must pull back.

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