Congressional Record, Volume 143 Issue 1 (Tuesday, January 7, 1997)

[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

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.)

____________________