[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 2 (Thursday, January 4, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H149]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   CONGRESS NEEDS TO FINISH ITS WORK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. (Mr. Metcalf). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. Cardin] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. Speaker, I have the opportunity to travel back to my 
district every day. I live close enough to home to be able to do that, 
and I have the chance to talk to my constituents every day and learn 
firsthand of the hardships that are being caused because of our failure 
to do our work and get our budget passed on time.
  I have had a chance to talk to the people at our veterans hospital, 
in which supplies are dangerously low, affecting the quality of health 
care for our veterans; where money for transportation for 
rehabilitation services is not available to take care of our veterans' 
needs.
  I received a telephone call from a constituent in Howard County, MD 
who has a FHA-insured mortgage and wants to participate in the mortgage 
assignment program but cannot find anyone at HUD to make that review 
because of the furloughs in that agency.
  I have talked to a small business owner who trains SSA employees, 
whose classrooms are closed because of our inability to fund 
appropriations for that agency. The small business owner is in danger 
of laying off many of his employees and closing his operation.
  This morning I had coffee with a law enforcement officer who is 
working without pay, whose life is on the line every day, who made some 
arrests yesterday. I talked to that law enforcement officer for some 
time. He explained to me the morale issues within his agency.
  How do you explain some people working without pay, some people not 
working without pay, and Federal taxpayers paying their taxes and not 
receiving Government services? You cannot explain that to our 
constituents. It is unfair, it is wrong. It is unfair to Federal 
workers, it is unfair to Federal taxpayers.
  And now we hear that the Committee on Rules has recommended a rule 
that will allow the Speaker to give recess authority so that we will go 
home with our Federal workers still on furlough, without getting our 
work done. That is wrong and should not be allowed.
  Mr. Speaker, I have taken this time this evening to inform my 
colleagues of a resolution that I am filing. This resolution will 
prohibit us going into a recess or adjournment during any period of a 
lapsed appropriation for the Federal Government. We should not leave 
here until we have gotten our work done. It would be unconscionable for 
us to leave with the appropriations not available to keep Federal 
offices open.

  I hope my colleagues will join me and cosponsor this resolution to 
make it clear that we will stay here until we get our work done.
  Our first order should be to pass a continuing resolution. We should 
have done that 20 days ago. We should do that first, open up the 
Government offices, allow Federal taxpayers to get their services for 
the taxes that they have paid. That should be our first order.
  After we have done that, we should negotiate in good faith, be 
willing to compromise for a budget that, yes, is balanced in 7 years 
but also protects the priorities that are important to the people of 
this Nation.
  In doing that, I think we do have the framework to reach a bipartisan 
agreement on a budget. Look at the coalition budget that now is getting 
much praise. Many of us have been speaking for a long time in favor of 
that approach and have been looking for help for our colleagues in this 
House and the Senate. That particular budget provides the opportunity 
for us to balance the budget within 7 years and hold true to the 
priorities that are important to the American people.
  But we will never get that opportunity unless we restore decent order 
in our community. That requires us on a bipartisan basis tonight to 
pass a continuing resolution so that Federal workers can work and that 
our taxpayers can get the services that they have paid for.
  I hope that we can find that bipartisan cooperation in this House so 
that we can do the people's work, open Government back up and then move 
forward with the budget of this country.

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