[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 1 (Wednesday, January 3, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13-S14]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        THE IRRESPONSIBLE COURSE OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, today we are in the 19th day of the 
longest Government shutdown in the Nation's history. Let me begin, as 
others have here today, by commending the majority leader for his 
action yesterday in bringing to a vote, here in the Senate, a 
continuing resolution to restore funding for the ongoing operation of 
the Government. I frankly regret that it took us 18 days to have that 
continuing resolution brought to the Senate floor. But, regardless, I 
was very pleased to see that action by the majority leader yesterday. I 
also commend all Senators for agreeing to the passage of the continuing 
resolution. I think we all know that under Senate rules, any Senator 
could have objected and could have kept that measure from passing in 
yesterday's session. It says something about the merits of this issue, 
this issue of the Government shutdown, that every single Senator agreed 
to allow that bill to pass.

  Today, the House of Representatives will have to decide whether it, 
too, will pass the continuing resolution that we passed yesterday in 
the Senate, whether it will pass that resolution so it can be signed by 
the President and so that funding can be restored to the Government or, 
in the alternative, whether the House of Representatives will continue 
in what I believe is the irresponsible course that it has pursued, now, 
for several weeks.
  Since this second shutdown of the Government began, I have spoken 
three times on the Senate floor. Each time I have denounced the refusal 
of the Congress to fund the Government as irresponsible. I have 
denounced it as being an abuse of power by the Congress and an 
abrogation of responsibility by the majority here in Congress. I 
believe very strongly that the Founding Fathers who wrote the 
Constitution expected more responsible conduct by the later generations 
who would serve in this Congress. I believe very strongly that the 
American people deserve more responsible conduct by their elected 
officials.
  But I will not repeat today all the arguments that I made in the 
previous days. Instead, what I want to say today is that today, each 
Member of the House of Representatives should be given the opportunity 
to vote on whether or not to restore funding for the normal operation 
of Government. Let the people's elected Representatives vote on whether 
they believe that Government should be shut down or we should restore 
that funding.
  I saw the Speaker of the House made a statement yesterday that he did 
not know whether the votes were there, in the House, and he doubted 
that the votes were there in the House to pass the continuing 
resolution that we passed here in the Senate. It is very simple to 
determine that. Just put the question to a vote. Let each Member come 
on the floor of the House and cast his or her vote and answer to his or 
her constituents for that vote.
  The people's elected Representatives need to decide whether the 
Congress should continue to withhold funds needed to process student 
loans for this next semester of school. They need to decide whether it 
is proper for Congress to keep the campgrounds and monuments and 
visitors centers closed in our national forests and our national parks. 
They need to decide whether they want to continue withholding funds 
that are needed to process the 23,000 passport applications that are 
received each day by the State Department, that were received 
yesterday, that will be received again today. And they need to vote on 
whether the Congress wants to withhold one-half of the pay of three-
quarters of a million Federal workers or, in fact, withhold the pay of 
that entire group, entirely, for the month of January--which I 
understand will be the case unless some continuing resolution is 
passed.

  People deserve to know how their elected Representatives stand on 
these issues. I know the response that some Republican House Members 
will give. They will refuse to vote for funding the Government and 
explain their position by invoking their earnest desire to get to a 
balanced budget. So let me respond to that just very briefly.
  First of all, the issue of whether Congress shares with the President 
the obligation of maintaining the functioning of Government is a 
separate question from whether we ought to commit ourselves to reach a 
balanced budget at some future date. I believe strongly that the 
Congress does share that obligation to maintain a functioning 
Government and it is not an obligation that can be ducked by Members of 
Congress by simply changing the subject.
  A second point is the obvious one that we are not going to bring the 
budget into balance this year. Nobody has stated that we could bring 
the budget into balance this year. The Speaker of the House has not 
claimed that, Senator Dole does not claim that, President Clinton has 
not claimed that. If everything works perfectly, the best that we could 
hope for is that if the Government takes certain steps during the next 
7 years, and if the economy acts in certain ways during the next 7 
years, that that combined result will get us to a balanced budget in 
the year 2002. So, those Congressmen and Senators, previously Senators, 
who insist on keeping the Government shut until the Government gets to 
a balanced budget will have a long time to wait.
  Congress meets every year. We pass new budget bills every year. We 
pass new appropriations bills every year. None of what we do around 
here is chiseled in granite. All of it is subject to change during this 
next 7 years. So we need to get on with our business. And part of our 
business and part of our responsibility is to restore funding for the 
normal functioning of Government. 

[[Page S14]]

  Finally, we have a shared commitment between the Congress and the 
President to reach a balanced budget. What we also need, and need very 
urgently in my opinion, is a shared commitment, including the 
commitment of House Republicans, to maintain a functioning Government. 
This Senate has acted responsibly in passing a continuing resolution to 
once again fund the Government as we did last evening. Today the House 
Republicans have the opportunity to act responsibly as well. I 
sincerely hope that they will seize that opportunity.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho.

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