[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 2 (Thursday, January 4, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H147-H148]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    KEEP WORKING TO END THE SHUTDOWN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from California [Ms. Woolsey] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, today the West Marin Chamber of Commerce in 
Marin County, CA released a report showing that the communities around 
and near the Point Reyes National Seashore, which is in my district, 
have lost upward of $5 million in lost tourist revenues, to date, as a 
result of the Gingrich government shutdown. That is right. Due to the 
Gingrich shutdown, business in West Marin is down 45 percent from last 
year. As one of my constituents said just recently, last year was not a 
particularly good year.
  But it is not just the businesses in West Marin who are hurting, Mr. 
Speaker. Americans all over the country are being denied crucial 
services, services that include passports, home mortgages, child 
support, and small business loans. That is because of the new 
majority's shutdown. But that is not all either, Mr. Speaker.
  If the shutdown continues, if it continues much longer, 600,000 
elderly Americans, many of them invalids, may not be able to 
participate in the popular and successful Meals on Wheels Program.
  Mr. Speaker, it is clear: We are already paying the price for the new 
majority's radical agenda. If you think 

[[Page H148]]
this shutdown is bad now, believe me, we are really going to be paying 
the price if the Republicans get their way when their crown jewel, the 
special interest tax breaks, and their huge education and Medicare cuts 
are proposed or go through.
  To add insult to injury, the Gingrich Republicans are now talking 
about calling it quits and going home while people in my district and 
across this Nation continue to suffer the consequences of the shutdown.
  Mr. Speaker, 198 House Democrats want to keep working, working to end 
the shutdown. The other body wants to keep working; for Pete's sake, 
Bob Dole wants to keep working, and as he said just yesterday or 
earlier this week, enough is enough. But it is the Gingrich Republicans 
who would rather go home than get Government up and running again. It 
is the Gingrich Republicans who are willing to hang on to their radical 
agenda no matter what the impact is on American people, and it is the 
Gingrich Republicans who are willing to use Federal workers and Federal 
services, services, by the way, that have been paid for by taxpayers, 
to try to blackmail the budget process.
  Mr. Speaker, for the people of this country, for the families and 
businesses in my district and across the country, for the honor of this 
institution, I say to the other party across the aisle here, do not 
even think about sending us home. We belong here; we must continue 
working, and we must stop this shutdown and we must do it now.

                          ____________________