[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 1 (Wednesday, January 3, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H8]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        NO POLITICAL TOUCHDOWNS

  (Mr. WISE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. WISE. Mr. Speaker, if the Congress were a New Year's bowl game, 
then the legislative Heisman Trophy has to go to House Republican new 
Members for most successful tackles of a Federal Government: 19 days so 
far.
  No one is scoring political touchdowns in this, Mr. Speaker. The 
public is throwing the yellow flag on all of our Houses, including this 
one.
  My constituents have gone from expressing general frustration to 
specific anger. They are asking about the thousands of passports that 
are not being processed, the private vendors who are not being paid, 
the 2,500 housing loans a day not being processed, the $40 million a 
day of small business loan guarantees not being processed, millions of 
dollars a day in export licenses not being issued.
  One Federal supervisor in Charleston told me, Bob, we run complex 
operations. You cannot turn us on and off like a switch. A Federal 
fraud investigator reminded me that he cannot be ferreting out millions 
of dollars in fraud from a furloughed status.
  Mr. Speaker, while the budget negotiators do their work, this House 
should let hundreds of thousands of Federal workers do their work. 
Please end this shutdown now.

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