[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 183 (Friday, November 17, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H13293]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   WE HAVE TO LEARN TO WORK TOGETHER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maine [Mr. Baldacci] is recognized for five minutes.
  Mr. BALDACCI. Mr. Speaker, Members of the House, the resolution that 
I put forward is a resolution so that the Congress could continue to 
work on Sunday, that we not take the day off, that we continue to do 
our work.
  There are thousands of seniors who are qualifying for disability, 
veterans disability. There are many people who are trying to visit our 
national parks at Acadia and other national treasures who have been 
told that it is closed, and we have our work to do because we have not 
yet been able to open the Government back up again.
  We put this together as members of the freshman Democratic Party, but 
we reached out in a bipartisan way to continue working, to do what is 
in the public interest, not in the party interest.
  Mr. Speaker, as we argue the balanced budget and as we argue the 
balanced budget over 7 years, I stand before you as somebody who has 
supported a balanced budget over 7 years and supported the particulars 
of that balanced budget over 7 years. I voted for it twice.

  The problem with what is being offered in the Congress is, is a 
balanced budget that incorporates $245 billion in tax cuts. People who 
are earning over $200,000 are going to get a check for $14,000. You are 
going to have to make deeper cuts in Medicare and Medicaid. You 
eliminate a disproportionate share from hospitals that serve 
communities where the poorer people are being taken care of. It 
eliminates and annihilates a lot of rural hospitals throughout our 
country. In my State of Maine we lose $187 million over 2 years. The 
senior Senator from the State of Maine did not vote for the budget that 
was put forward by the Republicans, voted for a balanced budget that 
did not have tax breaks. That is the responsible approach, but that 
approach is not being put forward by the majority.
  So do not ask us to support a balanced budget that has $245 billion 
in tax breaks over 7 years. It is causing too much pain and suffering 
on the seniors. It causes too much pain and suffering for children. You 
are cutting student aid deeper than you have to.
  When we put forward the balanced budget over 7 years, we took $100 
billion of the $245 billion, put it back into Medicare, we put it back 
into Medicaid, student financial aid, and veterans benefits, and we did 
it over 7 years. So we were able to come up with a framework that got 
us to a balanced budget, but that did not do it with as much pain and 
suffering on the seniors, on health care, on kids and on people with 
disabilities as much as what is being proposed by the majority.
  I do think that we can reach a compromise on this particular issue, I 
do not think we are that far apart, and I truly believe, as the 
gentleman has stated here before, that we can work together in that 
regard. There is significant support in both Chambers for that. But I 
think we have to work together at it. It cannot be your way or the 
highway. In the same way on our side it cannot be this is it or else. 
We truly have to communicate regularly because we have to understand 
that the Congress is being controlled by the majority and that the 
administration being controlled by the President, and they are going to 
have to learn to work together in the public interest.

                              {time}  2330

  We really need to force those lines of communication to open up and 
to continue, but I really have to tell you, the budget that has been 
put forth is not a good budget for America. It rolls back environmental 
standards. I believe that what the majority is proposing, and what I 
have seen people talking about, is going backwards. We want to go 
forward, not backward. We do not represent Government as it is, but we 
represent environmental standards and an easier way to get to it. We 
represent a student financial aid program that does not have as much 
regulation to it, but that gets resources out there.
  Mr. HOKE. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. BALDACCI. I yield to the gentleman from Ohio.
  Mr. HOKE. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield for a question, I 
think what the gentleman is saying is absolutely right. We have very 
honest differences about these things. Maybe some of the differences 
get exaggerated for political effect on both sides. What I do not 
understand is why you would be opposed to the continuing resolution 
that very clearly clarifies the only difference is in committing to a 
7-year balanced budget scored by CBO. Why not that?
  Mr. BALDACCI. Just to complete the question, the problem is that you 
take a continuing resolution, which is really, because Congress has not 
finished its work, and, how, I have not been here before, and they have 
had continuing resolutions; but because we did not finish the work, you 
added these items to it, which were like you were trying to do your 
budget approach through reconciliation and a continuing resolution. 
That is what made it very difficult to support that methodology. I 
think that had more to do with that.

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