[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 180 (Tuesday, November 14, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H12322-H12323]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Florida [Ms. Brown] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, when I was a kid coming up, my 
favorite television show was ``Dragnet.'' Sergeant Joe Friday used to 
indicate constantly, ``The facts, ma'am, just the facts.'' That is what 
I want to discuss here today, how did we get in this mess with this 
Government shutdown, and just the facts.
  You know, instead of doing what we should have been doing, working on 
the budget and the appropriation bills necessary to keep the Government 
running, the so-called leadership of this House had us waste over 3 
months on the Contract on America, a campaign gimmick that most 
Americans have never even heard of, or, for those who have, did not 
really care anything about it.
  As a result, it is mid-November, and only 4 of the 13 appropriation 
bills have been approved by Congress, 1\1/2\ months after all 
appropriation bills were due. Republicans still have not passed only 
four of them. To me, this is unbelievable, how 800,000 Federal workers 
have been furloughed, many veterans and seniors will not receive their 
benefits on time, and the Republicans continue to blame the President.

  The question I have is this: How in the world can the President be 
blamed for this shutdown when only 4 of the 13 appropriation bills have 
reached his desk? In addition, he does not have a vote in this House or 
the Senate. The answer is that he cannot be blamed for this. The 
responsibility lies on the leadership, the Republican leadership in 
this Congress. They are the ones who have failed to do what they were 
sent here to do. The Republicans are also the ones who have been 
threatening to shut down this Government if the President does not cave 
in to their extremist agenda.
  It was the Speaker who said last April that a Government shutdown and 
default would be political tools he would be likely to use as a 
leverage to push his extreme agenda. You know, if the Republicans 
really want to keep the Government up and running, they would have sent 
the President a clean continuing resolution. Instead, they forced the 
President to veto this legislation because of all the riders attached 
to it. Then, after the President vetoed the CR, the Republicans blamed 
him for shutting down the Government. But the American people are not 
buying it, and the American people are beginning to realize just how 
mean-spirited and extreme the Republican agenda is, and they do not 
like it.
  Along with this extreme agenda, the American people are also against 
the Republicans blackmailing and refusing to compromise. The 
Republicans need to stop playing blaming games and get down to business 
and do what the people sent them here to do. You know, I often say, 
``You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool 
all of the people all of the time,'' and the American people are waking 
up to the Republican party.
  Mr. KINGSTON. Mr. Speaker, let me be first to say that in my concept 
of new technology, we could install them on both the Democrat and 
Republican microphones, so that when a Member of either party get off 
the farm and reality we could have a little beep come on. It was an 
idea in technology.
  I thought my good friend from Texas was going to ask to yield the 
floor and see if we could set up a study committee for this truthometer 
on the microphone.
  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. If the gentleman will yield, Mr. Speaker. I 
will be glad to talk about the veracity of polygraph tests.
  Mr. KINGSTON. If it is polygraphs, the technology is out there, and 
that is the point. If we could just do this, I think it would be great.
  Mrs. THURMAN. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. KINGSTON. I am happy to yield to the gentlewoman from Florida.
  Mrs. THURMAN. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman tell me who has control 
over what is truth and what is false?
  Mr. KINGSTON. The American people.
  I would also say maybe we can put in some Math-101 classes so when 
folks say Medicare going from $4,800 to $6,700 is a cut, we can work on 
that, because maybe they can do that without the beep being triggered. 
There could just be some misunderstanding on what number is greater.
  Mr. Speaker, I do want to point out one thing, though. There has been 
discussion about attaching things to this bill that has put the 
President in this bad position. In the words of the budget director, 
the Chief of Staff, and I believe I can quote him without causing any 
ruckus, the Republicans are now obviously resorting to a form of 
blackmail in order to push their agenda onto the country. This is 
unacceptable. This is blackmail.
  Those were the words of Leon Panetta in the White House press release 
November 9. Yet, as a Congressman he said, yet this is the only vehicle 
we have as we close these days before this recess to try to bring the 
American 

[[Page H 12323]]
public what I think is a very important issue that relates to our 
ability to control spending and provide a shared sacrifice in terms of 
our approach.
  That came from the Congressional Record on June 28, 1984, which then-
Congressman Panetta was saying, yes, it is okay to put stuff on these 
bills. They are a good vehicle. This is the only way we can do it.
  So, Mr. Speaker, when we talk about the Republican Party overloading 
some of the budget bills and trying to blackmail the President of the 
United States, I would say there are true philosophical differences. 
The Republican Party wants to reduce the size of Government. They want 
to end the micromanagement out of Washington. They want to give the 
middle class some tax relief.
  Yes, we are using legislative vehicles to do that. Members of the 
minority party do not want that; I understand that. But perhaps if the 
President would just agree that we want to balance the budget in 7 
years, perhaps we could scale back on all this stuff.
  I think it is important to have the dialogue. I think it is important 
to have a debate, but, most importantly, let us put the American people 
first. Let us put their interests first and try to do the right thing.

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