[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 103 (Friday, July 12, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H7516-H7517]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     UNIONS AND POLITICAL ACTIVITY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from California [Mr. Riggs] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. RIGGS. Madam Speaker, I wanted to follow up on the gentleman from 
Ohio's comments. I think he makes a very, very important point 
regarding the unbelievably misleading tactics that are being used by 
the big labor bosses back here in Washington, DC, in what I think is a 
desperate and transparent attempt to help the Democratic minority in 
the Congress regain control of this institution. I think it is very 
telling and very significant because it is a clear indication of just 
how out of touch they are with average working Americans, the very 
people that they purport to represent.
  Let me cite some basic statistical information at the beginning of my 
remarks. I think we know that the labor bosses here in Washington are 
opposed to fundamental reforms, the most significant changes that we 
have been trying to make back here in Washington over the last year and 
a half, since the Republican Party became the majority party in both 
the House of Representative and in the Senate.
  These labor bosses, again, I am not talking about rank and file 
working men and women, but the labor bosses back here in Washington who 
have become the core constituency of the national Democratic Party and 
almost the campaign arm of the national Democratic Party. These labor 
bosses here in Washington are opposed to cutting spending to balance 
the Federal budget. We all know that we need to put our fiscal house in 
order. We all know that we need to balance the Federal budget to really 
preserve the future of our kids and our grandkids and to give them a 
future with more hope and opportunity than we have enjoyed.
  I think it is important to remember the legacy that we do not inherit 
the world from our parents. We borrow it from our children. We are 
obligated to create a more promising future for our children and future 
generations. Yet those labor bosses are opposed to cutting Federal 
spending to balance the Federal budget, something that would, by virtue 
of simply bringing Federal revenues and expenditures into line, lower 
interest rates in this country and produce long-term economic benefits 
for every single American family and business.

                              {time}  1515

  Now, why are they opposed to cutting spending to balance the Federal 
budget? Well, because the only sector, the only segment, of the union 
activity that has been growing in recent years is Government employees. 
In fact, union membership in the public sector has been increasing 
while union membership in the private sector has been declining over 
the last several years. So they are opposed to cutting Federal spending 
to balance the budget because that means that we may have to eliminate 
a certain number of positions, governmental employee positions, as we 
go about the process of consolidating and streamlining the Federal 
Government and eliminating those agencies which are duplicative in 
nature or which duplicate a function better performed or currently 
performed by State or local government.
  These labor bosses are also opposed to welfare reform. They are 
opposed to tax cuts for families with children. But what makes their 
opposition so, I think, significant is that they are opposing the very 
changes that their own members want.
  A recent poll of union members in America indicated that 82 percent 
of

[[Page H7517]]

union members support a balanced budget, 87 percent support welfare 
reform, and 78 percent support tax cuts for families with children, and 
those percentages are higher than the general public.
  So union members on average support the fundamental reforms we have 
been trying to enact back here in Washington over the last year at a 
greater percentage than the rest of the American public.
  So why are the labor bosses attacking incumbent Republicans? Why have 
they targeted incumbent Republicans for defeat as part of a concerted 
effort by the National Democratic Party to regain control of the House 
and Senate? Well, it is very simple. They have a vested interest here. 
They do not want to see government downsized because that would mean 
the waning or the loss of power and influence for those very same labor 
union bosses.
  So I think it is very important for the average American working men 
and women to realize that we are doing our utter best back here in 
Washington to protect their interests and to create a better future for 
America's families because we are not working for the labor bosses, we 
are working for those American families, for those working men and 
women, and they are the people who are the bosses.
  So with that, Madam Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to stress 
that point and follow up on the comments made by the gentleman from 
Ohio [Mr. Hoke].

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