[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 49 (Wednesday, April 17, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H3561]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1800
                 ADVANCES BROUGHT ABOUT BY REPUBLICANS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Metcalf). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Florida [Mr. Mica] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. MICA. Mr. Speaker, when I came to Congress 3 years ago, I was 
really appalled, like many other Americans, to find out that Congress 
really did not have to live under the laws that they imposed on 
everyone else.
  I remember, when I ordered signs for my district office, I attempted 
to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. Then I came back to 
Washington and was shocked to find out that in Washington, they did not 
comply with the ADA Act, and they did not comply with the rest of the 
rules and regulations.
  It was ironic, shortly thereafter, that I had visiting constituents 
from my district and around the country who were visually impaired. I 
really was embarrassed to see those folks try to find their way around 
this place, this maze, without any proper, even common courtesy 
identification for those with a disability.
  I wrote on February 26, 1993, to the Democrat committee chairman who 
was in charge of the House oversight at that time. Mr. Speaker, I 
include that letter for the Record.

  The letter referred to is as follows:

                                    Congress of the United States,


                                     House of Representatives,

                                Washington, DC, February 26, 1993.
     Hon. Charlie Rose,
     Chairman, Committee on House Administration, The Capitol, 
         Washington, DC.
       Dear Representative Rose: My recent experience in ordering 
     signage for my district offices in Central Florida has 
     prompted me to ask why the House of Representatives should 
     not comply with a simple and necessary provision of the 
     Americans with Disability Act with regard to use of braille 
     for blind and visually impaired people.
       After laborious efforts to get local district office signs 
     approved by the committee on House Administration, the sign 
     company informed me that ADA regulations also required that 
     the suite numbers be in braille. After inquiring with 
     committee staff as to why this was not addressed in the 
     Congressional Handbook, I was informed that the House was 
     exempt from the regulation. I did, however, request the 
     addition of braille to my signs.
       It was ironic in that the same week this happened, 
     representatives for the blind and visually impaired around 
     the country were visiting their Members of Congress and no 
     Member suites in the House Office Buildings are equipped with 
     braille signs.
       I would like to request that House rules add braille 
     directional signs located in the interior of local district 
     offices and in the House offices buildings. I urge that 
     consideration be given to this much needed service to our 
     visually impaired citizens.
           Sincerely,
                                                     John L. Mica,
                                               Member of Congress.

  Rather than reading the whole letter that I wrote to the chairman of 
the Committee on House Oversight, I will summarize it. I told him our 
experience, that here we are, a Congress telling people to comply with 
the laws, and I just had these folks with visual infirmities and 
disabilities in the hallways, trying to find their way around the 
Capitol. Why could we not at least give them the courtesy of labeling 
our offices in compliance with ADA? I never got a reply. I brought it 
up again, and I asked and begged.
  The American people made some changes here then. On the first day of 
the 104th Congress we passed, remember, the Congressional 
Accountability Act. That said that every Member of Congress and 
Congress must comply with the laws they impose on everyone else. Most 
people do not know that that is now the law. Sometimes around here 
there are great battles and little victories.
  I am here tonight to tell you about one little victory. Here is the 
little victory. Going up around the Capitol Building and in my office, 
and I am so proud of this little improvement, little victory, are these 
signs. They are placed in compliance with ADA. If you are visually 
impaired, you can even find out whose office you are in. This is a 
small success, but we said when we took control of this Congress we 
were going to make some changes. We were going to make Congress obey 
these laws. This is one little victory that I am so proud of.

  Not only did we do that, but how thrilled I was today to also find 
another sign which was going up. Heaven forbid we should have maps that 
should help those visually impaired to find their way around the maze 
of the Capitol Building, but we have these, and actually your can put 
your hands across these, and those visually impaired and who read 
Braille, they can find their way around this maze.
  So Republicans said they would make changes, and they are making 
changes. I know this is not changing the world as we know it; it is not 
changing everything, our freshman program, but it is a beginning.
  There are some other things that people probably do not know about 
what we have done with the Congress and the congressional budget. I 
want to take a minute to thank, first of all, the gentleman from 
California, Bill Thomas, who is chairman of the Committee on House 
Oversight, for his actions and leadership on this issue and other 
issues.
  Mr. Speaker, the Republicans said they would cut the cost of 
operating this Congress, the legislative branch, and they did. We cut a 
quarter of a billion, $250 million, out of our budget. That is done.
  Republicans said they would cut congressional staff, and we reduced 
the staff on the Hill somewhere in the neighborhood of 2,000 positions. 
I chaired the Civil Service Subcommittee, which was three subcommittees 
before. It had 54 staffers. We operate it with 7. We said we were going 
to make changes. We did make those changes. Republicans said they would 
privatize capital operations, and we did.

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