[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 8 (Tuesday, January 23, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H743-H744]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




       GIVE FULL ATTENTION TO STATE OF THE UNION MESSAGE TONIGHT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentlewoman from Colorado [Mrs. Schroeder] is recognized 
during morning business for 3 minutes.
  Mrs. SCHROEDER. Mr. Speaker, I am just here to hope that this body 
tonight can listen to what the President says and we can come together 
and not have another shutdown of the Government or not declare a 
default on the debt, which would be the first time in the history of 
this great Republic.
  This House floor has all the ambience of downtown Sarajevo before the 
Dayton agreement. I do not know what we do, whether we load everybody 
off and send them to Dayton. Maybe there is something in the water that 
can get 

[[Page H744]]
them to come together. But if we could find the parties in the former 
Yugoslavia that could come together and put a peace together, why can 
we not get an agreement to get this body going?
  Why are we talking about shutting down the Government because we 
cannot do the budget this year, and basically the reason is they say it 
is because they are arguing over numbers for 7 years from now, which in 
all honesty none of us can bind people to 7 years from now. We ought to 
be held accountable for this year. I think we will be held accountable 
for this year by the voters. I think they are getting very tired of 
this.
  Every time the President looks up, they are shooting at his feet and 
asking him to tap dance a little more. You put out one thing, he meets 
it. You put out another thing, he meets it. You put out another thing, 
he meets it. Finally, you begin to say, This must not be for real. 
Fifty-plus hours? Criteria after criteria met? And every time you do 
it, someone says, Oh, well, one more thing before we think this is 
really real.
  Now, I honestly think that if anyone thinks this is new, they are 
wrong. I have been here for 23 years, and we have had all sorts of 
disagreements between this body and between the person down at the 
other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. We have had Republican presidents and 
Democratic Congresses and all sorts of different combinations in 
between and all sorts of polarizing incidents. But we have never let it 
get to this level, never.
  This is one of the great things we pride ourselves in America on, is 
pragmatism. At the end of the day we can all say, OK, we didn't get 100 
percent of what we wanted, but we moved the debate in a certain 
direction, and we will come back and fight again tomorrow. But we do 
not stop everything, and we do not default on the debt, and we do not 
throw ourselves on the floor and have tantrums.
  So I really hope that all of us, on both sides of the aisle, give 
full attention tonight to this State of the Union, to this President, 
our only President of this great Nation, who is out here trying to 
chart a course to get us out of this century and into the next.
  Mr. Speaker, I think the citizens deserve much better than what they 
got in the first half of this Congress. Let us clean up our act tonight 
and let us start tonight for this second Congress.

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