[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 205 (Wednesday, December 20, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H15261]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 SPEAKER AND HOUSE REPUBLICANS SHOULD NEGOTIATE WITH PRESIDENT AND END 
                          GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Gephardt] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, the President reached an agreement with 
the Republican leadership last night, both to begin intensive 
discussions about how to balance the budget on a rapid timetable and 
also that the Congress would pass a continuing resolution today to 
reopen the Government. Evidently, the extreme elements of the House 
Republicans have rejected this agreement and prevented the Government 
from reopening today.
  Mr. Speaker, the President is committed to balancing the budget in 7 
years and doing so in a way that reflects our values and also our 
priorities: health care, education, the environment, tax fairness. He 
is prepared to talk with the Republican leaders today, tomorrow, the 
next day, as long as is necessary to get the job done.
  But Congress in the meantime should reopen the Federal Government. We 
cannot achieve this important goal through threats and ultimatums. The 
Republicans in Congress have threatened to keep the Government shut 
down unless the President agrees to deep and unconscionable cuts in 
Medicare and Medicaid. The President will never give in to these kinds 
of threats, nor should he.
  Mr. Speaker, this country has a responsibility not only to balance 
the budget, but also to protect our values and our interests as people. 
We must act in the interest of the 3.3 million veterans who will not 
receive their benefits checks due December 29 unless the Congress 
passes a continuing resolution by tomorrow morning.
  Our first obligation must be to these people, not to confrontational 
tactics or extreme agendas. Let me last say this. I believe that if 
this cannot move forward today, we are in a constitutional crisis. This 
is the first time in memory that the Speaker of the House and a 
majority in the House has said that the President's veto, being an 
extraordinary power, must be met on the side of the majority in 
Congress if they disagree with that veto, not with a two-thirds 
majority to override the veto, not with another bill that might gain 
the President's signature, but with shutting the Government down.
  Mr. Speaker, there is no language in the Constitution that says that 
is what the majority in Congress should do if they are displeased with 
the veto. The Constitution says we override the veto or we pass another 
bill that the President may or may not sign.
  It is irresponsible, it is unconscionable, it is immoral to have 
taxpayers' money to pay for services and then to say we are not going 
to give those services to people or, in the case of veterans, their 
checks for their pension, because we are in a pique with the President 
with his priorities on the budget.
  Mr. Speaker, I cannot believe this is happening to our country. In 
the name of sense, in the name of morality, in the name of logic, in 
the name of decency, I ask the Republican majority and the Speaker of 
this House to come to this floor today to pass a continuing resolution, 
to open this Government back up and to get in a room with the President 
of the United States and the other leaders in Congress and try to see 
as hard as we can if we can find a budget for this country for the next 
year, if not 7 years.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. GEPHARDT. I yield to the gentleman from Texas.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, the Leader is obviously here, as are many 
Democrats, ready to work this afternoon. I am advised that unless this 
Congress, which went into a kind of recess at 2 o'clock eastern time 
today, unless by 8 o'clock in the morning it has approved a continuing 
resolution, thousands of veterans in Austin, TX, and I believe you said 
3.3 million across the country, people that have served our country, 
who have put their lives on the line, many of them disabled veterans, 
will not get their checks on time if that resolution is not passed 
within just a matter of hours.
  Mr. Speaker, does the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Gephardt] know of 
any reason why those veterans should be asked to sacrifice and should 
be caught in the middle of all the crisis that is going on here in 
Washington?
  Mr. GEPHARDT. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, there is absolutely no 
justification for it. It is immoral. It is immoral to say that they 
will not get their benefits because there is a disagreement between the 
Congress and the President on a budget. That is not the adult way, the 
sensible way to handle this disagreement.

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