[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 189 (Wednesday, November 29, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H13769-H13770]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          SIESTA FOR CONGRESS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas [Mr. Doggett] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, today we gain new insight into what this 
new Gingrich-ite majority meant when they said they would give us a new 
Congress, and we can see it right here on the floor today. They have 
brought an entirely new institution to this Congress, not new to other 
countries of the world. It is known as a siesta.
  You see, at a little after 1 o'clock today, when most Americans were 
out working hard trying to make ends meet, the Gingrich-ite leadership 
declared a siesta in the Congress. They said at 1 o'clock, after they 
had paid to bring back Members of Congress from all of the 50 States to 
pass a bill this morning that could have been approved last night with 
ease, to suffer a major defeat today on a piece of legislation that 
would take money away from veterans' care, they said at 1 o'clock, ``We 
do not have any more business today. We do not want to work any more.'' 
And unlike some of our friends in other countries in the world who 
might take a 2- or-3-hour siesta around noontime, this new Gingrich-ite 
majority proposes to extend its siesta until midnight and well into 
tomorrow.
  It is as if they did not hear the message of the American people that 
I heard over the Thanksgiving break, a message that said, ``Stop your 
antics. Get to work.'' The message that said, ``We do not appreciate 
Speaker Gingrich wasting somewhere between $500 million and $800 
million, so zealous with his extremist agenda that he would pay Federal 
workers not to even work for a week, at the expense of the American 
taxpayer.''
  But instead of coming back to work and actually working through these 
appropriations bills, they declare a siesta.
  And is there work left to be done? Well, indeed, if they had not been 
sleeping on the job or something, we would never have had a Government 
shutdown in the first place. You see, they had a responsibility to pass 
some 13 appropriations bills by September 30.
  Did they do it? No. They passed 2 of 13, a failing grade where I come 
from down in Texas. Have they done it 

[[Page H 13770]]
today? Have they even gotten half of these bills passed? Well, now, as 
we begin to approach Christmas, having completed Thanksgiving, they 
have yet to send to the President's desk almost half of 
the appropriations bills.

  Let me review what pends here as these Republicans enjoy their siesta 
today:
  The Commerce, Justice, State, and Judiciary appropriations bills have 
not been presented to this House for action.
  The District of Columbia appropriations bill, it says in the latest 
report that conference was continued on November 17, and it is still 
continued. We do not have the bill out here to act on.
  The Committee on Foreign Operations, the latest report says the 
conference deadlocked on November 15. That means that the Senate 
Republicans and the House Republicans cannot agree on the same bill. So 
it is not out here for us to act on.
  The Interior bill, that is the one we defeated just before the 
Thanksgiving break because of that giveaway that the Gingrich-ite 
majority wanted to give to the mining companies to take public property 
and use it for private gain.
  The Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education bills, they 
failed to begin floor debate over in the Senate at the end of 
September. It has not even passed the U.S. Senate.
  Then the Veterans' Affairs, Housing and Urban Development legislation 
which was taken up and defeated today, recommitted for the second time, 
the second time that this House has recommitted that bill, the first 
time because our Republican colleagues wanted to bind and destroy law 
enforcement against pollution with some 17 binders, and so it was 
rejected. They came back kind of with their tails between their legs, 
saying, ``We really did not mean to do so much damage to the 
environment as we did.''
  Today this House said ``yes,'' but you are doing damage to the 
veterans that secured this country. You are taking $213 million out of 
their health care that ought not to be taken out of that health care, 
and this House soundly rejected and recommitted that bill.
  We have got half the business and well over half of the 
appropriations of the Government of the United States that have not 
been signed into law, and these folks take a siesta for the rest of the 
day.
  They say they want a balanced budget. Well, they do not have much 
balance to the way they are getting that budget. The problem is they do 
not have any balance in the budget that they propose.
  I believe in a budget that is balanced. I come from the pay-as-you-go 
approach of Texas. I want those figures to balance so that we do not 
leave our grandchildren with debt upon debt.
  But how about a little balance for the people that are affected by 
that budget? Oh, yes, they say we have got to sacrifice. They said this 
morning that those veterans had to sacrifice to the extent of $213 
million out of their health care.
  But what sacrifice do they demand of the most wealthy of our 
citizens? They said, ``Could you, please, pretty please, take a tax 
break at the same time we cut the rest of America?''
  That is wrong, and so is this siesta.

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