[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 205 (Wednesday, December 20, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H15259-H15260]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          FRESHMEN REPUBLICANS DO NOT CARE ABOUT FAMILY VALUES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Miller] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, the previous speaker said that 
this was not about ruining the holidays for the families of Federal 
employees; that that really was not important and what was important 
was a balanced budget.
  I think that that shows such incredible lack of respect for those 
families, for their relationships with their children at a time of the 
holidays, for their religious beliefs. I think it shows such an 
incredible lack of respect for our families and our religious beliefs. 
This is more than shopping days. This is a religious holiday. It is a 
time when we gather with our families and we think of our fortunes and 
our misfortunes, and we take stock of the year we have and the year we 
look forward to and we pay respect to our God.
  The suggestion somehow is that that can all be held ransom, that can 
be held ransom and somehow that will make the negotiations more 
serious; that, apparently, the Speaker of the House of Representatives 
is incapable of negotiating unless he has a hostage. He shut down the 
Government a month ago because the President of the United States would 
not talk to him. Now he is shutting down the Government because the 
President is talking to him.

  Last night the President agreed to sit down with Senator Dole and 
with Speaker Gingrich, they would roll up their sleeves and they would 
negotiate a balanced budget that would be scored, the numbers would be 
guaranteed so it truly came into balance by the Congressional Budget 
Office.
  They walked out of that office with that agreement: and, apparently, 
the Speaker brought that back to the Hill and the freshmen Republicans 
told him, no; that that was not good enough to release the Federal 
hostages; that that was not good enough to let people enjoy Christmas; 
and that was not good enough to put people back to work.
  Maybe we were wrong. I assume that the President assumed that when 
the Speaker said he wanted to negotiate vis-a-vis the President, that 
he assumed he had the authority to negotiate. The President was 
speaking for the Presidency, the executive branch and the people he 
represents. Senator 

[[Page H15260]]
Dole seemed to think he was representing the people in the Senate from 
the Republican Party. Apparently, the Speaker did not have negotiating 
authority from the freshmen in the House of Representatives.
  So apparently, the Government will remain shut down through 
Christmas. We will or will not be here through Christmas, and families 
will have to go through that kind of trauma. It is terribly 
unfortunate, but it shows such a basic flaw in all of the rhetoric and 
all of the debate and all of the hot air from the Republicans about 
family values, about the importance of families, about how this was 
going to be a Congress that took that into consideration when we 
recognize the importance of the Christmas season to our families.
  Now, what is the debate about? The debate, apparently, is that the 
freshmen Republicans told the Speaker there will be no give on the $245 
billion tax cut; that that was sacred to their sense of a balanced 
budget. So at the time that we are cutting the seniors' health care 
benefits, at a time that we are limiting the amount of money to be made 
available for the elderly in nursing homes, at a time that we are 
cutting back on health care benefits and abolishing the Medicaid 
Program for children, for poor women in this country, the first time 
that we have put children back into poverty instead of lifting them out 
of poverty, at a time that we are cutting back on access to student 
loans and increasing the cost of education, at a time that we are 
making those fundamental changes and cutbacks that affect every family 
in America, the bottom line for the Republicans is that if they do not 
get the tax cut for the wealthy in this country, if they do not get 
that, then there can be no negotiations.
  To hold on to that position, they have decided, for the second time, 
to take hostages from the Federal work force. This is a little bit like 
a family that sits down, as we must do to balance a budget, and decides 
that they will only go to the show once a week, they will not eat out 
any longer, they will drive the car for a longer period of time, they 
will not buy a new house, they will take an extra job, maybe the kids 
will have to work, but then, all of a sudden, they turn around and say, 
but we are going to give the children a raise in their allowance.
  We do not have the money for this tax cut. We do not have the $245 
billion when we are cutting $270 billion out of seniors' health care 
and $180 billion out of Medicaid. I think the freshmen Republicans 
ought to quit being so selfish and start thinking about America's 
families and families that need their help.

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