[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 2 (Thursday, January 4, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S37-S38]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            BUDGET STALEMATE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I know that this is a Presidential election 
year. We are going to have a hotly debated and contested Presidential 
election. But it is going to be on issues that are important, as 
indicated by the action taken by the majority leader day before 
yesterday.
  I commend and applaud publicly the action of the majority leader in 
allowing the Senate to pass a clean continuing resolution. I say that 
because the issue of allowing the Federal workers to go to work is 
important. It is important to more than just the Federal workers. 
Therefore, I think it is important we talk about procedure so that 
people understand a little bit better what is going on.
  The House of Representatives yesterday refused to allow to come to a 
vote--they refused to allow the continuing resolution that has passed 
the Senate to come before the House to be voted upon. They did that, 
the leadership in the House refused to let it come forward, because 
they knew if it came forward, it would pass.
  That, to me, is a cowardly act. Why would they not let people stand 
in the light of day and cast their vote as to whether or not this 
Government could continue to function? They refused to do it because 
they knew if they brought it up for a vote, it would pass.
  There are some in the House who think they are hurting what they 
hate; namely, the Federal Government, but they are hurting a lot more 
than just the Federal Government. Look at any newspaper, wherever it 
might be, in the United States today, and you will find the same 
stories.
  I think the most illustrative appears in today's USA Today. In 
today's USA Today, Bangladesh, if not the poorest, one of the poorest 
countries in the world, is going to loan money to the United States to 
keep the Embassy open in Bangladesh. How embarrassing.

       In Bangladesh, one of the world's poorest countries, the 
     government has offered a loan [to the United States] to 
     keep lights on at the United States embassy in Dhaka.

  It is hurting more than Federal workers. Alabama ran out of Federal 
unemployment money, as did many other States.

       U.S. embassies around the world are being forced to beg for 
     credit.

  You have businesses and governments throughout the world saying the 
United States cannot pay, will you give us some credit.

       In Miami--

  This same newspaper reports--

     fishing guide Mike Haines has lost $3,000 in the past 2 
     weeks. Haines takes people on fishing trips in Everglades 
     National Park which shut down December 20.
       Now, 2 months after fulfilling his boyhood dream of being a 
     full-time fishing guide, Haines is scrambling to make ends 
     meet.
       The Federal court system, including the Supreme Court, is 
     running out of funds. It has tapped into a $120 million 
     emergency fund drawn from fees collected by the courts.

  They are going to run out of money on the 7th. That is Saturday, or 
Sunday. The Federal courts are going to run out of money.

       About 15,000 employees of Government contractors are 
     temporarily out of work.

  On television last night in the news it was very, very graphic--
people with uniforms, protective uniforms, faces covered, every part of 
their body covered, working in toxic waste dumps, being laid off.
  The L.A. Times--this is not something just within the beltway. It is 
all over the country. The L.A. Times:

       Shutdown Begins To Hit Home Across the United States.
       The effects of the shutdown have spread gradually during 
     the holidays, customarily a slow time in the public and 
     private sectors, but this week the pace quickened and the 
     closure is being felt in everything from restaurants and 
     tourist businesses to toxic waste cleanup.

  National parks, Mr. President, according to the New York Times, 
average 383,000 visitors a day. They are closed; a potential loss to 
businesses of $200 million a day. That $200 million goes to people's 
wages. Those people can buy cars. This, Mr. President, is an economic 
disaster based upon an unwillingness of a certain small group of people 
in the other body to allow an up-or-down vote on whether or not the CR 
should continue. Of course, it should continue.
  Mr. SARBANES. Will the Senator yield for just a moment?
  Mr. REID. I will be happy to yield to my friend from Maryland.
  Mr. SARBANES. I wish to add one further example. In Mariposa County, 
CA----
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada has the floor.
  Mr. REID. I yield to him. He wanted to ask me a question.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Do so through the Chair, please.
  Mr. SARBANES. Will the Senator yield for a question?
  Mr. REID. I will be happy to yield for a question.
  Mr. SARBANES. I thought that was the question that had been put 
earlier, I say to the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. No.
  Mr. SARBANES. Is the Senator aware that apparently,

       In Mariposa County, CA, home of Yosemite National Park, 
     which has been closed through one of the busiest times of the 
     year, the number of private sector layoffs has climbed to 
     over 1,600 people. Most are hotel, restaurant, and gas 
     station workers who usually can depend on the revenue they 
     collect during the holiday season to carry them until the 
     summer. One-fourth of the adults in that county are out of 
     work. Officials there have declared an economic emergency.

  I say, is this not yet another example of the kind of harm that is 
being felt across the country as a consequence of this closure of the 
Government?
  Mr. REID. I would respond to my friend's question that the answer is 
yes. Even in Reno, NV, northern Nevada, why, we have significant 
numbers of people coming from California 

[[Page S38]]
all the time, and they many times do continue when they are visiting 
Yosemite, which is so close to Nevada. That has been lost.
  This is felt by not only Federal workers; this is felt by non-Federal 
workers, and it is really reverberating throughout the entire United 
States. And I also respond to my friend that it is going to get worse, 
as indicated in these newspapers about which I was talking.
  The L.A. Times goes on to say that ``at the other end of the economic 
spectrum''--they are talking about people. The reason they say this is, 
unemployment compensation checks, as indicated by the minority leader, 
are not being sent out in a number of States, but at the other end of 
the economic spectrum, many businesses are unable to obtain needed 
export licenses or are being left with no way to obtain required 
Federal approval of special imports or other transactions.
  That is jobs. It is fancy talk, but it means jobs.
  Also, the Securities and Exchange Commission cannot approve various 
offerings that have been made. Why is that important? It is important 
because each time a new company, a new stock offering is made, people 
are hired, put to work. They are simply not being put to work, all 
because a few people in the other body refuse--the leadership led by 
the Speaker of the House of Representatives refuses to allow that issue 
to come to a vote.

  I see in the Chamber my friend from the State of Virginia. One of his 
fellow Members of Congress, Congressman Davis, with whom I am not 
personally familiar but someone I have followed, he publicly, a 
Republican, spoke out yesterday saying let us at least have a vote on 
the House floor as to whether or not a continuing resolution should 
pass.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, will the Senator yield for a question?
  Mr. REID. I would be happy to yield for a question.
  Mr. WARNER. I just left, Mr. President, Congressman Davis' office. 
The delegation here in the greater metropolitan area, Congressman 
Davis, myself, Congresswoman Morella, who represents Montgomery County, 
and Congressman Wolf, and we were joined by Congressman Bateman, who 
represents the Tidewater district of Virginia, all met this morning, as 
we have been regularly meeting on this.
  I wish to inform my distinguished colleague that Congressman Davis 
and the entire group this morning unanimously are going to do 
everything they can to oppose the House of Representatives going into 
recess tonight, as contemplated for a period to extend perhaps until 
the State of the Union Address around the 22d or 23d of January, while 
these employees are out of work.
  I shall on my own time--and perhaps these statements could be charged 
to time I will eventually seek--talk about the ripple effect here in 
northern Virginia. So I thank my distinguished colleague from Nevada 
for mentioning Congressman Davis. I said yesterday publicly he and 
other Republicans in the House of Representatives from this area indeed 
deserve a great deal of personal credit for their courage in this 
situation.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Chair is going to add 2 minutes to the 
time of the Senator from Nevada because of the statement from the 
Senator from Virginia. The Senator is recognized for 2 minutes. His 
first 10 minutes has expired.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I think we should recognize that this should 
be a bipartisan resolution of the problems we have facing this 
Government. I have not been a party to the talks with the President, 
the two leaders from the House and the Senate. I hope they are 
progressing, but they are very difficult. We know that.
  There are 80 different issues that are issues dealing with public 
policy that they have to work out. There has been an agreement on both 
sides that there should be a balanced budget, there should be a 
balanced budget within 7 years. They will use CBO figures. That has 
been stated publicly. That is not a secret. But in the meantime, let 
the Government go forward and go back to work, as it should.
  I also say there are a few people--the House leadership is holding up 
the ability to vote on a CR. What are they afraid of? They are afraid 
of the fact that if this comes up for a vote before the House of 
Representatives, it would pass. I understand that in the House of 
Representatives yesterday in a secret meeting that they had, a 
Republican conference or caucus, 54 Republicans there voted to have 
this brought to the floor. It would pass. Clearly it would pass.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for 3 additional minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there an objection?
  The Chair would state under the previous order morning business would 
not extend beyond the hour of 12 o'clock.
  Mr. REID. I ask for 2 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator is recognized for 2 minutes.
  Mr. REID. I say that Mr. President, because I have been interrupted a 
couple times.
  Mr. President, the Los Angeles Times:

       . . . budget analysts warned Wednesday that if the standoff 
     continues for even a few more days, the impact will spread to 
     larger and larger slices of the American economy and stopgap 
     solutions will be more difficult to achieve.
       Several federal agencies reported that they have begun to 
     halt contracts with private companies that provide supplies 
     or services for federal programs. The White House Office of 
     Management and Budget said [that] no overall estimates are 
     available, [but they are strong].

  It is the same in other newspapers.
  The New York Times talks about the real problems that face this 
Government.
  Mortgages. Work has halted on an estimated 200 million mortgages a 
day on mortgage loan processing for American people.
  Veterans' Administration. That 170,000 veterans are not going to 
receive their benefits.
  Mr. President, I say that this has gotten out of hand. This is not 
fair to the Federal workers, but more importantly it is not fair to a 
wide segment of the American population. This has got to stop. It is 
folly. I say, let those people come forward and allow an up-or-down 
vote in the House of Representatives. Speaker Gingrich should allow an 
up-or-down vote if he believes in the democratic process.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
  Mr. WARNER addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia.

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