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




        REMEMBERING PRIOR STATE OF THE UNION MESSAGE STATEMENTS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Hayworth] is recognized 
during morning business for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HAYWORTH. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from Colorado for 
sharing her views here, and I think she does point up something upon 
which we can all agree, and that is that fundamental to debate in a 
free society is the notion of disagreement, and it is the mission of 
all of us to achieve consensus. But the question comes, at what price?
  Mr. Speaker, I bring you greetings from Arizona, the Grand Canyon 
State. I am here, Mr. Speaker, to use this time to address what is not 
a credibility gap, but instead a credibility canyon. Indeed, all 
members of the new majority, as well as members of the minority, 
welcome the President of the United States to this Chamber tonight, 
where he will stand at this podium and deliver his State of the Union 
Message.
  To quote one pundit in this town, he said, ``Heretofore most State of 
the Union Addresses by most chief executives have been forgivable.'' 
Well, at the danger of incurring the wrath of that pundit, Mr. Speaker, 
let us remember, let us remember the words of our President in his 
previous State of the Union Messages.
  First dealing with the budget. Quoting now from his 1993 address:

       The plan substantially reduces the Federal deficit honestly 
     and credibly by using in the beginning the most conservative 
     estimates of Government revenues, not as the executive branch 
     has done so often in the past using the most optimistic ones.

  Again from 1993:

       This budget plan, by contrast, will by 1997 cut $140 
     billion in that year alone from the deficit, a real spending 
     cut, a real revenue increase, a real deficit reduction, using 
     the independent numbers of the Congressional Budget Office.

  Yet throughout last year, throughout 1995, President Clinton 
submitted to this body budget after budget after budget, but refused to 
use those objective numbers of the Congressional Budget Office. It was 
not until this new majority ultimately persuaded him to submit a CBO-
scored budget to end the recent shutdown that he lived up to the above 
statements.
  Most astonishingly, Mr. Speaker, from last year, quoting now the 
President of the United States who stood at this podium. ``I certainly 
want to balance the budget.''
  Yet the fact remains, Mr. Speaker, as reflected in the record of this 
institution and through reports of the news media, President Clinton 
vetoed the first balanced budget submitted by the Congress in a quarter 
of a century.
  Then to the topic of welfare reform. Quoting again from 1993's 
address:

       Later this year, we will offer a plan to end welfare as we 
     know it. I want to offer the people on welfare the education, 
     the training, the child care, the healthcare they need to get 
     back on their feet. But, say after 2 years, they must get 
     back to work.

  Then from 1994:

       So we must also revolutionize our welfare system. We will 
     say to teenagers, if you have a child out of wedlock, we will 
     no longer give you a check to set up a separate household. We 
     want families to stay together. We will provide the support, 
     the job training, the child care you need, for up to 2 years. 
     But after that anyone who can work, must.

  Then from last year:

       Nothing has done more to undermine our sense of common 
     responsibility than our failed welfare system. Let this be 
     the year to end welfare as we know it.

  Mr. Speaker, despite the fact that the President year after year has 
come to this House and addressed from this podium his willingness to 
end welfare as we know it, he did not support the welfare reform bill 
that had broad bipartisan support. Instead, he vetoed the welfare bill 
that Congress sent him.
  Again from 1993:
       This plan will give this country the toughest child support 
     enforcement system it has ever had.

  From 1994:

       If we value responsibility, we cannot ignore the $34 
     billion in child support absent parents ought to be paying to 
     millions of parents who are taking care of their children.

  Then from 1995:

       If the parent is not paying child support, they should be 
     forced to pay. We should suspend drivers licenses, track them 
     across State lines.

  Now, Mr. Speaker, the welfare reform bill that President Clinton 
vetoed would have required States to create a central case registry to 
track the status of all child support orders. The bill also gave the 
States the authority to suspend drivers, professional, occupational and 
recreational licenses of anyone whose child support payments are in 
arrears, all the things the President said he wanted to do last year.

                              {time}  1315

  Mr. Speaker, I understand my time is short. The record is replete. 
Words mean something. Actions speak louder than words. Mr. President, 
keep your promises, join with the new majority, and let us help govern 
this Nation.

                          ____________________