[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 2 (Thursday, January 4, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H165]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         OPEN THE GOVERNMENT AND CONTINUE SERIOUS BUDGET TALKS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Metcalf). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentlewoman from New York [Mrs. Lowey] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the previous speaker, my colleague, 
for saying that this just does not make any sense. I was in my office 
this evening. I really had not planned to come down, but I was 
listening to so many of the speakers who kept talking about how they 
were shutting down the Government and waiting for the President to take 
action.
  Mr. Speaker, it is my understanding that the President and the 
Speaker have been meeting around the clock. I spent a weekend just a 
couple of weeks ago meeting around the clock trying to work out a 
balanced budget. I have been in this House now about 7 years, and I 
have never been part of a time like this. It is really an 
embarrassment, and I imagine that the people who are watching are 
embarrassed.
  We want to work together in balancing a budget, but I cannot see why 
closing down the Government, causing such pain to so many people, helps 
us accomplish that purpose. There are meetings going on.
  I have been receiving calls from constituents in my district, and 
last night the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Kingston], my friend, and I 
were talking about this issue, and I mentioned the fact that at the 
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Veterans Hospital in Montrose they were 
having a bake sale in order for the employees who were working there, 
over 1,400, to get the carfare to go to work. Many of them work from 
paycheck to paycheck.
  Mr. Speaker, the VA Hospital in Montrose is the largest Federal 
agency in Westchester County. They are deeply affected by this 
shutdown. The 700 beds in the hospital are full of many elderly 
patients, including one World War I veteran about to celebrate his 
100th birthday.
  The hospital also cares for 75,000 veterans on an outpatient basis. 
Many of these are also elderly. The 1,400 dedicated employees of the 
Montrose Hospital received 1 week of pay for 2 weeks of work, and they 
do not know when they are going to get paid for the work that they are 
doing.
  Mr. Speaker, in fact, as we know, many of the employees at the FDR 
Veterans Hospital are veterans themselves. So, by holding employees 
hostage, we are penalizing men and women who served our country along 
with other Federal employees.

  This week, in fact, the hospital employees were forced, as I 
mentioned, to hold the bake sale. In talking to them again this 
evening, they still do not know how they are going to survive. It is 
hard to believe the veterans who are working in a veterans hospital 
have to be subject to such indignities.
  They cannot get fare to go to work. They cannot pay for gas or their 
MetroNorth train passes. And I know it may be very difficult for some 
of my colleagues to believe this is the case, but it is true. There is 
also a food drive being started in the local community to help needy 
employees.
  I spoke with Lisa Jackson, a registered nurse. She told us, and the 
local paper in fact, that so many of the employees are living paycheck 
to paycheck, and today I also learned that many of the hospital's 
vendors who are not being paid may soon be forced to stop making 
deliveries of important supplies. If vendors stop making deliveries to 
a veterans hospital, they would then have to close down portions of the 
hospital and some patients would have to be discharged.
  Mr. Speaker, I wanted to share with you this story, because listening 
to speaker after speaker so sanctimoniously telling this body that they 
have to shut down the Government to get their way and balance the 
budget their way, it does not make any sense. I thought we were all 
adults. I am a mother of three children, and it sounds to me like 
children standing in a corner saying, ``I am going to hold my breath 
and turn blue if I do not get things my way.''
  We should be opening the Government. Democrats signed on to a 
resolution to make it clear that we all support opening the Government 
now. What we really need is only 20 votes over there on the Republican 
side to join us so we can open the Government and continue the very 
serious discussions about balancing the budget.
  As we have shared before, this is a battle, this is a serious 
discussion about the basic priorities of our country. The President has 
made it clear that he wants to balance the budget in 7 years, 
protecting Medicare, Medicaid, education, and the environment.
  Now, there are differences of opinion. I understand there are about 
80 Republicans that said they will not compromise on a tax cut of $245 
billion. Well, I would hope as we conclude, my colleagues, that we can 
continue to talk, to share our different views, but let us open the 
Government now and continue serious discussions about balancing the 
budget.

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