[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 205 (Wednesday, December 20, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H15275-H15276]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          FEDERAL WORKERS UNFAIRLY BURDENED BY BUDGET IMPASSE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Virginia [Mr. Davis] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. DAVIS. Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to yield to the gentleman 
from Pennsylvania [Mr. Kanjorski] to finish his point.
  Mr. KANJORSKI. Mr. Speaker, our point is that we could all come up 
with this type of budget. We could have 435 different budgets taking 
into consideration various conditions. Right now we have what is called 
the coalition budget that has no tax cut in it and that does balance 
the budget, so clearly the Democratic side or the President could put 
that budget on the table or some various of that, which the Senate 
seems to have put together on their side.
  It requires, however, a decision as to whether or not we are going to 
have a tax cut, a smaller proportional tax cut, 

[[Page H15276]]
or no tax cut at all to arrive at that balance. That is what we call in 
common political parlance, and legal parlance, compromise.
  Mr. SCARBOROUGH. Mr. Speaker, would the gentleman yield?
  Mr. KANJORSKI. It is the time of the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. 
Davis].
  Mr. DAVIS. Mr. Speaker, I would be happy to yield to my friend, the 
gentleman from Florida [Mr. Scarborough].
  Mr. SCARBOROUGH. Mr. Speaker, let me state, the problem is not 
compromising between Republicans, even freshman Republicans and some 
conservative to moderate Democrats. We have the numbers to pass a 
balanced budget right now through this House if the administration 
would just get on board.
  The votes last night, where not one person supported the President's 
budget. The vote two nights ago, where an overwhelming number of 
Democrats supported 7-year CBO showed that we could work together. We 
are willing to put everything on the table, but it has to be in the 
President's best interest to pass a balanced budget before he gets 
engaged in this.
  Mr. DAVIS. Mr. Speaker, I have to reclaim my time. If I have time, I 
will yield for a question. Let me say to my friend from Pennsylvania, I 
do not know if it is extreme polarization on the budget. Clearly, among 
435 Members, we have all kinds of opinions.
  Some Members do not feel that we ought to balance the budget. Some 
want to balance the budget their way or no way, and we have some of 
that. We cannot all stand completely on principle, or we would never 
get anything out of here. We have to compromise, and I recognize that.
  The difficulty that we have on our side of the aisle is that the 
President whether he was campaigning in 1992, said he was not balancing 
the budget in 5 years. In 1993, he got up here at the State of the 
Union and said CBO numbers were the most reliable numbers. Now we come 
up with CBO 7-years and we have yet to see a plan from him that balance 
in 7 years, and that has caused us some confusion.
  Mr. Speaker, when we see that plan, I think it is going to be easier 
to compare the President's vision with numbers that balance and our 
plan.
  Mr. KANJORSKI. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman would yield, I would say 
but, you realize that 5 years, 7 years, all depends what you want to 
do. Look, I can give you a budget today, and you can too, that balance 
the budget in year.
  Mr. DAVIS. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I recognize that, but I 
think it is key if we could get in that box of 7 years, with honestly 
scored numbers, then we are all talking off the same song sheet. Right 
now we are not there.

  Ours has been scored by the Congressional Budget Office. We know what 
it does. If my Democrat colleagues do not like the values or what it 
does to people, that is fine. But how would my friend do it within the 
same box?
  Let me make a couple of other points. Federal employees have really, 
during this whole debate, been an unintended victim of this debate. 
Over the last several years they have seen the Federal Government 
downsized and many Federal employees have been losing their jobs and 
having to go elsewhere.
  We have seen their benefits cut. We saw them cut in the last 
Congress. This time, there were resolutions up here to have them give 
up another 2\1/2\ percent of their pay to put in their retirement. We 
saw an effort to bring their retirement down so that their standards 
would not be the high 3 years, but the high 5 years. That would 
basically reduce their retirement.
  We saw some proposals up here that would cap the Federal payment for 
the Federal Employees Health Benefit Plan, which would mean they would 
be paying more for their health insurance. We saw another proposal here 
that would charge Federal employees for parking, even in buildings 
where nobody else was paying a parking fee. We were able to defeat most 
of those as we were moving ahead, but the unsettling thing is that 
working for the Federal Government is not what it used to be.
  We used to say, ``Give me your best and your brightest.'' Now it is 
come work for us; we will cut your benefits, we will downsize you, we 
will furlough you. Now they are experiencing furloughs and it is the 
Christmas time. Today is December 20. Many Federal employees would have 
received their paychecks today, but because of the shutdown in some 
agencies, that is not going to happen.
  Mr. Speaker, the good news today, and I would like to ask unanimous 
consent to put in the Record a letter to Senator John Warner, to 
myself, to the gentlewoman from Maryland, Mrs. Morella, the gentleman 
from Virginia, Mr. Wolf, my colleague from Virginia, a letter from 
Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, where they 
say in here that, and I will put the whole letter in the Record, but 
they basically assure Federal employees that when this is over, they 
will be paid retroactively.
  Mr. Speaker, this has always been done before; this will be done this 
time. Having the House leadership on board, and the Senate leadership 
on board at this time, is very important.
  Mr. VOLKMER. Mr. Speaker, will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. DAVIS. I am pleased to yield to the gentleman from Missouri.
  Mr.VOLKMER. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to hear the news that the 
Federal employees are going to be paid, but they are not going to be 
working.
  Mr. Speaker, I submit the following letter for the Record.

                                Congress of the United States,

                                                December 20, 1995.
     Hon. John Warner,
     U.S. Senate.

     Hon. Frank R. Wolf
     Hon. Constance A. Morella
     Hon. Tom Davis
     U.S. House of Representatives.
     Dear Colleagues:
       Because of your interest in the ongoing budget negotiations 
     and your strong support for federal employees, we wanted to 
     take this opportunity to reaffirm our letter of November 10, 
     1995, in which we made clear that employees furloughed 
     through no fault of their own should not be punished.
       It is unfortunate that President Clinton has chosen to veto 
     appropriations bills that would have funded the salaries of 
     federal employees at the Departments of Justice, State, 
     Commerce, Veterans Affairs, and Housing and Urban 
     Development, as well as independent agencies such as the 
     Environmental Protection Agency. Similarly, procedural 
     objections by Democrats have prevented the funding of 
     salaries at the Departments of Labor, HHS and Education.
       The direct result of those actions is that furloughed 
     federal employees at those particular agencies cannot be 
     paid. However, we would like to reaffirm our commitment to 
     restoring any lost wages for federal employees in a 
     subsequent funding bill.
       Thank you for your continued and strong leadership on 
     behalf of federal workers.
     Newt Gingrich,
                                             Speaker of the House.
     Bob Dole,
     Senate Majority Leader.

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