[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 108 (Monday, July 22, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1335-E1336]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           H.R. 3814--COMMERCE, JUSTICE, STATE APPROPRIATIONS

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. CARDISS COLLINS

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, July 22, 1996

  Mrs. COLLINS of Illinois. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to 
revise and extend my remarks. Wake up America. Wake up and see what the 
Dole-Gingrich Republicans are trying to do to you again. Just when you 
had thought the Republicans had learned some lessons of last year when 
they, over and over again, shut down the Federal Government, while 
assiduously trying to dictate their extremist conservatism on everyone, 
and unabashedly trying to deny personal liberties and restrict public 
services, they are back at it again. I must say, they are a persistent 
bunch. In these proposed appropriations for the Departments of 
Commerce, State, Justice, and major related agencies, the Dole-Gingrich 
cabal is attempting to legislate morality and economies through the 
appropriations process. Tucked neatly among programs in this bill that 
most people recognize, that is, the Census Bureau, F.B.I., Drug 
Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Naturalization Service, and 
the U.S. Supreme Court, are severe levels of funding reductions that 
are undoubtedly designed to strangle the Small Business Administration 
[SBA], the Securities and Exchange Commission [SEC], the Minority 
Business Development Agency [MBDA], and the Legal Services Corporation 
[LSC].
  Funding for the Small Business Administration, is slashed by almost 
$21 million below last year's appropriations, the SEC is cut by $225.1 
million less than requested by President Clinton's budget, and the 
Legal Services Corporation is under funded by over $199 million. Since 
the Dole-Gingrich Republicans have been unable to kill them politically 
in an up and down fight on neither policy nor politics, they're trying 
to severely maim them by cutting off the checking account that funds 
them. Wake up America, look around you, and think about what the 
conservative Dole-Gingrich folk are doing to America's economy and to 
the right of every American to have legal counsel.
  It is easy to understand why the Dole-Gingrich Republicans slashed 
the social programs in the Department of Health and Human Services 
appropriations a few days ago: there

[[Page E1336]]

weren't many fat-cat special interests supported in there. Frankly, I 
expected the appropriations bills for fiscal year 1997 to be not quite 
as radically conservative as those they forced through Congress for 
fiscal year 1996 which caused the Federal Government to shutdown. 
However, they have in this session already passed several bills that 
cut spending in domestic areas that are important to hard-working 
Americans, that are vitally significant to the social, economic and 
personal well-being of this country: education, health services and 
research, housing, and transportation, just to name a few.
  So, here we go again. This fiscal year 1997 appropriations bill for 
the Departments of Commerce, Justice, State, and related agencies is 
for $29.5 billion. While this is a substantial amount of money, one 
must remember that it takes a lot of money to fund a Federal Government 
as responsive and responsible as ours ought to be. Yet, this bill is 
for $2.1 billion less than the President has, after careful 
consideration, determined that he needs in order to be able to carry 
out plans and programs necessary to fight crime, create jobs and train 
the necessary workforce, to prevent and address family and societal 
violence, drugs and illegal immigration. Those are critical 
imperatives, but they are not the only priorities that need funding and 
are not all the priorities of my constituents in the Seventh District 
of Illinois. Among my constituents are the richest and the poorest of 
America, and they report to me that they need people programs that 
benefit women, minorities, and persons with very limited incomes, as 
well as the several very important agencies that severely effect them 
all, but that are targeted for funding cuts.
  For example, the Legal Services Corporation [LSC] is an agency that 
provides free and reduced-fee legal services to low-income individuals. 
By proposing dramatic cuts in funding for the LSC, the Republicans risk 
the following results: (1) a 2 million reduction in the number of 
clients served; (2) a 50 percent decrease in the number of neighborhood 
offices (from, 1100 in fiscal year 1995 to 550); (3) a cut by more than 
half, in the number of LSC lawyers available to provide legal services; 
and (4) a startling cut-off of legal assistance to clients in thousands 
of communities across the Nation. This Republican fiscal 1997 
appropriations of $141 million for LSC is a devastating cut from the 
fiscal year 1995 funding level of $415 million, and is unquestionably 
meant to destroy the Legal Services Corporation. Wake up Americans. 
Open your eyes and see what the Dole-Gingrich Republicans who control 
this body have just done. They have defeated an amendment to restore 
reasonable funding to the LSC that would have prevented the virtual 
abandonment of the longstanding Federal commitment to the legal 
protection of working poor Americans, including victims of spousal and 
child abuse, dead-beat parents who run out on the child support 
obligations, and victims of consumer fraud.
  Another program gutted by the Republicans and left to bleed a slow 
death, is the Minority Business Development Administration [MBDA] 
within the Department of Commerce. The mission of the MBDA is to work 
to develop and support the successes and increase competitive 
opportunities for minority-owned businesses--to ensure that minority 
Americans can participate in the economy not just as workers, but also 
as entrepreneurs and global leaders. The MBDA supports citizens who may 
be first generation business owners in their efforts to succeed. 
Created in 1969 by President Nixon, the MBDA provides technical 
assistance to minority entrepreneurs that greatly increase their 
ability to compete in domestic and international markets. While 
minorities make up 25 percent of the U.S. population, they represent 
only 9 percent of the Nation's business owners. MBDA has a proven 
record of leveraging scarce public resources by partnering with the 
private sector to increase capital and market opportunities in 
underutilized business communities, and yet the Republicans who control 
this body are so determined to render ineffectual a good program that 
was created by their own President Nixon, that they have also rejected 
an effort to restore reasonable funding for the MBDA.
  There are many valuable programs that should be funded under this 
bill; however, the appropriations levels proposed by the Republicans 
will only weaken, injure and damage the successful efforts underway to 
bring about a reduction in waste, fraud, and abuse of the public trust. 
I urge my colleagues to defeat this bill so that we can get back to the 
negotiating table in the best interest of all Americans. If this bill 
should be passed by the Congress, I will urge the President to veto it 
and send it back to the drawing board.

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