[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 8 (Tuesday, January 23, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H747-H748]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     THREE STRIKES AND YOU ARE OUT

  (Mr. MARKEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 


[[Page H748]]
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, radical Republicans in Congress are 
preparing again to take political hostages in order to force President 
Clinton to accept their extreme agenda.
  If insanity consists of doing the same thing over and over again and 
expecting a different result, legislative lunacy is shutting down the 
Federal Government for a third time and expecting public support. 
Having learned nothing from the two Government shutdowns they 
manufactured last year, key Republican leaders are threatening to force 
yet another fiscal crisis unless they get a substantial share of their 
agenda. They're threatening to load up funding bills with extremist 
riders and let the United States go into default unless the President 
agrees to give massive tax breaks for the rich paid for by deep cuts in 
Medicare, education, and the environment.
  Last fall, the Republicans launched their first fiscal strike, 
shutting down the Government for 5 days. In December, the GOP launched 
their second strike, shutting down the Government for 3 weeks. If there 
is another Government shutdown or a default, the American people have 
every right to go to the polls in November and tell the GOP: ``Three 
Strikes and You're Out.''

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