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




                      TAXPAYER MONEY BEING WASTED

  (Mr. DOGGETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, if word were out this afternoon that a 
governmental official had wasted $150,000 of taxpayer money to further 
a political agenda, someone would surely be here denouncing it, and if 
the figure were instead $1.5 million, I am sure the line of speakers 
would be rather long. Were it $150 million of wasted taxpayer money, 
there would be bills and resolutions filed and other extraordinary 
action.
  But what we are dealing with this afternoon is not $150,000 or $150 
million, but $1.5 billion of the greatest waste of taxpayer money in 
the history of these United States. That is the cost of the two 
Gingrich government shutdowns, $1.5 billion totally wasted, 
frivolously, to further a political agenda, and, in the word of the 
sponsor of this action, to pressure another political official into 
doing what they want; $1.5 billion.
  In all these budget negotiations, I have never seen a line item that 
should be there; $1.5 billion Gingrich government wasteful spending for 
shutting down the Government. Are they going to take that out 
of Medicare or just add it to the Government deficit?

                          ____________________