[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 24 (Tuesday, February 27, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H1261-H1262]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              LET US ADDRESS PROBLEMS FAMILIES CARE ABOUT

  (Mr. DURBIN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. Speaker, I guess I am surprised my Republican 
colleagues are not here today taking note of the fact it was only a 
year ago that this 

[[Page H1262]]
House of Representatives was tied up in a massive debate over the first 
100 days of the new Gingrich Republican leadership and the so-called 
Contract With America. They were so proud of this contract, we 
literally spent over 3 months on the floor dealing with 31 separate 
bills in the Contract With America, and 3 of them became law, 3 out of 
31, a colossal waste of time.
  As a result, we fell behind in passing spending bills, saw the 
Government shut down for the longest periods in our Nation's history, 
and now the Republicans suggest America may just default on its 
national debt for the very first time in our history. The problem is 
that the Republicans in the House have become irrelevant to working 
families across America. They are concerned about the security of their 
pensions, their health insurance, making certain that they have a job, 
that their kids can get a good college education.
  It is time for Congress to get down to work, put aside the bad year 
that we just finished, and on a bipartisan basis address the problems 
that working families really care about.

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