[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 117 (Friday, August 2, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S9476]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     LEGISLATION PASSED BY CONGRESS

  Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I came to the floor because I have been 
watching a series of dueling press conferences, one held by the 
Republicans this morning, the Republican leadership, one held by the 
Democratic leadership, to discuss who deserves credit for the flurry of 
legislation that has finally passed this Congress, after a do-nothing 
Congress.
  Of course, the American people are going to make the decision about 
who deserves the credit or the blame, depending on how they view the 
legislation. The issues are welfare, health care, and minimum wage. We 
remember back to President Clinton talking about how it was important 
to reform welfare as we know it, the fact that he granted many waivers 
to the States to reform welfare, the fact that he presented some 
excellent welfare reform bills which I consider to be real reform.
  I think what the Republican Congress put out is very hurtful to my 
home State. It is a huge, unfunded mandate, and it also hurts children. 
As I said yesterday, it amazed me that Senators who earn large 
paychecks in relation to most of the people in this country did not 
have the heart to mandate that the little kids who are helpless and 
hopeless, whose parents cannot find a job, that they are not assured 
diapers, school supplies, emergency food and other things. So people 
will decide on that one.
  On health care, we know Senator Kennedy, for years, has worked on 
that. Senator Kassebaum and he got together and passed two provisions 
of the Clinton health care reform bill, very important provisions. I am 
very hopeful we will see portability of health insurance, so that when 
Americans lose their jobs, they can take their health care with them 
and they will not be punished if they have a preexisting condition.
  Who deserves credit for that? The Republicans say they do; I say look 
at the record. It was Senator Dole who blocked Senator Kassebaum from 
bringing up the bill time and time again. It is in the Record. Finally 
she said, ``I will offer it every day.'' We finally have a bill.
  Minimum wage. I do not have to tell you that Dick Armey, the majority 
leader of the Republicans, said, ``I will fight a minimum wage increase 
with every fiber in my body.'' Well, it was not good enough, Mr. Armey, 
because the army of people in this country did not agree with you. Now 
you want to take credit over there for it. The most important thing to 
this Senator is that people will get a minimum wage increase--I am 
happy about that--millions of hard-working Americans who do not want a 
handout, they want to work for a decent wage. Most of them, by the way, 
are adults, and most of them are women.
  So we have an argument going on. As I watched the Republican press 
conference, it brought to mind a little fable. I want to tell you the 
little fable. Once upon a time, in 1994, the real Republicans took over 
the U.S. Congress. They came in like the wolf in Little Red Riding 
Hood, and this is what they did, on the record: They tried to roll back 
environmental laws that protect our children. I know, I am on the 
Environment Committee. I saw it. They tried to sell off our parks. As a 
matter of fact, Chairman Hansen said publicly it was not a question 
that they would close down the parks, it is just how they would do it.
  They tried to give huge tax breaks to millionaires, paid for by the 
middle class. They put through the largest cuts ever in education in 
the history of our country. They denied many American women the right 
to choose. That is on the record. They even shut down the Government 
because Democrats would not let them destroy Medicare.
  That is only part of it. Then the real Republicans read the polls and 
realized they were about to lose the elections. So before your eyes, 
the wolf has put on a grandma's disguise just like the wolf in Little 
Red Riding Hood, a grandma's smile, a grandma's voice, sweet, and it is 
telling the American people, ``Look at the goodies we have done for 
you.''
  There are different versions for the end of Little Red Riding Hood. 
In one she gets eaten alive because she trusts the wolf. In the other 
she found out that Grandma is really a wolf in disguise, and she is 
saved.
  We say, today we do not think the American people will be fooled by 
this costume because the real Republicans are on the record. I love the 
new ones. I have never enjoyed it more than the last few days of being 
able to get some work done around here, that will make life better for 
the people.

  But I have to say in closing, do not take my word for it. Listen to 
what House Republican whip Dennis Hastert has said, on the record, 
quoted in the St. Louis Dispatch, June 9, 1996: ``After November, it 
will be a different story.''
  So, for now, we see different Republicans. I am going to reach out to 
those different Republicans. Let's do something about pensions. Let's 
do something about paycheck security. Let's put more police on the 
beat. Let's do something about terrorism. Let's not back off of this 
taggant issue. Tag those explosives used in bombs. Let's work together 
on these issues. Let's go with President Clinton's idea to give our 
middle-class families a tax break for education. Let's put more 
investment into research for diseases like Alzheimer's and cancer and 
AIDS, and wipe these scourges off the face of the Earth.
  We can to it. We can do it, I say to my friends in your new outlook, 
in your new desire to work. But I say to the American people, look out. 
Watch out for the disguise.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.

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