[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 2 (Thursday, January 4, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S62]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              THE NEED FOR A LIMITED CONTINUING RESOLUTION

  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, I have been in the chair listening for 
some time, and I wanted to make a couple of observations. First of all, 
I agree thoroughly with Senator Dole and the Members of this body in 
seeking to have a resolution which would put the Government back in 
place. It seems to me that that is what we should do. We ought to have 
a limited CR in which there is time to proceed with what I hope are 
useful negotiations that are going on. We need to put this thing behind 
us and get on with resolving the problems.
  There are, however, I think, a couple of other things that we also 
ought to be able to expect. One is that the White House and the 
President should deliver what they said they would. We did this on 
November 19, I believe. We had an agreement that we would have a CR, 
that during that time there would be a balanced budget based on CBO 
numbers, over 7 years. It did not happen. That did not happen. Then we 
had an opportunity--the White House did--to pass appropriations bills, 
to put almost all those back to work who are now furloughed. They did 
not do that. He vetoed it.
  Mr. President, there is another difficulty that we have had in 
Wyoming. It has to do with Yellowstone Park. There was an article in 
the paper this morning about it. Our Governor sought to negotiate with 
the Secretary of the Interior so that the State would take 
responsibility for part of Yellowstone Park. There was no real effort 
on the part of the Secretary to do that. Promise to return calls, 
promise to do something to consider a proposition by the State, did not 
do that. So not only are the employees of the National Park Service in 
this case not working, but neither are the concessionaires, neither are 
those who had contracted to do work, because the Department of Interior 
did not, frankly, make the real effort to do anything about that. So 
there has to be some responsibility assigned there in terms of doing 
what we said we would do.

  Second, Mr. President, it seems to me that those who are doing the 
negotiating, if they really wanted to find a solution, if there was a 
real, honest-to-goodness effort on the part of the parties to find a 
solution, they could do that. It is time to do that.
  Frankly, I suggest that the three principles sit down, the President, 
the majority leader, and the Speaker of the House--eliminate all the 
observers, eliminate the staff--and come to some agreement, come to the 
snubbing post on what we ought to do. There is a lot of leeway within 
this outline, and we can do that. Mr. President, that is our job.
  Our job is to find solutions. That is what we are here for. That is 
why we are the trustees for the American people. Our job is to keep the 
Government functioning in as effective way as we know how. Our job is 
to make decisions and to move forward. We have great opportunities to 
do that, great opportunities in this place to do that. There are 
opportunities in the White House.
  There is not much point in assigning blame, but there is plenty to go 
around. We ought to come to the snubbing post and make some decisions. 
I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DOMENICI. I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the 
previous order, I be recognized to speak for not more than 10 minutes, 
Senator Nunn be recognized thereafter for up to 15 minutes, and 
following those remarks, I ask that the Senate stand in recess subject 
to the call of the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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