[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 1 (Tuesday, January 7, 1997)]
[House]
[Pages H2-H7]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          ELECTION OF SPEAKER

  The Clerk. Pursuant to law and to precedent, the next order of 
business is the election of the Speaker of the House of Representatives 
for the 105th Congress.
  Nominations are now in order.
  The Clerk recognizes the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Boehner].
  Mr. BOEHNER. Madam Clerk, as chairman of the Republican Conference, I 
am honored and privileged to welcome my colleagues, their families, and 
the American people to this historic day.
  Two years ago we began a new chapter in American history, one of 
faith in the strength, creativity and goodness of Americans; one where 
we humbly recognize that although the people sent us here to do their 
business, we cannot do our job without their consent and their support.
  With their support, we began to change America by reforming 
Washington. And together, we will ensure our reforms improve Americans' 
quality of life. We will balance the budget, provide permanent tax 
relief, safer streets, better schools, a cleaner environment, and 
longer healthier lives with more affordable health care. It is an 
ambitious agenda, but it is what we were sent here to do. And we owe 
the American people nothing less.
  With pride in what we have accomplished in the past and anticipation 
of what we can do together in the future, I am directed by a unanimous 
vote of the Republican Conference to present the name of the Honorable 
Newt Gingrich, a Representative-elect from the State of Georgia, for 
election to the office of Speaker of the House of Representatives for 
the 105th Congress.


        Question of Privilege Offered by Mr. FAZIO of California

  The Clerk. The Clerk now recognizes the gentleman from California 
[Mr. Fazio] for a nomination.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Madam Clerk, I rise to a question of the 
highest constitutional privilege. I offer a resolution which calls for 
the postponement of the election of the Speaker of the House until the 
Committee on Standards of Official Conduct completes its work on the 
matters concerning Representative Newt Gingrich of Georgia. The 
resolution requires the House to proceed immediately to the election of 
an interim Speaker who will preside over the House until that time.
  I ask for the immediate consideration of the resolution.
  The Clerk. Section 30 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, 
which is

[[Page H3]]

codified in section 25 of title 2, United States Code, reads in part as 
follows:
  At the first session of Congress after every general election of 
Representatives, the oath of office shall be administered by any Member 
of the House of Representatives to the Speaker; and by the Speaker to 
all Members and Delegates present, and to the Clerk, previous to 
entering on any other business.
  This has been the law since June 1, 1789.
  The precedent recorded in Hinds' Precedents of the House at volume 1, 
section 212, recites that, ``at the organization of the House the 
motion to proceed to the election of a Speaker is of the highest 
privilege.'' On that occasion, the Clerk stated that ``the duty of the 
House to organize itself is a duty devolved upon it by law, and any 
matter looking to the performance of that duty takes precedence in all 
parliamentary bodies of all minor questions.''
  The Clerk cites both the statute and the precedent as controlling her 
decision, consistent with the modern practice of the House, to 
recognize nominations for Speaker.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Madam Clerk, given the unprecedented nature 
of the circumstance, I urge that the Clerk permit the Representatives-
elect a vote on the motion that I have submitted.
  The Clerk. Is the gentleman from California appealing the ruling of 
the Clerk?
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Madam Clerk, if the gentlewoman does not 
permit a vote under the extraordinary circumstance we face today, I 
would appeal the ruling of the Clerk.
  The Clerk. The gentleman may appeal from the Clerk's ruling on the 
question of order as to the priority of business.
  The question is, Shall the decision of the Clerk stand as the 
judgment of the House?
  Mr. BOEHNER. Madam Clerk, I move to lay the appeal on the table.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Madam Clerk, on that I demand the yeas and 
nays on the motion to table made by the majority.
  The Clerk. The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman 
from Ohio [Mr. Boehner] to lay the appeal on the table.
  The question was taken; and the Clerk announced that the yeas and 
nays appeared to have it.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Madam Clerk, on that I demand the yeas and 
nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The vote was taken by electronic device, and there were--yeas 222, 
nays 210, not voting 0, as follows:

                              [Roll No. 2]

                               YEAS--222

     Aderholt
     Archer
     Armey
     Bachus
     Baker
     Ballenger
     Barr
     Barrett (NE)
     Bartlett
     Barton
     Bass
     Bateman
     Bereuter
     Bilbray
     Bilirakis
     Bliley
     Blunt
     Boehlert
     Boehner
     Bonilla
     Bono
     Brady
     Bryant
     Bunning
     Burr
     Burton
     Buyer
     Callahan
     Calvert
     Camp
     Campbell
     Canady
     Cannon
     Castle
     Chabot
     Chambliss
     Chenoweth
     Christensen
     Coble
     Coburn
     Collins
     Combest
     Cook
     Cooksey
     Cox
     Crane
     Crapo
     Cubin
     Cunningham
     Davis (VA)
     Deal
     DeLay
     Diaz-Balart
     Dickey
     Doolittle
     Dreier
     Duncan
     Dunn
     Ehlers
     Ehrlich
     Emerson
     English
     Ensign
     Everett
     Ewing
     Fawell
     Foley
     Fowler
     Fox
     Franks (NJ)
     Frelinghuysen
     Gallegly
     Ganske
     Gekas
     Gibbons
     Gilchrest
     Gillmor
     Gilman
     Gingrich
     Goodlatte
     Goodling
     Goss
     Graham
     Granger
     Greenwood
     Gutknecht
     Hansen
     Hastert
     Hastings (WA)
     Hayworth
     Hefley
     Herger
     Hill
     Hilleary
     Hobson
     Hoekstra
     Horn
     Hostettler
     Houghton
     Hulshof
     Hunter
     Hutchinson
     Hyde
     Inglis
     Istook
     Jenkins
     Johnson (CT)
     Jones
     Kasich
     Kelly
     Kim
     King (NY)
     Kingston
     Klug
     Knollenberg
     Kolbe
     LaHood
     Largent
     Latham
     LaTourette
     Lazio
     Leach
     Lewis (CA)
     Lewis (KY)
     Linder
     Livingston
     LoBiondo
     Lucas
     Manzullo
     McCollum
     McCrery
     McDade
     McHugh
     McInnis
     McIntosh
     McKeon
     Metcalf
     Mica
     Miller (FL)
     Molinari
     Moran (KS)
     Myrick
     Nethercutt
     Neumann
     Ney
     Northup
     Norwood
     Nussle
     Oxley
     Packard
     Pappas
     Parker
     Paul
     Paxon
     Pease
     Peterson (PA)
     Petri
     Pickering
     Pitts
     Pombo
     Porter
     Portman
     Pryce (OH)
     Quinn
     Radanovich
     Ramstad
     Regula
     Riggs
     Riley
     Rogan
     Rogers
     Rohrabacher
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Roukema
     Royce
     Ryun
     Salmon
     Saxton
     Scarborough
     Schaefer, Dan
     Schaffer, Bob
     Schiff
     Sensenbrenner
     Sessions
     Shadegg
     Shaw
     Shays
     Shimkus
     Shuster
     Skeen
     Smith (MI)
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (OR)
     Smith (TX)
     Snowbarger
     Solomon
     Souder
     Spence
     Stearns
     Stump
     Sununu
     Talent
     Tauzin
     Taylor (NC)
     Thomas
     Thornberry
     Thune
     Tiahrt
     Upton
     Walsh
     Wamp
     Watkins
     Watts (OK)
     Weldon (FL)
     Weldon (PA)
     Weller
     White
     Whitfield
     Wicker
     Wolf
     Young (AK)
     Young (FL)

                               NAYS--210

     Abercrombie
     Ackerman
     Allen
     Andrews
     Baesler
     Baldacci
     Barcia
     Barrett (WI)
     Becerra
     Bentsen
     Berman
     Berry
     Bishop
     Blagojevich
     Blumenauer
     Bonior
     Borski
     Boswell
     Boucher
     Boyd
     Brown (CA)
     Brown (FL)
     Brown (OH)
     Capps
     Cardin
     Clay
     Clayton
     Clement
     Clyburn
     Condit
     Conyers
     Costello
     Coyne
     Cramer
     Cummings
     Danner
     Davis (FL)
     Davis (IL)
     DeFazio
     DeGette
     Delahunt
     DeLauro
     Dellums
     Deutsch
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Dixon
     Doggett
     Dooley
     Doyle
     Edwards
     Engel
     Eshoo
     Etheridge
     Evans
     Farr
     Fattah
     Fazio
     Filner
     Flake
     Foglietta
     Forbes
     Ford
     Frank (MA)
     Frost
     Furse
     Gejdenson
     Gephardt
     Gonzalez
     Goode
     Gordon
     Green
     Gutierrez
     Hall (OH)
     Hall (TX)
     Hamilton
     Harman
     Hastings (FL)
     Hefner
     Hilliard
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Holden
     Hooley
     Hoyer
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Jefferson
     John
     Johnson (WI)
     Johnson, E. B.
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Kennedy (MA)
     Kennedy (RI)
     Kennelly
     Kildee
     Kilpatrick
     Kind (WI)
     Kleczka
     Klink
     Kucinich
     LaFalce
     Lampson
     Lantos
     Levin
     Lewis (GA)
     Lipinski
     Lofgren
     Lowey
     Luther
     Maloney (CT)
     Maloney (NY)
     Manton
     Markey
     Martinez
     Mascara
     Matsui
     McCarthy (MO)
     McCarthy (NY)
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McHale
     McIntyre
     McKinney
     McNulty
     Meehan
     Meek
     Menendez
     Millender-McDonald
     Miller (CA)
     Minge
     Mink
     Moakley
     Mollohan
     Moran (VA)
     Morella
     Murtha
     Nadler
     Neal
     Oberstar
     Obey
     Olver
     Ortiz
     Owens
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Pastor
     Payne
     Pelosi
     Peterson (MN)
     Pickett
     Pomeroy
     Poshard
     Price (NC)
     Rahall
     Rangel
     Reyes
     Richardson
     Rivers
     Roemer
     Rothman
     Roybal-Allard
     Rush
     Sabo
     Sanchez
     Sanders
     Sandlin
     Sanford
     Sawyer
     Schumer
     Scott
     Serrano
     Sherman
     Sisisky
     Skaggs
     Skelton
     Slaughter
     Smith, Adam
     Smith, Linda
     Snyder
     Spratt
     Stabenow
     Stark
     Stenholm
     Stokes
     Strickland
     Stupak
     Tanner
     Tauscher
     Taylor (MS)
     Thompson
     Thurman
     Tierney
     Torres
     Towns
     Traficant
     Turner
     Velazquez
     Vento
     Visclosky
     Waters
     Watt (NC)
     Waxman
     Wexler
     Weygand
     Wise
     Woolsey
     Wynn
     Yates
  So the motion to table was agreed to.
  The result of the vote was announced as above recorded.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
  The Clerk. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California [Mr. 
Fazio].
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Madam Clerk, it was obviously the desire of 
the minority that we resolve our leadership issues in a different 
manner today given the unprecedented ethical problems that confront our 
last Speaker. We hope that over the next month the Committee on 
Standards of Official Conduct can bring us a resolution of the issues 
that are currently before it and allow us to resolve those issues here 
on the floor. And so given that hope that we will be able to work 
together to agree on a schedule to proceed to a conclusion of this 
phase, it would be then my privilege as chairman of the Democratic 
Caucus, directed by unanimous vote of that caucus, to present for 
election to the Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives 
for the 105th Congress the name of the Honorable Richard A. Gephardt, a 
Representative-elect from the State of Missouri.
  The Clerk. The Honorable Newt Gingrich, a Representative-elect from 
the State of Georgia, and the Honorable Richard A. Gephardt, a 
Representative-elect from the State of Missouri, have been placed in 
nomination.
  Are there any further nominations?
  There being no further nominations, the Clerk will appoint tellers.

[[Page H4]]

  The Clerk appoints the gentleman from California [Mr. Thomas], the 
gentleman from Connecticut [Mr. Gejdenson], the gentlewoman from New 
Jersey [Mrs. Roukema], and the gentlewoman from Connecticut [Mrs. 
Kennelly].
  The tellers will come forward and take their seats at the desk in 
front of the Speaker's rostrum.
  The roll will now be called, and those responding to their names will 
indicate by surname the nominee of their choice.
  The reading clerk will now call the roll.
  The tellers having taken their places, the House proceeded to vote 
for the Speaker.
  The following is the result of the vote:

                              [Roll No. 3]

                             GINGRICH--216

     Aderholt
     Archer
     Armey
     Bachus
     Baker
     Ballenger
     Barr
     Barrett (NE)
     Bartlett
     Barton
     Bass
     Bateman
     Bereuter
     Bilbray
     Bilirakis
     Bliley
     Blunt
     Boehlert
     Boehner
     Bonilla
     Bono
     Brady
     Bryant
     Bunning
     Burr
     Burton
     Buyer
     Callahan
     Calvert
     Camp
     Canady
     Cannon
     Castle
     Chabot
     Chambliss
     Chenoweth
     Christensen
     Coble
     Coburn
     Collins
     Combest
     Cook
     Cooksey
     Cox
     Crane
     Crapo
     Cubin
     Cunningham
     Davis (VA)
     Deal
     DeLay
     Diaz-Balart
     Dickey
     Doolittle
     Dreier
     Duncan
     Dunn
     Ehlers
     Ehrlich
     Emerson
     English
     Ensign
     Everett
     Ewing
     Fawell
     Foley
     Fowler
     Fox
     Franks (NJ)
     Frelinghuysen
     Gallegly
     Ganske
     Gekas
     Gibbons
     Gilchrest
     Gillmor
     Gilman
     Goodlatte
     Goodling
     Goss
     Graham
     Granger
     Greenwood
     Gutknecht
     Hansen
     Hastert
     Hastings (WA)
     Hayworth
     Hefley
     Herger
     Hill
     Hilleary
     Hobson
     Hoekstra
     Horn
     Houghton
     Hulshof
     Hunter
     Hutchinson
     Hyde
     Inglis
     Istook
     Jenkins
     Johnson (CT)
     Jones
     Kasich
     Kelly
     Kim
     King (NY)
     Kingston
     Knollenberg
     Kolbe
     LaHood
     Largent
     Latham
     LaTourette
     Lazio
     Lewis (CA)
     Lewis (KY)
     Linder
     Livingston
     LoBiondo
     Lucas
     Manzullo
     McCollum
     McCrery
     McDade
     McHugh
     McInnis
     McIntosh
     McKeon
     Metcalf
     Mica
     Miller (FL)
     Molinari
     Moran (KS)
     Myrick
     Nethercutt
     Ney
     Northup
     Norwood
     Nussle
     Oxley
     Packard
     Pappas
     Parker
     Paul
     Paxon
     Pease
     Peterson (PA)
     Petri
     Pickering
     Pitts
     Pombo
     Porter
     Portman
     Pryce (OH)
     Quinn
     Radanovich
     Ramstad
     Regula
     Riggs
     Riley
     Rogan
     Rogers
     Rohrabacher
     Ros-Lehtinen
     Roukema
     Royce
     Ryun
     Salmon
     Sanford
     Saxton
     Scarborough
     Schaefer, Dan
     Schaffer, Bob
     Schiff
     Sensenbrenner
     Sessions
     Shadegg
     Shaw
     Shays
     Shimkus
     Shuster
     Skeen
     Smith (MI)
     Smith (NJ)
     Smith (OR)
     Smith (TX)
     Snowbarger
     Solomon
     Souder
     Spence
     Stearns
     Stump
     Sununu
     Talent
     Tauzin
     Taylor (NC)
     Thomas
     Thornberry
     Thune
     Tiahrt
     Upton
     Walsh
     Wamp
     Watkins
     Watts (OK)
     Weldon (FL)
     Weldon (PA)
     Weller
     White
     Whitfield
     Wicker
     Young (AK)
     Young (FL)

                             GEPHARDT--205

     Abercrombie
     Ackerman
     Allen
     Andrews
     Baesler
     Baldacci
     Barcia
     Barrett (WI)
     Becerra
     Bentsen
     Berman
     Berry
     Bishop
     Blagojevich
     Blumenauer
     Bonior
     Borski
     Boswell
     Boucher
     Boyd
     Brown (CA)
     Brown (FL)
     Brown (OH)
     Capps
     Cardin
     Clay
     Clayton
     Clement
     Clyburn
     Condit
     Conyers
     Costello
     Coyne
     Cramer
     Cummings
     Danner
     Davis (FL)
     Davis (IL)
     DeFazio
     DeGette
     Delahunt
     DeLauro
     Dellums
     Deutsch
     Dicks
     Dingell
     Dixon
     Doggett
     Dooley
     Doyle
     Edwards
     Engel
     Eshoo
     Etheridge
     Evans
     Farr
     Fattah
     Fazio
     Filner
     Flake
     Foglietta
     Ford
     Frank (MA)
     Frost
     Furse
     Gejdenson
     Gonzalez
     Goode
     Gordon
     Green
     Gutierrez
     Hall (OH)
     Hall (TX)
     Hamilton
     Harman
     Hastings (FL)
     Hefner
     Hilliard
     Hinchey
     Hinojosa
     Holden
     Hooley
     Hoyer
     Jackson (IL)
     Jackson-Lee (TX)
     Jefferson
     John
     Johnson (WI)
     Johnson, E. B.
     Kanjorski
     Kaptur
     Kennedy (MA)
     Kennedy (RI)
     Kennelly
     Kildee
     Kilpatrick
     Kind (WI)
     Kleczka
     Klink
     Kucinich
     LaFalce
     Lampson
     Lantos
     Levin
     Lewis (CA)
     Lipinski
     Lofgren
     Lowey
     Luther
     Maloney (CT)
     Maloney (NY)
     Manton
     Markey
     Martinez
     Mascara
     Matsui
     McCarthy (MO)
     McCarthy (NY)
     McDermott
     McGovern
     McHale
     McIntyre
     McKinney
     McNulty
     Meehan
     Meek
     Menendez
     Millender-McDonald
     Miller (CA)
     Minge
     Mink
     Moakley
     Mollohan
     Moran (VA)
     Murtha
     Nadler
     Neal
     Oberstar
     Obey
     Olver
     Ortiz
     Owens
     Pallone
     Pascrell
     Pastor
     Payne
     Pelosi
     Peterson (MN)
     Pickett
     Pomeroy
     Poshard
     Price (NC)
     Rahall
     Rangel
     Reyes
     Richardson
     Rivers
     Roemer
     Rothman
     Roybal-Allard
     Rush
     Sabo
     Sanchez
     Sanders
     Sandlin
     Sawyer
     Schumer
     Scott
     Serrano
     Sherman
     Sisisky
     Skaggs
     Skelton
     Slaughter
     Smith, Adam
     Snyder
     Spratt
     Stabenow
     Stark
     Stenholm
     Stokes
     Strickland
     Stupak
     Tanner
     Tauscher
     Taylor (MS)
     Thompson
     Thurman
     Tierney
     Torres
     Towns
     Traficant
     Turner
     Velazquez
     Vento
     Visclosky
     Waters
     Watt (NC)
     Waxman
     Wexler
     Weygand
     Wise
     Woolsey
     Wynn
     Yates

                                LEACH--2

     Campbell
     Forbes
       

                               MICHEL--1

     Leach
       
       

                               WALKER--1

     Smith, Linda
       
       

                               PRESENT--6

     Gephardt
     Hostettler
     Klug
     Morella
     Neumann
     Wolf

                             NOT VOTING--1

     Gingrich
       
       

                              {time}  1406

  The Clerk. The tellers agree in their tallies that the total number 
of votes cast for a person by name is 425, of which the Honorable Newt 
Gingrich of the State of Georgia has received 216, the Honorable 
Richard A. Gephardt of the State of Missouri has received 205, the 
Honorable James Leach of the State of Iowa has received 2 votes, the 
Honorable Robert Michel has received 1 vote, and the Honorable Robert 
Walker has received 1 vote, with 6 voting ``present.''
  Therefore, the Honorable Newt Gingrich of the State of Georgia, 
having received a majority of all votes cast by name for a candidate, 
is duly elected Speaker of the House of Representatives for the 105th 
Congress.


                         Parliamentary Inquiry

  The Clerk. The gentleman from California.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Madam Clerk, a parliamentary inquiry. I 
simply wish to ask the Clerk at this point if the rules or the 
Constitution require the Speaker to receive the votes of a majority of 
all the Members, or is there some other rule that comes into play at a 
time like this?
  The Clerk. The Clerk is guided by the precedent recorded in Cannon's 
Precedents of the House at volume 6, section 24. On that occasion in 
1923, when the House also comprised 435 seats, Speaker Gillett was 
elected by the votes of 215 of the Members-elect present and voting by 
surname, a quorum being present.
  The Clerk also cites Hinds' volume 1, section 216 for this principle.
  Mr. FAZIO of California. Further inquiry, Madam Clerk. Had all those 
Members who voted present cast their vote for another Member, would 
that have prevented the election of the Speaker?
  The Clerk. The Clerk will not respond to that inquiry.
  Therefore, the Honorable Newt Gingrich, of the State of Georgia, is 
duly elected Speaker of the House of Representatives for the 105th 
Congress, having received a majority of all votes cast by name for a 
candidate.
  The Clerk appoints the following committee to escort the Speaker-
elect to the Chair: The gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Gephardt], the 
gentleman from Texas [Mr. Armey], the gentleman from Texas [Mr. DeLay], 
the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Boehner], the gentleman from California 
[Mr. Fazio], the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Collins], the gentleman 
from Georgia [Mr. Bishop], the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Deal], the 
gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Kingston], the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. 
Linder], the gentlewoman from Georgia [Ms. McKinney], the gentleman 
from Georgia [Mr. Barr], the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Chambliss], 
and the gentleman from Georgia [Mr. Norwood].
  The committee will retire from the Chamber to escort the Speaker-
elect to the chair.
  The Sergeant at Arms announced the Speaker-elect of the House of 
Representatives of the 105th Congress, who was escorted to the chair by 
the Committee of Escort.

[[Page H5]]

                              {time}  1415

  Mr. GEPHARDT. Ladies and gentlemen of the House, I will be brief. In 
that the Republicans have retained their majority in the House and I 
did not get enough votes, it is my responsibility to hand the gavel to 
the Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich of Georgia.
  Mr. GINGRICH. Thank you, Dick.
  Let me say to those who voted for me, from the bottom of my heart, 
thank you; to those who voted for someone else, I hope that I can work 
with you in such a way that you feel that I am capable of being Speaker 
of the whole House and representing everyone.
  To the freshmen and their families and all the young people who are 
here today, you are part of a wonderful experience. Just as in less 
than 2 weeks we will welcome the President for an inaugural, we here in 
the legislative branch also celebrate a remarkable moment which the 
entire world watches, a time when an entire Nation voluntarily decides 
how to govern itself, and does so in such a manner that there is a 
sense among the entire country that freedom is secure and that every 
citizen can participate.
  This is the 105th time we have done this as a country. Every 2 years. 
The first one actually did not occur until April 1, 1789, because while 
everyone was supposed to show up in March for the brand new Congress, 
they could not find a quorum. And then they all came together, and 
there are wonderful stories by people who were there written in their 
diaries and their letters about the fact that they were just folks from 
all over, of many different backgrounds.
  Back then they would all have been male and they would all have been 
white and they would all have been property owners. Today we have 
extended democracy and freedom to levels that the Founding Fathers 
could not have imagined, and any citizen anywhere in the planet 
watching through C-SPAN and through the networks and seeing this room 
and its diversity can appreciate the degree to which America opens its 
doors and its hearts to all people of all backgrounds to have a better 
future.
  In addition to the elected Members, we are very fortunate to have a 
professional staff on both sides of the aisle and a professional staff 
serving on a nonpartisan basis.
  And let me say that I think that Robin Carle stood well as the Clerk 
of the House in representing all of us in establishing the dignity. And 
I thought that in the interchanges between her and Chairman Fazio that 
the world could see legitimate partisanship engaged in legitimately 
exactly the way it should be, in a professional, in a courteous, in a 
firm way on both sides. And I think that is part of what we have to 
teach the world.
  In just a few moments, my dear friend John Dingell, who represents a 
tradition in his district, who has fought all these years for all that 
he believes in, who in the last Congress served so ably in helping pass 
the telecommunications bill, is going to swear me in. And I am going to 
ask that I will then have a chance to swear him in.
  But before that, if I might, I say to my dear friend, my wife is here 
and my mother and my relatives. And 2 years ago they were here with my 
father. He is not here today, as I think all of you know. He was an 
infantryman. He served this country. He believed in honor, duty, 
country.
  Let me say to the entire House that 2 years ago when I became the 
first Republican Speaker in 40 years, to the degree I was too brash, 
too self-confident, or too pushy, I apologize. To whatever degree in 
any way that I have brought controversy or inappropriate attention to 
the House, I apologize.
  It is my intention to do everything I can to work with every Member 
of this Congress, and I would just say, as with telecommunications in 
Congressman Dingell's case, on welfare reform, on line-item veto, on 
telecommunications reform, on steps toward a balanced budget, again and 
again, we found a bipartisan majority willing to pass significant 
legislation, willing to work together.
  There is much work to be done. I have asked Chairman Henry Hyde of 
the Committee on the Judiciary to look at the issue of judicial 
activism. He has agreed to hold hearings looking at that issue.
  I think all of us should focus on increasing American jobs through 
world sales, and I have asked Chairman Archer to look at the whole 
issue of taxation and how it affects American job creation.
  I have also asked the Ways and Means Committee to look at oversight 
on NAFTA, on the World Trade Organization, because the fact is, we have 
to move the legislative branch into the information age. If there are 
going to be continuing bodies around the world, then Chairman Gilman in 
International Relations and Chairman Archer and others have to get in 
the habit, I think, of a kind of aggressive oversight, reporting to the 
Nation on whether or not our interests are being protected.
  I have also asked Chairman Archer to prepare a series of hearings 
looking at the entire issue of how we revise the entire Tax Code, 
whether we go toward a flat tax or whether we replace the income tax 
with a sales tax, or what we do, but to begin a process that, frankly, 
may take 4 to 6 years but is the right direction for the right reason.
  Finally, I have asked Chairman Spence on the Committee on National 
Security both to look at the issue of national missile defense and to 
look at the question of military reform.
  Let me say to all of my friends on both sides of the aisle, we have 
every opportunity through reform to shrink the Pentagon to a triangle. 
We have every opportunity to apply the lessons of downsizing, the 
lessons of the information age, and just because something is in 
uniform does not mean it has to be saluted. But instead, we should be 
getting every penny for our taxpayers, and we in the Congress should be 
looking at long-term contracting as one way to dramatically lower the 
cost of defense.
  But I want to talk about one other area, and here I just want to say 
there is something more than legislation. Each of us is a leader back 
home, and I want to just talk very briefly about three topics, and it 
is about these children and their America, children on both sides of 
the aisle, children from all backgrounds and every State.
  I think we have to ask the question, as leaders, beyond legislation: 
How do we continue to create one Nation under God, indivisible, with 
liberty and justice for all? I believe most Americans, whether native 
born or immigrant, still desire for us to be one Nation. So let me 
briefly talk about three areas that I think are vital.
  I am going to talk just a second about race, drugs, and ignorance. 
First let me ask all of you, do we not need to rethink our whole 
approach to race? And let me draw the parallel to Dick Fosbury. He was 
a high jumper in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City. He developed an 
entire new approach which is now used by everyone, yet for 6 years the 
U.S. Olympic Committee rejected it.
  My point is very simple. I do not believe any rational American can 
be comfortable with where we are on the issue of race, and I think all 
of us ought to take on the challenge, as leaders, beyond legislation, 
beyond our normal jobs, of asking some new questions in some new ways.
  After all, what does race mean when, if based on merit alone, ethnic 
Asians would make up a clear majority at the University of California 
at Berkeley?
  What does race mean when colleges recruit minorities in the name of 
inclusiveness and diversity and then segregate them in their own 
dormitories?
  What does race mean when many Americans cannot fill out their Census 
forms because they are an amalgam of races?
  And furthermore, if those of us who are conservatives say that 
bureaucracy and compulsion is not the answer, then what are we going to 
say to a child born in a poor neighborhood with a broken home and no 
one to help them rise, who has no organic contact to prosperity and has 
no organic contact to a better future?
  I mentioned this in passing 2 years ago, and one of the failures I 
would take some of the responsibility for, we did not follow up. But I 
want to put it right on the table today that every one of us, as a 
leader, has an obligation to reach out beyond party and beyond ideology 
and as Americans to say one of the highest values we are going to

[[Page H6]]

spend the next 2 years on is openly dealing with the challenge of 
meaning that, when we say in our Declaration that we are endowed by our 
Creator with certain unalienable rights including life, liberty, and 
the pursuit of happiness, that every child in every neighborhood of 
every background is endowed by God, and every time America fails to 
meet that, we are failing to meet God's test for the country we should 
be.
  Let me say second about drugs, I think we have to redefine and 
rethink our approach to drugs.
  One of my close friends had her 19-year-old sister overdose, and her 
19-year-old sister today is in a coma and celebrated her 20th birthday 
in that coma.
  Drugs are not statistics. As Charlie Rangel told me at breakfast just 
2 years ago, drugs are real human beings being destroyed. Drugs are 
real violence. If we did not have drugs in this country, the amount of 
spouse abuse, the amount of child abuse, the amount of violence would 
drop dramatically. And so I want to suggest that we should take 
seriously reaching across all barriers in establishing an all-out 
effort.
  The Columbia University Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse has 
done a fascinating study. The Center found that one of the best 
predictors of whether a child will stay free of drugs is whether he or 
she practices a religion. Joe Califano, Lyndon Johnson's former advisor 
and Jimmy Carter's Secretary of Health and Human Services, says that 
religion is part of the solution to our drug problems and to drug 
treatment itself. Alcoholics Anonymous refers to a higher power.
  I do not know what all the answers are, but I do know that if we love 
these children, in addition to fighting racism and reaching out to 
every child, we need to decide that we are prepared to have the 
equivalent of an abolitionist movement against drugs and to do what it 
takes so that none of these children ends up in a coma celebrating 
their birthday or end up dead.

                              {time}  1430

  Lastly, we need to pay closer attention to a word you do not hear 
much anymore: Ignorance. Traditionally ignorance ranked with 
pestilence, hunger, war as abominations upon humanity, but in recent 
years the word ``ignorance'' has been cleaned up and refined into some 
aspect of educational failure.
  I mean by ignorance something deeper. It is not about geography in 
the third grade. It is about learning the work ethic, it is about 
learning to be a citizen, it is about learning to save, it is about all 
the things that make us functional. It is about the things that allow 
virtually everybody in this room to get up each morning and have a good 
life. There are too many places in America where people are born into 
dysfunction, educated into dysfunction and live in dysfunction, and we 
should find a way to reach out in this modern era and use every tool at 
our fingertips, from computers to television to radio to personal 
volunteerism, so that every family that today happens to be 
dysfunctional has a chance within the next few years to learn to be 
functional, and I think we should take ignorance as serious a problem 
as drugs or race.
  We in the Congress have one place we have an obligation beyond any 
other, and that is this city, and I want to commend the gentlewoman 
from the District of Columbia, Eleanor Holmes Norton, for the 
leadership she has shown and the courage she has shown day after day 
and week after week. She and the gentleman from Virginia, Tom Davis, 
and the gentleman from New York, Jim Walsh, worked their hearts out 
over the last 2 years, and I believe it is fair to say that in some 
ways we have begun to make progress.
  It is not easy, it has to be done carefully, it cannot violate the 
right of the citizens of this city. But let us be candid. First, this 
is our national capital. We have a unique obligation on both sides of 
the aisle to care about Washington because we are today to Washington 
what a State government would be back home to your town. We have an 
unusual obligation to Washington.
  Second, it is our national capital, and people looked at me as though 
I lost my mind 1\1/2\ years ago when I met with Mayor Barry and I said, 
``You know, our vision ought to be the finest capital city in the 
world,'' and that ought to be our vision.
  And furthermore, if we are going to talk honestly about race and we 
are going to talk honestly about drugs and we are going to talk 
honestly about ignorance, we owe it to every citizen of this District, 
every child in this District, to have a decent chance to grow up and to 
go to a school that succeeds in a neighborhood that is drug-free and 
safe, with an expectation of getting a job in a community that actually 
cares about them and provides a better future, and we should take on as 
a Congress all responsibilities to the District of Columbia, and we 
should do it proudly, and we should not be ashamed to go back home and 
say, ``You're darn right we're helping our national capital because we 
want you to visit it with pride, and we want you to know that you can 
say to anyone anywhere in the world come to America and visit 
Washington, it is a great city.''
  Let me close with this final thought, and I appreciate my friend, the 
gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Dingell] standing there, and I apologize 
for having drawn him forward particularly since he is standing on one 
foot. But this has been a very difficult time, and to those who 
agonized and ended up voting for me, I thank them. Some of this 
difficulty frankly I brought on myself. We will deal with that in more 
detail later, and I apologize to the House and the country for having 
done so. Some of it is part of the natural process of partisan 
competition.
  This morning a very dear friend of mine said that he was going to 
pray to God that I would win today and I asked him not to and I asked 
him to pray to God that whatever happens is what God wants, and then we 
would try to understand it and learn from it. Let me put that forward 
in the same thing for all of us as we approach the next 2 years.
  I was really struck about a month ago when I walked down to the 
Lincoln Memorial and I read the Second Inaugural, which is short enough 
to be on the wall, and 12 times in that Inaugural Lincoln refers to 
God. I went back and read Washington's First Inaugural, which is 
replete with reference to America existing within God's framework. I 
read Jefferson's First Inaugural, since he is often described as a 
deist, which refers to the importance and the power of providence. All 
of my colleagues can visit the Jefferson Memorial where he says, around 
the top it is inscribed, ``I have sworn upon the altar of God Almighty 
eternal hostility against all forms of tyranny over the minds of man.''
  We have much to be proud of as Americans. This is a great and a 
wonderful system. We have much to be ashamed of as Americans, from drug 
addiction to spouse and child abuse, to children living in ignorance 
and poverty surrounded by the greatest wealthiest nation in the world, 
to a political system that clearly has to be overhauled from the ground 
up if it is going to be worthy of the respect we want and cherish.
  I would just suggest to all of my colleagues that until we learn in a 
nonsectarian way, not Baptist, not Catholic, not Jewish, in a 
nonsectarian way, until we learn to reestablish the authority that we 
are endowed by our Creator, that we owe it to our Creator and that we 
need to seek divine guidance in what we are doing, we are not going to 
solve this country's problems.
  In that spirit, with my colleagues' prayers and help, I will seek to 
be worthy of being Speaker of the House, and I will seek to work with 
every Member sent by their constituents to represent them in the U.S. 
Congress.
  And I now call on my dear friend, the senior Member of the House and 
wonderful person, the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Dingell]. I am ready 
to take the oath of office, and I ask the Dean of the House of 
Representatives, the honorable gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Dingell] to 
administer the oath.
  Mr. DINGELL then administered the oath of office to Mr. Gingrich of 
Georgia, as follows:
  Do you solemnly swear that you will support and defend the 
Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and 
domestic; that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; 
that you take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or 
purpose of evasion, and that you will well and faithfully discharge the 
duties of the office on which you are about to enter. So help you God.

[[Page H7]]

  (Applause, the Members rising.)

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