[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 13 (Wednesday, January 31, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H985-H986]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  PRESIDENT HAS NOT KEPT HIS PROMISES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Rohrabacher] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. ROHRABACHER. Mr. Speaker, this President has kept all of his 
promises? I mean, who is kidding whom? This President was the President 
who campaigned vigorously across America 4 years ago, and what were the 
issues? He is going to end welfare as we know it, and now we see him 
vetoing and threatening to veto any piece of legitimate welfare reform.
  What was the second thing that he campaigned on? That he was going to 
balance the budget; he is a new Democrat. This President is not a new 
Democrat, he is just like the old Democrats and the fact is, it is the 
old Democrats and his philosophy that have gotten America in the 
position it is in today, that we are going to have to make these tough 
choices or we will go broke.
  Now, earlier I heard criticism of how this body is functioning and 
how much work we are putting out. I happen to have been here, and this 
is my eighth year as a Member of Congress. We have done more since the 
Republicans took over a year ago legislatively than in the entire 6 
years that I served before the Republicans took over.

                              {time}  1215

  The reform efforts before that were thwarted time and time again.
  Let me cite just one example. Our country is going broke, we are 
being told now we have to borrow more and more money from our children, 
and we cannot even put any type of restrictions on spending in that 
process. But let me give one example of a reform that has actually cost 
the American people tens of billions of dollars since I have been a 
Member of Congress, and how the other side thwarted our attempts over 
and over again to get even a vote on the floor. It was mentioned 
earlier by the gentleman from Florida. Should illegal aliens be 
consuming scarce dollars when we are going to the poorhouse, we are 
having to borrow from our children? We tried to get that reform so 
illegal aliens would not be encouraged to come into this country to 
consume scarce dollars. We could not even get a vote on it.
  Mr. HAYWORTH. Mr. Speaker, if the gentleman will yield, I just wanted 
to make a point.
  We heard the gentlewoman from Colorado make the statement, we should 
pay our bills. I could not agree more with that, but the question 
becomes this: Are we willing to rob future generations to pay the 
seemingly endless bills of today? That is the bottom line on this 
issue.
  Mr. ROHRABACHER. There is nothing standing in the way of a balanced 
budget, there is nothing standing in the way to bring to an end this 
policy that we have had of having to increase the debt limit over and 
over and over again because we are nowhere in sight of a balanced 
budget. There is no one standing in the way except the President of the 
United States.
  The other side had a chance. For 2 years the President controlled 
both Houses, or his party, controlled both Houses of Congress and every 
executive department and every executive office. All of those were 
controlled by the liberal Democrats who control the Democratic Party, 
and what did we get? We got no reform. We got no reform at all.
  What do we Republicans get now, after working as hard as we possibly 
can, passing more reforms in a shorter period of time? We get criticism 
that we are not working hard enough, when in reality we all know it is 
the President of the United States that is standing in the way of these 
reforms, it is the President of the United States standing in the way 
of a balanced budget, it is the President of the United States who is 
putting the burden of higher and higher debt onto our children. That is 
what the problem is.
  I am proud to be a Member of this body. I am proud to be a reformer 
in this Republican effort and Newt Gingrich's effort.
  Mr. MICA. Will the gentleman yield?
  Mr. ROHRABACHER. I yield to the gentleman from Florida.
  Mr. MICA. Mr. Speaker, we on this side, I think, were foxed before by 
the President because he promised to come up with a balanced budget. He 
never did. Now they are telling us the responsible thing to do is raise 
the debt limit without any guarantees, to continue taxing and spending. 
We were betrayed before.
  The alternative is the President's budget, which they are afraid to 
really even bring on the floor today. It has in it $210 billion in 
additional spending. That is more than 1 entire year's deficit that we 
are running now. Then another surprise, $66 billion in taxes.
  They are saying we cannot pay our senior citizens or our veterans, 
but in fact we are going to make choices and we are going to pay if we 
do not make some changes here; our illegal aliens, 

[[Page H986]]
we are going to pay volunteers for paid volunteer programs, and we can 
dig up $50 billion here or there for Mexico. We cannot make these wrong 
choices again.

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