[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 205 (Wednesday, December 20, 1995)]
[House]
[Pages H15309-H15310]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  2315
                           THE BUDGET DEBATE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Chrysler). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from Florida [Ms. Brown] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, older Americans have fought this 
country's wars, built its cities, reared its children and tilled its 
soil. They deserve much and need much. So said the late Claude Pepper, 
who served Florida for 15 years in the Senate and 26 years more in the 
House. He was a true champion for the seniors of Florida and this 
country.
  Mr. Speaker, we all agree that we were sent to Congress to pass a 
responsible budget. But I do not believe we 

[[Page H15310]]
should balance the budget on the backs of the elderly, the sick, the 
poor, and the disabled.
  Claude Pepper once said, ``My one great wish is to live long enough 
to see the day when this great and prosperous Nation can give every 
man, woman, and child every bit of health care he or she needs. I think 
this is a part of the American dream.''
  Mr. Speaker, I share Claude Pepper's dream. Let us protect seniors. 
Let us pass a responsible budget, and let us do it now.
  I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey [Mr. Pallone].
  Would the gentleman explain for the constituents of Florida why we 
are into this second shutdown. And I think the first one cost over $800 
million?
  Mr. PALLONE. Exactly.
  I appreciate the gentlewoman from Florida bringing that to our 
attention. I think that much of that has been lost, unfortunately, 
during the debate.
  The bottom line is that after the first shutdown, both the President 
and the Congress got together and passed what we call a continuing 
resolution which allowed the Government to operate for few weeks while 
the parties involved worked out their differences over the budget. The 
resolution that was passed not only called for the Government to 
continue to operate, it also called for a balanced budget in 7 years, 
and it recognized certain priorities that had to be protected as part 
of that budget, such as Medicare, Medicaid, education.
  Ms. BROWN of Florida. School lunch.
  Mr. PALLONE. Environment, nutrition programs, et cetera. The problem 
is that when that resolution ran out last Friday, the Republican 
leadership refused to bring up another continuing resolution. They have 
not done so Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Now we are into 
the fifth day, if you will, without a continuing resolution, which 
means that the Government continues to be shut down. They have refused 
so far to meet the agreement, if you will, of the previous continuing 
resolution.

  Ms. BROWN of Florida. Does the continuing resolution have anything to 
do with the budget talks that we can pick up in January and go on until 
the November election of 1996? Because I really believe that the 
American people are going to have to resolve this. They have got to 
decide what kind of House do they want.
  Mr. PALLONE. Exactly.
  Ms. BROWN of Florida. And whether or not they want this House to be 
run by extreme radicals.
  Mr. PALLONE. Exactly. I think the point is that we had agreed, with 
the previous continuing resolution, that while we worked out our 
differences on the budget, the Government would continue to operate. 
And it set forth an agreement that we would have a 7-year balanced 
budget, assuming that certain priorities were maintained, such as 
Medicare and Medicaid and some of the other programs that you 
mentioned.
  The problem now is that the Republicans let that continuing 
resolution run out and have refused to bring up another one, and as a 
consequence, the Government shutdown is in a sense the hostage that is 
being held by the Republican leadership because they cannot get their 
way, if you will, on the budget.
  Ms. BROWN of Florida. I heard some of the freshmen earlier said that 
they would never vote for another continuing resolution. Did we not 
just have one on VA?
  Mr. PALLONE. We had one on VA.
  Ms. BROWN of Florida. Did they not vote for it?
  Mr. PALLONE. They voted for one just with the VA but they refused to 
bring up a larger continuing resolution that would prevent the rest of 
the Government from being shut down. Basically, what they are doing is 
playing politics, because they know that veterans' benefits will not go 
out tomorrow. So they agreed to let that go by, but they refused to 
worry about the other benefits, the other programs, whether it be 
education or some of the other social programs or agencies, whatever is 
necessary for various agencies.
  Ms. BROWN of Florida. I was talking about Claude Pepper earlier, and 
I have a picture of Claude and Lyndon Baines Johnson together.
  I have heard these Republicans get up here and talk about they want 
to tear this Government down, brick by brick. I think the American 
people need to weigh in on how they want this country to look, whether 
or not they just want this country for the rich and famous or for all 
of us.
  Mr. PALLONE. I think you are absolutely right. This is the first 
time, and I think it is outrageous, that people have articulated that 
they are going to close the Government down because they cannot get 
their way on legislation.
  Ms. BROWN of Florida. In closing, you can fool some of the people 
some of the time but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time.

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