[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 12 (Tuesday, January 30, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H929]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     RESCUE OUR NATION'S CREDIT NOW

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of May 
12, 1995, the gentlewoman from the District of Columbia [Ms. Norton] is 
recognized during morning business for 5 minutes.
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor this morning to say a 
few words about two cosmic issues. One is the state of disrepair in 
which our CR's and appropriation process have left Federal agencies. 
The other, of course, is the weightiest of all: the debt limit of the 
United States, our full faith and credit twisting in the wind as we 
speak.
  Mr. Speaker, this Congress has got to face up to its responsibility 
to come to cloture, to settle the Government so that the Government 
does not dissolve into chaos waiting to see whether continuing 
resolutions will be for a few days, a few weeks, or until September 30. 
Mr. Speaker, we avoided a shutdown and took a breath, but for some 
Federal workers and for some agencies, what has been left is virtually 
the same thing.
  What should Federal agencies do? Some are on CR's that go to March 
15, others to September 30. There are disparate amounts of money that 
the agencies may spend. For those on short-term CR's, shall they wait 
to find out what we are going to do or should they RIF now or cut back 
now? Of course, if they do, they may find that the layoffs were 
entirely unnecessary if we reach a budget agreement. What a position to 
leave the Government in.
  How much worse is the position in which we leave people who happen to 
work for the Federal Government? Let us take the EPA as an example. 
Should they now fire almost 4,000 employees? Shall they plan for unpaid 
furloughs that could last almost 3 weeks? Or will we do something to 
make all of this unnecessary? Is it, by any definition, fair to leave 
people wondering about this set of choices?
  What about the States? The States depend upon money that is holed up 
in these agencies that we have not let free. They will not be getting 
their Federal funds on which they too are relying. These are your 
States and my States.
  What about the contractors? Often contractors are out there doing the 
work because we said they could do it more efficiently. What about 
contractors? Shall they lay off people? Shall they go out on a limb and 
take bank loans?
  This is no way to run a corner store, much less a government. If we 
are going to cut people off, we ought to cut them off. We should not 
let people and agencies starve to death. Above all, we should take our 
full faith and credit and decide what we are going to do with it.
  Believe me, Mr. Speaker, I think I know what it means to lose your 
credit, because I come from the District of Columbia. There is no 
higher authority than the Government of the United States. The Congress 
is that higher authority. The District of Columbia avoided default, but 
it has lost its credit. Moody's has said that we could lose our credit. 
A default may be unthinkable, but even a threat of default could raise 
interest rates on ordinary Americans. Almost nobody would be immune 
from the effect. Those who would feel it most immediately would be 
those with adjustable rate mortgages, which millions of Americans have, 
and pensioners whose pensions depend upon interest payments from 
annuities.
  This week we must not go home without settling, bringing to cloture 
what is to happen to our Federal agencies. Of course we should not walk 
out that door into the street without rescuing our credit, the best 
credit in the world, from doubt.

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