[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 2 (Thursday, January 4, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H124-H125]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

  (Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, enough is enough. I have sat 
here and listened to my Republican colleagues from Georgia and from the 
panhandle of Florida talk about what they really want in a budget. 
Maybe they need to call home and ask how many of their seniors are not 
being 

[[Page H125]]
able to apply for Social Security or how many of their veterans are not 
getting the health care they need or being able to apply for veterans' 
pensions.
  The Federal employees are not the only ones that are hurting. In 
Houston we have thousands of people who are hurting. The passport 
office, we have 10,000 applications for passports, and they expect to 
grow by a thousand a week, that are not being issued. That is hurting 
business people who want to go overseas and sell our products. The 
Meals on Wheels program in Houston, I was interested to hear my 
colleague from Missouri talk about they are delivering them today, and 
they are in Houston. They say they only have enough money for another 
week or the 3,500 meals in Houston will not be delivered for seniors. 
The VA medical center, as of today, is only supplying, the contractor 
is only supplying for the VA medical center on an as-needed basis, so 
veterans are not getting the health care they have earned in supporting 
our country.
  There is absolutely no reason to keep the Federal Government closed 
because they cannot get what they want in negotiations. Let us continue 
the negotiations. Let us also continue for the folks who are paying the 
bill.

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