[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 189 (Wednesday, November 29, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H13765-H13766]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     BUDGET RECONCILIATION BILL LIMITS OPPORTUNITIES FOR AMERICANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Texas [Ms. Jackson-Lee] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE. Mr. Speaker, we are in the midst, during these next 
couple of days, of making a recommitment to the American people that we 
are now serious about a budget reconciliation process that takes away 
the stridency and the gross imbalance that the present bill has 
offered.
  I voted against the Budget Reconciliation Act that has been proposed 
by the majority in this House. This is not to say that the consequences 
of not balancing a budget is not of great concern.
  I have been to my district. I have discussed the issue with a myriad 
of constituents: working Americans, also individuals who are looking to 
become independent, transitioning themselves maybe from public housing, 
from being recipients of welfare. But as they look to become 
independent and as working families are looking to become stronger, the 
Budget Reconciliation Act says to them that we will not join you in 
partnership.
  This bill drastically cuts housing opportunities for affordable 
housing. This bill drastically cuts opportunities for poor working 
families to receive an earned income tax credit. What we may be saying 
sounds like a continuous recording sound, droning on and on. But what 
it actually does is impacts the lives of working and living Americans. 
It jeopardizes the fragile relationship of survival, whether they 
survive today or whether they do not survive tomorrow.

  We find that when we cast aspersions and criticisms on those who 
receive welfare, this Budget Reconciliation Act, along with the 
proposed welfare reform plan, cuts child care, cuts job training, and 
disregards the opportunity for encouraging businesses and others to 
employ now present welfare recipients by providing a tax incentive to 
hire such persons. We find in the Budget Reconciliation Act that the 
job program that helped youth be employed during the summer the last 

[[Page H 13766]]
number of years is simply nothing but a baby sitting job or a baby 
sitting activity. How egregiously wrong that perspective is.
  In my district, in the city of Houston, we will lose some 6,000 
summer jobs. Across this Nation, we will lose millions of dollars that 
have helped young people be directed away from activities that would 
cause criminal results to more constructive activities that have 
exposed them to career activities.
  There have been accusations, for example, that the monies have been 
misused. I am not sure of the extensiveness of any hearings that have 
suggested that cities that have been, and quasi-public agencies that 
have been in partnership with the business communities throughout this 
Nation have not effectively utilized youth summer program monies.
  We have been able to hire 6,000 youths in my community. All of them 
have managed to be exposed to unique experiences. Whether it was with 
NASA and the space station, whether it was with city government, or 
whether it was with one of our major energy companies in the community, 
they have learned independence, self-sufficiency, self-esteem.
  In fact, Mr. Speaker, I had a young person who worked in my office 
when I was a local elected official who did real work, by the way, this 
young intern, who, when she got the offer to be an intern under the 
summer jobs program, called with excitement but yet sadness and said, I 
cannot accept, because I do not have the proper clothes and I would be 
embarrassed to show up. I said to that young person, if you have to 
wear a paper bag, come to this office to know what you can do, how you 
can be challenged and what the opportunities are for you in the future.
  The Budget Reconciliation Act must give to the American people hope. 
It must give to them a direction. It must give to them focus. What we 
have now is an ill-spirited and misdirected opportunity.
  So I would ask, as the process continues, that we begin to look at 
where this country wants to go in the 21st century. Do we want to turn 
back the clock on environment with respect to clear water, clean air, 
and would you believe, food safety inspections? How outrageous when we 
have come so far that now we would deny citizens the adequacy of food 
safety inspections.
  We have a responsibility, Mr. Speaker, to fairly strike a chord of 
reason in the Budget Reconciliation Act process. I will participate. I 
ask my colleagues to participate.

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