[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 103 (Friday, July 12, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H7508-H7509]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        MESSAGE FROM THE VOTERS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Gutknecht] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Madam Speaker, I am one of those Members of the 
freshman class in the 104th Congress, and I do believe that 2 years ago 
the American people sent a very clear message and they sent 73 new 
Members to this Congress for a very important reason. In fact, I think 
there were three or four major things they wanted us to do.
  First of all, I think they wanted us to put the Federal Government on 
a diet. Second, I think they really wanted us to pass term limits. 
Third, I think they want commonsense regulatory reform. And finally, 
and perhaps most importantly, I think the American people want us to 
change the way Washington does business.
  Well, Madam Speaker, I think we have made real progress. As a matter 
of fact, we passed the balanced budget amendment out of this House. 
Unfortunately, it failed by one vote over in the Senate. We went on to 
pass the first balanced budget plan in over 25 years. We have 
eliminated over 270 programs and, as a matter of fact, we have saved 
the taxpayers, this Congress, over $43 billion.
  The budget is moving in the right direction, and we are moving 
towards balancing the people's books. On the very first day we began to 
change the way Washington does business, the way we work. We passed the 
Shays Act.
  We said that Congress is going to have to live by the same laws as 
everybody else. That was a very important change. For many years 
Congress would pass new rules and new laws that everybody else had to 
live by, but at the bottom of that bill it would say something to the 
effect that nothing in this enactment requires the Congress or the 
Federal Government to live by the same rules.

                              {time}  1445

  Also, on the first day we opened the committee meetings to the public 
for the first time. We ended proxy voting, and this Congress passed the 
toughest gift ban in the history of the United States.
  Madam Speaker, there was one area where this Congress failed, and 
that is on the very important issue of term limits. We can dress it any 
way we want, but I think that is one thing the American people want 
from this Congress, and that is to limit our own terms. They have been 
too long where Members who have served for years and years and years 
are no longer accountable to them and they begin to believe that all 
wisdom emanates from here in Washington, rather than from back in the 
districts which they are supposed to serve.
  Madam Speaker, I have held over 75 town meet meetings in my district. 
Frankly, at virtually every one of them the issue of term limits has 
come up.
  Another issue that people are concerned about is the whole concern 
about congressional pensions. As a matter of fact, almost monthly we 
read about some Member of Congress who is receiving a six-figure income 
after they retire from this body. We have read recently, just in the 
last year, that a former Speaker, and I will not mention

[[Page H7509]]

names, but a former Speaker is getting $123,804 per year; that a former 
minority leader of this body is getting $110,538 per year; and another 
gentleman who served as the Chair of one of the more powerful 
committees, who will soon become a constituent of mine, will receive a 
pension of $96,462 per year.

  The public is saying enough is enough. They did not get term limits. 
There is one way that we can perhaps kill two birds with one stone. 
That is by passing a bill that would limit pension accrual for Members 
to 12 years. If we cannot force Members to retire after 12 years, at 
least we can take some of the money out of it.
  To that end, I have introduced H.R. 1618, and we have a companion 
bill which is much easier to remember in the Senate. It is Senate bill 
1776. So Members watching on TV and those on C-SPAN, if they remember 
Senate bill 1776, they can remember the bill.
  What this bill says is that Members would limit their pensions 
accrual. After they had served for 12 years, their pensions would stop 
adding up. What that would mean is that at the current level of salary 
for a Member of Congress, the maximum level of pension that a Member of 
Congress could get would be $27,254.
  Now, under this plan, if this bill were in law today, the total 
savings to the taxpayer per year would be $7,892,140. But, more 
importantly, we would take some of the incentive away for Members 
staying years and years and literally beginning to grow roots here in 
Washington.
  I think the American people are speaking loudly and clearly that they 
support this basic notion. There was some polling done recently by the 
Luntz Research Company, and what it demonstrates is this: Would you be 
more or less likely to vote for a Member who voted to reduce the growth 
in congressional pension? Sixty-five percent of the people in the 
United States said they would be more likely to vote for those 
candidates.
  I think the American people are speaking loudly and clearly. They 
would like to see term limits and they would like to see limits on the 
amount of pensions that Members of Congress can collect.
  I think the bill that we have introduced, and my sponsor over in the 
Senate is Senator Jim Inhofe from Oklahoma, I think we have introduced 
a bill that makes sense. It is fair. It is reasonable. It is 
responsible, and it is long overdue.
  Madam Speaker, everywhere I go, and as I say, I have had 75 town 
meetings, people ask me, ``Gil, why are you not doing more in terms of 
reform of Washington?'' And they ask me, ``Gil, are you going to pass 
term limits? When are you going to pass congressional pension limits, 
so that we do not see Members retiring with six-figure parachutes?''
  We did not get term limits through, but saying ``Sorry, we tried'' is 
not good enough. Working families in America want us to change the way 
Washington does business. They want Congressional reform. I hope we can 
get it in the next several weeks.

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