[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 2 (Thursday, January 4, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H140]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  WHAT IT IS LIKE TO BE IN WASHINGTON

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Minge] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. MINGE. Mr. Speaker, when I go home, especially over the last 
Christmas break, people ask me, well, how do you like being in 
Congress? Is it an honor? Is it fun? Are you going to receptions? What 
is it like to be in Washington?
  Often I respond by telling them a story about my Uncle Oly and Aunt 
Lena. I, like many in Minnesota, am of Norwegian ancestry. And Oly and 
Lena one morning were in the house and Oly got up, excused himself, 
went out to the outhouse, and did his business. As he pulled up his bib 
overalls, a couple quarters dropped out and went down the hole. Oly was 
disgusted. He took off his watch and he threw that down, and he took 
out his wallet and threw that down as well.
  He went back in the house and Lena said well, ``Oly, what is wrong 
with you? You are in such a foul mood and you don't smell so good 
either. What you been doing?'' And finally it came out. Oly explained 
to her that he had lost the quarters and thrown his watch and wallet, 
and she said, ``Oly, why did you do that? Why can you go down there?'' 
He said, ``Well, you didn't think I was going to go down after just 50 
cents, did you?''
  Well, there may be some humor in what Uncle Oly did, but there is 
little humor in what we are about here in Washington. We have all been 
regaled with stories about the shutdown, its impact on innocent Federal 
employees, about individuals that need passports to attend funerals, 
its impact on servicemen, national parks, veterans who are seeking 
guarantees for loans, businesses that are seeking guarantees from the 
Small Business Administration, and a vast array of others in America.
  It is truly a tragic situation. And the best I can say to folks at 
home is it is a highly frustrating experience to serve in Congress 
these days. I have been here exactly 3 years, and I have had to say it 
has been frustrating each of these 3 years.
  In the first 2 years, many of us chafed under rules that prohibited 
what we perceived to be a majority in Congress from considering 
legislation that we felt was important for the American people. Now, 
under the leadership of a new Speaker and a different political party, 
we continue to cave under the same techniques of managing the business 
of the House of Representatives.
  I would say to my brethren on the other side of the aisle, I 
certainly shared with you the dismay and frustration when good 
proposals were held up. Certainly you must understand that the same is 
happening today, and that altogether too often the rules of the House 
are being used to keep important initiatives from consideration by the 
Members of the U.S. House of Representatives. This is certainly 
happening at this time as I speak.
  This leadership is preventing what I would consider to be the 
majority of the Members of this body from considering a continuing 
resolution to put Federal employees back to work. Similarly, I expect 
that the discipline of each political party in this institution is 
preventing the majority of the Members of the House of Representatives 
from honestly considering a 7-year deficit reduction plan that actually 
would work to balance the budget and would have broad support 
throughout our Nation. It is tragic when the majority so manipulates 
the rules. I do not care if the majority is Republican or the majority 
is Democrat, the tragedy is the same.
  I think it is important that all of us work together on a bipartisan 
basis to try to make this institution as effective as possible. Forget 
about the next election. Forget about who gets credit. Instead, focus 
on how do we balance the budget, what is right for America, what do the 
American people expect of us?
  I think that if we focus on these considerations, the frustration 
that I and many others have felt can be overcome. But unless we do 
that, we, like Oly, are simply going to go back home with a foul odor, 
that will be immediately noticed by our friends and family and 
residents of our district. We certainly can handle our responsibilities 
in a better fashion.

                          ____________________