[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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