[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 205 (Wednesday, December 20, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H15258]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                PRESIDENT RIGHT TO STAND FIRM ON BUDGET

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Connecticut [Ms. DeLauro] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. DeLAURO. Mr. Speaker, let me just comment on one thing that the 
prior speaker mentioned at the beginning of his remarks, and that was 
that the President was holding out, was hanging tough, whatever phrase 
you want to use, on the budget, because of the people that he cares 
about, or the interests that he cares about.
  I have got to tell you I am very proud of the President and his 
holding firm on this budget, because of in fact who he is holding out 
for, and that is for the folks who are on Medicare, those elderly who 
are in nursing homes, that get their health care paid for through 
either in whole or in part by Medicaid, by concerning himself with the 
environment, and by concerning himself with the working families of 
this country.
  By the same token, Speaker Gingrich is trying to hold the President 
hostage on this budget because of the special interests that he has, 
and I will match the President's commitment to the working people of 
this country with Mr. Gingrich holding out for those special interests, 
those who are going to get the benefits of $245 billion in tax breaks, 
those richest of American corporations who are going to see a $17 
billion windfall with the repeal of the alternate minimum tax.
  Last month Speaker Gingrich shut the Government down. He shut it 
down, and, in his own words, he shut it down because he did not like 
his seat on Air Force One. Now he is at it again. This time the Speaker 
has shut the Government down because he is not getting his way on the 
budget, even though the overwhelming number of Americans reject Speaker 
Gingrich's budget, and I might add, that 60 percent of the American 
public wanted President Clinton to veto the Gingrich budget because of 
the issues of Medicare, Medicaid, education, and the environment.
  The Speaker is not getting his way on this budget. He would like to 
cut Medicare, Medicaid, education, and the environment, all to help 
finance that tax break for the wealthiest Americans. Those may be the 
Speaker's priorities, but in fact they are not America's priorities. 
But instead of listening of the American people and fixing this 
unbalanced budget, the Speaker has chosen to shut the Government down 
for the second time in a month. His decision to shut the Government 
down has thrown more than 200,000 people out of work 1 week before the 
Christmas holidays.
  Yesterday my colleague from Virginia, Mr. Moran, was on the floor, 
and he put the Government shutdown into human terms that I think 
everyone who is listening can understand. He said he visited a school 
in his suburban Washington district where the teachers told him that 
the children are not enjoying Christmas this year as they have in the 
past. Why? Because many of their parents are Federal employees who are 
out of work today, people who want to go to work, people who take on 
personal responsibility for themselves and their families. They are out 
of work today, thanks to Speaker Gingrich. Their parents are fighting 
more, worried that they will not get paid, and afraid to spend money on 
the Christmas holiday gifts.
  We should not be surprised that Speaker Gingrich is willing to go to 
such extreme lengths to get his way if you take a look at what the 
Speaker said in September about shutting the Government down. This is a 
quote from the Washington Post on September 22. It says, ``I don't care 
what the price is. I don't care if we have no executive offices and no 
bonds for 30 days--not at this time. I don't care what the price is.''

                              {time}  1445

  Quite honestly, that sums up the philosophy of the Speaker. It 
explains why he is willing to shut down the Government and ruin the 
holidays for thousands of hard-working families in this country.
  This is someone who talks about a budget that is good for our 
children. What happens to these youngsters who are watching their 
parents worry about their jobs and what they are going to be able to do 
in the future? It explains why Speaker Gingrich's budget cuts health 
care for the elderly and the poor while providing massive tax breaks 
for the wealthiest people and corporations in this country.
  Believe it or not, this is the same man who last week was named Times 
``Man of the Year,'' leaving America to wonder who was the runner up, 
Ebenezer Scrooge?

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