[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 2 (Thursday, January 4, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Pages S41-S43]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              THE SHUTDOWN

  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I appreciate the Senator from Maryland. 
I will be brief. I did want to conclude my answer to his question.
  I think what we have is a very troublesome development in the way 
that the Congress and the President are interacting. It seems that the 
Congress is going to take the view that it only has a responsibility to 
enact a Defense bill, that other bills can go their own way--and, of 
course, its own appropriation, the legislative appropriation bill--and 
it is up to the President to try to get the others enacted. If that is 
the case, then you have essentially a hostage-taking or a standoff, 
which I think is very destructive of the system of Government as it was 
intended.

  This hostage-taking can be a two-way street. Hostage-taking begets 
more hostage-taking. As I indicated before, the President would be ill-
advised, in my opinion, if these are going to be the ground rules for 
the interaction with the Congress, to sign a legislative appropriations 
bill in this new session of Congress until all appropriations bills for 
the executive branch have been signed and put into law.
  I am also greatly concerned that we are not going to be able to get 
good cooperation between the Legislature and the President on doing a 
Defense appropriation bill. If, as Congressman Livingston points out, 
once the President signs the Defense appropriations bill, the Congress 
is then absolved from the responsibility to work with the President on 
getting the other appropriations bills signed, that, to me, is a very 
troublesome situation, which I take as a great problem for all of us.
  Mr. President, I appreciate the chance to respond, and I hope that a 
reasonable resolution of these problems can be found. I thank the 
Senator from Maryland for the time.
  Mr. SARBANES. Mr. President, I briefly want to add to the comments of 
the Senator from New Mexico on this particular matter. To make our 
constitutional system work requires, I believe, a certain amount of 
restraint and good judgment on the part of all decisionmakers. It must 
be an essential premise of our system that one is not willing to 
subvert everything, in effect to bring the whole building crashing 
down, in order to get your way. I never understood democracy to work 
that way. There has to be a certain amount of accommodation. Obviously, 
the basic functions of Government should continue. Are we to reach a 
state of affairs where every time there is a sharp policy difference--
and people can obviously hold sharply different opinions--that for one 
side to gain its way, it brings the Government to a halt and inflicts 
all of this harm that is being felt across the country?
  I ask unanimous consent that a Washington Post story giving examples 
of such harm be printed in the Record at the end of my remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (See exhibit 1.)
  Mr. SARBANES. The headline is: ``Day 19: Federal Siege Takes Public, 
Private Hostages.''
  It says:

       The partial shutdown of the federal government dragged 
     through its 19th straight day yesterday with one clear 
     effect. It took even more hostages.
       Health officials in Nebraska, facing a widespread flu 
     outbreak, urged Federal officials to reopen the Centers for 
     Disease Control and Prevention to help them assess and 
     contain the problem. The federal Meals on Wheels Program, 
     which delivers hot food daily to more than 600,000 needy 
     senior citizens, is running out of money and may be partially 
     closed by week's end. The Peace Corps, also desperately short 
     of cash, began drawing up plans to recall some or all of its 
     7,200 members worldwide if the shutdown persists much longer.
       In Mariposa County, CA, home to Yosemite National Park, 
     which has been closed throughout one of its busiest times of 
     the year, the number of private-sector layoffs climbed past 
     1,600. Most are hotel, restaurant and gas station workers who 
     usually can depend on the revenue that they collect during 
     the holiday season to carry them until the summer.
       One-fourth of the adults in the county are now out of work, 
     and officials there have declared an economic emergency.

  This is no way to do business, obviously. There is no reason to it. 
It does not make common sense. There is a tremendous ripple effect 
throughout the private sector of people dependent on Federal contracts 
and Federal activities. Needlessly and harmfully the shutdown is 
resulting in laying off people in the private as well as the public 
sector.
  The distinguished Senator from Virginia, in his comments earlier, 
made reference to one such occurrence about which he had received 
notice only this morning. Currently half a million Federal workers are 
coming to work and not getting a paycheck. Another quarter of a million 
have been furloughed and are not getting paychecks. Workers in the 
private sector now are not going to get paychecks. How is it 
anticipated that people will be able to handle this situation?

  The Federal workers are told that once they go back, they will be 
paid. But who can bridge the intervening period? Unfortunately, there 
may be a lack of sensitivity in the Congress because, many Members have 
significant economic means and, therefore, the loss of a paycheck--
which is not happening for them--does not really place a burden upon 
them. They can handle that situation. But most people are not so well 
situated. Whether they work for the Federal Government or whether they 
are in the private sector, they 

[[Page S42]]
need a regular paycheck in order to meet their obligations, such as 
mortgage payments, car payments, and school payments.
  Nearly half of the Federal employees--46 percent--make less than 
$35,000 a year. Three quarters of all Federal employees make less than 
$50,000 a year. Less than 1 percent--six-tenths of 1 percent of all 
Federal employees--make over $100,000 a year. Members of Congress make 
more than that. Close to 100 percent of all Federal employees make less 
than Members of Congress. Now, these employees cannot move from period 
to period without a paycheck. We need to put them back to work.

  The New York Times had an editorial this morning, and I ask unanimous 
consent that the editorial be printed in the Record at the conclusion 
of my remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (See exhibit 2.)
  Mr. SARBANES. The editorial stated:

       The turmoil and uncertainty created by vast numbers of 
     Federal workers not going to work or not being paid is 
     poisoning the atmosphere for progress on the budget. Too much 
     hardship has already been inflicted, not only on the 760,000 
     unpaid workers, but on millions of Americans who cannot get 
     visas, loans, or any number of other Federal services. 
     Congress and the President should reopen the government now.

  I absolutely agree with that sentiment. There is a colleague in the 
House, in the Republican leadership in the House, who said in mid-
November, ``You have a group in our conference who could not care less 
if the Government shuts down. They will be cheering.'' What an 
abdication of responsibility.
  Do Members of Congress, as my distinguished colleague from New Mexico 
states, think they have no responsibility for ensuring that the 
Government continues to function and providing the basic services upon 
which so many of our people are dependent?
  The people in the private sector, some will go bankrupt out of this 
escapade. They will go bankrupt. I have had people call my office who 
say, ``We are not going to be able to make it. We set up a small 
private business and things were working fairly well and now we are 
confronting a situation where we may well go under.'' For 19 days now 
we have been through this situation after the previous closedown of 6 
days, all in order to try to bring a coercive pressure, a scorched 
earth bargaining tactic, with respect to the larger issue of the 7-year 
budget projection.
  Now, that issue involves many difficult and complex questions and a 
strong difference over what the priorities should be. But in my 
judgment, it is an irresponsible and impermissible tactic to use the 
closing of the Government, which has never been done before, to use the 
closing of the Government as a coercive pressure in to achieve a 
certain result with respect to the larger budget issues.
  Are we going to descend, deteriorate into such practices in the 
Congress, thereby falling short of meeting the responsibilities I think 
we have under the Constitution? Mr. President, Congress and the 
President should reopen the Government now as the majority leader 
sought to do when he moved the continuing resolution and sent it over 
to the House. House adoption of it would bring this crisis to an end.

                               Exhibit 1

                [From the Washington Post, Jan. 4, 1996]

          Day 19: Federal Siege Takes Public, Private Hostages

                           (By Rene Sanchez)

       The partial shutdown of the federal government dragged 
     through its 19th straight day yesterday with one clear 
     effect. It took even more hostages.
       Health officials in Nebraska, facing a widespread flu 
     outbreak, urged federal officials to reopen the Centers for 
     Disease Control and Prevention to help them assess and 
     contain the problem. The federal Meals on Wheels Program, 
     which delivers hot food daily to more than 600,000 needy 
     senior citizens, is running out of money and may be partially 
     closed by week's end. The Peace Corps, also desperately short 
     of cash, began drawing up plans to recall some or all of its 
     7,200 members worldwide if the shutdown persists much longer.
       In Mariposa County, Calif., home to Yosemite National Park, 
     which has been closed throughout one of its busiest times of 
     the year, the number of private-sector layoffs climbed past 
     1,600. Most are hotel, restaurant and gas station workers who 
     usually can depend on the revenue that they collect during 
     the holiday season to carry them until the summer.
       One-fourth of the adults in the county are now out of work, 
     and officials there have declared an economic emergency. The 
     local newspaper has launched a food drive for those in need, 
     and radio stations in the Yosemite area are urging residents 
     in neighboring counties to drive over and do business there.
       ``Who's paying the price for this? Not Congress or the 
     president, but the average citizen,'' said Michael Coffield, 
     the Mariposa County administrator. ``All the money our 
     residents are losing is gone for good. Every day, it is 
     getting more and more dire.''
       Ever since the shutdown began, President Clinton and 
     congressional Democrats have insisted that it would pose 
     significant hardships, and Clinton made his most strident 
     remarks yet on that subject yesterday by ticking off a 
     lengthy list of problems he said the government's partial 
     closure is causing Americans.
       But some Republican leaders have countered by saying the 
     shutdown shows how large parts of the government do not 
     affect many Americans. Other Republicans contend that short-
     term problems from the shutdown are far less important than 
     the long-term crisis an unbalanced budget will create.
       Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich said that his department 
     has received more than 63,000 phone calls regarding working 
     and wage complaints that it has not been able to answer in 
     the past three weeks.
       Federal courts have remained open throughout the shutdown 
     by running on filing fees and other miscellaneous funds. But 
     court officials are now predicting that they will exhaust 
     those emergency funds by Sunday. David A. Sellers, spokesman 
     for the federal courts' administrative office, said at that 
     point it would be up to individual courts around the country 
     to decide whether to close or to keep some of their business 
     going.
       The Peace Corps also has stayed partially open during the 
     shutdown by using leftover funds from the last fiscal year. 
     That pool of money is now drying up. Officials said that if 
     the shutdown persists another week or so they may be forced 
     to recall volunteers who work in 95 countries, because the 
     agency will not be able to pay their living allowances.
       ``We're having to take a very serious look at that as this 
     goes on,'' said Andre Oliver, a Peace Corps spokesman.
       The furlough also has begun to threaten the complicated 
     process by which scientists, universities and other research 
     organizations apply to the National Institutes of Health 
     (NIH) for money to finance experiments and other scientific 
     studies.
       January is the beginning of a thrice-yearly cycle in which 
     grant applications are reviewed by committees of outside 
     experts, and then recommendations on whether to fund them is 
     passed on to NIH officials. None of the preparation for that 
     is occurring.
       NIH also has about 2,000 grants that have been approved but 
     whose financing hasn't been provided to the researchers in 
     the last month. About half are multi-year projects already 
     underway, and about half are for new research waiting to 
     begin.
       ``We're all sort of teetering on the edge now,'' said Wendy 
     Baldwin, NIH's deputy director for extramural research. 
     ``There's a whole cascade of scheduling in jeopardy.''

                               Exhibit 2

                [From the New York Times, Jan. 4, 1996]

                            The Budget Scrum

       For fans of political games, President Clinton put on a 
     rip-roaring show yesterday, as he charged right through the 
     budget rift that has opened up on the Republican side between 
     Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole. The new year thus dawns with the 
     surprising spectacle of two archrivals, Mr. Dole and Mr. 
     Clinton, trying to look like grown-ups while the Republicans 
     in the House insist childshly that the only way to apply 
     leverage on the President is to keep the Government closed. 
     More and more it looks as if the zealous freshmen are calling 
     the shots in the House.
       Say this for the freshmen Republicans. In theory they are 
     just the kind of people the public says it wants in 
     politics--men and women of principle who have a lot more on 
     their minds than re-election. But zeal needs to be harnessed 
     to a caring practicality. In the current impasse, Mr. Clinton 
     and Mr. Dole have it right. The turmoil and uncertainty 
     created by vast numbers of Federal workers not going to work 
     or not being paid is poisoning the atmosphere for progress on 
     the budget. Too much hardship has already been inflicted, not 
     only on the 760,000 unpaid workers, but on millions of 
     Americans who cannot get visas, loans or any number of other 
     Federal services. Congress and the President should reopen 
     the Government now.
       But it is also time for the White House to help resolve the 
     budget impasse by sketching more details of the President's 
     own thinking on how to achieve a balanced budget in seven 
     years, as House Republicans demand. Mr. Clinton's skill in 
     gaining political advantage from the current situation has 
     been impressive. But his tactics leave even his allies 
     confused on how much he really does want a compromise 
     balanced budget, as opposed to an impasse on which he can run 
     for re-election while defending longstanding Democratic 
     principles.
       By all accounts, the long hours of negotiating over the 
     holiday weekend involved a lot of Mr. Clinton and Mr. 
     Gingrich discussing the arcana of Federal social policies 
     while many other people in the room rolled 

[[Page S43]]
     their eyes. There is no sign yet of real horse-trading except a leak 
     here and there. For instance, the White House might be 
     willing to modify its opposition to a cut in the capital 
     gains tax. The Republicans seem willing to scale back their 
     $240 billion tax cut. But the House freshmen and their allies 
     insist that they simply do not trust Mr. Clinton to bring the 
     process to a conclusion until they get a clearer signal of 
     where he would be willing to make concessions, particularly 
     on Medicare, Medicaid and welfare.
       The freshmen militants, Mr. Gingrich and even the 
     Democratic leadership have the luxury of being dealt into a 
     game whose outcome means less to them than to Mr. Clinton and 
     Mr. Dole. With their eyes on the Presidential race, each man 
     is trying to calculate whether he has more to gain from 
     accommodation or recalcitrance. Mr. Dole has promised to 
     bring adult leadership to the White House, but he does not 
     look very adult if he cannot stand up to his party's kiddie-
     corps zealots. Mr. Clinton needs to emerge as a President who 
     can stay resolute in the face of opposition; but at a certain 
     point the Chief Executive of a Government that cannot open 
     for business will begin to look weak.
       Mr. Dole is right when he observes that Americans are 
     growing impatient with the budget impasse. Right now, Mr. 
     Clinton may have more to gain by holding out on the budget 
     while insisting he wants to reopen the Government. But there 
     is clearly a deal within reach, and the public will remember 
     who walks out of the wreckage with it.

                          ____________________