[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 214 (Tuesday, January 2, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S19326]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I have been here on the floor several times 
during the past few days over the New Year's weekend, as have the 
distinguished Republican leader and the distinguished Democratic 
leader, the distinguished Senator from North Dakota [Mr. Dorgan], and 
others who have been working the effort of trying to get this budget 
back together.
  It is ironic that we are here and we hear statements coming from 
some, primarily in the other body from back in their home States and 
home districts, that show to me at least the disconnect with reality. I 
hope some of these Members when they return to Washington will have a 
fresh perspective on the human toll this foolish Government shutdown 
has taken. This foolish Government shutdown has taken a human toll. In 
fact, it is ironic that the House and Senate cannot seem to come 
together and get the work done necessary to get us out of this, but we 
are getting paid at the same time there are hundreds of thousands of 
Federal employees who want to work and they are not being paid. There 
are others deemed essential who go to work and will not be paid.
  These people have mortgages. These people have rent, heat, food, 
child care, everything else, to pay. They are not getting their 
paychecks. They are real human beings, whether they are in Vermont or 
any other State.
  My New Year's wish is that the House may replace its severe case of 
intransigence with some true leadership to get us out of this, because 
this kind of Government close-down foolishness is not necessary.
  The balanced budget talks are going on right now with the President, 
with the distinguished leadership on both sides. That has nothing to do 
with whether Congress completes its work. We have 13 appropriations 
bills that are supposed to be passed by the end of the fiscal year. The 
reason much of Government is closed down is because a number of those 
bills have not been passed. I might suggest a bill that the House could 
accept, if they are unwilling to pay Federal employees, they ought to 
pass the bill that the Senate has already passed which says that 
Members of Congress will not be paid until this is done. They will not 
do that. In fact, we had one Member of the House who said that he has 
to be paid because he is in the Constitution. I looked through the 
Constitution. I did not find his name, and I would love to see which 
copy he is referring to.
  The fact is that we have people, Federal workers, who are being 
punished unnecessarily. I would like to have some of these members who 
do not want us to go back to work to talk to Angelia and Jeffrey Brace 
of Milton, VT. They cannot go to work at the Immigration and 
Naturalization Service office in South Burlington, VT, and they and 
their 3\1/2\-year-old daughter are not going to get a paycheck. There 
are headlines like this in the Vermont press, ``Budget Squeeze Hits 
Home.'' It is happening in every one of our States.
  I know the distinguished Republican leader and the distinguished 
Democratic leader, if it was left to them and with the President, we 
could get this done. We have passed legislation here to put us back to 
work. If it was left to the leadership here in the Senate on both sides 
of the aisle this could be done. Just because some--in this case, a 
small group of freshmen who I admit each have 12 months of experience 
with the Government--have made a decision that we will become a 
laughingstock to the rest of the world because our Government is shut 
down, because they are not getting every bit of their way.
  Mr. President, I have a letter to the editor in my hometown newspaper 
from Mr. George D. Sack, president of the Vermont chapter of the 
National Treasury Employees Union, that says if the chief executive 
officer of IBM and the board of directors had a dispute over policy, it 
is doubtful they would close their plants until they reach a decision. 
Yet that is exactly what happened when Congress and the administration 
closed the Government.
  This is not the way to do things. This is costing taxpayers hundreds 
of millions of dollars in wasted productivity, wasted time. Some will 
go on and say, ``Do you miss the Government?'' Ask that of somebody 
trying to get a visa, or ask that of somebody who has a mortgage 
application before the Veterans Administration. Ask any number of 
people, and it will go into the millions of people being 
inconvenienced. Ask the people who are in private business who are 
being hurt because the Government is closed down.
  The fact of the matter, Mr. President, we could put the Government 
back to work in the next hour and we would still have negotiations on 
the budget, negotiations that would bring about a balanced budget in 7 
years. We are not going to have a Clinton budget or Gingrich budget or 
Dole budget or Leahy budget, but we could have a budget where we all 
work together, protect the environment, protect education, protect 
people that need medical care, still balance the budget. That is what 
we ought to do.
  This kind of posturing, when it hurts people who cannot pay the 
mortgage, the heat, their children's doctors' bills, that is cruel.
  It is especially cruel when the taxpayers have paid for airplane 
tickets for those same House Members to go home for Christmas vacation; 
the taxpayers have paid them a couple of thousand dollars a week to sit 
at home doing nothing. They ought to be back here getting us back to 
work.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Maryland.
  Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, what is the parliamentary situation?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. There are 5 minutes allocated to 
each Senator for morning business.

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