[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 13 (Wednesday, January 31, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H989-H990]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   CONGRESS SHOULD BE WORKING ON SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES, NOT DISCUSSING 
                           GOVERNMENT DEFAULT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from New York [Mrs. Lowey] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mrs. LOWEY. Mr. Speaker, yesterday I visited with some high school 
students in Ryenek high school and we were talking about the Endangered 
Species Act. They wanted to know what the Congress was doing. They 
wanted to know how the debate was proceeding.
  I also visited with students in another school to talk about 
education and what the Federal Government was doing or could do. It is 
hard for me to believe, Mr. Speaker, that it is almost 5 minutes to 1 
in the afternoon. We are not working on the Clean Water Act or 
education, the Endangered Species Act or Head Start. We are here on the 
House floor because the Republican leadership cannot get their act 
together, and we are debating whether we should shut the Government 
down or not, whether we should allow a default of the Federal 
Government.
  Mr. Speaker, a default of the Federal Government should be unheard 
of. It should not even be discussed, to even put in question the credit 
of the United States, to even think that we would talk about adjourning 
to just before the brink of March 1 when the Government could default.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the effort to be bipartisan, and I do so 
hope we could. Look, I think it is a fair debate to talk about the 
programs, to talk about what is efficient, what is not. That is what Al 
Gore's reinventing government was all about. In fact, the Government is 
200,000 positions smaller because of President Clinton and Al Gore's 
reinventing government program. We have already reduced the deficit 
because of courage in 1993 by $500 billion. We have already done that. 

[[Page H990]]
 Now we know that the deficit was cut in half this year. It is $160 
billion rather than $300 billion when the President took office. So we 
have already done some things.
  No one ever thought in my district when I went home it was the 
subject of conversation that we would ever, the Congress of the United 
States, led by the Republicans, would shut down the Government. Twice. 
In fact, if that had not happened, I am sure no one would even believe, 
anyone in their right mind, that we could even think about the United 
States Government defaulting, putting our credit at risk.
  That is unheard of. I was on the phone the other day with the head of 
the National Cancer Institute. Because of the Government shutdown, six 
cancer drugs were not released. In fact, the Geological Survey could 
not release maps to businesses that wanted to build projects. In fact, 
the SBA could not make loans to small business.
  We are still trying to figure out what the impact of shutting the 
Government down was. I know it is difficult for Newt Gingrich and the 
Republican leadership, because they are a group of freshman that feel 
that it is their way or no way. I have always worked in a bipartisan 
way. I saw my colleague the gentleman from New York, Ben Gilman, was 
here before. I wish my colleague from North Carolina, Walter Jones, 
Jr., was here now, because I would have liked to have applauded his 
father, who was the chairman of the Committee on Merchant Marine and 
Fisheries on which I served.
  We did all kinds of good things on that committee. We passed the 
Coastal Zone Management Act, we worked to preserve Long Island Sound, 
we passed an ocean dumping bill. There is a lot of work that has to be 
done in the Congress of the United States for my constituents and for 
the country. We should be working on these issues at 10 minutes to 1, 
not talking about a possible default of the Federal Government.
  The President put a balanced budget on the table. Now, originally I 
heard day after day the Republicans saying ``We need a balanced budget, 
we need a balanced budget. We need it scored by the Congressional 
Budget Office.'' I apologize to all our constituents. They probably may 
not be aware of all these details. But the President did put a balanced 
budget on the table, scored by the Congressional Budget Office. Now the 
Republicans are saying ``That is not good enough.''
  Well, let us bring that bill to the table. Let us bring that balanced 
budget on the table. We can agree on $711 billion. Let us vote on it. 
Let us balance the budget and move forward and get to work.
  I am very worried about how we are going to educate the next 
generation. I visit our schools. We can do so much more. It is 
legitimate to talk about what is the Federal role, what kind of 
investments can we make. There was an article just this week on the 
success of some boot camps. Can we invest in more boot camps so we can 
ensure our kids can get that education?
  Let us not talk about default. That is an outrage. Let us get to work 
at 1 o'clock.

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